What to Expect at Apple’s WWDC 2024

Apple did, however, confirm new accessibility features are coming to iPad “later this year” via a press release published in May. These capabilities include the ability to control the iPad with eye tracking, spoken shortcuts that assign custom utterances Siri can understand, and a feature that uses onscreen cues to reduce motion sickness for people looking at their device in a moving vehicle. Hopefully, we’ll be able to see demos of these features at the conference.

MacOS 15

As is the case every year, the official name for the latest version of macOS is always a guessing game. Last year, Parker Ortolani, a product manager at Vox Media, tweeted a list of unused names that Apple has apparently trademarked—one of those names being Sonoma, which was used for the current version of macOS. So, the company may go with any of the names that remain. (I’m personally rooting for macOS Mammoth.)

Rumors suggest a redesigned calculator app (exciting!) is coming to Mac. According to AppleInsider, it’ll look similar to the iOS version, with rounded buttons and the ability to adjust the size. The app will also come equipped with a history tape for accessing previous calculations and support for Math Notes—which the publication says “will essentially foster integration of the Calculator and Notes applications, giving users the option to create notes with math-related elements or mathematical notation.” Let’s hope this means we’re finally getting a Calculator app for iPad too.

In late May, AppleInsider also reported that macOS 15 will come with some UI changes. Siri will could have a new monochromatic menu bar icon, a redesigned System Settings app (where apps will be reorganized based on importance), and a new unified menu for page controls in Safari.

Speaking of Safari, we might also see a new Intelligent Search feature that uses the Ajax LLM to pinpoint topics and key phrases from a webpage to generate a summary.

WatchOS 11

Unlike iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, it appears the updates to watchOS won’t be as extensive. (The same applies to tvOS 18.) But this tracks, seeing how watchOS 10 was packed with new features like a specialized cycling capability, topographic maps for hiking, mental health tools, and easier navigation between apps.

According to, yet again, Mark Gurman, WatchOS 11 might include a more advanced version of Siri for “on-the-go tasks” (which would make sense since iOS 18 is rumored to include a Siri overhaul) as well as Fitness app upgrades. Aside from that, it’s likely a minor update overall. In terms of Apple Watch support, a report from iPhoneSoft via MacRumors, claims that Apple will be dropping support for the Apple Watch Series 4 (which came out in 2018).

VisionOS 2.0

Although the Vision Pro was unveiled at WWDC last year, visionOS was released in February of this year at the same time the mixed-reality headset started shipping. But the next big software update is reportedly already in the works.

In Gurman’s Power On newsletter, he says Apple is expanding its catalog of native apps rather than just running iPad versions of them (in compatibility mode) on the headset. As 9to5Mac pointed out, several Apple apps aren’t native to visionOS yet including Calendar, Books, News, Podcasts, Reminders, Voice Memos, Stocks, Home, Shortcuts, and Maps. So maybe those will arrive on the face computer.

It’s possible we could also see a new “respiration tracking” feature, MacRumors reports. This was discovered by contributor Aaron Perris, who found references to the feature in lines of code within Vision Pro’s Mindfulness app. It will apparently give “users an immersive meditation experience using either guided meditations or self-guided sessions” by sensing your rate of breathing. However, it’s not clear whether or not this will be included in a visionOS update or if Apple will save it for a future version of the OS.

As with iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, Apple did confirm that new accessibility features are coming to the Vision Pro later this year. Some of the features mentioned in the press release are Live Captions to follow along with dialog in both live conversations and app audio (with the ability to move captions via the window bar during Apple immersive Video), along with a few features that make the Vision Pro more accessible: a color inverter, a setting that changes the transparency of windows and objects in the field of view, and a feature that dims flashing light effects.