Apple has never had a bigger software year, here’s how it’s going

It has been an unprecedented year for Apple software. The company is supporting more platforms and devices than ever, and the number of new features shipped and soon-to-arrive is impressive. So how is all of that going? Here’s a report card-type look at the good, bad, and ugly with Apple’s 2024 software.

Good: New platform and huge feature releases

The year isn’t over, but if everything ships that’s expected, 2024 is going to be a truly huge year for software releases.

For starters, the Vision Pro launched this year. Apple’s first ‘spatial computer’ shipped with visionOS, a brand new major software platform that does so many things right.

With visionOS, Apple built a futuristic computing system centered around eye tracking, hand gestures, and key device integration. I could spend a whole article exploring the ins and outs of visionOS, but let’s move on.

iOS 18 launched last month with a ton of big and small updates for iPhone users. There are a host of new customization tools, tons of feature additions to Photos, Notes, Messages, Reminders, Journal, and Settings. There’s a brand new app, Passwords. And much, much more.

Apple also shipped visionOS 2, macOS Sequoia, iPadOS 18, watchOS 11, and tvOS 18.

All on the same day.

iOS 18.1 is coming later this month, and with it the first set of Apple Intelligence features. That will include:

• a new start for Siri
• powerful systemwide AI writing tools
• intelligent notification summaries
• object removal in Photos
• priority Mail messages and summaries
• Memory movie generation
• photo search that works
• and more

There are other nice upgrades coming in 18.1 too, like call recording and transcripts, drag and drop for iPhone Mirroring, and more.

Before long, iOS 18.2 will be here too. It brings some of the even more highly anticipated AI features, and goodies for the non-AI crowd too. Expected features include:

• Genmoji
• ChatGPT integration for Siri
• Image Playground and other image generation tools
• Visual intelligence on iPhone 16
• Mail inbox categorization
• Siri personal context awareness

Add up everything Apple’s shipped so far, and the features still to come, and it’s remarkable how much the company’s software teams will accomplish this year alone.

Bad: Delays and neglected platforms

There’s a lot of good with Apple’s software year. But of course, there’s some bad worth mentioning too.

I won’t get into specific bugs or performance problems here. Bugs are largely an anecdotal issue that will vary from person to person.

But I do want to highlight two areas that haven’t been great:

• delays
• neglected platforms

For delays, I’m referring almost entirely to Apple Intelligence.

Clearly, Apple’s original plan was to ship the first Apple Intelligence features in iOS 18.0. That way, the iPhone 16 would benefit from them out of the box.

Instead, despite a ton of AI marketing flooding the world, Apple’s biggest tentpole feature for the iPhone 16 still isn’t available.

In the long run, a one-month delay won’t matter. Nobody will care. But it’s unfortunate how many times Apple’s big iPhone 16 unveiling had to include the ‘coming later’ asterisk—not just for AI, but Camera Control upgrades too.

As for neglected platforms, the one near and dear to my heart is the HomePod. In a year focused on major Siri upgrades, it’s a big letdown to have zero enhancements for Apple’s smart speaker.

On that note, the lack of an AI story for not only HomePod, but also Vision Pro and Apple Watch, is a disappointment.

Ugly: Bricked devices

Recently there’s been a troubling string of incidents with Apple software (usually betas) causing major issues for hardware.

The most prominent example is iPadOS 18 bricking some M4 iPad Pro models. This was not a beta, but rather the public shipping version of the new iPad software.

I wish I could say it was quickly resolved, but more than two weeks later, we’re still awaiting a fix. iPadOS 18 was quickly pulled by Apple, so users with an M4 iPad Pro haven’t been able to install it since.

Two recent beta releases have caused similar issues for other devices. First, it was HomePods being bricked by Apple’s 18.1 beta 2 release. Then just this week, watchOS 11.1 beta 3 was pulled after reports of frozen devices.

It’s not uncommon for an occasional software update to cause issues like this. But three such releases in the last few weeks alone is an ugly look.

Apple software report: wrap-up

In my view, despite some bumps, Apple’s software year is shaping up to be massively positive. The company may have a giant payroll, but that doesn’t make its achievements any less remarkable.

And overall, as nice as it might have been to get every Apple Intelligence feature in iOS 18 alongside the iPhone 16 launch, regular big feature drops have their own benefits too.

What’s your take on Apple’s software year? Let us know in the comments.