Apple to Announce New Siri Intents, AR Improvements, Document Scanning Framework, and More at WWDC 2019

A new report from 9to5Mac outlines some of the new features Apple is expected to announce at its Worldwide Developers Conference this year. The information is based on 'sources familiar with the development of Apple's new operating systems'.

Apple is purportedly planning to introduce new Siri intents that developers can adopt, including media playback, search, voice calling, event ticketing, message attachment, train trip, flight, airport gate and seat information.

When porting an iOS app to macOS, new APIs will allow UIKit apps to integrate with Mac features such as the Touch Bar and menu bar (including keyboard shortcuts). UIKit apps on Mac will be able to open multiple windows. If a Split View app is ported, users will be able to resize it by dragging the divider and reset its position by double clicking the divider. Developers will be able to add Mac support for an iPad app with a simple checkbox in the target settings in Xcode.


Significant improvements are expected for AR this year with a new Swift-only framework and a companion app that lets developers create AR experiences visually. ARKit will be able to detect human poses and the OS will support controllers with touch pads and stereo AR headsets.

Developers will also be given a new framework that offers more control over the Taptic Engine, new functionality to include link previews in their apps, the ability to read ISO7816, FeliCa or MiFare NFC tags, a new version of CoreML that allows for on-device updating of machine learning models, a new API for sound analysis with machine learning, a built-in image classifier for the Vision framework, and a public framework for the same document scanning functionality available in the Notes app.

Finally, on Mac, apps will be able to offer file provider extensions improving integration with Finder and there will be a new API developers can use to write device drivers.

WWDC 2019 takes place June 3-7 in San Jose. Please follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, or RSS for updates.


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