What to expect at 2019 WWDC: macOS 10.15, and maybe the Mac Pro

Posted:
in General Discussion edited December 2019
Apple's next macOS is certain to bring new features to help get iOS apps onto the Mac -- but it's also certain to lose features like Dashboard and any 32-bit apps. Here's what we expect to hear from Apple about the Mac at this year's WWDC.




Predictions for what Mac news we'll get at Tim Cook's presentation in this year's WWDC do include what can only be called crossed-fingers wild speculation. However, there is also specific information that is strongly backed up with evidence.

WWDC is actually a week-long event, too, and if Tim Cook's opening speech is the most visibly, immediately important, there is some news about how the rest will affect us on the Mac, too, far beyond what we see on June 3. Read our separate detailed coverage of what to expect from the new iOS 13, too.






For with both iOS and macOS, it's at this WWDC week that developers first get to work with Apple's latest updates. What they learn here will directly benefit us in their apps when Apple's new OS releases are made publicly available.

This is always the case, and later on video of some such WWDC sessions gets released, but for now most of what this year's sessions will be about are secret. There is an official WWDC iOS app and a developer site, both with a detailed schedule, but currently that schedule is filled with placeholder text.

The official schedule for WWDC's week of sessions
The official schedule for WWDC's week of sessions


There has been one report, though, of a previously iOS-only feature being featured in one of these sessions because it's coming to the Mac. ReplayKit, which is behind your ability to record video of your iPhone screen, gets a session in this week.

Marzipan topping

However, we know one important thing about macOS and we know it because Apple told us so a year ago. This WWDC is intended to feature more about what's known as Project Marzipan, the idea that will ultimately have developers able to create apps that run across macOS as well as iOS.

Apple even called this "a multi-year project" when it was unveiled at WWDC 2018, so we're only at an early stage of it. However, that 2018 unveiling showed Apple having made several of its own iOS apps into Mac ones, and the company said that this year other developers would get these tools.

We can expect to see more from Apple on this, and it's most likely that the firm will announce its moving the new Reminders, Apple Books, and Find My iPhone/Find My Friends combination from iOS to the Mac for macOS 10.15.

Apple News was brought from iOS to the Mac last year
Apple News was brought from iOS to the Mac last year


While it would be a much bigger move than last year's porting of the iOS Home app to the Mac, it's also said that Apple may bring Siri Shortcuts to macOS too. It's not clear whether that would simply mean being able to write and edit iOS Siri Shortcuts on the Mac, or whether it would effectively be a replacement for the old Automator utility.

On the Mac

We would very much like to see the existing Marzipan apps updated -- Home, for instance, currently lacks the ability to add new accessories -- but what we expect now will happen is that iTunes will be broken up into separate apps.

This has been rumored for many years, as iTunes has ballooned out from a simple music player to a complicated app for playing and buying all your media. Plus, iOS already has separate apps for music, video, and podcasts. So even if Apple just continues experimenting with moving its own apps to the Mac with Marizpan, there are three good candidates right there.

Plus now there's evidence that it's certain to break up iTunes.

Most recently, images of what could be separate Music and TV apps have surfaced, with each showing only the most basic navigation controls around white screens.

Apple has already stated that there will be a TV app on the Mac, as there is now on iOS, and that either removes or replicates functionality that's currently in iTunes.

As we get new features, however, macOS 10.15 is also expected to shed some old ones. We already know that 32-bit apps are history as macOS Mojave is the last one to support them.

That obviously affects third-party app developers -- though, to be fair, Apple has given them many years of warning that this was coming -- but it also has an impact on macOS stalwarts. QuickTime, Java 1.6 Apple and Carbon HLTB are going to be removed.

If your first thought is that you rely on QuickTime Player, which is also a good audio and video recording tool, you can relax. QuickTime Player is a 64-bit app and it will survive into macOS 10.15. It's the older QuickTime 7 and QuickTime 7 Pro, that date back to the days of Mac OS X Tiger, which are going to be gone.

Speaking of macOS features you didn't realise you could still have had anywhere, the handwriting system Ink is expected to be removed.

