A lot was revealed at WWDC 2021, but here’s what you may have missed including FaceTime group watch parties, letting your iPhone unlock your car, bringing Siri to non-Apple devices, and more.
The WWDC 2021 keynote revealed lots of new features coming to Apple’s lineup of devices, and as usual, there’s lots of small tweaks and upgrades to go around. But out of the noise, we’ve plucked 5 things you may have missed from WWDC 2021. And as usual for Apple’s mid-year software show, none of these regard new hardware. While we heard rumors that new products could be revealed, like a smaller MacBook, Apple stuck to operating system upgrades this time around – but some of these are pretty impactful for software folks use every day. Some of these are simple upgrades that make good Apple software even better, like the myriad improvements to FaceTime. But others change how you’ll use your devices, like the expansion to Wallet app that lets you unlock car keys, front doors, and even hotel rooms with your iPhone or Apple Watch – and even upload your US ID to pass through TSA checkpoints. There were plenty of exciting things revealed at Apple’s software show, but here are five things you may have missed at WWDC 2021, in no particular order. Thanks to several cross-device upgrades, FaceTime is slated to get a range of new capabilities that make it easier to hear and see people in single and group video calls, as well as listen to and watch media together. First, there’s two new microphone settings to hear less or more ambient noise. Want to shut out annoying traffic honking or lawnmowers? Use Voice Isolation. Want to pick up the melodious sounds of a street performer? Turn on Mic Spectrum. Group FaceTime gets some quality-of-life improvements, like finally adding Grid View. There’s also a new spatial audio feature that angles the sound to make it sound like it’s coming from where each person is in the call – so if someone is speaking is in the top right corner of the grid, that’s where their voice will seem to emanate from. Certain Apple devices will also be able to present video in portrait mode, adding depth effects and (perhaps more importantly for some) blurring the background. You’ll also soon be able to invite people to video chats via FaceTime Links. Much like sending a room URL for Zoom or Google Hangouts, this feature lets you give attendees a link ahead of time and include it in emails and Calendar app events. And while you’re in a FaceTime, you can finally listen to the same song or watch the same video together with SharePlay. Calls can continue while media is playing via picture-in-picture, and participants can queue up songs themselves for a during-the-call jukebox. Naturally, SharePlay looks like it will only work with Apple Music and select video streaming apps to start, including Disney Plus, Hulu, HBO Max, Twitch, TokTok, MasterClass, ESPN Plus, and more. Apple is releasing a SharePlay API to enable developers to enable this functionality in their apps. Apple wants us to be ‘fully free of our physical wallet’, and plans to add a ton of new features to Apple Wallet with iOS 15 that’ll make it easier (in some cases) to travel around with just an iPhone.
