Apple is notoriously secretive about its work.
Senior VP of Software Engineering Craig Federighi even feigned total ignorance when asked about rumors of a mixed reality headset in a
Still, Apple has a history of throwing curveballs, which it has done in the past like introducing the
Here are the biggest predictions for WWDC 2023 that panned out and the ones that didn’t.
1. Vision Pro
After several years of expecting an XR headset announcement at WWDC, 2023 was finally the year Apple did it. For about a year, we’d been hearing a steady flow of detailed leaks from Apple experts Mark Gurman and Ming-Chi Kuo and a report by
Experts also thought the price would be between $2,000 and $3,000, but Apple surprised everyone by pricing it at a
2. StandBy
In late May, Gurman
3. Journal
An April
4. Updates to the Health app
As predicted by Gurman, the
Both iPadOS 17 and iOS 17 are getting a Health app update that tracks your mood and emotions, because “name it, tame it” is an important part of mental health therapy. New Health app features are available with the developer beta.
What wasn’t announced at WWDC 2023 that we’re still hoping for this year
Even with the two-hour runtime, Apple sped through the Mac and OS announcements to get to the Vision Pro unveiling. Whether Apple is still planning to release some of these rumored features in a later update, at the September event, or ever, is TBD. The developer beta is live, so users are already discovering features not covered at the event.
A not-so-much revamped Control Center
According to users already testing the developer beta, this turned out to be a
No mention of Wallet or Dynamic Island updates
Not mentioned at all during WWDC 2023 were rumored updates to the Wallet app, and additional capabilities for the Dynamic Island. Early iOS 17 testers have been disappointed to discover that notifications aren’t integrated with the tentpole iPhone 14 Pro feature.
What about sideloading?
Surprisingly, there was no mention of sideloading, which was a strong rumor given the timeline of European legislation, which requires the ability to download
Gurman also predicted the advent of an
WWDC 2023 is not likely to be the last word on Apple updates for this year. There’s still lots to discover in the developer beta, for starters. Software updates rolled out throughout the year have previously given Apple users major new features to explore.