At the 2018 Apple World Wide Developer Conference, a new feature of macOS was unveiled, called Notarization. To quote my macOS Mojave for Users, Administrators, and Developers book:

The concept of Notarized apps mimics the real-world concept of a notary. A notary witnesses the fact that a document has been signed by someone, or multiple parties. zed apps use a notary service that is hosted by Apple that verifies that the application is indeed signed by the developer.

The Notary service will also perform some additional checks on the application. These include security checks that verify the application is doing what it indicates as well as the check for private API usage, similar to Mac App Store apps. However, it should be noted that using the Notary Service is not the same as app review. These checks are merely security related and are only performed to notarize your application.

At the announcement of Notarization, Apple announced that Notarization would be available for developers in the summer of 2018, but would be required for all apps in a "future release". With the release of macOS Mojave 10.14.5 there has been a step towards notarization being required, but this is just for some apps, not all apps. You will need to notarize your apps if the following applies:

1. If you are a developer who is creating a Developer ID for the first time.
2. If you are creating a new kernel extension.
3. You are updating a kernel extension

Notarization is a security mechanism, not an App Store review. Instead, it is a way of being able to assure that malicious code cannot be injected into your app. Notarizing a macOS app provides more than just peace of mind for end users, but also for you as the developer. One of the additional benefits of Notarization is that the Notarization service will keep an audit trail of each release version of your app. Should the worst occur and your private signing key get compromised, and malicious software be released, you can work with Apple to revoke those apps that you did not authorize and then release a new version of your app.

These are just some first steps in requiring notarization. It would not surprise me if notarization will be required for all apps starting with the next release of macOS, macOS 10.15. This is even hinted at by Apple's own page:

Beginning in macOS 10.14.5, all new or updated kernel extensions and all software from developers new to distributing with Developer ID must be notarized in order to run. In a future version of macOS, notarization will be required by default for all software.

The phrase "In a future release" most likely means with the next major release, macOS 10.15. Notarization, while it may seem inconvenient, the process can easily integrate into your workflow and will protect everyone involved. I am sure many developers will not like the fact that they will have to notarize apps, but ultimately it will make things better in the long run.

Source: Apple developer site.

Today Apple sent out an email to developers about the security of their accounts. The emails states:

In an effort to keep your account more secure, two-factor authentication will be required to sign in to your Apple Developer account and Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles starting February 27, 2019. This extra layer of security for your Apple ID helps ensure that you're the only person who can access your account. If you haven't already enabled two-factor authentication for your Apple ID, please learn more and update your security settings. If you have any questions, contact us. Best regards, Apple Developer Relations

There are a few possible reasons for this. The first is, as the email states, to help secure developer accounts. By enabling the two-factor authentication, particularly for Certificates, Identifiers, and Profiles cannot be added by unauthorized users.

This will have some downsides though. By requiring two-factor authentication, only ten devices will be able to receive the two factor authentication codes. For most individual users, this will not be a problem. Five of these trusted devices can be Macs and five of these can be iOS devices.

I contacted Apple Support to verify the number, and it is indeed ten trusted devices that can be associated with an Apple ID.

For larger development groups who may need to allow more than one user to login to the Certificates, you will likely need add a user who has access to the Developer Resources.

If you have not already enabled two-factor authentication on your Apple Developer account, you will want to review the two-factor authentication support page to be sure that you have a way to recover your account, if needed.

Back in February, Apple announced some major changes to the fall release of macOS Server. One of the changes that they indicated was that many of the services would no longer be included in macOS Server. At the same time, some services would still be present but the user interface elements would be removed. One of the services that would no longer have a user interface is Websites.

macOS Server is used by many, including myself, as a development environment. Besides developers, there are also some companies that need to use Apple's Profile Manager service, but they also need to use host an internal site, and they need to do all of this on the same machine. If you were running macOS Server running on High Sierra, this scenario was easy to setup and maintain. The same scenario is still possible on macOS Mojave, but it is not as easy. It will take some let us look at how to do this.

macOS bundles in a web server, the one chosen is apache. On macOS Mojave, it is version 2.4.34. This is the latest, as of this writing. The installation of apache is not any different than one you would install on other variations of Linux, which is a good. Even though apache is standard, there are some modifications that are made to accommodate the ability to use of other web-based services, and in particular Apple's Profile Manager.

