WWDC 2022 recap: iOS 16, new MacBook Air, iPadOS 16, watchOS 9 and more

Good morning and welcome to Tom's Guide's WWDC 2022 live blog. 

We'll be rounding up all the last-minute rumors and leaks ahead of today's event — and there are plenty of those — then bringing you all the news as it happens from 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT / 6 p.m. BST. Stick with us and you won't miss a thing.

Like the last two years, WWDC is a virtual event, with the presentations — including today’s keynote — streaming online. But it would be more accurate to describe WWDC as mostly virtual.

A handful of developers will be attending the WWDC keynote in-person, and Apple’s on-campus presentations aren’t just limited to the keynote. The company is also showing off its new Developer Center.

Apple touts the Developer Center, which is located near the Apple Park campus, as a place where developers can meet with and learn from the company’s engineers and designers. There are enough little touches to warm the heart of even the most jaded Apple Geek, including rooms named after the different macOS versions.

The biggest expected change coming to iOS 16 this year could be the ability to add widgets to the lock screen. 

Specifically, Apple is going to create new wallpapers you can select for your lock screen, and some will include widgets that presumably show the current temperature, upcoming appointments or any of the other at-a-glance info you’ve been able to place on your home screen since iOS 14.

But that’s not the only rumored change to iOS 16, which sounds like quite a substantial update. 

We’ve got a round-up of the top rumored features for iOS 16 including updates to notifications and Messages. We’ve also heard that new apps could be appearing in iOS 16, though there are no specifics on what these apps might address. That didn’t stop us from making a few guesses about some iOS 16 changes.

The lock screen with widgets feature could set the stage for Apple to add always-on display support to some iPhone 14 models in the fall. (The guess is this might be an iPhone 14 Pro-only capability.) But even if that’s the case, Apple is unlikely to mention the iPhone 14 by name. A teaser like the one Google pulled off at Google I/O for the Pixel 7 just isn’t part of Apple’s playbook.

Which is not to save that there may not be hints about what’s coming in the fall contained in Apple’s iOS 16 preview. Here’s a look at what WWDC could tell us about the upcoming iPhone.

In the buildup to WWDC, one of the most talked-about rumors is new multitasking features for the iPad, coming via iPadOS 16. Apple routinely beefs up the multitasking capabilities of its tablets — last year’s iPadOS 15 update made it easier to jump into Split Screen or Slide Out views with different apps — but this year’s effort sounds a little bit different.

Specifically, Apple insiders are expecting a more desktop-like experience for running multiple apps at once and jumping between the different apps. One rumor points to resizable app windows, exactly like the ones you have on the Mac. 

Mark Gurman of Bloomberg has the most complete look at iPadOS 16’s rumored multitasking revamp, at least until Apple fills in the details during today’s keynote.

There’s another possible announcement at WWDC 2022, and it relates to Apple’s efforts in mixed reality. Rumors suggest there’s an Apple VR/AR headset in the works, and while few expect a demonstration of the device — it’s supposedly not shipping until 2023 — Apple could still unveil tools for building apps that take advantage of AR.

Such a move could be as simple as releasing a new version of ARKit, the developer tools Apple already offers for creating AR-friendly iPhone apps. But there’s also a possibility of a preview of realityOS, the rumored software that would power any Apple VR/AR gear.

It’s worth paying attention to any AR news at WWDC as it could give us a better idea of just what Apple is planning for next year.

Of course the strongest hardware rumor around WWDC concerns the new MacBook Air 2022.

This is tipped to get a major design overhaul for the first time in years, with thinner display bezels, a rectangular rounded chassis, new color options and more. But there could be more to this upgrade than just a design refresh; it's also rumored to get a new Apple M2 chip, a Mini-LED display and new ports, among other treats.

We've rounded up all the top rumored MacBook Air 2022 features ahead of today's WWDC keynote.

Breaking: OK, this is big — the Apple Store is down right now. 

This is important, because as MacRumors' Sami Fathi tweets above, this only tends to happen when new hardware is on the way.

So, that MacBook Air 2022 is looking like a lock, right?

Here's a look at the screen the Apple Store is currently showing. There's no further info on this beyond what Apple says, which is unsurprisingly vague: "Developing news. We’re making updates to the Apple Store. Check back after the event, streaming on apple.com or on the Apple TV app."

