Tech moves fast. It’s taken for granted everyone understands it. It’s okay to feel left behind. These articles will catch you up with the very basic foundations from the very moment that screen lights up before your eyes.
Is it on?
This may feel like a silly question, but the answer isn’t always ‘yes’ or ‘no’. While there can be some variation, virtually every device has three states. Awake, Asleep, and Off. Awake and asleep are both ‘On’ states. The device is using power and performing tasks. ‘Off’ is when your device is no longer drawing power and cannot do anything. Most modern devices are rarely truly ‘Off’.
Asleep.
Until recently it was easy to tell if your device is awake or asleep. If the screen was on, it’s awake. If off, it’s asleep. When a device is asleep, it is no longer responding to your actions. It may show you information like the time or weather, and it may be listening for a ‘wake word’ like ‘Siri’ or ‘Alexa’, but you aren’t actively using it, so it is doing its own thing.
In this state, many devices go into a low-power mode to save energy. They will often use this time to perform maintenance or download new content or updates. The screen may or may not be off, but the device is still on and will ‘wake up’ as soon as you tap it or use its ‘Wake Word’.
Some devices use attention to decide whether or not to enter sleep mode. Most modern iPhones won’t go to sleep if you are looking at it. This feature is called ‘Attention Aware’.
Awake
As soon as you interact with your device it ‘wakes up’, going from asleep to awake. A device is awake any time you interact with it directly including using apps, making calls, or even previewing notifications on the Lock Screen. If you are doing something with your device, it is active. For most devices, going from asleep to awake is virtually instantaneous, but desktops and laptops, especially older ones, may take some time to become ready to receive input.
TLDR: Considering Apple Care? Even without Upgrading, Apple’s iPhone Upgrade Program is the Best Deal, saving $50 vs. buying an iPhone 11 outright and adding Apple Care separately.
As iPhone sales leveled out, Apple, looking for new ways to encourage adoption of their latest phones, began offering an alternative to carrier subsidies for their iPhone line. The iPhone upgrade plan breaks up the cost of a new iPhone and Apple Care+ over 24 months. As an added bonus, after completing 12 monthly payments, you can trade in that iPhone for any new model at no additional cost. Well almost. Your new phone may have a different monthly fee depending on which model you choose, and you do have to pay sales tax in advanced as if you bought the phone for one lump sum (this is typical for any upgrade plan of this type). Essentially it’s a 0% interest lease for your phone. If you keep the phone for 24 months, the loan is paid in full and the phone is yours to keep. Is this a good deal for you? Let’s look at the numbers.
Surprisingly, buying the iPhone 11 outright for $699 and adding Apple Care for $199 brings you to $898 in the US. Over 24 months the iPhone 11 will cost $847.92 on Apple’s iPhone Upgrade Program. Since the iPhone Upgrade Program comes with Apple Care+, you save $50.08 before tax. Apple allows you to pay off the phone at any time, so even if you prefer a lump sum, if you don’t mind the credit check, signing up for the upgrade program may be the best way to buy an iPhone. If you plan on getting Apple Care+ anyway, this is actually the best deal.
Of course Apple Care isn’t for everyone. If you just want the phone, your credit card provides insurance, or you’re one of those lucky people who never seems to smash a phone. Apple’s phones are becoming sturdier every year, a focus of this year’s ad spots for both models. Here we find another mathematical oddity: paying monthly for your iPhone 11 actually comes out cheaper than buying it outright: $698.88. Twelve whole cents cheaper, to be exact! Don’t spend it all in one place.
There is one frustrating catch to the iPhone upgrade program. Signing up requires a post-paid plan on one of the 4 major carriers. As yet I cannot find a satisfactory explanation for this. The loan is between you and Apple’s partner Citizens One and requires a soft credit check, so why it must be tied to T-Mobile, Sprint, AT&T or Verizon, is unclear. If you have Apple Card you can still finance a phone over 24 months, even unlocked, but that’s your only option through Apple.
TLDR: Apple Watch Series 5, featuring an always-on display, can be preordered today and will hit stores on September 20th. Preorders for iPhone 11 and 11 pro begin at 5:00 AM PDT, (8:00 AM EDT, 12:00 UTC). The new Phones will also arrive in stores on the 20th.
iPhone 11
Left: iPhone 11 Right: iPhone 11 Pro. Source: Apple
Apple announced two new phones: iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 pro. After two years in the naming wilderness, Apple finally has a simple naming scheme that was right under their nose the whole time. The confusingly named iPhone XR is now simply iPhone 11. This new model packs in an additional hour of battery life, a better camera on both front and back, an upgraded FaceID system that works when your phone is sitting on the table, and a new wide-angle camera lens that lets you fit more into your picture without physically moving backward. iPhone 11 is the phone I recommend to most people, and given it’s now just “iPhone”, Apple agrees.
As an added surprise, the iPhone 11 now starts at $699, a very familiar number for long-time iPhone buyers. $699 was historically what the iPhone cost unlocked up until the iPhone 7. Considering there’s been almost a decade of inflation, that’s a delightful surprise, especially as the threat of US tariffs looms.
