Live Blog: 2015 WWDC Keynote

Below is the AppleVis live blog for the June 8, 2015 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) keynote presentation. Information has been taken directly from the @AppleVis Twitter timeline, as well as from the Twitter timelines of MacRumorsLive / MacRumors, Macworld, and 9to5Mac. All external information is indicated as such with a source name, and all external tweets are in quotes.

Introductions

• MacRumorsLive: "Attendees at WWDC are from 70 countries, 805 are first-time attendees. 350 student scholarship winners. 100 sessions planned, 150 labs."
• The youngest WwDC scholarship winner is a 12-year-old girl from New York.

Mac OS X

• Craig Federighi: 55% of Macs currently on Yosemite. This is the fastest adoption rate of any PC OS.
• MacRumorsLive: "The name for the next version OS X is El Capitan, a notable Yosemite landmark."
• MacRumorsLive: "There are new gestures built into Mail for archiving and deleting -- swipe on the trackpad."
• MacRumorsLive: "There's a new 'pin sites' feature that lets users save websites."
• MacRumorsLive: "There's a universal mute feature in Safari, so you can mute a site that's playing music even with a ton of tabs open. handy feature!"
• MacRumorsLive: "Spotlight is getting more powerful with natural language enhancements and deeper search features. 'Get Mail from Brian about El Cap.'"
• MacRumorsLive: "Mission Control is getting some improvements in El Capitan."
• MacRumorsLive: "There's a new Notes app that supports graphical links, text styling, and more."
• MacRumorsLive: "Now were talking performance in El Cap. '1.4 times acceleration in app launching, 2x improvement in switching apps.'"
• MacRumorsLive: "50% improvements in rendering improvements, 40% less CPU necessary for graphics. Better battery life, better graphics performance."
• Macworld: Developers get the beta of OS X: El Capitan today. Public beta in July. Free upgrade for everyone this fall!"
• Mac Rumors: OS X El Capitan brings major under-the-hood improvements. Apps launch 1.4x faster, and Metal is included for better graphics performance.

iOS 9

• Siri has over 1 billion requests per week.
• Siri's error rate down to 5%. Siri 40% faster at responding.
• Siri has a new UI in iOS 9.
• "Show me photos from Utah last August" will show you the right photos from your library.
• Siri knows when you get in the car, can remind you to "grab coffee off the roof".
• Plug in headphones, the phone will offer up "Now Playing" on the lock screen. Context sensitive.
• iPhone can take invitations you receive in e-mail and automatically add them to the calendar.
• iPhone can now look in your e-mail for phone numbers of unknown callers to try and find their names.
• "Proactivity" also more useful in Search.
• Proactivity offers up suggestions for contacts, apps, etc. based on time of day you use the device, etc.
• Siri now has a search API.
• Use your phone to search, you can now find content behind the apps you have installed.
• "Back" link provided so you can get right back to search results.
• MacRumorsLive: "Swiping left on the home screen brings up a much more detailed Spotlight search, which learns your habits over time."
• MacRumorsLive: "Improved search: new search window offers commonly used apps or contacts, one-tap links to nearby locations like food or breaking news."
• Any look-ups of data for traffic, etc. are anonymous. Not shared with apps, Apple, or third parties.
• Discover will bring Apple Pay to its more than 50 million card members in Fall 2015.
• MacRumorsLive: "Trader Joes, Baskin Robbins, and JC Penney will be supporting Apple Pay later this year.
• MacRumorsLive: "Discover will support Apple Pay this fall, and Square is launching a new reader with Apple Pay support for small businesses."
• Apple Pay working with Pinterest. Buyable pins launching next month using Apple Pay, only on iOS.
• Apple Pay coming to the UK next month. Launching with 8 banks initially.
• More than 250,000 locations supporting Apple Pay in the UK, more than in the U.S. at initial launch.
• You'll be able to add store credit and debit cards to Apple Pay in iOS 9.
• Loyalty and rewards cards also coming to Apple Pay in iOS 9.
• Passbook is being renamed to Wallet.
• Notes now has a toolbar with handy formatting options.
• You can also put photos directly into notes very easily. Drawing with your finger also supported.
• You can now share links directly into notes via the share sheet in iOS 9.
• New way to organize notes - by attachments.
• Apple has invested heavily in maps; 5 billion user requests per week.
• Craig Federighi: Maps usage on iOS 3.5 times higher than for the next leading maps app.
• iOS 9 will support public transit maps.
• Transit provides a map that emphasizes all of the different transit lines in an area.
• Multimodal (example: bus/train) routing also supported in Transit.
• Siri is integrated into Transit.
• MacRumorsLive: "Transit directions in limited cities across the world, including Baltimore, New York, San Francisco."
• Apple announces News, its news app for iOS 9.
• articles can come from anywhere, but there is also an Apple News format.
• You can bookmark articles to read later in News.
• You can also watch associated photos and videos in News.
• News constantly refines its articles based on your reading history.
• MacRumorsLive: "News keeps track of more than a million topics so you can be very specific about your interests."
• MacRumorsLive: "There are powerful machine learning algorithms to find our which stories belong in which category."
• MacRumorsLive : "'We'll be rolling out News in the U.S., U.K., and Australia. "We think you're really going to like it.'"