Coincidentally, we saw another rumor earlier today suggesting a new MacBook Air could be on the way. This was based on store pages found on B&H Photo's site that mentioned a 14-inch MacBook Air and a new 13-inch MacBook Pro, plus a Mac mini M2 and a mysterious "Mac mini tower" using an Apple M1 Pro chip. 

However, these rumors have now been dismissed, with B&H's senior manager of web creative content Shawn C. Steiner saying the images aren't real and were "Preemptively made before the last event and not properly removed. All guesses based on rumors."

If the MacBook Air 2022 increasingly looks like a surefire thing for WWDC 2022, what about other Mac hardware? 

Well, there had also been rumors that we could see a new 13-inch MacBook Pro 2022 today. This would be an entry-level machine that would sit between the Air and the MacBook Pro 14- and 16-inch models that were launched last year. 

However, that now seems less likely. Writing in his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman claims that the new MacBook Pro 2022 was due to launch alongside the Air today, but that lockdowns in China have disrupted manufacturing plans. A shame, if so, but we can still expect to see it later this year.

If Apple does reveal new hardware at WWDC, it would hardly be without precedent. While it is primarily a software-focused conference, WWDC has been the venue for some pretty important launches in the past — including phones, laptops, desktops, audio products and peripherals.

To catch you up, Tom's Guide's computing writer Tony Polanco has compiled a breakdown of all the hardware Apple's ever launched at WWDC.

Sticking with hardware, let's return to the rumored Apple AR/VR headset. The smart money says we won't see this at WWDC 2022 — but who knows? 

We certainly hope it could be Apple's One More Thing today — in fact, Tom's Guide's news editor Sanjana Prakash has written an article about exactly why Apple should reveal its AR/VR headset at WWDC 2022.

So, what do we know about the Apple M2 chip that everyone thinks would power the hardware rumored to arrive today? Well, as you might expect, it will likely be found up and down the Apple hardware lineup. Apple's reportedly been testing it in "at least nine" Macs that it's working on. And just like the M1, there are four versions of the M2 in testing — again, this would match the M1's vanilla Pro, Max and Ultra variants.

Previously reported rumors show leaks of it being tested in a MacBook Air 2022 (J413), a Mac mini 2022 (J473) and an entry-level MacBook Pro 2022 (J493). Said MacBook Pro would likely be an update to the 13-inch MacBook Pro, which isn't the port-rich model that debuted in 2022. This would again mirror how the M1 debuted. But we've got some potential bad news, though: Apple leaker Ming-Chi Kuo said the M2 may not be much more powerful than the M1. 

WWDC 2021 gave very little (practically no) time to talk about tvOS 15. We're hoping that tvOS 16 is newsworthy enough to get a little more attention this year, as my colleague Philip Michaels noted that multi-account management should improve for better recommendations and an improved Up Next row.

Personally, I (Tom's Guide Streaming Editor) Henry T. Casey want to see tvOS 16 take a page from the iPad and fuboTV, with a a MultiView mode so you can see multiple apps at the same time.

One rumor about Messages that has me openly hoping for something new came from Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, who gave us the notion that Messages may become more social media-like. He wrote that "In Messages, I’d expect more social network-like functionality, particularly around audio messages," but I'm hoping that's not the only way.

Right now, the Focus Modes on Apple devices let you signal to others that you're trying to live a distraction-free life at the moment — with a message that explains how a user "has notifications silenced." I'd love for them to go a step further: let me set a personalized message that explains what I'm doing. Yes, as Lauren Goode wrote for Wired, it's time to bring back AOL away messages.

So, as you may have seen, rumors about that 13-inch MacBook Pro 2022 have been ping-ponging around, and right now people think we shouldn't expect to see it. And since we're talking about this laptop, it's a good time to talk about the potential issue at hand with it: a lackluster update.

As my colleague Mark Spoonauer wrote, the MacBook Pro 2022 could be a big letdown for him. That's because the M2 chip is the only big rumored improvement. Yes, this 13-inch MacBook Pro would continue to create confusion, as the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros would continue to be more-Pro than this model, as this new model would continue that terrible USB-C-only design ethos. So, if and when Apple does update the 13-inch MacBook Pro, we're curious what they're going to do to make it that much better than the MacBook Air, which still feels like a better buy for most.

