A few years ago, the developer community was divided, with most considering Apple to be extremely hostile to developers. “As a developer, I hate it. As a consumer, I love it,” said one user. However, Apple’s developments over the past year are changing that perception.
At the recently concluded Apple WWDC, where AI updates were announced, a key theme that emerged was Apple’s continuous focus on making the company developer-centric.
“Upgraded App Intents API will unlock Apple devices as the ultimate playground for AI agents,” said Alex Reibman, co-founder and CEO of AgentOps, an AI agent startup.
Apple Opens Up For Developers
With a plethora of new advancements for developers to be intrigued by, the announcement of the latest visionOS 2, which is a major upgrade for Apple Vision Pro, aims to create a much better experience.
Apple’s vice president Mike Rockwell said, “Apple Vision Pro delivers revolutionary experiences for users and developers, and we’re excited to advance spatial computing even further with visionOS 2 just months after its initial release.
Vision OS 2 offers new APIs and frameworks, enabling developers to create sophisticated spatial apps. The advanced volumetric APIs enhance the spatial experience by utilising 3D space effectively, allowing objects to appear closer or farther from the user.
Developer Customisation
Additionally, the complex 3D apps can run side by side with other regular apps in the same space. Developers can resize the 3D spaces using a new tool called windowResizability in SwiftUI. Moreover, developers can add ornaments (decorative objects) making the visual experience more appealing.
TabletopKit allows developers to quickly create apps for flat surfaces, like workstations or board and card games. It offers collaborative experiences for manipulating virtual cards, pieces, and game boards, defining their arrangement and providing tools to customise the game layout and appearance.
Developers can leverage these built-in capabilities instead of building them from scratch, allowing them to focus on the core gameplay or collaborative aspects of their application.
The Apple Vision Pro has over 2,000 special apps and more than 1.5 million iOS and iPad OS apps that work with it. Upgrading it with visionOS 2 helps developers make better and more interesting apps that will be easy to share.
Developers Can Innovate
To level up the experience in AirPods while playing games, Apple expanded the personalised Spatial Audio, to enhance gaming experiences. A new API has been built that easily delivers the most immersive listening experience.
Early last week, it was announced at WWDC that the members of the Apple developer programme can access the AirPods developer beta starting that day.
Last year Apple also introduced Smart Stack, a way to keep connected to important information. Meanwhile, with WatchOS 11, developers can use context cues like time, date, location, daily routines etc. to make the widget smarter, as to show the right widgets at the right time.
Apps that support Live Activities on iOS will now automatically display them within the Smart Stack on the Apple Watch as well.
Moreover, a new Double Tap API allows developers to define primary actions within their watchOS apps that users can trigger with just a double tap gesture. These new APIs and capabilities give developers more tools to make their watchOS apps more contextually aware, interactive, and accessible.
Apple has made it possible for their computers, iPhones, and iPads with certain chips to play more modern games. For game developers, this is great news because they can now create games that work on all these devices without having to make separate versions for each.
What Do Users Want?
There are several discussions on Hacker News, appreciating the Vision Pro for its immersive and high-quality viewing experience for movies, TV shows, and video content. Some employ it in their work setup as an external display for coding, emails, and other tasks, valuing its large screen.
However, multiple users have returned or stopped using the Vision Pro due to factors like a lack of content, discomfort, control issues, and inability to use third-party accessories.
Interestingly, Apple has been developer-centric for a while now. The company expanded opportunities for developers to engage with experts in 2023, connecting creators from over 160 countries. Ahead of WWDC24, it also launched new ways to reach developers worldwide, including updated developer forums, pathways, and more.
At the same time, other big tech companies are also making strides to bridge this gap. For example, Microsoft and OpenAI have both launched initiatives aimed at upskilling developers in AI in India.