Default Configuration

Even under macOS Mojave with Server.app installed, there is a default configuration available. You can use this for your configuration, if you so choose. The default location for files is "/Library/WebServer/Documents/". You can use this for configuration, the default alternative port is 8080. If this is all you need, then you can start putting files in the path above and navigate to http://127.0.0.1:8080, or another IP address on the machine and you can ignore the rest of this article. However, if you want to be able to make some additional configuration changes, read ahead.

Choosing a configuration

Before modifying any files, it is important to know that there are a variety of ways to configure apache. You could use a whole different IP address or you could just use a different port, on the same IP Address. This is the first item that you will need to determine. We will look at both approaches, because they are only slightly different.

The second thing that you will need to do is create a folder for the additional website. This is similar to how you would have done so with older versions of macOS Server. If you have an existing folder location, you can use that.

Once you have determined your approach and have created a folder, now we can start modifying the files. There is a standard apache configuration file, called httpd.conf. This is the primary configuration file for the apache service. The httpd.conf file is located at "/private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf". You will need to open up the file with a text editor, either using terminal or a graphical text editor, like BBEdit.

  macOS is Unix under the hood and can possibly require authentication when changing files. For this reason, it is best to use BBEdit for modifying files. BBEdit can handle this by providing an opportunity for entering in your password when saving the files.

Before modifying any file, you should make a backup copy of it. I always like to use the name of the file and its extension and put the date after file. Once you open this file you will need to make a couple of changes.

Making Changes

As mentioned, macOS Server takes into account the Profile Manager service. To accommodate this, there is a block of code that determines if macOS Server is using the default ports, which are 80 and 443. The following block is what is used to determine this.

<IfDefine SERVERAPPHASDEFAULTPORTS>    Listen 8080 </IfDefine> <IfDefine !SERVERAPPHASDEFAULTPORTS>   Listen 80 </IfDefine>

This block checks to see if Server.app is installed and configured. If it is installed and configured, the default port of 8080 is used for alternative. However, if Server.app is not installed and configured, then port 80 is used. Here is where you need to enter in your configuration. If you only need to listen on a different port, you can enter in "Listen 8081" where 8081 is the port you want to use. If you want to specify an alternative IP address use "192.168.1.2:80", where 192.168.1.2 is the IP address you want to use. As the last example shows, you can specify a port if you need to, which means you can combine the two and use something like "192.168.1.2:8081".

The next step is to test to make sure it is working as expected. To do this, you will need to create a file in the directory you chose. The file should have something like this code,

After you have saved this file, you want to test your apache configuration. This is done by performing the following steps:

1. Open Terminal
2. Type in, or copy and paste the following command, without the quotes: "sudo apachectl configtest". This command will check the syntax of your apache configuration and make sure everything works.

If there are no issues with your apache configuration, you need to restart apache. This is complete by doing the following steps:

In the same terminal window, type in, or copy and paste the following command: "sudo apachectl restart", without the quotes. This command will either start up, or restart, the apache service.

The last step is to open up Safari and browse to your new site. You should a page with the text "This Page is working".

These are just the basic steps to be able to host both a website and profile manager on the same Mac running macOS Mojave. You can do some additional configuration, by configuring Virtual Hosts and enabling Modules. Again, this is the same version of Apache that is installed on linux, so there is a plethora of tips, tricks, and how to to guides available on the web.

Transition Guide

There is an entire Support Guide for transitioning some of macOS Server's services to the built-in version of Apache. This is available on the Apple Developer site. The document also includes information on transitioning the SSL, if configured, on the site. This should help some people get started with configuring apache on macOS, while still keeping Profile Manager running.

