Apple’s WWDC 2022 Takeaways: macOS Ventura, iOS 16, M2 Chip and more!

I have been fortunate to attend many of Apple’s yearly Worldwide Developer Conferences (WWDC), usually as a speaker but sometimes as an attendee, as I am this year. While generally a WWDC focuses on new developments of interest primarily to developers of Mac and iOS applications, on occasion Apple will use WWDC to announce new products. WWDC 2022 was one of these, so my key takeaways from the first day include both developer items as well as items for the general Apple user. The first surprise to me was Apple’s announcement that there are now 34 million developers working on apps for Apple products! 

Here are my key takeaways from the first day: 

macOS Ventura (Both developers and general users) 

Many updates especially in the area of Continuity and Handoff, making it even easier to gracefully transition from working on one Apple device to another. 

Major improvements in graphics performance and functionality with the third release of Metal, the modern graphics library in macOS. Parallels Desktop moved to Metal years ago, so Metal 3 should give a performance boost to Windows and Windows apps running in Parallels Desktop. 

Passkeys instead of passwords. This looks like a major step forward to improve security for the Mac user, and it has the ease of use I expect from Apple. Password re-use and phishing attacks should significantly decline with the use of Passkeys. 

A new multi-app and multi-window management approach called Stage Manager which looks both easy to use and powerful. 

Will Parallels Desktop run on macOS Ventura? Yes, it will. Apple has not told us of any known issues, but the final word will come after the Parallels QA engineers run their extensive set of tests and the development team make any necessary changes, and both these steps will take a while to perform. 

Will Parallels Desktop run macOS Ventura as a guest OS in a window? Most assuredly, it will, but there may be a few aspects to consider. Watch this blog for a later post about this. 

iOS 16 (Both developers and general users) 

Too many new and improved features to list here, but it appears clear that Apple has focused on improving both the look and the usability of the iPhone, and especially for the lock screen. (The lock screen is what the iPhone screen shows before you unlock it. Probably you see notifications of emails or messages from people you have designated as VIPs.) In iOS 16, much more can be shown on the lock screen, and developers can customize lock screen notifications for their apps. I am looking forward to installing iOS 16 on my iPhone. 

iPadOS 16 (Both developers and general users) 

Also many improvements, and many are shared with macOS Ventura (Passkeys, Stage Manager, and Shared Photo Library). I am looking forward to un-sending a text in Messages, and using FreeForm, a new shared whiteboard. I will be installing iPadOS 16 this week, so watch for a later blog post. 

M2 (Primarily developers for a while) 

The new M2 has performance and storage improvements from the already impressive M1, the first-generation Apple-designed processor. And new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models using the M2 were also announced. 

Will Parallels Desktop run on a Mac with the M2 chip? Most assuredly, it will. Apple has not told us of any known issues, but the final word will come after the Parallels QA engineers run their extensive set of tests on the new hardware, and it will probably take a while to get this new hardware and to perform the tests. 

And this is just from the first day of the week-long WWDC 2022. I am already picking which of the many sessions to attend later this week. Stay tuned to this blog for updates.