AAPL Apple Inc

By David Pierce 

Apple introduced at least seven things at its annual Worldwide Developer Conference that could actually make your life better.

After a year filled with bug fixes and heavy user criticism about everything from fragile MacBook keyboards to Siri's incompetence, Apple's focus was on improving existing things rather than introducing new ones. It didn't do enough, at least not during the keynote, to address the bugs and shortcomings of its core products. But it did show us it had some real user needs in mind with these improvements.

Safari's blocked trackers and enhanced privacy

Facebook and others have recently come under fire for tracking you online, often without you knowing. In the new MacOS Mojave, Apple's Safari browser will block some shady tactics used to collect personal data. It will also create strong passwords for you, and help mask your identity from sites you visit. Apps you install will also have to specifically request permission to access your camera, microphone and personal data.

CarPlay with Google and Waze

When you connect your phone to Apple's in-car infotainment system, you'll now be able to use navigation apps other than Apple Maps. That's a potential life-changer, since most iPhone owners we know prefer Waze and Google Maps on the road.

Group chat in FaceTime

FaceTime is nice when the children want to see their grandparents or you want to have a quick face-to-face with a colleague, but group video or voice calls always required a separate app. No longer: iOS 12 supports FaceTime calls with up to 32 participants.

Stacks for messy Mac desktops

If you're the type to cover your Mac's desktop in files, only to lose them in the sea of icons, you might like MacOS Mojave. A feature called Stacks automatically clumps together related files -- all your images in one pile, all your PDFs in another. You'll finally be able to see your wallpaper again.

Improved Do Not Disturb

A big keynote theme this year was helping people use their iPhones in a saner way. With iOS 12, Do Not Disturb gets better. You will be able to turn off notifications at a given location, like a movie theater. The notifications will automatically resume when you leave the premises. It also hides lock-screen notifications at night, so you don't get sucked in if you're just checking the time.

Custom Siri Shortcuts

Siri's basic functionality still seriously lags behind Amazon's Alexa and Google's Assistant. Apple's Shortcuts should help it work a little better for you, by letting you create multistep routines.

When you say "I'm leaving," for instance, your lights can turn off and the thermostat can turn down. It likely takes a lot of back-end plumbing, though, so hopefully outside developers will get on board.

Better performance on older devices

Apple was caught throttling the performance of older phones with degraded batteries, so now it's addressing concerns about obsolescence. iOS 12 supports phones going back to the iPhone 5S, and Apple says everyday tasks on the system will be faster -- even for the old-timers.

Apple does its best work when it helps people invisibly, rather than offering a menu of options and making users pick. Some of these features will be inherently helpful, while others may suffer from neglect, buried deep in menus. Will users find the new Do Not Disturb controls? Will they go through the steps needed to create Siri Shortcuts?

Still, if there's a bright side to the lack of earth-shattering news at this WWDC keynote, it might just be that Apple has decided to slow down -- to think about what its users want and need, to understand better how they work and why they're frustrated.

Rather than use this opportunity to start building envy for the fancy new object that will show up on those blonde wood Apple Store tables this fall, the company might actually have gotten you to like the devices you already have just a little more. And that's something.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 04, 2018 19:22 ET (23:22 GMT)

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