As has been the case in 2012, I have written a couple more books. Just like last year, I have written a couple of books. Also like last year there are two, one about iOS, tvOS and watchOS and the other about macOS.

In previous years I have published an iBooks version as well as an ePub. There is a slightly different approach this year, at least for my books on Apple. There is only going to be one version, ePub. The biggest reason for this that the ePub format that is produced by Apple's Pages software can now do image galleries, which was the big reason for doing the iBooks version.

Similar to last year there will be paperback versions of the books, the order information for that will be forthcoming a bit later.

iOS 12, tvOS12, and watchOS 5 for Users and Developers delves into the changes and new features of Apple’s iOS-based operating systems.

Some of the changes covered include: performance improvements, privacy changes, grouped notifications, enhancements to FaceTime, improved photo features, suggested password enhancements and more. We will also cover some app updates, including changes to Activity, Stocks, News, Voice Memos, and Books.

There are also a bunch of new features like the new Siri Shortcuts which allows you to automate various tasks. Screen Time will let you gain insights into your, as well as your children’s, usage across all of your devices. If you like sending Animoji you will love the all new feature Memoji which allows you to customize an Animoji character however you would like. The new Live Listen will help those who may have a difficult time hear things more clearly. We will also dive into the new Safari password features which will help you use individual passwords on all of your devices.

For developers we dive into the Xcode Changes includes Dark Mode, Performance Improvements, changes around object libraries, and enhanced editing features. We will also dive into Grouped Notifications and how to provide threaded conversations. With Siri Shortcuts we will look at the different ways of adding intents. ARKit 2 is also covered which includes Quick Look and Persistence. For CoreML we look at how to improve model sizes with quantization as well as a brand-new framework related to CoreML, called CreateML. There are also two additional brand new frameworks, Natural Language and Network and we look at these as well. No Apple Developer book would be complete without looking at some of the changes that surround Swift.

There are some features for web developers as well which includes MapKitJS, MusicKitJS and ways to provide secure loading of remote content.

No matter your technical level, there is something for everyone in iOS 12, tvOS12 and watchOS 5 for Users and Developers.

You can pre-order the ePub from Apple for $3.99, or the Kindle version from Amazon for $3.99.

Despite macOS being a mature operating system, the new version macOS Mojave (10.14) contains a bunch of new features. Some of the new features covered include Dark Mode, Screenshots & Markup, and the redesigned Mac App Store.

Besides the new features there are some major changes too including ones to Finder, Safari, and using unique passwords on each website. There are also four brand new applications that are coming from iOS. We look at these in-depth. These apps are Stocks, News, Home, and Voice Memos.

Server Administrators see some big changes with macOS Mojave and these are covered as well.

For Developers we cover Xcode changes include performance improvements, object libraries, editing enhancements, and code folding improvements. We look at implementing Dark Mode within your apps, Notarized apps, and implementing Finder Actions.

There are some new frameworks that are covered as well. These include the Network Framework, Natural Language, improvements to CoreML and a related framework called CreateML.

For web developers we cover MapsKitJS, MusicKitJS, and secure loading of content.

No Apple developer book is complete without a discussion of the changes around Apple’s own programming language, Swift. We cover some of the recent changes as well as some future ones.

You can pre-order the ePub from Apple for $3.99, or the Kindle version from Amazon for $3.99.

One of the biggest problems in today's interconnected world is that there are those who are highly motivated by getting financial information from individuals. Many of these individuals use different means of getting this information. One way to be able to combat this is by having the companies who are storing financial data protect it.

One of the ways that these companies can do this is by removing older connection protocols and older software. Apple is making some changes with their older software versions. Apple has begun emailing individuals who are affected. From their support article:

On June 30, 2018, Apple will implement changes to continue to ensure your financial data is protected when you make purchases on the iTunes Store or App Store. As a result of the changes, you will no longer be able to change your Apple ID payment information from devices using the following versions of Apple software:

• iOS 4.3.5 or earlier
• macOS 10.8.5 or earlier
• Apple TV Software 4.4.4 or earlier

If you're using one of these versions on your device and need to change your payment method, update your device to the latest version of the software.

