WWDC 2016: Full round-up of Apple's big announcements

Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference keynote event has offered fans plenty of software updates to mull over, including new versions of iOS, WatchOS, Apple TV and the tech giant's desktop operating system.

The two-hour presentation in San Francisco began a minute's silence for the victims of the nightclub shooting in Orlando, before chief executive Tim Cook got down to business.

Here are the four big areas covered.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

iOS 10

One of the biggest announcements of the night was the first glimpse at the operating system coming with the iPhone 7, introducing some minor revisions to the way the set-up looks and a few new features.

Apple has opened up Siri on iOS to developers, with the goal of integrating apps directly into the virtual assistant – for example, users will be able to ask Siri to book a taxi through services such as Lyft and Uber.

Photos has also been overhauled. Faces and Places are back and recognition software can now group images so you'll be able to easily browse photos of a certain friend, or even an object, just by keywords.

In addition come several iMessage features – predictive emojis and handwritten messages being two of the most fun additions – plus a redesign of Apple Music, a redesigned lock screen, voicemail transcription via Siri and finally, the ability to delete many of the previously unmovable stock apps on iOS devices.

MacOS

Apple's desktop operating system has been renamed to MacOS, bringing it into line with the company's other software platforms. There's not just continuity on the name, neither – the next desktop system, Sierra, introduces features from other devices, plus new ways to use a Mac in tandem with them.

However, the biggest addition has to be Siri for Mac, with the personal assistant sitting directly in the operating system's dock.

There are also new ways to link work across several Apple devices. For example, users will be able to start a document on a Mac and continue it on an iOS device, even copying and pasting between the two.

Other iCloud-based features include a drive sharing files across Mac and iOS gadgets, plus the new Optimised Storage, which removes unnecessary files after back-up to free more space.

Finally, Apple Watch can now be used to unlock a Mac device and authenticate Apple Pay transactions though a Mac's web browser. A public beta will take place in July, says The Guardian, with a full consumer release this September.

WatchOS 3

The latest version of Apple's smartwatch software landed at WWDC and according to The Verge, the "headline feature" is much faster apps – Apple claims they'll launch seven times quicker. They also get background refresh, too, so will be updated the second they are needed, while the dock of recent and running apps can be accessed through the watch's side button.

The iOS-like control centre will now be accessed by swiping up on the watch face and there's a new "Scribble" feature for replying to short messages and emails, letting users draw individual letters on the watch. The new faces introduced can be changed simply by swiping through the main watch interface.

TV OS

With a single sign-in feature, Apple TV is now easier to use. "Forget having to input a boatload of cryptic codes on other devices to link accounts to your set-top box", says Wired. One sign-in will let users authenticate all of the apps that come as part of their television subscription.

There are new Siri-based developments, too, with the personal assistant able to handle very specific requests, as demonstrated on stage by Apple's Eddy Cue, who asked Siri to find "high-school comedies from the 80s". In addition, the assistant can search YouTube.

Dark Mode has changed the way the Apple TV interface looks, making it friendlier on the eyes, and the TV remote app now comes with all of the features of a physical Apple TV remote.