As much as we're excited for the new MacBook Air 2022, there's a bit of concern about availability. Yesterday, Mark Gurman at Bloomberg noted that "If the new Air is indeed announced at the conference, I’d expect shortages or a non-immediate release date."

More details about this laptop: it may get a notched screen to match the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros, and its four predicted colors are dark blue, "champagne-like gold," space gray and silver. 

We are live from Apple Park (where breakfast is being served), waiting to enter the venue for WWDC 2022. We're checking our Apple Watches and other timepieces for how much longer we'll be waiting to go in. 

How will you watch WWDC 2022 live streams? In an alternate reality where I don't actually work for a tech news site, I see a variant of myself watching it casually on the Apple TV 4K's TV app (remember the Apple Events app? RIP).

If it's been a while since you watched an Apple event live online, you may not know about the one very good change to the streams. Apple's YouTube channel now has a live feed from the event, as you can now watch Apple events on any devices. Years ago, you needed an Apple device to watch in Safari.

As an Apple Watch owner, I'm happy to read my colleague Kate Kozuch explain that watchOS 9 compatibility likely won't skip past my precious Apple Watch Series 5. I know it's getting long in the tooth, but I don't feel a need to upgrade yet. The big question around supported models is for the Apple Watch 3, which may not get the new watchOS update.

Kate also details how watchOS 9 will likely deliver new faces, and how rumors suggest a new sleep-tracking feature is coming. We'd hope Apple's sleep tracking gets more precise and granular, instead of just focusing on the start and stop of your sleepy-time.

@tomsguide

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Our TikTok guru Kate Kozuch is talking WWDC with this brief roundup of what today is all about. And she's right that the online Apple Store going down is almost code for new hardware around the corner.

Or at least it's a good excuse for everyone to be yelling "the MacBook Air 2022 is coming! the MacBook Air 2022 is coming! the MacBook Air 2022 is coming!"

Philip Michaels here, taking over our WWDC 2022 live blog for the duration. Our men on the inside are... moving inside, as the people attending WWDC in person are heading into the venue on the Apple Park campus.

Here's a quick video capturing the scene before today's WWDC keynote.

As a native Californian, one of my favorite WWDC games to play is "What California landmark or city will Apple name this year's macOS update after?" It's certainly more entertaining to me than when Apple was going through its Name Everything After Big Cats phase.

Past California-inspired macOS code names have included Yosemite, El Capitan, Sierra, High Sierra, Mojave and Catalina. Since the switch to macOS 11, Apple seems to be inching its way up the California coast with Big Sur (macOS 11), followed by Monterey (macOS 12).

My prediction is that Apple sticks to the coast, given that the lack of major macOS 13 rumors points to the next update not being a major overhaul. That's why I'm predicting macOS Santa Cruz makes its debut today. And if I'm wrong, at least I have the nearby Monterey Bay to provide solace.

Here's your first look at the WWDC 2022 keynote stage — or at least a stage where the folks on the Apple Park campus will be able to watch the proceedings. It's unclear from here whether Apple's going to have a live presentation or whether this year's WWDC keynote will be a pre-recorded broadcast as has been the case since Covid eliminated in-person events.

The keynote will get the most attention today, but it's not the only event on the WWDC keynote docket. According to Apple's guide for developers attending WWDC virtually, there's also a Platforms State of the Union at 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT. Expect a  deeper dive into tools and technologies that developers need; it's definitely a geekier look at what Apple's working on, as opposed to the main keynote, which is aimed at a more general audience.

At 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, Apple's announcing its Apple Design Awards for the best apps on its various platforms in all these categories: Inclusivity, Delight and Fun, Interaction, Social Impact, Visuals and Graphics, and Innovation.

Both events are presumably streaming on the WWDC website.

More people entering the WWDC 2022 staging area an hour ahead of the big event. And if you haven't already, why not grab a healthy breakfast like your friends attending WWDC are enjoying?

As anyone will tell you, WWDC is not a big hardware show, except for the times that it is. Just like how we could see a MacBook Air update today, we've seen other hardware make its debut during Apple's developer show.

We've compiled a list of all the hardware ever announced at WWDC, and it's an eclectic mix. Yes, Apple used to show off iPhones at this event, back before the company settled on the fall as the best iPhone release date.

