Today at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 22), Apple announced many new features for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and Watch OS. 

Updates for iOS 16 focused on the lock screen which can now showcase favorite photos, customize font styles, and display a set of widgets to get information at a glance. It also expands the availability of widgets on the Lock Screen that help users glance at data such as weather, events, date, time zones, and more. 

People can also easily filter out distractions by setting up a Focus that lets users select the apps and people they want to receive notifications from by either allowing them or silencing them.

“iOS 16 is a big release with updates that will change the way you experience iPhone,” said Craig Federighi, senior vice president of Software Engineering at Apple. “We have reimagined how the Lock Screen looks and works with exciting new features that make it more personal and helpful, introduced iCloud Shared Photo Library for families, streamlined communication through new capabilities in Messages and Mail, and harnessed enhanced intelligence with updates to Live Text and Visual Look Up.”

For security, iOS, iPadOS, and macOS also gained passkeys, a method that is end-to-end encrypted and safe from phishing and data leaks. According to Apple, these factors make passkeys stronger than all two-factor authentication types, and it works on non-Apple devices.

MacOS provides an enhanced search engine and image search that can find images in Photos, Messages, Notes, the Finder, and the web right from Spotlight. One can also use Live Text to search for an image based on text inside it. 

Users can also activate SharePlay through Messages and more easily share notes, presentations, reminders, Safari Tab Groups, and more.

A new Stage Manager automatically organizes apps and windows in a single view on any Mac, to help stay focused while moving between tasks. Users can create different groups of apps for a specific project and arrange, resize, and overlap it in layouts. 

iPadOS received many of the same features as iOS 16 and added new display modes and improved external display support with resolutions up to 6K using Stage Manager. 

Watch OS 9 now allows users to track meds in the new Medications app, get more insights into sleep and health, and access more watch face personalization options.

Two new MacBooks with an M2 chip will be available next month. Additional details on all of the software updates from WWDC 22 are available here.