This year the iPhone, Apple Watch and Mac all got big interface changes. You may have found yourself relearning how to use your device which, to me, is the least enjoyable part of a software update.
If you found yourself suddenly confused as to why swiping doesn’t change Apple Watch faces or if you’ve tried to text someone a photo from your iPhone and got caught off guard by the new iOS 17 giant floating circle icons, you’ll know what I mean.
It’s not always “change” just for the sake of change, even if the change feels pointless, because everything was working just fine before. There’s usually a reason for Apple switching things up or how they work that ties into its grand plan — which may be shifting us to think more about augmented reality.
WatchOS 10 and iOS 17 are getting our Apple Watches, iPhones and, most importantly, us closer to a Vision Pro mindset.
StandBy mode conditioning
This year the biggest change to the iPhone’s operating system was StandBy mode. If your phone is locked, charging and propped up horizontally, your display changes to show either the time, weather, photos, widgets or music that is playing. StandBy mode has a few different views and some minor customizations.
The newest Mac software update allows you to use Widgets anywhere on your computer.
Widget-washing our brains
This year, Apple added widgets everywhere. MacOS Sonoma has interactive desktop widgets you can put anywhere on the screen. In iOS 17, you can interact with a home screen widget without opening the app. WatchOS 10 brings widgets to your watch face to glance at info.
Getting used to working with tiny windows of information floating all around you is like being in augmented reality, where relevant info sits in your space around you. Wherever you look, your Apple screen has widgets. And soon you won’t need a screen in order to have widgets in your field of vision. Soon you’ll just be able to use the Vision Pro.
A list of apps as they would appear inside of the Apple Vision Pro headset.
Now it’s all tucked away into a plus sign on the bottom left side of the screen. Clicking it brings up a simple bulleted list of really big circle buttons. They’re in your face, floating and blocking whatever you were doing before.
The Vision Pro has this same flavor of child-like circular icons in front of your space. They wait there for you to make a decision on what app you’ll select.