The consistent factor on whether hardware gets announced at WWDC seems to be if it's a device that will appeal to developers. Apple also has been known to show off hardware the benefits from new technology like Apple silicon which is why the MacBook Air 2022 feels like a likely candidate to join the above list.

By the way, I made some predictions on what I hope to see at WWDC 2022. You can read the full piece while we're waiting for WWDC to begin, but the short summary is I hope there's an M2 announcement in our future as well as hints that the always-on display is set for the iPhone. Most of all though, I want Apple to convince me, an AR/VR skeptic, that an AR/VR headset like the one the company is supposedly working on is good, actually.

Mark Gurman of Bloomberg is out with his pre-WWDC predictions, and like most other observers, he's predicting notable software upgrades for the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac. He says a MacBook Air release is possible, though lockdowns in China may mean the actual release date for the laptop is far in the future. There's a possibility that the Covid delays have pushed back the laptop's arrival so far, that Apple doesn't mention it during the keynote; that fate apparently befell a 13-inch MacBook Pro that won't be on the agenda today.

Gurman repeated his forecast that we won't see the rumored Apple VR/AR headset today, though its presence will definitely be felt. He is expecting plenty of clues and AR-related revelations, though.

"Apple’s headset initiative isn’t simply the device and its operating system," Gurman writes. "It’s an entire set of new VR- and AR-powered Apple apps and experiences, a slew of input paradigms never seen before on the company’s products and a completely new platform for third-party developers."

Read the whole thing if you can.

My colleague Mark Spoonauer is on his way downstairs to the WWDC 2022 keynote. But before he began the journey, he left us with this WWDC preview video.

Apple's new developer center is getting a lot of attention from the folks visiting the Apple Park campus. Here's another collection of photos showing off the place where developers can get face time with Apple engineers and developers.

Hope those WWDC attendees brought sunscreen, as we share the view from Mark Spoonauer's seat at WWDC 2022.

The view of the WWDC 2022 keynote at stately Michaels Manor is a bit more shaded if somewhat low-key as I am live streaming the keynote via the TV app on my Apple TV. Your current view: lots of colors while a thumping beat plays.

The drones are in the house.

The word from Cupertino: We're about to get started.

We begin with a video of those creepy-rainbow colored memoji and logos for the various Apple dev tools like Swift, plus a nighttime shot of the Apple campus. That transitions to a daytime shot, where Tim Cook joins us from inside Apple HQ to welcome us to WWDC.

Tim Cook talks about the Developer Center where app makers can connect with Apple engineers. There are also online sessions launched last fall. And Tim Cook is also talking about app academies as Apple's way of reaching out to both students and underrepresented groups.

In case you were wondering who the target audience of WWDC is, it's developers, developers, developers (to paraphrase Steve Ballmer).

Craig Federighi will lead things off from the lobby of the Steve Jobs Theater (or the sub-basement based on some Marvel-grade CGI. (Not the good kind.) We're going to talk about iOS 16 first.

New personalization features are going to be designed to make the iPhone experience your own. And we're starting it off with a redesigned lock screen.

iOS 16 will bring the biggest change ever to the lock screen, Federighi says, completely reimagining how it looks and works We're seeing different fonts for the date and time, along with some improved imagery on the wallpaper

You can customize with a tap to change wallpaper color filter, plus the font/color for date and time.

The tap-to-edit is somewhat concerning: I see a lot of potential inadvertent taps launching you into edit mode. But we'll have to see things in action before we judge.

Oh, yes, there are widgets as has been rumored. You can add more than one and there are calendar, weather, and other options.

Here's a video of the lock screen in action.

With the lock screen changes, notifications are going to roll in from the bottom. And there are now live notifications aimed at eliminating the constant stream of notifications for sporting events and other activities. With live notifications, the notification window updates in place. It's very handy in instances like tracking a game score or the status of an Uber ride you've hailed.

Focus is getting an update, expanding to let you configure widgets on home/lock screen based on Focus session you choose. Apps will also be able to detect what Focus session you're in — you'll be able to configure certain behaviors in certain apps based on what Focus session you choose to set your phone.

Three highly-requested features are coming to Messages. You can edit Messages you've sent, eliminating embarrassing typos. You can undo send on messages, and mark message threads as unread.

