Apple WWDC20 brings together the global Apple developer community of more than 23 million in a phenomenal and virtual way. Kicking off the 31st edition of their flagship WWDC conference as the biggest WWDC to date; Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO said “Today we’re announcing our transition to Apple silicon, making this a historic day for the Mac” 

Last year, at the WWDC event, Apple announced some fine machine learning and artificial intelligence updates and demonstrated how the developers can benefit from the customization. This year, on Day 1 of WWDC 2020, Apple made some landmark announcements unveiling a smorgasbord of updates for the iOS Developers community. 

5 key takeaways from WWDC 2020 for iOS Developers

1. New Depth API in ARKit 4

ARKit 4 introduces new ways to capture information about the real world using a new Depth API. This API is designed to work with the LiDAR sensor in iPad Pro. It enables entirely new types of apps, such as on-site architecture, design, landscaping, and manufacturing. 

2. Simplified Core ML

Machine learning development in Core ML is now easier and more extensive. With the introduction of additional tools for model deployment and encryption, new templates in Create ML, and more APIs for vision and natural language, Core ML is capable of fine-tuning models and making predictions on user’s devices. 

Core Machine learning forms the fundamental building block of any domain-specific framework and functionality. With Create ML and API’s for vision and NLP, one can build models for sound activity and object detection; and transfer learning for text classifications.

With over 100 model layers now supported with Core ML, the ML, it is believed that models can be built that deliver experiences that deeply understand the vision, NLP and speech like never before.

Also read: Speech is the next UX

3. Extended Touch Gesture Control in PencilKit

PencilKit now features Scribble, which makes it easy to create apps with text entry fields that users can write in with Apple Pencil, handwriting for any UITextField. Developers will also have access to stroke data using PencilKit as stroke API gives access to the strokes as the user draws. It seamlessly handles both Apple Pencil input and system touch gestures.

Also read: How does AI recognise your hand gestures and movements?

4. Extensions in SwiftUI

Apple added no breaking changes to SwiftUi but just extensions. Swift Package Manager adds support for resources to easily share Asset Catalog bundles and localizations. 

New open-source packages have been introduced for Numerics, ArgumentParser, and System making Swift a great language for more use cases. SwiftUI now contains app-structure APIs for all Apple platforms, e.g. @main, @SceneBuilder, Settings etc. Now developers can write an entire app in Swift UI using the life cycle API and share it across all Apple platforms. 

5. Wider Scope of Testing in TestFlight 

TestFlight has been helping developers in testing beta versions of their apps. In the WWDC 2020 announcement, it will now support up to 100 team members for fast build distribution. Moreover, iOS Developers can Invite up to 10,000 external testers through email address or by sharing a public link.

Wrapping-up

During the WWDC 2020, many new APIs were announced that can enable iOS Developers to create amazing app-experiences. It also includes the AirPods Motion API that gives developers access to movement data in real-time. Also, Developers can now enable users to upgrade existing third-party app accounts to Sign in with Apple accounts.

Apart from Apple’s updates and releases, it is also creating an additional channel for developers to share feedback on developer’s forums. Developers are encouraged to share their feedback on the forum so that the team at Apple continues to update on the fixes and enhance the App Store experience for the entire developer’s community. 

Check out – 1-on-1 Developer Labs

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