For those who want even more camera features, the iPhone 11 Pro has new photo and video capabilities that, Apple claims, make it comparable to professional still or video cameras. These phones replace the XS and XS Max, respectively.
Apple Watch
Apple Watch Series 5 Source: Apple
Starting at $399, the new Apple Watch can finally be a better watch at telling time than your Timex. Apple Watch Series 5 now sports an always-on screen that will show your watch face the entire time you wear it. Not only is this more convenient for setting timers and subtle glancing during a lengthy conversation, but aesthetically, this means everyone gets to see that thoughtfully coordinated watch face, painstakingly tweaked to match its band (okay, maybe I’m the only one who cares about that). Unfortunately, it seems this feature requires the new Series 5 and will not be coming to Series 4 or earlier. Even with that always-on display, Apple claims 18-hour battery life. There is also now a compass built into the watch. Please let me know if that excites you.
A more intriguing upgrade, the cellular model now supports global emergency services. As I discovered while researching my original Apple Watch article, even without a wireless plan, Apple Watch Cellular will still call emergency services for free. This is a requirement for all cellular devices in the US and many other countries.
Apple also announced the 2-year-old Series 3 remains as a $199 option with a $299 cellular option. Since so many people have been waiting for a version with always-on time, I would recommend anyone looking for a bargain wait to see how the used Series 4 market shapes up before jumping on the new 3. More about that in a future article.
Finally, Apple now allows watch-buyers to choose which band comes with their chosen watch using the Apple Watch Customizer online or in-store, which is helpful for those with lots of watch bands already.
Apple Watch Series 5 can be preordered today and will arrive in stores September 20th.
iOS 13, watchOS 6, iPad OS and macOS
All compatible devices will begin updating to iOS 13 on September 19th. WatchOS 6 hits devices that same day. iPadOS, oddly enough, has already fallen out of sync, not launching until September 30th. macOS Catalina has no precise release date as of yet. Apple’s site merely states, “Available in October”.
Apple Arcade and TV+ Pricing
Apple Arcade and Apple TV+ compatible devices. Source: Apple
Apple’s new game subscription service and TV show streaming service are both $4.99 a month. Those who are curious can try Apple Arcade for free for one month. Anyone who buys a new or refurbished iPad, iPhone, Mac, or even iPod touch will get a free year of Apple TV plus.
Apple Arcade launches September 19th for iOS, but, oddly enough will not hit iPad OS or TV OS until the 30th. macOS support isn’t coming until sometime in October. Apple TV+ launches November 1st. New devices purchased between now and then will have three months to activate their one year trial after November 1st. Devices purchased after that date will have three months to claim the trial after the date of purchase.
$329 iPad Refresh
The new iPad with keyboard and pencil. Source: Apple
I wasn’t expecting to have to update the iPad buying guide until October, but with a slightly larger 10.2” screen and smart keyboard cover compatibility, the new entry-level iPad makes it harder to recommend the mid-level $499 iPad Air. I would still hold off until Black Friday to see if that $299 education pricing becomes the norm for everyone during the holiday buying season, but this product refresh changes the equation for those looking to buy a tablet.
Clocking in at 2 hours and 15 minutes, Apple’s announcements came rapid-fire during their keynote kicking off their World Wide Developer Conference. There is a lot to cover, and as more information comes out in the coming weeks, we will breakdown many of these topics in typical Please Just Work fashion. Until then, here are some of the standout announcements so far.
Sign in with Apple
Sign in with a tap, so long as you have an AppleID. Source: Apple
Forget iPhone, iPad, or dark mode, the most important announcement at WWDC is a feature anyone can use even without an Apple device. Sign in with Apple gives anyone with an AppleID the option to sign into other services the same way one might sign in with Google or Facebook today. What makes Apple’s service different, however, is its focus on privacy. “Apple does not use Sign In with Apple to profile users or their activity in apps.” The company said in a statement announcing the product.
Collecting user data is precisely why Facebook and Google offer single sign-on solutions. Apple’s system goes a step further, offering to generate a random email address for each service you signup for, should you wish to keep your current email private. Using Sign in with Apple means fewer passwords to remember and fewer opportunities for companies to lose your credentials.
iPadOS
The new iPadOS home screen. Source: Apple
Everything old is new again. In 2010 Apple released the first iPad along with the announcement that iPhone OS was not iOS, to include devices other than iPhone. Over the years iOS has spun off device specific versions like tvOS and watchOS. Today iPad gets its own OS, with the creative new title of iPadOS. It is unclear if this change will make any difference to iPad users in the short-term, but I suspect as time goes on, we will see this operating system look less and less like the software on our phones and more and more like a next generation, touch-first computer OS competing with Google’s Chrome OS, Microsoft’s Windows, and even one day Apple’s own macOS. In the mean time, this new OS takes better advantage of the larger screens, allowing more icons as well as those widgets most people forget about directly on the home screen. New split screen views, floating app widgets, and new gestures for common tasks like copying and pasting between apps round out the marquee features, along with many of the features described above for iOS.