The Shared with You feature introduced in iOS 15 is getting an API so developers will be able to take advantage of the feature that calls out links, files, and photos shared in Messages.

SharePlay is extended to Messages as well, so you can watch videos in the Messages thread.

iOS 16 supports on-device dictation, similar to what Google has been doing with its Pixel phones. You can edit as you dictate with an on-screen keyboard.

There are some other intelligence features like the Live Text feature introduced in iOS 15 coming to video.

Wallet improvements build on changes introduced last year. You can share keys with other users in iOS 16. ID cards are coming to more locations, too.

Apple Pay will support new types of payments. Apple Pay later lets you spread payments into four equal payments spread over six weeks -- there are no interest payments. The Wallet app manages upcoming payments.

Order tracking will let merchants deliver receipt and tracking info directly to Wallet.

Maps is adding Las Vegas along with six more cities to the detailed city views feature. Some of the other Maps features:

• Multistop routing: You set up to 15 stop and send the data to your iPhone when you're ready to go. You can use Siri can add stops
• Transit: iOS 16 will make it easier to see fares and add transit card to wallet. You can also see if you’re running low on your fare balance within Apple Maps
• New detailed maps make it easier to find things like scooters.
• The Look Around feature in Maps is being integrated into Zillow.

Apple News is getting some sports-focused changes, led by My Sports. You'll get scores, standings, highlights for major sports leagues and you can configure it to follow your favorite teams. 

Subscribe to Apple News Plus, and you'll get premium sports coverage from newspapers and magazines.

Family Sharing will make it easier to create accounts for kids by making it sure parental controls are correctly set from the get-go. Apple is simplifying device set up for kids with Quick Start. 

Requests for more screen time will now come to Messages. You can respond there instead of going into Settings.

A Family Checklist feature will remind you of family sharing capabilities.

Photos is led by a new iCloud Shared Photo library in iOS 16. It will let you set up one shared library with up to five other people. People will have equal permissions for adding, editing and deleting photos. Photos shared here will show up in Memories and the Photos widget.

There’s also a new setting right in the Camera app that lets you add photos straight into Photo Library. You’ll receive intelligent sharing suggestions based on who is in the frame.

An interesting privacy and safety feature in iOS 16 is Safety Check. It's an addition to Settings that lets you turn off sharing details if you've left an abusive relationship. It's a smarter way of managing permissions and making sure your information is no longer in the hands of someone who can harm you.

As for Home features, Apple is touting its participation in Matter, which guarantees interoperability between smart home devices. This should mean more accessories that work with Apple's HomeKit.

The Home app's been redesigned for easier setup and management of your smart devices. There are new categories — climate, lights and more — that give you an overview of what's happening at the top of the screen.

In addition to the iPhone, the revamped Home app is coming to the iPad and Mac.

Apple says it's working with car makers to reinvent the driver experience with a new generation of Car Play.

There's more iPhone integration, as the device powers widgets that appear in the Car Play interface. This lets the iPhone drive a  new heads-up display with custom layouts tailored to the car, as well as new instrument cluster options. 

Apple's partners include Audi, Jaguar, Ford, Volva, Honda, Mercedes and others. You can expect vehicles with this new Car Play coming late next year.

iOS 16 includes an improvement to spatial audio on the AirPods that will use the TrueDepth front camera to personalize sound.

The iPad's Quick Note is coming to iOS, as well. And there are more Memoji customization.

Here's a CarPlay video to give you an idea of what changes are coming there.

Time for watchOS 9. You're getting four new watch faces, each with new complications. Developers get new tools that make it easier to share data.

As for fitness, watchOS 9 adds three new running metrics (such as stride length and ground metric time) that the Apple Watch can measure.

Other new Workout app features include new heart rate zones, new Custom Workout options and new workout views switchable via the digital crown.

The Apple Watch's Fitness app is coming to the iPhone via iOS 16. That's for people who've not yet gotten an Apple Watch (and maybe prompt them to buy a watch at some point).

watchOS adds a sleep stage feature to detect which stage of sleep you're in. It will show you how much time you spent in each stage and when you woke up. The Health app on your iPhone will provide further details.

Apple Heart and Movement Study participants can now share sleep stage data to help with sleep discovery.

AFib History now tracks Atrial Fibrillation — or it will, once the FDA clears it. It will track atrial fibrillation health and events for better health management.

