um it's pumpkin spice latte and Apple
operating system update season every fall apple delivers to us an aromatic
array of new features that should make using their devices better and easier
should what we're getting is iOS and
iPad OS 16. macOS 13 Ventura and watch
OS 9. they all include a lot of new features and revisions but what I'm
noticing this time around is not just the features each platform gets but also
the features they all share what does this mean for the whole concept of the
operating system for Apple going forward
if you look at some sections of Apple's
all new features pages on their website you can see that many of the updates are
exactly the same verbatim between all the operating
systems messages Safari mail iCloud
photo sharing home photos reminders live
text and a bunch of others the new features added to these apps are doled
out to all devices equally this is a good thing as it means you won't lose
out on functionality using the same app between different devices you can undo
send and edit iMessages and emails no matter what keyboard you wrote them on
how you surf in Safari won't have to be limited by your screen size the way you
organize your reminders on your Mac won't be any different than on your
iPhone but are these updates really worthy of
WWDC would they have even been noticed
on previous releases like Panther snow leopard or lion I don't think so
photos is a standalone cross-platform app Safari is a standalone
cross-platform app Reminders is a standalone cross-platform service and
yet their updates are arbitrarily tied to the broader operating system update
this can be really annoying too take
maps for instance you can finally make a
multi-stop route no matter which device you're using this is an easy feature
that should have been added years ago yet to get it you have to update each
device's entire operating system you
might think that this means the operating systems are converging all
into one harmonious hole with only by the screen size to differentiate them if
Apple was doing that feature parity like we're seeing would be a necessary step
so is this preparation for one Apple OS
to rule them all touchscreens on the Mac I'd argue no because these changes to
the cross-platform apps just increase usability across the ecosystem and if
you take a close look Beyond them you'll find that these os's are as different
from each other as ever despite the fact that it's going to be a little delayed
iPad OS looks to be the most transformed this year after all our dogged
complaining apple is really bringing the iPad into it's more capable own
toolbars are customizable now allowing developers and power users to
personalize and optimize their app's functions it looks like a promising step
forward as the iPad moves further away from the iPhone and closer in capability
to the Mac the biggest demonstration of this is stage manager it's a new app
windowing Feature available only to M1 powered iPads instead of being limited
to two full screen apps side by side with a slide over floater for good
measure you can now pile and resize groups of windowed apps together on the
screen and then switch between those piles based on what you're working on
it's improved since I first tried it earlier this summer but despite these
soft round corners there are still rough edges apps aren't freely movable and
resizable they kind of just snap into set sizes and positions it's quite
interesting that you cannot completely cover app Windows over one another these
behaviors will require getting used to and developers are going to have to put
in a lot of work to support all these
new layouts as you can see even on this
big iPad Pro screen I don't think I'd use stage manager but hooked up to an
external monitor it's a game changer now
the iPad really is a tangible computer replacement for those who can work
within the platform's bumper guards though if you're used to a desktop
operating system don't forget that you will probably run into Mouse
interactions that won't work like You're Expecting
Touch first everyone also on a Mac you
can close minimize and maximize Windows with the traffic lights on the top
corner of a window here those options are buried under an annoying Sub menu
speaking of the Mac which is getting an update all rant about this video is
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now while your Mac is charging you'll be interested in knowing that stage manager
is here too and because the operating
system was engineered from the ground up to support resizable windowing it works
much better here think about it as an alternative way to organize tasks in
Windows compared to Mission Control next
we have something that works great on the iPad but not so much on the Mac they
have replaced the system preferences with the system settings app same
stovetop logo though it's adopted the sidebar format found on Apple's mobile
devices that makes it easier to find the section you're looking for at a glance
but I'm not bowled over by the controls
and layout once you're in there Everything feels more complex look at
how these alignments have changed creating redundant space between the
options and their selections it's very hard to see things at a glance their
screens are so much bigger and I'm really not convinced that mobile UI
paradigms should be in desktop operating systems wait macOS has a noise machine
and accessibility well that's hard to find and why is this
a toggle switch why is this a window what why did they chew developer Nikki
tonsky posted a thread on Twitter showing just how rough the early beta
versions of this app are and showcase some of the questionable UI choices
Apple has made with it I find it so unrelentingly gray like
this list of toggles that look grayed
out as if you can't use them but oh you can also these were the gesture videos
to show you how to use your magic mouse and trackpad before the are the new ones
this is what software feels like these days in microcosm we've gone from a rich
beautiful understandable video to an uninspiring abstract boring animation
bound to Peak the Curiosity of exactly no one
because everything has moved around so much I'm going to recommend that you
only update to Ventura when you're mentally prepared to but don't worry
like iPad OS this update will be coming a bit later now the update worth
installing is iOS I absolutely love the look of the
new lock screen it makes the phone so much more useful at a glance something
my Apple watch is great at you can now
add simple widgets and set your wallpaper to shuffle photos from your
library and if you don't have widgets enabled the clock can now be cleverly
placed behind your photo subject you can even change the clock's font
notifications are piled up at the bottom now out of the way and finally as your
mood changes you can swipe between all your multiple themes which can also be
tied to different Focus modes I do have some niggles on some wallpapers the
widgets can become completely illegible because there's no contrast and
disappointingly all the options and freedom we get on the lock screen comes
with a commensurate removal of options for the home screen Apple's default
wallpaper options are all but gone unless you use the same background as
the lock screen oh and check this out in
the photos app that's cool I've always hated doing that
on Photoshop Apple's finally showing us what capabilities the neural engine can
bring to software adding to live text to video and dictation improvements other
than these main highlights you're really not going to notice the improvements in
day-to-day use unless you really dig deep Adam angst at tidbits did a survey
asking people what features from last year's releases people were using and
the results showed that a wide majority of users didn't use any of the new
features save for live text it makes me wish for a release that has no new
features and it's just bug fixes and refinements a year-long feature
moratorium wouldn't that be great thanks
for worsening the UI of this Mac Address now if you are going to update your
devices right away give this video a like and if you're gonna hold off you
might as well subscribe now comment below I'm curious what you think about a
feature moratorium Now new features just fixes
you agree