There was something missing from Apple’s WWDC keynote this year. And no, it wasn’t Craig Federighi jumping out of a plane, but that didn’t help matters. It was true that there were no exotic locations, high demos or nice changes. The casual walking photos on Apple’s campus with real-life situations had an almost shocking air of relatability for anyone who has entered the “responsible” years of adulthood. It’s almost as if Apple took its 50th birthday and was trying to personify its true age.
As a millennial in the throes of parenthood, leaving 30 years behind and staring hormonal changes in the face, it feels less futuristic and more like Apple sitting us down to chat: we see, you’re frustrated — and here’s help. Apple’s usual, cooler-than-thou attitude was largely absent this year.
There was a solid 10-minute stretch dedicated to parental controls and Apple’s Screen Time, including how to control kids’ device usage, set allowances, block disturbing content and approve apps and contacts. It’s all very useful stuff in this weird, little-changed digital environment we’re all forced to parent in, but in the end, I’m sure Apple has lost the Gen Z crowd.
Apple Watch will now flag menstrual cycle irregularities that may indicate you’ve missed your period.
And when “perimenopause” enters the conversation, any remaining stragglers are likely to be psychologically evaluated. Menopause, as it turns out, is not a moment but a multi-year hormonal change that has recently been correctly mapped as menopause. It’s a hot topic for millennials approaching 40, and apparently they’re now part of the Health app story. Good for shoppers like me, not so good for new tech vibes.
Apple even managed to take the coolest AI feature out of every keynote and make it seem like it was made for the suburban pickup crowd. Spatial Reframing gives you the ability to change the angle of a photo after it is taken. The lessons look the same, but the perspective changes depending on where you wish you had taken it from in the first place. It seems really useful, especially because you can use it on old photos, too, even photos taken with other phones. But during the WWDC keynote, instead of bringing it down with some cinematic footage of a stunning model posing with a stunning natural wonder, the demo was the presenter’s kid’s last day of school in what was clearly the back of town. That was my reality last week — and it hit too close to home.
Now you can adjust and reframe your subjects in the background with Apple’s Spatial Reframing.
If the goal was to make this year’s WWDC more relatable, then they certainly achieved that. Google recently got something wrong because of its complete disconnection from the average person. My colleague, CNET editor-at-large Andrew Lanxon, appreciated that Apple was talking to the technology owner next to you, rather than one on a private jet at the very top. But I missed the old “this is the coolest company on Earth and you want to be a part of it” that made Apple’s developer conferences stand out. I spent years trying to become an Apple demo user, but now that I’m here, I’m not entirely sure I enjoy it.
Until this year’s WWDC, Apple’s entire identity was built on desire. It sold you a cooler, smarter, free version of yourself. Its marketing genius was always the gap between who it was and who the product said it could be. It’s not that I don’t appreciate what the tech giant has done; it’s just that watching a company completely close that gap, while very useful, is aesthetically disappointing. Part of me still wanted Apple to sell me a healthy life, and I wasn’t ready for it to appear as a mirror image of the one I already lived.