If you take prescription medications, watchOS 9 adds a Medication app for tracking medications, vitamins and supplements. You can get reminders for meds you need to take regularly. The Medication app can warn you of drug-drug interactions when you add new prescriptions.

Apple is going to start reminding you of what health data you're sharing and who you share it with. 

Now we're talking Mac and the Apple silicon transition. That means a new generation of Apple silicon for the Mac in the form of the M2 chipset.

M2 focuses on power-efficient performance. It's a second-generation 5nm processor with 20 billion transistors, an increase of what you'll find on M1. M2 supports up to 24GB of unified memory. It's built around an 8-core CPU, with four faster performance cores and four enhanced efficiency cores.

Expect nearly 2x performance with the M2 over the M1 at the same power consumption level. M2 can reach 87% of peak performance while using a quarter of the power.

GPU performance is 25% on the M2 at the same power level and 35% better than M1 at peak performance. 

The end result should be a machine that runs cool and quiet with better battery life.

Ah, but what machine will feature the M2? It's the MacBook Air, which Apple calls its most loved Mac. And this version of the MacBook Air is completely redesigned around the M2.

The wedge shape of the previous Air has given way to a new design, though the MacBook Air remains thin — 11.3mm thin. It weighs 2.7 pounds There are four colors: Space Gray, Silver, Starlight and Midnight. Physical volume is 20% less than what it was.

You get a larger 13.6-inch display for more screen real estate. It's 25% brighter than before (500 nits).

The Air supports fast charging with a 67W adapter. You get up to 2TB of storage and 24GB of memory. Basically, the catchphrase here is "thinner, lighter and faster" with the M2 responsible for that last feature. 

M2 will come to another Mac as well — the 13-inch MacBook Pro. Apple's promising 40% improvement over the last generation of MacBook Pro.

Expect 20 hours of video playback. Like the MacBook Air, it will support up to 24GB of memory.

MacBook Air will cost $1,199. MacBook Pro is $1,299. They're coming back next month. If you want a MacBook Air under $1,000, the M1-based MacBook Air remains in the lineup.

We're not done with the Mac, as Apple is talking macOS now. The focus is on making the core things you do with macOS even better while using continuity to share features among Apple devices.

MacOS 13 will be known as macOS Ventura. That's south of Monterey for those of you following along the California coastline.

Leading off the macOS Ventura features is Stage Manager. It's meant to help you focus on the app you're using. Windows move off to the side, so the app you currently use is front and center. You switch between apps by clicking on apps in the dock.

If you've got multiple windows open in an app, they're stacked on top of each other, and you can click to scroll through those.

Stage Manager also lets you pair apps together.

Spotlight gets an update in macOS Ventura meant to deliver a more consistent experience across devices. Spotlight can find images across the system and on the web; you can search text in images using Live Text. iPadOS and iOS are also gaining the ability to take actions from Spotlight. (On the iPhone access to Spotlight is now available on the bottom of the home screen.)

Mail is getting some improvements, including an overhaul of its search function for more accurate and complete results. There's a Reminder feature in Mail, too.

Safari in macOS Ventura sees some improvements, too, though they largely appear to be under the hood for better performance. There is a Shared Tab Groups feature for sharing tabs with friends, family or people you're working on a project with.

On the security front, Apple is touting passkeys, which are meant to eventually replace passwords. You use Touch ID or FaceID to create unique login credentials. Apple actually tipped its hand on this feature back in May.

Apple claims it's getting serious about gaming. (I'll believe that when I see it, but do go on.) This is largely taking the form of new developer tools, like MetalFX upscaling and a new fast resource loading API in Metal 3. The bottom line is that Mac games should look better and be able to take advantage of the graphics capabilities powered by Apple silicon.

Updated Continuity features include the ability to handoff FaceTime calls between devices — helpful if you want to move a FaceTime call from your iPhone to the Mac for a bigger view.

To that end, a Continuity Camera lets you use your iPhone as a webcam. The iPhone's rear cameras, after all, are incredibly powerful. It's a wireless experience where your Mac automatically detects your iPhone and uses it as a camera without you even having to wake your iPhone. Supported features include Center Stage and Portrait mode for blurring the background.

in a very cool feature, the ultrawide camera offers a separate desk view while the other cameras on the phone keep you in the frame, too.

