WWDC Keynote 2019: first reactions

For the last 18 months or so, I’ve been holding off buying a new MacBook Pro, partially because of the well-documented keyboard problems, but mainly because I was hoping the iPad Pro would get to the point where it would do everything I needed.

With a bit of luck, that point might come this autumn. Today, Apple announced that iPad is (finally) getting its own OS, distinct from the iPhone variant.

And several key features are coming to it:

• The ability to use external drives
• The ability to import media directly to apps without going through the camera roll
• A full, desktop-class Safari

It’s the last one that I’m both most excited about — and most nervous about. It’s the lack of a full version of Safari that has me carrying my MacBook Pro when I’d really like to be just taking my iPad with me. For one, the main UI for Ghost, the CMS I use to publish this site, doesn’t work well on iPad. I am actually writing this on my iPad — but I’m using an app called Ulysses which just added Ghost support, thanks to the CMS’s new admin API.

Getting booted into a mobile version of sites when doing training sessions is often a problem, too.

If they’ve fixed that — my MacBook-owning days are done.

Sign in with Apple

Very excited about this one. Apple are adding a privacy-focused alternative to those ubiquitous “sign in with Google” or “sign in with Facebook” buttons you see around the web. Seeing who fails to support it while supporting the others will tell us an awful lot about their attitude to our data…

Multi-user support on AppleTV and HomePod

Our home entertainment set-up is pretty much Apple-based, now. Our TV watching is done through an AppleTV, and the girls use a pair of HomePods for all their music needs. And Lorna and I actually manage to stay awake late enough to listen to them once in a while.

Bringing multi-user support to them — if it works — is going to be a significant quality of life improvement for this household.

In summary:

My favourite sort of Apple Keynote — one that tempts me to buy nothing (those Mac Pros are out of my financial reach, and way beyond my power needs, anyway) — but lets me know that all the devices I already own will get better in the autumn, for free.

Result.