Remember this? It's still there in macOS Mojave, if you look for it, but it's going to be gone in 10.15
Remember this? It's still there in macOS Mojave, if you look for it, but it's going to be gone in 10.15


And speaking of macOS features you only distantly remember, the Dashboard is on its way out. You're not even sure you remember how to call up the Dashboard, this feature that was supposed to be a brilliant way to quickly access small utilities.

If you hanker for it, you can re-enable it in macOS Mojave by going to System Preferences, Mission Control, but enjoy it while you can.

Predictions

We can all use this time before WWDC to also enjoy the more outlandish predictions that come before any Apple event. This time there are some, though, that come with a least a little backing.

Chief amongst these concerns the forthcoming Mac Pro. People are always predicting this will be either launched or unveiled. When Apple made the very unusual move back in 2017 of announcing that it was coming, the company even said it would not be released in 2018. Yet still, without fail, any time Apple announced any event, there was the prediction that they'd unveil the Mac Pro this time, for sure.

Apple runs its WWDC and all its events extremely carefully, extremely precisely. It never does or shows anything for the sake of it, it always calculates exactly what it will show and what it won't.

This seemed so good a few years ago. Now we just want its replacement, the forthcoming Mac Pro
This seemed so good a few years ago. Now we just want its replacement, the forthcoming Mac Pro


There's no reason we can think of for Apple to just vaguely say that the Mac Pro is still coming, that it is still going to be by the end of the year as repeatedly promised.

And there's little reason to think it would wedge in something so awaited with a "one more thing" reveal in an already busy WWDC.

Except that around half of the WWDC events in the last ten years have seen Apple show off new hardware. That doesn't mean the odds are 50/50, but interestingly, it's most often new versions of the MacBook or MacBook Pro that get shown -- and Apple just revealed its latest models ahead of WWDC.

New MacBook Pro models were announced ahead of WWDC
New MacBook Pro models were announced ahead of WWDC


Maybe they did that for the same reasons they launched hardware ahead of this March's event, as a way to get that done and leave the presentation for Apple TV+, Apple TV Channels and Apple News.

Or perhaps, just perhaps, the new Mac Pro could be further along than we thought. Maybe Apple liked the reaction it got from its out-of-the-blue sneak peek of the iMac Pro. Certainly the developers in the room at WWDC are part of the intended audience for this machine.

Then it has also been reported that Apple has been considering whether to show it or not, which at least suggests it's well enough advanced that it could shown.

If Apple does show off the new Mac Pro in any way, though, the odds are then high that it will also unveil its equally promised new monitor.

That's expected to be a 6K one, to measure 31.6 inches, and to feature mini-LED backlighting. That comes from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who is certain that it's coming -- but isn't guaranteeing that it will come out at WWDC.

There are no guarantees. This year Apple ran its first-ever event that featured no hardware at all, for instance.

Yet when Tim Cook does step out on that stage and start trying to dazzle us with impressive Apple Store numbers, the Mac is going to get some serious attention.

And macOS 10.15 is going to get a name in tribute to somewhere in California.

AppleInsider will be reporting live throughout WWDC 2019, starting with the keynote on Monday, June 3. Get every announcement as it happens by downloading the AppleInsider app for iOS, and by making sure to follow us on YouTube, Twitter @appleinsider, Facebook and Instagram.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 26
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    I’m not sure what the point of such articles is.  Unless you get the scoop on unreleased hardware or software, all you can do is speculate on what is already public knowledge.  

    It wouldn't be any different than my writing an article about the possibility of A13 or A14 supporting SVE or SVE2.   Without privileged info all I would be doing is piecing together public information.    Better to wait for A13 to arrive and dig into the new features as actually delivered.  
    michelb76
  • Reply 2 of 26
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,712member
    wizard69 said:
    I’m not sure what the point of such articles is.  Unless you get the scoop on unreleased hardware or software, all you can do is speculate on what is already public knowledge.  

