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Apple Design Awards 2017 Winners Announced

Apple has traditionally held its annual awards for app developers – the Apple Design Awards – in a public ceremony on the first night of WWDC, where all developers are typically encouraged to attend. But this year there was no public award show, and instead Apple recognized standout developers in a smaller, private forum according to Rene Ritchie of iMore. Ritchie also notes that Apple won’t say whether future ADAs will follow this year’s new approach, revert to the patterns of past tradition, or do something else entirely.

The Apple Design Awards are Apple’s way of showcasing the very best apps across all of its software platforms – iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS. And with this year’s batch of winners, that certainly stands true.

Below is the full list of award winners, each of which you can learn more about at the dedicated Apple Design Awards page on Apple’s website.

App Winners

Game Winners

All game winners are available on iOS.

You can also follow all of our WWDC coverage through our WWDC 2017 hub, or subscribe to the dedicated WWDC 2017 RSS feed.

Apple Sharing Screen Repairing Machines with Third-Party Vendors→

As the iPhone has evolved in recent years, it has become more and more difficult to repair. Screen repairs in particular are challenging thanks to the wealth of technology integrated with an iPhone’s screen.

According to a new report from Reuters, Apple is making strides toward empowering more third-parties to perform those complex repairs. The company is beginning to roll out its proprietary tool for repairing iPhone screens, the Horizon Machine, to authorized repair companies. Plans are to deliver 400 Horizon Machines by the end of the year to repair centers across 25 countries. Stephen Nellis was given access to watch these Apple creations at work:

Dozens of Horizon Machines lined the tables. The contraptions, gray metal boxes the size of a microwave with a swing-out windowed door, vary slightly in shape depending on the model of iPhone they repair. Apple would not say where the machines were made or by whom
…
Once the new screen is mounted, the iPhone goes into the Horizon Machine, which allows Apple’s software to communicate with the fresh hardware. Over the course of 10 to 12 minutes, the machine talks to the phone’s operating system to pair the fingerprint sensor to the phone’s brain.

While that unfolds, a mechanical finger jabs the screen in multiple places to test the touch-sensitive surface. The machine also fine tunes the display and software to match the precise colors and calibration of the original.

The piece notes how the topic of phone repair can be a political one, as legislation has been introduced in several U.S. states that intends to promote increasing repair options for consumers. Whether that legislation comes to pass or not, sharing the Horizon Machine seems like a good move by Apple that will benefit its customers in the long run.

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Planet of the Apps Launches Worldwide with Season Premiere

Apple launched the premiere episode of Planet of the Apps last night, at the end of the second full day of WWDC. Planet of the Apps features app creators who compete to receive funding for their apps with the help of the show’s celebrity mentors. The first episode runs just under 50 minutes, and is available free of charge for a limited time to all viewers on the show’s website. Future installments of the 10-episode series will only be available to Apple Music subscribers, and will release weekly.

Timed to coordinate with the launch, the Apple Music app for iOS has received a new ‘TV & Movies’ section inside the ‘Browse’ tab. The section is headlined by Planet of the Apps, but it also features some of Apple’s previously released original video content, such as Drake’s ‘Please Forgive Me’ and the ‘808’ documentary. If you tap through to the Planet of the Apps informational page, it contains more info about the show, a listing of all currently available episodes, and also a selection of bonus video content featuring the series’ celebrity personalities.

If anyone sets out to locate Apple’s new original series, they won’t even have to visit the ‘TV & Movies’ section to find it. Apple is heavily featuring it in the top section of Apple Music’s ‘Browse’ tab with six featured banners. The show is also being featured inside of Apple’s TV app (assuming Apple Music has been given user permission to integrate with TV). Additionally, the show’s website is linked to from the front page of Apple.com, and a wide array of press stories have been released in the last 24 hours covering the launch.

