WWDC 2018: Apple reveals major Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad and Mac updates – as it happened

Augmented reality, Siri updates and new apps

What is WWDC 2018? Andrew Griffin explains

Apple CEO Tim Cook has taken to the stage at his company's annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) to unveil iOS 12 – the next major software update for the iPhone – as well as new apps and features for Apple Watch, iPad, iPhone and Mac.

"We now have over 20 million Apple developers worldwide," Mr Cook said as he opened the keynote, which paid tribute to them through a video in the style of a nature documentary.

The Independent covered all of the event and the fallout live from San Jose, where the event is being hosted.

Please allow a moment for the live blog to load

Key Points

• New iOS 12 will make iPhones faster, not slower
• Why WWDC was so mysterious this year
• New iPhone software will 'stop people using it too much'
• Apple finally fixed Siri with one brand new feature
• iOS 12 feature will stop people using their iPhone

[4 June 2018 00:20 · Andrew Griffin]

Usually, leaks emerge from the last hours of the conference, as more and more people are let in on what Apple is planning as part of the preparations.

But that hasn't happened. Even with about half of a day left before Tim Cook takes to the stage, what Apple is actually going to announce remains entirely mysterious.

That might be because Apple's crackdown on leaks has finally worked. Or it might be because there's nothing much to leak, because Apple is focusing on improving the performance of its products rather than introducing features. Maybe some combination of the two!

We'll just have to wait and see! In the meantime, you can read more about why this might be happening, here.

[4 June 2018 00:32 · Andrew Griffin]

There have been some leaks, however. Or rather, there have been a few leaks all gleaned from one video, which seems to have been accidentally uploaded.

That video, discovered by Steve Troughton-Smith and shared on Twitter, shows the new version of Xcode. That's the software that developers use to create new programs for the Mac and iOS – but the video reveals much more about what's coming than just that.

It shows, for instance, that Apple is creating a dark mode for macOS, which will allow users to turn the screen black everywhere. It has been possible to do that using hacks for some time, but Apple introducing it would no doubt make the experience much smoother and allow it to make more sense.

(Such a feature has also been rumoured for iOS, too – which would be especially useful on the iPhone X's OLED screen, which is much better at handling blacks. But this doesn't necessarily suggest that is coming.)

It also suggests that Apple is bringing its News app to the Mac. At the moment, it only lives on iOS, and isn't even accessible over the web.

And it might even offer interesting clues about other software, too. The video appears to depict a shared project between macOS and iOS – potentially teasing a long-rumoured update that would allow developers to more easily create software for both platforms at once.

The video itself appears to have been accidentally uploaded to the internet by someone at Apple. It's not the first time the company has accidentally shared its own leaks – last year, almost everything about the iPhone X and other products like the HomePod was mistakenly shared on the internet, spoiling Apple's September event before it was actually held.

[4 June 2018 03:09 · Andrew Griffin]

Tim Cook has taken a moment out of (presumably) preparing for the big keynote tomorrow to tweet about the WWDC scholars.

Those scholars are an important part of WWDC: Apple invites hundreds of young people to come along, paying for them, in an effort to encourage them and their ideas. You can see some of their stories in the video above.

[4 June 2018 11:12 · anthony.cuthbertson]

It's the middle of the night in San Francisco, so while Tim Cook and the rest of the Apple cohort rest up for today's event, let's take a look at what we might expect to see with its new iOS 12 operating system.

Apple has been focusing heavily on augmented reality in recent years and new features are expected to be announced later today. The company is rumoured to be working on a second version of ARKit, the base technology that Apple gives to developers so they can build augmented reality software more easily.

Other key announcements could include improved functionality of the iPhone's NFC chip and a platform potentially called Digital Health. And of course, we'll probably see a new animoji or two.

[4 June 2018 12:12 · anthony.cuthbertson]

It's just gone 4am in California, but the queue for the conference keynote is already stretching beyond 150 people.

iOS developer Sam Wang shared this clip of the queue forming on Twitter:

[4 June 2018 12:36 · Andrew Griffin]

Only a few hours to go now, and the leaks are still incredibly sparse.One has popped up, though – another accidental reveal by Apple itself, by the looks of things.Numerous users are spotting that Apple Music appears now to support a full web player. That means that people can listen to music in their browser, without having to launch the app.Until now, that listening experience was severely limited: you can share links to songs, but only listen to 30 seconds of them, and the app preferred you to click through into iTunes on your Mac or the Music app on iOS to do it properly.Those restrictions are now gone. Or they are for some users, who spotted the changes, and some of whom now report the feature has been switched back off again.In itself, that might not be all that exciting. (Though it could be useful when you’re using someone else’s device and don’t want to log in, and it could help encourage more people to sign up to Apple Music.)But what’s more exciting is that it suggests Apple Music might be undergoing some kind of overhaul today. It’s likely that the apps will receive a design change, since they have every year – but perhaps there could be something more, like finally breaking Apple Music out into its own app on the Mac, and freeing it from iTunes.

[4 June 2018 13:40 · Andrew Griffin]

We can natter all we like about the mystery of the event. There's only one way that mystery will be solved: by watching it. And you can do that here.

(Or two ways, really – you can read this live blog instead! Or as well!)

At this page you can find all the links and information you need about the live stream. It's important to note that not everyone will be able to watch it: you need an up-to-date Apple device or a fairly new Windows PC. Full details inside.

[4 June 2018 14:01 · anthony.cuthbertson]

We've been trawling through social media and your comments to find out what people most want to see from this year's WWDC. 

One of the most commonly cited concerns is bugs in iOS 11, such as notifications, that need to be ironed out in the next iteration of Apple's mobile operating system. Other popular requests include a smarter Siri, a home screen redesign and the unlocking of the Apple's NFC chip.

Some developers also want to see the rumoured 'dark mode' introduced, while others want Apple to announce CarPlay improvements, such as support for third-party navigation apps like Waze. 

[4 June 2018 14:52 · Andrew Griffin]

It's a lovely morning in San Jose. And much of the city is spending it queueing: there's a long line to get into the convention centre this morning, with a few hours still left to go.

Apple takes over much of the city for this event, with thousands of developers, media and other people filling up its hotels and bars. And it's worth remembering that the event lasts for more than just today's keynote – really, that's just the beginning, with talks, sessions and events running all through the week, as developers look to get to grips with all the new features that Apple has released.

[4 June 2018 14:59 · Andrew Griffin]