After a firsthand go at Apple’s Public betas of the new iOS and iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia and watchOS 11, here’s 9 new features you should look forward to.

If you’ve been keeping up with Apple’s latest developments via Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) from afar, here’s a closer look at what’s worth getting excited over, after a first-hand experience of the new software across the latest iPhone, iPad, Macbook and Apple Watch.

1. Customisable Lock Screen, Home Screen and Control Centre

After what seems like forever, Apple’s icons are now officially customisable — with a dark or tinted look — and arrangeable with no automatic snap-int0-grid effect. Apps and widgets can now be arranged in any open space on the Home Screen, including placing them right above the dock for easy access or perfectly framing a feature of your wallpaper. You can even change the size of the widgets.

The iOS 18’s new controls gallery also displays the full set of available options that you can personalise, including adjusting them to the ideal size and creating entirely new groups. Then there’s the Lock Screen, with the two bottom customisable with your own shortcuts — it doesn’t have to be the flashlight or the camera anymore.

2. Typing to Siri

Thank goodness you don’t actually have to speak to Siri to activate it now; this was as exciting as expected. With the new iOS18 update, you can switch between text and voice to communicate with Siri in whatever way feels right for the moment — Siri is already so much more enticing as a companion now.

3. iPhone Mirroring

For those working with an iPhone and Macbook, this phenomenal feature is for you. With the macOS Sequoia, you can now fully access and engage with your iPhone through your Mac. Your iPhone’s wallpaper and icons will appear just as they are on your iPhone, and you can swipe between pages on their Home Screen, or launch and browse any app with your keyboard, trackpad and mouse on Mac. Even the audio comes through.

The best part? You can perform iPhone mirroring while the iPhone remains locked — so nobody else can access or see what you’re actually doing. This means you don’t even need to be in the same room as your iPhone to use it. You can also review and respond to iPhone notifications directly from you Mac. In the later part of the year, you’ll even be able to seamlessly drag and drop between iPhone and Mac — guess this is a sign to put the trusty Airdrop to rest.

4. Window Tiling

This one’s for all you serial multitaskers. If you thought your peak performance was going to come through with the split screen, you’ll now be able to embrace four-eyed vision for four times the efficiency for the first time. When you drag a window to the edge of the screen, macOS Sequoia will now automatically let you tile up to four windows on your desktop. Alternatively, you can also place these windows in corners to keep even more apps in view.

5. Math Notes

The much-anticipated all-new Math Notes calculator is really as cool as it seems. Accessible via the Notes app, this scientific calculator will allow you to type or write out mathematical expressions and see them instantly solved in your own handwriting. You can also assign values to variables, calculate budgets and even graph multiple equations in a single graph to see its relations. Best part? You can see your calculator history — helping you to keep track of previous calculations and past unit conversions. Length, weight, currencies — you name it, you can now do it on notes.

6. Smart Script

As a student, I’ve always had an issue with note-taking digitally because the motion of writing was what really helped me study. With the Apple Pencil-enabled Smart Script in iPadOS 18, you can now take notes on the iPad with the neatness you would get if you typed out your notes, while still maintaining the look and feel of your own handwriting. You can even edit them as if you had typed them out — add spaces, removes sentences, paste typed text in your handwriting — with your paragraphs automatically reflowing to fit the new content. How’s that for innovation?

7. AirPods’ Sound-free Siri Support

AirPods Pro will now be able to interact with Siri with a discreet nod or shake of the head, allowing you to respond to Siri announcements without making a single sound. Perfect for use in crowded or quiet spaces, and can be used to answer or dismiss calls, interact with messages, manage notifications and more.

8. Vitals App

The Apple Watch has always been at the forefront of supporting sleep health, especially via important metrics during sleep heart rate, respiratory rate, wrist temperature, sleep duration, and blood oxygen. With the watchOS 11, a new Vitals app will help you to make sense of these metrics in relation to your health and lifestyle; you can now check in on the analyses of these metrics daily, with noteworthy metrics being pointed out when they are out of their typical range, and how they might be linked to things like elevation changes, alcohol consumption or even illness.

9. Training Load

If you’re someone who frequently uses the Apple Watch for workouts, the training load feature is going to be a pretty important one to note. An insightful new way to measure how the intensity and duration of workouts is impacting a user’s body over time, training load helps you to understand the strain on their body from workouts over the last seven days compared to the last 28 days. These insights can help users make informed decisions about their training each day, particularly when preparing for an event — all done via an effort rating on a scale of 1 to 10. Popular cardio-based workout types will employ an innovative new algorithm to automatically generate an estimated effort rating, using a combination of data sources like age, height, and weight, alongside workout data like GPS, heart rate, and elevation. You can also manually adjust this estimate to account for other factors like stress or soreness. For workouts where an automatic estimate is not provided — like strength training — you can still enter an effort rating at the end of each workout.

Once you are done with this story, click here to catch up with our August 2024 issue.