Clearly, Apple wants the world to know that Planet of the Apps is different from its original video work of the past; the tech company is now officially in the TV content business.

watchOS 4 Introduces Proactive Watch Face, Streamlined Navigation, and Fresh Refinements

Yesterday at Apple’s WWDC keynote, watchOS 4 was introduced alongside updates to iOS and macOS. The latest version of the Apple Watch’s operating system features few major improvements, instead focusing on a variety of smaller updates that, taken together, add up to a solid release.

watchOS 4 takes the tasks that the Apple Watch already does well and makes them better. It features new ways to receive proactive information, to track health and fitness data, and more. It also streamlines navigation in a number of subtle ways to require less user interaction, such as fewer button presses and app switches.

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iOS 11: The MacStories Overview

At this year’s WWDC keynote event, Tim Cook took the stage in San Jose to reveal the eleventh major version of Apple’s flagship mobile operating system. iOS 11 includes a number of improvements across the board, but with significant emphasis placed on increasing productivity for the iPad.

Alongside the storm of iPad-specific features, the next version of iOS will also bring advancements to the Lock screen and Control Center interfaces. Built-in apps and services such as Maps, App Store, Notes, Messages, Podcasts, Music, Siri, and more received individual updates — some more comprehensive than others. The new ARKit and Core ML frameworks were announced as well, giving us our first tangible examples of Apple’s investments in AR and developer-friendly machine learning.

Despite a decade in the wild, in many ways iOS is still a young operating system. It’s good to see Apple not resting on its laurels, but instead continuing to reevaluate and redesign the areas of the OS that need it — such as iPad productivity features and the App Store. The ground-breaking potential for iPad users in iOS 11 shows just how much that aspect of the system has been neglected, but many of the other changes show how Apple’s slow refinements over years are paying off.

Below you’ll find a detailed look at what Apple is unabashedly calling “turning iOS up to 11.”

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Apple Updates iPad Pro Lineup with New 10.5” and 12.9” Models

Today at its WWDC Keynote event in San Jose, California, Apple announced two refreshed models in their iPad Pro lineup. While both new iPads sport the same set of hardware and design improvements, the most significant change is unique to the smaller iPad Pro model. The original line included a 12.9-inch and a 9.7-inch model, but today the 9.7-inch has been replaced by a larger 10.5-inch iPad. This change could mark the beginning of the end for the 9.7-inch screen size — a size which has remained constant in the iPad line since the introduction of the original iPad back in 2010.

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Apple Releases and Teases New Mac Hardware

While macOS High Sierra brought relatively small changes to the Mac’s operating system, WWDC featured big news for the Mac: new hardware.

Headlined by the iMac Pro, over half of all Mac models received updates, ranging from speed bumps to a full-on introduction of a new desktop model. Although WWDC was anticipated as an iPad-heavy presentation – and delivered on that front – here’s why it was larger than life for the Mac as well.

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macOS High Sierra Brings Current Improvements, Future Developments

As its name may suggest, Apple’s latest Mac operating system, macOS High Sierra, was billed today as a performance update for macOS. Packed deep with improvements to macOS apps and system-level functionality, High Sierra brings welcome changes to the Mac.

Additionally, Apple introduced important new technologies in macOS, including support for virtual reality, its new file system APFS, and Metal 2.

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Amazon Prime Video Coming to Apple TV Later This Year

Confirming prior rumors, Tim Cook announced today that Amazon Prime Video would be coming to the Apple TV later this year. The news was the first of six main announcements made by Apple at today’s WWDC keynote. Cook included the detail that not only would Prime Video be available on Apple TV, but it will also integrate with Apple’s TV app – welcome news for myself and all who use the TV app regularly.

Prime Video arriving on Apple TV ends the last prominent holdout from a major streaming service on Apple’s platform. And its integration with the TV app leaves Netflix as the single largest holdout that does not yet support the TV app.

The introductory news about Amazon was the only Apple TV-specific announcement made today, which was a disappointment as it was widely expected that Apple would introduce the next major version of tvOS alongside revisions to its other software platforms. Cook did note that we should expect to hear more about developments with tvOS later this year, indicating that a major update may be forthcoming, but simply wasn’t ready in time to show at WWDC.

You can also follow all of our WWDC coverage through our WWDC 2017 hub, or subscribe to the dedicated WWDC 2017 RSS feed.