Extra data is surfacing about Apple’s plans for its subsequent main cell working system launch as we get nearer to its unveiling at this yr’s Worldwide Builders Convention (WWDC).
With WWDC only some weeks away, it stands to motive that iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 are nearing the ultimate levels of inside testing in preparation for the primary developer preview launch, which is generally made out there to registered builders inside hours of the WWDC Keynote.
Most of what we’ve seen means that iOS 17 might be a “tuneup” launch that’s centered totally on bettering efficiency and fixing issues. However, it’s nonetheless anticipated to supply just a few small however fascinating options; they could simply not be as groundbreaking as what we noticed in final yr’s iOS 16 launch.
We’ve already heard experiences that Apple plans to revamp the Management Heart with a brand new design that ought to hopefully provide extra flexibility — and presumably even room for third-party apps to get in on the sport. One other rumored function that’s piqued our curiosity is Lively Widgets which might function extra dynamic content material. A number of sources have confirmed that Apple is engaged on this, however no person is bound but whether or not it is going to be prepared for iOS 17.
Lock Display screen Enhancements
A brand new put up on Chinese language social media website Weibo from a supply that shared correct information in regards to the yellow iPhone 14 just a few months in the past is providing up an inventory of some different fascinating issues we are able to anticipate to see in iOS 17.
Chief amongst these are some enhancements that construct upon the numerous Lock Display screen redesign we noticed in iOS 16 final yr. Whereas the adjustments appear principally iterative, they need to make the general expertise even higher.
In keeping with the report, it is going to be potential to view lyrics from Apple Music proper on the Lock Display screen, letting you extra simply sing alongside along with your favourite tunes — and sure additionally tying in additional successfully into the karaoke-like Sing that Apple unveiled in December.
The Lock Display screen may also reportedly provide much more customization, with the flexibility to regulate font sizes and a button to share your customized Lock Screens with different iPhone customers, just like what Apple did with Watch Faces just a few years again in watchOS 7.
Different adjustments on the listing embrace a redesign of Apple Music that can supposedly simplify the interface, the flexibility to rename folders within the App Library quite than being caught with Apple’s predefined classes, and a extra adjustable brightness slider for the flashlight.
Well being Enhancements: AI Teaching, Apple Well being for iPad, and Extra
In one other vein, Apple can be engaged on some noteworthy enhancements to its HealthKit options, a minimum of a few of that are anticipated to debut with iOS 17.
Final week The Wall Avenue Journal revealed that Apple is engaged on a brand new journalling app centered on helping with bodily and psychological well being by providing a spot for people to “compile their every day actions.”
Nevertheless, paperwork seen by the Journal urged it will transcend only a easy diary, leveraging Apple’s machine studying experience to investigate your habits and “decide what a typical day is like.” Nevertheless, this can be only one side of Apple’s new AI-powered strategy to well being.
In a brand new report at Bloomberg, Mark Gurman claims that Apple is engaged on a synthetic intelligence-driven well being teaching service that would embrace “new expertise for monitoring feelings.”
Whereas a few of which will function the inspiration of Apple’s journaling app, the corporate appears to have broader ambitions for this expertise. Code-named “Quartz,” it’s anticipated to be a mix of a devoted app and a brand new subscription service — maybe one fruits of the “Well being+” service we’ve heard rumors of up to now.
In keeping with Gurman, the service might be designed to encourage a wholesome way of life by bettering habits round train, consuming, and sleep. Very like Apple’s Health+ service, the brand new teaching service would seemingly require an Apple Watch because the AI algorithms would require physiological information that may’t be collected from an iPhone.
Whereas the teaching service isn’t prone to be prepared for launch till subsequent yr, Apple plans to supply a number of enhancements to the Well being app in iOS 17, together with instruments for monitoring moods and feelings and managing imaginative and prescient situations comparable to nearsightedness. Within the quick time period, the emotion tracker will merely permit customers to log how they really feel manually, however Apple hopes to develop that sooner or later with AI algorithms that would analyze speech and typing patterns.
Gurman notes that the brand new mood- and emotion-tracking options are distinct from the journalling app, the place he tacitly counters The Wall Avenue Journal’s report that the app might be extra health-focused. He notes that the journalling app “isn’t meant to be a well being function” and “Apple is unlikely to place it as such.”
As an alternative, Gurman’s sources inform him that the journalling app is extra of a social networking function. It will likely be an extension of the Discover My service and different location options, extra centered on permitting people to write down a travelogue than recording their psychological and bodily actions.
Apple additionally plans to lastly launch an iPad model of the Well being app in iPadOS 17. Whereas that received’t essentially have the ability to accumulate well being information, it is going to permit customers to entry information securely synced from their iPhone and Apple Watch and consider it on the bigger display screen. Apple hopes the iPad model will “enhance the app’s recognition in healthcare settings,” Gurman says.
One of many early obstacles to an iPad Well being app was safety. The earliest implementations of the HealthKit frameworks didn’t sync information to iCloud out of respect for consumer privateness. This sophisticated syncing well being information onto an iPad, so Apple seemingly determined it wasn’t definitely worth the effort. Nevertheless, now that Apple has embraced even stronger end-to-end encryption expertise all through most of iCloud, the safety and privateness of well being information are not a priority.
Lastly, Gurman confirms that Apple continues to be engaged on blood stress and non-invasive blood glucose monitoring for the Apple Watch. Apple has reportedly deserted its efforts to get correct blood stress readings from the wearable. As an alternative, it is going to seemingly concentrate on alerting Apple Watch customers to uncommon situations comparable to possible hypertension to allow them to take a correct studying with a traditional blood stress monitor.
Nonetheless, don’t anticipate to see both of those sensors seem on this yr’s Apple Watch Sequence 9; Gurman notes that each are nonetheless a minimum of just a few years away.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]