Apple Software in 2024 — What to Expect
Apple Software in 2024 — What to Expect
2023 brought exciting updates to Apple’s software. What will we see this year?
With 2023 behind us, it’s time to look ahead to 2024 and what we can expect to see this year. In 2023, we saw updates and new features across the board for Macs, iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches.
Some changes were welcome. Others were more controversial. Looking forward, what new software can we expect to see from Cupertino this year?
iOS 18
I remember, years ago, my excitement for the release of iOS 6 — watching with anticipation as Apple announced all the great new features of the new phone OS. It’s hard to believe we’re already coming up on iOS 18, yet here we are.
iOS 17 brought us key new features like standby, interactive widgets, live voicemail, PDF editing in Notes, and more.
According to rumors, iOS 18 is expected to bring major improvements to Siri, and perhaps even the inclusion of generative AI.
But the biggest, most important potential feature of iOS 18 will be the inclusion of RCS — finally. We know that Apple has, at long last, agreed to bring RCS to the iPhone, so it makes sense that we would see its first appearance in iOS 18 in late 2024.
iPadOS 18
Apple’s iconic tablet has become the runner to beat in the touch screen computing race. Love it or hate it, the iPad is a versatile mobile computing tool with a wide range of applications and uses.
In iPadOS 17, we saw many of the same new features we got with iOS 17, along with the new-to-iPad ability to customize our lock screens, trailing a bit behind the iPhone. The 2023 release also introduced Visual Look Up, and new features for Photos, Safari, Freeform, Notes, and more.
Since iOS and iPadOS share much of the same DNA, many of the expected improvements in iOS 18 should make their way to the larger form factor as well. But I’m also hoping for improved multitasking support, though I’m sure it’s too much to ask to want full macOS-like window management.
macOS 15
In macOS 14 “Sonoma,” Apple improved on many of the new features introduced in macOS 13 “Ventura” and also brought new features like game mode, interactive widgets, the ability to share widgets from an iPhone to the Mac, and changes to screen savers, video conferencing, Safari, Siri, Photos, and privacy features.
This year, we should see macOS 15, though it’s not yet known (externally) what its name will be. My guess is Apple will continue taking names for macOS from California locations as they have done with Mavericks, Yosemite, El Capitan, Sierra, High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey, Ventura and Sonoma.
Unfortunately, Intel Macs are likely nearing the end of the road, and I suspect that in the not too distant future, macOS upgrades will require Apple silicon - or else be extremely limited on Intel machines.
WatchOS 11
Normally, we’d expect to see an updated WatchOS, but with things in limbo with the ban of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 because of legal challenges from Masimo, it’s possible we won’t see an update to the OS this year.
Last year we got WatchOS 10, which introduced a new user interface and new features for many of the built in apps.
Since September of 2015, we’ve had a new version of WatchOS each September, queuing up WatchOS 11 for September of 2024. But is it possible that major changes and updates to the OS will be postponed until the dispute with Masimo is settled?
Arguably, if Masimo claims that Apple has violated its rights in the development of its pulse oximetry tech, updates to software built to support that supposedly stolen tech may, itself, draw fire from Masimo and interested parties.
Certainly I’m no lawyer, and I don’t play one on TV, but it will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for iPad updates
In 2023, Apple surprised many of us by finally bringing two of its main professional applications to its tablet lineup. It’s now possible to film, edit, and produce the music for a video directly on an iPad using the tools many creative professionals have come to know and have loved for years.
I expect that in 2024, we’ll see continued development of these apps, working to bring better feature parity between the iPad apps and their Mac counterparts.
While I suspect it will be virtually impossible for the iPad and Mac versions of each program to reach complete feature parity, the fact that Logic and Final Cut even work on a tablet is astounding all on its own in my book.
Especially since these are subscription apps, my hope is that Apple will continue to work on, improve and add to each program to make them as fully featured and powerful as they reasonably can be considering the form factor.
What are you looking forward to most?
As usual, there are plenty of rumors about each of these coming releases, and it will be interesting to see just what we get this year. Will we see major overhauls to the operating systems we know and love? Or will we see relatively small, iterative upgrades? We’ll see soon enough.
But I’d love to know what software you’re most looking forward to from Cupertino this year.
Let me know in the comments.