It will work with Zoom, Teams and other video messaging apps.

We're not done yet. It's iPadOS 16 time, and yes, the Weather app is finally coming to the iPad. (Developers will get a weather API, too, to build weather support into their apps.)

But that's not the biggest change. Apple is touting new collaboration features. It's easier to documents and files with people you're already communicating with. The feature connects those documents to the conversation so you can see changes as they happen.

Apparently collaboration features will be coming to macOS and iOS.

There's an app coming to iPadOS later this year called Freeform. It looks like a white board that multiple people can share and collaborate on. A live cursor shows you where people are working on the board. It will support photo, video, audio, documents and web links, with online previews.

It's unclear if this will arrive with iPadOS 16, or whether it will appear in a subsequent update. iOS and macOS are getting the feature too.

Metal 3 support comes to the iPad for improved gaming. An Activity section is coming to Game Center so you can more easily see what you're friends are playing. There will also be a tie-in to gaming via FaceTime's SharePlay. That's definitely coming as a subsequent update to iPadOS 16.

The iPad is getting more desktop-like with some find-and-release features, customizable toolbars, and more.

Reference Mode provides a consistent workflow across Apple if you use your iPad as an secondary screen for your laptop or desktop.

iPadOS 16 supports virtual memory swap on M1-powered tablets that lets you allocate more memory to apps. That also allows for some multitasking changes as Stage Manager is coming to the iPad. If you've forgotten Stage Manager, it's the multitasking feature introduced in macOS Ventura a little bit ago.

Here's our initial post on the MacBook Air powered by the M2 chip.

That's a full day of announcements, and we didn't even hear anything about tvOS 16. (That suggests that any updates for the Apple TV software will likely be minor.) 

OS updates are available as developer betas today. The public betas follow next month. The full updates will be available for the general public in the fall.

Summing up our biggest announcements, then:

• The M2 chip is here, and it's debuting in new versions of the MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro coming next month.
• iOS 16 introduces a number of changes, the most substantial of which appears to the arrival of widgets on a more customizable lock screen, some big changes to Messages and an overhaul of Car Play.
• watchOS 9's top features include more sleep-tracking features involving sleep stages, new running metrics and more detailed atrial fibrillation history (pending FDA approval).
• macOS Ventura is a surprisingly big update with a new Stage Manager feature aimed at handling multitasking and the ability to turn your iPhone camera into a webcam.
• iPadOS 16 gets the Stage Manager feature, too, and is picking up other changes like a new Weather app.

Looks like the MacBook Air 2022 is a popular item among the people invited to Apple's campus for WWDC.

I don't know about you, but I was surprised — pleasantly so — by how substantial the macOS 13 update was. The Stage Manager feature seems like a much better approach to multitasking, and it happens to be well-suited for the iPad as well. The iPhone-as-your-Mac's-webcam feature impresses, particularly with the ability to use the ultrawide lens as a overhead view of your desk area. And even the Continuity and Spotlight tweaks seem well-considered. (We'll see how well-considered once we download the developer beta, available today.)

For a rundown of all the big changes coming to the Mac, be sure to read our macOS Ventura overview.

When Apple's holding something like a product event or a WWDC keynote, it usually spills some details about upcoming Apple TV Plus shows. Not today, though — not even a peep about Ted Lasso season 3 and when we might get a season premiere.

Of course, there was some Ted Lasso news today, as Brett Goldstein confirms the long-standing assumption that the next season of the popular Apple TV Plus show will be its last. So no season 4, where Ted tries his hand at taking over Harlequins in rugby union.

If you're an Apple Watch fan, you may be feeling left out of all the WWDC excitement, what with the very detailed iOS, iPadOS and macOS announcements. But watchOS 9 has its thrills to, especially if you happen to be a runner.

New running metrics — Stride Length, Ground Contact Time, and Vertical Oscillation — are coming to Apple Watches in the fall. Heart rate, "time in the zone," average heart rate and overall workout duration will appear on a single screen, which makes that data more glanceable for runners.

Jane McGuire, our resident fitness editor, has all the details on what runners can expect from watchOS 9.

You probably did not wake up today expecting CarPlay to be as big a deal as it turned out to be in the WWDC keynote. But that's the magic of live events.