    It wouldn't be any different than my writing an article about the possibility of A13 or A14 supporting SVE or SVE2.   Without privileged info all I would be doing is piecing together public information.    Better to wait for A13 to arrive and dig into the new features as actually delivered.  
    IMHO it's a nice wee article that's just setting the scene for what's to come.  Not unusual surely?
  • Reply 3 of 26
    boboliciousbobolicious Posts: 1,139member
    I sure hope if they release the 3 rumoured 'pro' hardwares (pro, 32", 17") it is under Mojave (and support 32 but apps) vs the next OS which will be freshly just out of beta...  Should we hope for a touch bar keyboard, Mini Pro with Vega graphics & an iMac Pro update, price drop or lower priced configs to round out the lineup too?
    edited May 2019
  • Reply 4 of 26
    FolioFolio Posts: 698member
    In Apple's push into services, there's always a fine line, varying with each user, about what's too "pushy." I like that you can turn off promos for AppleMusic. I don't like how often BookStore appears when I just want to continue reading from my personal library. Of course, Apple can make advertisments that are impossible for users to block. (One reason I prefer to read CNBC articles on the net, rather than on free version of AppleNews where the ads are annoyingly repetitive and take too much space.) I get that it's a new area, especially w maps and messages etc, and maybe too early for Apple to decide on policy. Hope AI community perks its ears on this going ahead.
  • Reply 5 of 26
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,837administrator
    wizard69 said:
    I’m not sure what the point of such articles is.  Unless you get the scoop on unreleased hardware or software, all you can do is speculate on what is already public knowledge.  

    It wouldn't be any different than my writing an article about the possibility of A13 or A14 supporting SVE or SVE2.   Without privileged info all I would be doing is piecing together public information.    Better to wait for A13 to arrive and dig into the new features as actually delivered.  
    Not everybody wants to claw through six months plus of coverage on the matter. We get asked to do a lot of roundup coverage, constantly, but we save it for just prior to events.
    edited May 2019 randominternetpersoncornchip
  • Reply 6 of 26
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Problem is when tech blogs predict something and it doesn’t happen everybody goes ballistic. If the Mac Pro isn’t announced or at least mentioned the whole Internet will blow up. Apple will announce the Mac Pro when Apple decides it’s ready to, not because of pressure or expectations based on rumors or pundit predictions. Apple was pressured to say something about the Mac Pro line last year because of all the hoopla and frenzy. What we DON’T want is a new Mac Pro released before it’s ready that turns out to be a Samsung Fold debacle.
    cornchip
  • Reply 7 of 26
    I really like dashboard and use it daily :-(
    cornchip
  • Reply 8 of 26
    smallicksmallick Posts: 1unconfirmed, member
    lkrupp said:
    Problem is when tech blogs predict something and it doesn’t happen everybody goes ballistic. If the Mac Pro isn’t announced or at least mentioned the whole Internet will blow up. Apple will announce the Mac Pro when Apple decides it’s ready to, not because of pressure or expectations based on rumors or pundit predictions. Apple was pressured to say something about the Mac Pro line last year because of all the hoopla and frenzy. What we DON’T want is a new Mac Pro released before it’s ready that turns out to be a Samsung Fold debacle.
    I don't think anyone wants the Mac Pro to be released before it's ready. What we would like is the transparency Schiller spoke of. The last we heard about the MP was that there were workflow teams, which I believe was last fall. It wouldn't hurt Apple to give an update. And we haven't been waiting since 2017 when they first announced an updated machine was coming. We've been waiting for five or six years for something...anything. Those of us that haven't already jumped to PC who are trying to wait to see what the new configuartion is are trying to decide how much longer we're willing to wait. If there's no info at all this June I suspect that number will be high among the "pro" community.
  • Reply 9 of 26
    I predict the new macOS name will be Lake Tahoe. The real world Lake Tahoe sits astride a border. 
  • Reply 10 of 26
    What's WWDC?
  • Reply 11 of 26
    command_fcommand_f Posts: 418member
    I understand that expectations have been set by the pre-announcement of the Mac Pro and people have been making plans based on it (indeed, that's probably what Apple wanted). So it would be unfair of Apple to back away from updates, whether or not the machine will actually be released this year. If it is coming this year then the machines in the lab will be pretty advanced by now, if it isn't coming then Apple will know that by now.

