The number of sessions in a day is overwhelming. There are so many that it’s hard to choose one. The sessions I have chosen to pay attention to on this day of conference fall under the categories of Apple Silicon, Augment Reality, App Clips, WidgetKit or Swift Playgrounds “Swan’s Quest”.
Remember that all session videos are at https://developer.apple.com/videos/wwdc2020/
Port your Mac app to Apple Silicon
This session is part of the collection Apple Silicon and the Mac and it’s a journey to transition our apps to Apple Silicon. We learn how to recompile your macOS app for Apple Silicon Macs and build universal apps that launch faster, have better performance, and support the future of the platform. We’ll see how Xcode makes it simple to build a universal macOS binary and go through running, debugging, and testing your app. We learn what changes to low-level code we might need to make, find out how to handle in-process and out-of-process plug-ins, and discover some useful tips for working with universal apps. This session is designed for experienced macOS developers who want to get their existing apps running natively on Apple Silicon Macs.
Starting this year Mac Apps should be build and distributed as Universal Apps. Build for both Apple Silicon and 64-bit Intel architectures.
Links
Port your Mac app to Apple Silicon session video
Apple Silicon Documentation
iPad and iPhone apps on Apple Silicon Macs
This session is also part of the collection Apple Silicon and the Mac.
Apple Silicon Macs can run many iPad and iPhone apps as-is, and these apps will be made available to users on the Mac through the Mac App Store. Discover how iPad and iPhone apps run on Apple Silicon Macs, and the factors that make your apps come across better. Learn how to test your app for the Mac, and hear about your options for distribution of your apps.
Links
iPad and iPhone apps on Apple Silicon Macs session video
Explore ARKit 4
This session is part of the collection Augment reality.
ARKit 4 enables you to build the next generation of augmented reality apps to transform how people connect with the world around them. This session will walk you through the latest improvements to Apple’s augmented reality platform, including how to use Location Anchors to connect virtual objects with a real-world longitude, latitude, and altitude. Discover how to harness the LiDAR Scanner on iPad Pro and obtain a depth map of your environment and place objects in the scene. Finally, learn how to track faces in AR on more devices, including the iPad Air (3rd generation), iPad mini (5th generation), and all devices with the A12 Bionic chip or later that have a front-facing camera. To get the most out of this session, you should be familiar with how your apps can take advantage of LiDAR Scanner on iPad Pro. Watch “Advanced Scene Understanding in AR” for more information.
Links
Explore ARKit 4 session video
ARKit Documentation
Sample Code: Creating a Fog Effect Using Scene Depth
Sample Code: Tracking Geographic Locations in AR
Sample Code: Visualizing a Point Cloud Using Scene Depth
What’s new in RealityKit
This session is also part of the collection Augment reality.
RealityKit is Apple’s rendering, animation, physics, and audio engine built from the ground up for augmented reality: It reimagines the traditional 3D renderer to make it easy for developers to prototype and produce high-quality AR experiences. Learn how to effectively implement each of the latest improvements to RealityKit in your app. Discover features like video textures, scene understanding using the LiDAR scanner on iPad Pro, location anchors, face tracking, and improved rendering debugging tools. To get the most out of this session, you should understand the building blocks of developing RealityKit-based apps and games. Watch “Introducing RealityKit and Reality Composer” for a primer.
Links
What’s new in RealityKit session video
RealityKit Documentation
Sample Code: Creating a Game with SceneUnderstanding
Explore app clips
This session is part of the collection Build great app clips and is designed to introduce you to app clips.
In this session we’ll see how to design and build an app clip — a small part of your app that focuses on a specific task — and make it easily discoverable. Learn how to focus your app clip on short and fast interactions and identify contextually-relevant situations where you can surface it, like a search in Maps or at a real-world location through QR codes, NFC, or app clip codes. Find out a few key differences between apps and app clips, and explore how app clips interact with their corresponding apps.
Links
Explore app clips session video
Introducing App Clips
Human Interface Guidelines: App Clips
Documentation: App Clips
Article: Creating an App Clip
Article: Developing a Great App Clip
Sample Code: Fruta: Building a Feature-Rich App with SwiftUI
Meet WidgetKit
Meet WidgetKit: the best way to bring your app’s most useful information directly to the home screen. This session will show you what makes a great widget and take a look at WidgetKit’s features and functionality. Learn how to get started creating a widget, and find out how WidgetKit leverages the power of SwiftUI to provide a stateless experience. Discover how to harness your existing proactive technologies to make sure your widget surfaces relevant material. And create a Timeline that ensures your content is always fresh. For more on creating widgets, check out “Build SwiftUI views for widgets” and “The widgets code-along”.
Links
Meet WidgetKit session video
Learn more about creating widgets
WidgetKit Documentation
Article: Creating a Widget Extension
Article: Keeping a Widget Up To Date
Sample Code: Building Widgets Using WidgetKit and SwiftUI
Meet Nearby Interaction
The Nearby Interaction framework streams distance and direction between opted-in Apple devices containing the U1 chip. Discover how this powerful combination of hardware and software allow you to create intuitive spatial interactions based on the relative position of two or more devices. We’ll walk you through this session-based API and show you how to deliver entirely new interactive experiences — all with privacy in mind.
Meet Nearby Interaction session video
Sample Code: Implementing Interactions Between Users in Close Proximity
What’s new in Mac Catalyst
Discover the latest updates to Mac Catalyst and find out how you can bring your iPadOS app to the Mac. Explore enhancements to the application lifecycle, integrate new extensions into your apps, and learn how the new look and feel of macOS impacts Mac Catalyst apps. Get a taste of the new Optimized for Mac mode. And learn more about all the improvements — including framework availability and beautiful new designs — that make bringing your iPad app to the Mac easier than ever. To get the most out of this session, you should have a basic familiarity with Mac Catalyst. We recommend you watch “Introducing iPad Apps for Mac” to acquaint yourself. For more on refining your Mac Catalyst app, consider watching “Optimize the interface of your Mac Catalyst app”.
What’s new in Mac Catalyst session video
Offering Universal Purchase
What’s new in App Store Connect
Discover the latest improvements to App Store Connect, your suite of tools to upload, submit, and manage apps on the App Store. Learn about enhancements to the App Store Connect API, in-app purchase and subscriptions, Game Center, and more.
What’s new in App Store Connect session video
App Store Connect API
App Store Connect API Documentation
App Store Connect Resources and Help
Swan’s Quest, Chapter 1: Voices in the dark
Swift Playgrounds presents “Swan’s Quest,” an interactive adventure in four chapters for all ages. In this chapter, our Hero must navigate a dark cave — and the only way to light the torches is to make them accessible. Learn about VoiceOver and write interesting audio descriptions. You just might help our Hero find their way out… and get a clue for the next challenge. Swan’s Quest was created for Swift Playgrounds on iPad and Mac, combining frameworks and resources which power the educational experiences in many of our playgrounds, including Sonic Workshop, Sensor Arcade, and Augmented Reality. To learn more about building your own playgrounds, be sure to watch “Create Swift Playgrounds content for iPad and Mac”.
Links
Swan’s Quest, Chapter 1: Voices in the dark session video
Quest Create playground book
Swan’s Quest: Voices in the dark playground book
Here’s a short video recap of the day.