WWDC24
June 15, 2024
This is my personal and subjective summary of Apple’s keynote and state of the union during its worldwide developer conference 2024.
Anticipation
This was the first year I was not looking forward to WWDC in an excited but only curious way. I feared that Apple will jump onto the AI hype and add a lot of features to their platforms which are just a burden in the hardware without providing any use (for me). Like “memories” in the Photos app, the platforms are already bloated with fluff I could not care less about. In my perception, the platforms set an unfavorable course in the last 5 years. The elegant simplicity I loved in the first Apple products I owned is gone. Apple diversified its offering a lot over the years. Apparently, at the cost of focussing to excel at very few. While I am struggling with increasing hangs and everlasting bugs in the reminders app that just not get resolved, I am expecting Apple to tout a lot of expendable rocket science.
Keynote
It was underwhelmingly boring. My favorite revelation was the introduction of basic text formatting like bold text in iMessage. On the other hand, Craig’s introduction to the new macOS name was funny and I had a good laugh at his helmet.
State Of The Union
Things became more more interesting with this. Xcode code suggestions and AI-powered capabilities actually look like something useful. But sometimes it also is about the little things in life. Like the improved inline display of failed tests, their expecatation and reality. I rejoiced at that. Also, SwiftData got enhancements which resolve my earlier disappointment of it. Custom indices and even different storage backends. Nice!
Sessions
Initially I intended to submit to binge watching all the sessions I am interested in. In total, there are 42 sessions I have on my list. With my full time job in a hot phase and a lot to do in private life, this will take some time. I decided to write dedicated posts per topic, if appropriate and in due time. I guess it will be better than one huge page anyway.