We're in for a wait before we see the changes Apple outline today — cars sporting the new version of CarPlay won't arrive until late 2023 — but as my colleague Roland Moore-Colyer observes in his CarPlay overview, this updated version turns Apple's offering from a single-screen experience into something that's integrated into the car itself.

It's never to early to start thinking about Apple hardware preorders, and we've got a guide on how to preorder the MacBook Air 2022. One possible hold-up: other than Apple promising that the M2-powered laptop is coming in July, we don't have a ship date or a date for when you can start placing orders.

We've told you all about the MacBook Air 2022 specs. Now here are some initial impressions after Mark Spoonauer had the chance to go hands-on with the MacBook Air 2022 at Apple's Cupertino headquarters.

The early word? This is looking like a best laptops contender, despite some reservations about pricing and a complicated charging setup.

If you don't have the time to sit down with our written MacBook Air hands-on, my colleague Kate Kozuch offers this visual hands-on that lets you see Apple's super-thin laptop up close.

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♬ Piece Of Your Heart （Cg Remix） - Official Sound Studio

In the buildup to iOS 16, we pretty much figured that the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus and original iPhone SE would be cut off the list of iOS 16 supported devices. All three phones arrived in 2016 or earlier, so it was frankly a surprise when they supported iOS 15.

True to the rumors, Apple did drop support for those phones in its upcoming iPhone software update. But surprisingly, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are also dropped — iOS 16 requires and iPhone 8 or later.

Our look at iOS 16 supported devices has the full list of who's in and who's out.

Good morning! WWDC 2022's big keynote may have taken place yesterday, but there's plenty of news still to share as we learn more about the various new devices and software updates revealed yesterday. 

Let's start with watchOS 9, the latest version of Apple's wearable OS. This is packed with features for Apple Watch, including new running metrics, watch faces and sleep-tracking data. But it turns out it won't be coming to every Apple Watch — including one model that Apple is still selling.

Tom's Guide editor Kate Kozuch has put together a guide to the watchOS 9 supported devices, and also made her case for why you should not buy this Apple Watch model anymore.

The new MacBook Air 2022 dominated WWDC headlines on the hardware side, but it wasn't the only laptop Apple announced yesterday. The MacBook Pro 2022 was also revealed, and it differs from the Air in several important ways. 

Global editor in chief Mark Spoonauer sets out the differences between them in this MacBook Air 2022 vs MacBook Pro 2022 face-off.

The new lock screen features in iOS caught our eye yesterday. The customization options look great — potentially even beating Android on this front — while the Focus Mode enhancements also promise to be very useful. But it's not all good.

As our Phones Editor Jordan Palmer explains, he can't wait for the new iOS 16 lock screen — but was hoping for more on the notifications front. 

One area of Apple's ever-growing ecosystem that didn't get much love in the WWDC 2022 keynote was audio. Apple is expected to release a new AirPods Pro 2 model later this year, but there was no hint of that yesterday.

Instead, though, we did get a cool new AirPods feature in iOS 16. It's related to Spatial audio and it sounds like it could be well worth checking out when the final version of the OS arrives.

Apple's other big hardware announcement yesterday, outside of the MacBook Air 2022, was the new Apple M2 chip. The second-generation version of Apple's bespoke silicon promises big advances over the M1 (which is hardly a slouch when it comes to power itself). 

We've taken a closer look at the new chip and exactly how powerful it could be in our Apple M2 guide.

The new MacBook Air 2022 is making some waves for the wrong reason. Apple's MacBook Air tech specs page for the new laptop reveals that the system can support only a single external monitor. The same is also true for the refreshed MacBook Pro 2022. 

For example, the Dell XPS 13 can accommodate dual external monitors via its Thunderbolt port. The HP Spectre x360 can also drive two displays at once. So what gives?

If you sat through the iOS 16 preview and wondered "Shouldn't Apple confirm that an always-on display is coming to the iPhone," then wonder no more. Code in the iOS 16 developer beta suggests that Apple will add that feature with the iPhone 14 — most likely restricting it to the iPhone 14 Pro models that should be capable of scaling down their refresh rate to 1Hz.

Apple rarely announces phone features before the phones themselves are out, so that's why there was no specific callout of always-on displays when showing off the iOS 16 lock screen capabilities. But the stage is clearly set for the fall.