The features Apple announced at WWDC that it should have added years ago
Whilst Apple’s WWDC 2022 event was brimming with exciting news includingiOS 16, a newMacBook Air, theM2 chipand more, there were several announcements that really made our heads spin.
Apple likes everyone to think that it’s at the forefront of technology, but some of the ‘new’ features coming to its devices lag so far behind the rest of the tech world, they made us ask “did that really not exist before?”. Here are the big ones:
Scheduling emails
Yes, the feature that’s been on Gmail and Outlook since the dawn of time (well, not quite, but at least for several years). But hey, better late than never, right?
In the new Mail update, users can now send emails at specific times, undo sends, follow up and more. This will be especially useful to those who frequently email users in different parts of the world and don’t want their emails to be pinging people at stupid o’clock.
Weather app on iPad
What? The iPad doesn’t have a weather app? No, for reasons known only to Apple, only a weather widget was available on iPads. If you tapped it, it redirected you to a clunky weather website. But, finally, with iPadOS 16, the tablets will be getting the full weather app, similar to the one you’ll find on iPhones. It comes complete with some fancy weather-themed backgrounds, statistics, maps and more.
Unfortunately, version 16 won’t bring the much sought after calculator app. Fingers crossed Craig Federighi will give us a big, cringy reveal for that in 2023. After all, Apple has to keepsomefeatures back for the next big release.
Multi-stop routing on Apple Maps
When your iPad updates to iPadOS 16, you’ll be able to add multiple stops when planning a route to calculate the full distance of a journey.
Even the biggest Apple fans at Tech Advisor admit that Apple Maps really has some way to go before it can catch up with Google, and this newly announced feature continues to prove that Apple’s hottest news can be Android’s back catalogue.
Shared Photo Libraries
Google added this feature a whopping five years ago in Google Photos, so it’s about time that Apple users got in on the action.
iCloud’s Shared Photo library allows family members to choose which images they’d like to share from their library to these albums – they can also let the iPhone do it automatically. It allows up to five users in one library and is limited to users in a Family Sharing group.
Heart rate monitoring zones
Fitness fanatics, rejoice! WatchOS 9 can now tell you what ‘zone’ your heart rate is in during a workout. It sounds good… until you realise that this has been available on £50/$50 fitness trackers for a long while. It was also the feature that made this writer ask – incredulously – “What? Didn’t the Apple Watch have workout zones before?”
Nonetheless, this is a boon for fitness-loving Apple Watch owners who will be able to save logs of workouts, and switch between sports if you happen to be into your triathlons.
Advanced sleep tracking
I know, I know. You’d assume the #1-selling smartwatch would be able to properly track your sleep. But no. Until now – or at least until watchOS 9 comes out – you haven’t been able to see your REM, deep sleep, and core sleep throughout the night. Yet another feature that’s been around on much cheaper hardware for years.
But, again, it’s another third-party app that Apple Watch users won’t need soon. And the stats can be compared with heart rate and respiratory rate metrics in the Health app on the iPhone.
Author: Hannah Cowton-Barnes, Entertainment Editor, Tech Advisor
As Tech Advisor’s Entertainment Editor, Hannah is the resident expert in all things streaming, film and TV. Before joining Tech Advisor in 2019, she studied Theatre and Performance at the University of Leeds and created a website dedicated to geek culture and lifestyle. She’s also reviewed a whole range of gadgets including flagship smartphones, wearables and styling tools. Outside of Foundry, she’s written freelance pieces for Polygon, Metro and Den of Geek, and is proud to be a Women Techmakers Ambassador for Google.
