The best little updates Apple didn’t mention at WWDC

Apple left out a lot of small updates in its keynote at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference. It makes sense: the company had a lot to talk about, with a third of its presentation entirely dedicated to new AI capabilities. But that doesn’t make it worth talking about the features that didn’t get airtime.

From new frame animations to better ways to manage widgets, there’s a lot to discover in the first round of betas for iOS 18, macOS Sequoia, and more. Here are some of our favorites so far:

If you’re not in a position to watch this video, that’s okay. I’ve also outlined the new features below (and then some).

When you press the side buttons while running the iOS 18 beta, there’s a clever new animation that makes it look like you’re pushing the bezel on the screen a little. At first glance, there isn’t much purpose here other than to add a bit of whimsy. But it could also be a handy visual indicator if Apple eventually releases iPhones with solid-state side buttons that don’t move when you press them, simulating a vibrating click. And it’s hard not to think about Dynamic Island’s dark animations (the pill-shaped selfie camera and Face ID sensor cutout on some recent iPhones).

Bilingual people will be pleased to know that you can type in two languages ​​at once in iOS 18 beta without repeatedly switching between them by tapping the wireframe globe on the iOS keyboard and choosing the new language. Some configuration is required in the iOS keyboard language settings (Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards > Add New Keyboard), but the change will prevent bad autocorrect results just because you want to type some Spanish words into English text!

Remember the push button switch that came with the iPhone 15 Pro? While it’s not that far-fetched, people have found that tapping the flashlight icon in the iOS 18 betas brings up an equally fun little animation of a flashlight that you can swipe vertically to increase and decrease the luminance. You can also swipe left and right to adjust the actual beam shape! However, it only works with iPhone 15 Pro phones as they have a special flash not found on other iPhones.

Apple is also working on a better way to resize widgets in iOS 18. By long-pressing, you’ll get a row of size options right there in the contextual menu, rather than having to choose “Edit widget” and go through all the rigamarole to choose a size there.

One of the better quality-of-life updates for the Vision Pro is that the headset will show its keyboard when you’re fully in a virtual environment. This didn’t happen before, so if you wanted to, say, work on top of a mountain, you’d have to use partial immersion in the scene or clumsily paw at the keyboard. It’s not perfect—it’s primarily designed to work with the Magic Keyboard, and in my testing it seems to recognize my mechanical keyboard inconsistently. But it’s a welcome change nonetheless.

Apple is adding some new nostalgic “Macintosh” wallpapers in macOS Sequoia, and they come with very nice animation.

Seeing voicemail transcripts right in the notification will save you a lot of taps.

Beta users have also spotted a more granular set of charge limit options for iPhone 15 devices – instead of just choosing to limit charge to 80 percent, there’s a slider between 80 and 100 percent, with stops every 5 percent. cent along the way.

While there are many other updates hidden in Apple’s current set of betas, we have to stop somewhere. If you’re interested in trying out the new betas and don’t want to wait for the public release, you’ll need to sign up for the developer program and then follow Apple Instructions. (We have our own guide if you find this easier!) However, be sure to back up your device before downloading the beta, and beware: betas can be buggy and there is potential for something to go wrong. It’s fun to mess around with betas on an old iPhone, but it’s not a good idea on your main phone or computer.