RIP iPhone 5s and 6
It wasn’t looking good, but I still held out hope for the little iPhone that could. Unfortunately, Apple confirmed to several outlets today that the good ol’ faithful 5s bites the dust this fall, along with iPhone 6 and 6 plus. While the nearly 6-year-old 5s is hardly surprising, I was not expecting the 6 to follow suit. These retirings bring Apple’s device life expectancy down from 6 years to 4: a step backward for sustainability and device longevity. Historically, Apple kills support only when a device cannot support an important architectural feature they need across all devices. The last Great Device Purge was in 2017 when Apple nixed any device without a 64-bit processor for iOS 11. With more research and a few inquiries, I hope to learn exactly why the iPhone 6 didn’t make the cut.
Accessibility
Apple’s video introducing VoiceControl. Source: Apple
Apple leads the industry in terms of designing features to help users with a diverse set of physical abilities use their products, but this year’s announcement spent more time talking about the importance of these issues, and featured the largest update to accessibility features since ( when ?). As a developer, there appears to be more workshops specifically about accessibility than years past and nearly every single feature announcement, developer class, and document I’ve seen gives specific mention to improving accessibility and making sure all features are properly and completely implemented.
iOS
Meg Frost demos new maps features in iOS 13.
Honestly, iOS is the least exciting item on the list. Ironic since it’s the interface we use most, aside from the long-awaited Dark mode the biggest announcement was that iOS users will now have more control over location sharing. In iOS 13, you can now give 1-time permission for an app to see your location, great for calling an Uber when you don’t know the address without signing over carte blanche access to where you are every minute. If you do allow an app to see your location indefinitely, you will now get a map showing every single location it chose to phone home.
Find my everything
Adopting a technology used for some time by the likes of Tile, Trackr, and other similar products, Find my iPhone, now simply called ‘Find my…’ leaving everyone to fill in the blank, turns every iPhone into a relay network for devices, like MacBooks and presumably AirPods, to tell their owner where they are even without a network connection. All of this goes through a secure connection even Apple can’t see inside.
Craig Federighi previews macOS Catalina
MacOS
It has a new name, a pretty new background and, my personal favorite, you can now use your iPad as a second display, even with the Apple Pencil. Wacom and Cintiq probably did a lot of crying today. Oh, and iTunes is dead. Kinda.
Dr. Sumbul Desai discusses the new health features of watchOS 6
watchOS
Apple Watch’s Declaration of Independence: new features and improvements will allow apps to run on the watch without your phone. There is now an App Store so you can add apps directly to your watch. This is a big step foreshadowing a very near future (perhaps even this fall) when an Apple Watch no longer requires buyers to own an iPhone at all. More on this in future articles. Other highlights include menstrual cycle tracking for reproductive health, and sound monitoring with high decibel warnings to protect users from hearing loss.
Yesterday Apple announced new services for iOS users. Most are paid subscriptions. Below is a brief overview of what was announced. As more information is available I will write more comprehensive analyses for each service.
Apple News +
In addition to a redesigned news experience, Apple News+ gives subscribers unlimited access to over 300 digital magazines for $9.99 a month. If this sounds familiar, it’s because Apple acquired a similar service called Texture in 2018. With this announcement we see Apple’s vision of that service. Apple News+ is available today to users in the US, UK, and Canada. To find it, update your iOS device to 12.2, and you will see it as a new menu item in the news app. It will also be available in the News App on MacOS after an App Store update. Learn how to check for updates <here> and how to see what version of iOS your device currently has <here>.
Apple Card
Apple Card is a credit card Apple announced in a partnership with Goldman Sachs and MasterCard. Apple is promising no annual fees or late fees and one of the lowest interest rates in the industry. Fine print on Apple’s site discloses the interest rate to be between 13.24% to 24.24% based on ‘creditworthiness’. The card offers rewards such as automatic 3% cash back on Apple products and services, 2% cash back on all other purchases made using the card through Apple Pay, and 1% cash back if you use the physical card. Apple’s presentation suggested the physical card was more of a backup until all places accept tap-to-pay. Additionally, Apple designed a new dashboard in the wallet app so you can see more information on your balance, transactions, rewards, and other financial information related to the card, similar to what products like Mint offer today. Apple Card will be available this summer.
Apple Arcade
Apple Arcade Trailer. Source: Apple Inc
Apple Arcade is a monthly game subscription for iOS, giving subscribers access to hundreds of curated games without in-app purchases. The idea, as described by Apple, is to help support game makers to develop games that might not be able to rely on in-app purchases or one-time payments to recoup costs. No release date or pricing was announced.
Apple TV+
Apple TV+ Preview Trailer. Source: Apple.com
Coming this fall, Apple has teamed up with well-known movie and TV creators such as Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg, along with many other recognizable faces, to create original programming the same way Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and HBO do. Information on the offering was light, but you can check out the preview video above. Apple TV+ content will be exclusive to the redesigned Apple TV app. In addition to Apple’s own devices, a version of this new app is coming to major television manufacturers like Samsung, LG, VIZIO and Sony as well as 3rd party streaming boxes like Roku and Amazon’s fire TV.