    Mac Pro aside, I hope that the lessons of AirPower have been learned and that Apple steps back from announcing very immature products. Apart from being a differentiator from competitor companies, this would avoid the whole vapourware/promiseware process (whether intentional or not). On a personal note, it would also help to restore the fun factor of pre-launch speculation and genuine "one more thing" surprise.
  • Reply 12 of 26
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    What's WWDC?
    Assuming you are not pulling our leg it means World Wide Developers Conference. It’s Apple’s yearly event focusing on developers. Announcements about upcoming software releases, developer seminars on how to implement new features are just a few things that go on at WWDC. There can also be hardware announcements like the much anticipated upgradeable Mac Pro. But for the most part it’s all about developers and preparing them for the new stuff coming down the pike. A really big deal for Apple people.
    edited May 2019
  • Reply 13 of 26
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    As far as the Mac Pro is concerned we’ve not seen or heard many rumors at all. No clandestine photographs, no renderings, no nothing except a few fantasy drawings by overactive minds. Either the security is iron clad for this or it’s still in the Apple’s secret lab and no supply chain has received any orders yet.
    tenthousandthings
  • Reply 14 of 26
    sunman42sunman42 Posts: 260member
    I use Dashboard every day, and while the handwriting on the wall has been plain to see for years (of neglect by Apple, and developers who took the hint and worked on iOS apps instead), until Marzipan is a reality, I'll have to fumble with a phone or iPad to get the functionality I have now with Dashboard.
    cornchip
  • Reply 15 of 26
    canukstormcanukstorm Posts: 2,689member
    lkrupp said:
    As far as the Mac Pro is concerned we’ve not seen or heard many rumors at all. No clandestine photographs, no renderings, no nothing except a few fantasy drawings by overactive minds. Either the security is iron clad for this or it’s still in the Apple’s secret lab and no supply chain has received any orders yet.
    That may be one possibility.  But on the other hand, there were never any leaks of the 2013 trash can Mac Pro either simply because it was manufactured in the USA, not at Foxconn / Pegatron
    lkruppcornchip
  • Reply 16 of 26
    cashxxcashxx Posts: 114member
    "I really like dashboard and use it daily :-(" DITTO.....
  • Reply 17 of 26
    22july201322july2013 Posts: 3,564member
    It's entirely possible, nay probable, that Apple already has drafts of whatever the public announcement will eventually be for the new Mac Pro. And it's entirely possible, nay probable, that the final decision as to whether to use this drafts next week actually hasn't been made yet. At least with Steve Jobs some of these decisions wouldn't be final until the very last minute. Maybe Tim Cook decides further in advance.
  • Reply 18 of 26
    can you please start enunciating your plosives. its like my brain starts hurting every time you over edit or intentionally don't enunciate those.
  • Reply 19 of 26
    macapfelmacapfel Posts: 575member
    I remember times with much more buzz/excitement before a keynote. Nothing exciting on the horizon? Seems like the software is difficult to improve and the same goes for new hardware. Services apparently are the new interesting stuff. The Services+ could be more interesting than anticipated so far. I enjoy having all the music available on AppleMusic, and I listen to much more and different music than before. Great place for exploring. This could be the same for all the Service+. Where it could go wrong is when the subscriptions become confusing and too much. Apple needs to sort this out in a way that subscriptions (i) don't get out of hand and (ii) I do not need multiple subscription to access what I want. This would be the future.
    Hardware: a surround system, not just HomePods (at least they do not replace a surround system for me).
    Software: well, as usual, improve Siri! And make her smart so she knows who is talking to her. Unless this does not happen, I'll not enable Messages/Phone/... on HomePod.
    edited May 2019
  • Reply 20 of 26
    bitmodbitmod Posts: 267member
    lkrupp said:
    Problem is when tech blogs predict something and it doesn’t happen everybody goes ballistic. If the Mac Pro isn’t announced or at least mentioned the whole Internet will blow up. Apple will announce the Mac Pro when Apple decides it’s ready to, not because of pressure or expectations based on rumors or pundit predictions. Apple was pressured to say something about the Mac Pro line last year because of all the hoopla and frenzy. What we DON’T want is a new Mac Pro released before it’s ready that turns out to be a Samsung Fold debacle.

    Dude... the internet isn’t just going to blow up. They don’t show the Mac Pro and the stock is going to take a huge hit. No question. They haven’t been honest and strung people along for 5 years now. Business isn’t going to keep waiting indefinitely. They have already hemorrhaged a huge chunk of the market. If they don’t show the new Mac Pro - there isn’t going to be much of a reason for them to ever.
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