iPad and iOS 9

• Craig Federighi: "In iOS 9, we're elevating the iPad experience to a whole new level."
• iPad Quick Type keyboard getting shortcuts for cut, copy, format text.
• Shortcuts will also work using Bluetooth keyboards on iPad.
• iPad has a split view in iOS 9--two apps on the screen at once.
• You can adjust the split (50/50, for example) of the two apps on the screen.
• MacRumorsLive: "We're seeing a demo of multitasking on the iPad. Double tap on the home button to bring up a new task switcher, full screen app previews."
• MacRumorsLive: "Finger-swipe from the side of an app brings in a second app, this is called 'SlideOver.'"
• MacRumorsLive: "Can bring in other applications, calendars, apps. Tap on the divider to get SplitView. Multi-app, multi-touch."
• The new App Switcher will be available on iPhone as well.
• Slide Over available for the iPad Air and later, and iPad Mini 2 and later.

Other iOS 9 Tidbits

• Battery life in real use has been increased by 1 hour of average use on an iPhone in iOS 9.
• Low-Power Mode to extend battery life for an additional 3 hours on iOS 9.
• Two-Factor authentication coming to iCloud.
• iOS 9 over-the-air update will require 1.3 GB as opposed to 4.6 GB for iOS 8.
• Hydration, UV exposure, more coming to Health Kit in iOS 9.
• CarPlay will support apps by auto makers to control car settings.
• In future cars, no need to take phone out of bag or pocket to use CarPlay.
• Swift 2 has been optimized, "Whole-Module Optimization."
• Swift will be open-source.
• iOS 9 Public Beta to be released in July. Available to developers today. Available to everyone in the Fall.
• Tim Cook: The App Store recently passed 100 billion app downloads.
• Apple has now paid out $30 billion to devs from the App Store.

Apple Watch and watchOS 2

• New Watch OS will have native apps on the wrist and other great capabilities: new timepiece functions, communications, fitness, Apple Pay.
  • New Watch faces coming in watchOS 2.
  • App developers will be able to make their own Complications for Apple Watch in watchOS 2.
  • You are able to go forward in time to see events later in the day via Time Travel. Use the Digital Crown.
  • Apple Watch has a nice little bedside alarm clock feature in watchOS 2.
  • You can select different sets of friends for the Communications button on Apple Watch.
  • You'll be able to reply to e-mails in watchOS 2.
  • FaceTime audio will be supported in watchOS 2.
  • watchOS 2 will be able to run fitness apps natively on the Watch.
  • Siri will be able to start workouts in watchOS 2.
  • New achievements in watchOS 2. You can also share them with people via Messages, Facebook, and Twitter.
  • Apple Pay on the Watch will support store cards. Rewards cards will also be available in Wallet.
  • Transit will also be supported in watchOS 2.
  • Siri will be able to get mass transit directions in watchOS 2, also will be able to control HomeKit devices.
  • You can ask Siri to show Glances on the Watch.
  • Native apps will move the logic over to the Watch, resulting in improved responsiveness.
  • Features possible in watchOS 2 native apps: microphone access, audio playback, video playback, HealthKit access.
  • HomeKit is built-in to watchOS 2.
  • Accelerometer access also possible in watchOS 2.
  • App developers can access the Taptik Engine in watchOS 2.
  • Developers will also have access to the Digital Crown for UI manipulation.
  • MacRumorsLive: "Seeing the Mail app. Can reply to messages in Mail using Siri."

Apple Music

• Apple Music to include the first-ever, worldwide, 24/7 radio station broadcast from 3 cities.
• Apple Music will include features for up-and-coming artists to share their music.
• Top charts, playlists, all human-curated and available by genre.
• Beats One is Apple's worldwide radio station.
• Beats One will broadcast live, 24/7 from New York, L.A., and London.
• Connect is a place for artists to connect with fans.
• Apple Music personalizes based on your tastes. Will ask you for some initial information to help with this.
• Siri can play music right in Apple Music. Eddy Cue demonstrated playing "Born to Run."
• Siri can also play the Top 10 songs in a genre--Example: Alternative.
• Siri can play top songs from a specific time period, e.g. May 1982.
• Apple Music launching in over 100 countries later this month with iOS 8.4.
• Available via new versions of iTunes for Windows and Mac, and Android in the Fall.
• Apple Music will be priced at $9.99 per month with a 3-month trial.
• There will also be a family plan for $14.99 per month for up to 6 family members. Separate accounts, libraries, recommendations, etc.