This change does not meant that you cannot access your content, you still can. But if you need to update your payment information you cannot do it on your older devices. I did not get an email, but I guess that is because I have not used any of the older operating systems recently. Maybe it is just me, but I am all for having companies better protect our financial information even if that means that you cannot use some older devices to change information.

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The beginning of June starts with Apple providing a preview of what new features users can expect on their devices in the Fall. Apple updates all of their operating systems each year. There are a number of features coming to iOS, tvOS, watchOS, and macOS. There are hundreds of changes and it is not feasible to cover them all in this post. Below are the biggest features for each operating system. Let us start with the biggest operating system, iOS.

iOS 12

iPhone Customers have expressed their discontent at how older iOS devices have performed when installing newer updates of iOS. With iOS 12 supporting the same devices as iOS 11, users of the iPhone 5s and the iPad Air 2 may be reluctant to install iOS 12 on their devices. However, this is one of Apple’s primary focus areas for the year.

In Apple’s tests, applications started 40% faster, the keyboard appeared 50% faster, and sliding to the left to take a photo was up to 70% faster. These improvements will mean that users do not have to wait for common actions to occur.

There is a new Augmented Reality quick look file format called USDZ, which will allow developers to show quick look previews within applications like Messages, Safari, Mail, Files, and News. This means that you can use augmented reality within a webpage to see exactly how that custom designed product will look, within your own space.

Adobe is brining the USDZ file format to all of Creative Cloud, that will provide a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWIG) editor in Augmented reality.

Some of the other items within ARKit 2 will be:

• Improved face tracking
• Realistic rendering
• 3D Object detection
• Persistent experiences
• Shared Experiences

Let us look at this last one, Shared Experiences. Shared Experiences allow you to have up to 4 people simultaneously interacting within the same app, all with their own personalized experience.

Photos and Camera

Photos and the camera are significantly important aspects to a lot of iOS users’ experiences. Apple is bringing some improvements to Photos. The biggest amongst these are when it comes to sharing photos.

With iOS 12, when you share a photo, or set of photos, with someone over iMessage, they will be receiving the full resolution of the photo. Similarly, when a photo set is shared with you, if you have any photos of the same event, you will be prompted to shared the photos that you have with the other person, so everyone can have the same set of photos for the event.

Animoji

Animoji are a big feature on the iPhone X. Apple is adding some more Animoji, including the Koala, Ghost, T-Rex, and Tiger. Animoji can now also detect your tongue so yes, you can use Animoji to stick out your tongue at others.

While Animoji are great, it is better to be able to create an animated example of yourself. With iOS 12 this is possible with a new feature called “Memoji”.

Memoji

Memoji takes the concept of an Animoji, but allows you to create your own custom Animoji for use with Animoji. You can customize your skin color, including adding freckles, hair color, and eye color. You can also add items like hats, sunglasses, earrings, and more.

Memoji will allow you to personalize your conversations even more than before. Besides messages, users also communicate via FaceTime, which has seen some big improvements as well.

FaceTime

FaceTime was introduced 8 years ago, in June of 2010. Since its release it has only seen minor changes. That is no longer the case.

Traditionally, when you use FaceTime can only be used between two individuals, With iOS 12 you can now use FaceTime in groups, up to 32 individuals. Having 32 people can make group chat a lot easier.

When you do have these FaceTime group calls, you can want to add some personality to them. You can do this by using your Memoji right within FaceTime, while you are chatting.

Siri Shortcuts

There are many times that a user wants to do something via Siri, but there is no capability within iOS to do so. There is a new feature called Siri Shortcuts that will allow you do just that. Siri Shortcuts allow any app to expose quick actions to Siri.

With Siri Shortcuts you will be able to name the shortcuts, and then use that phrase to activate the selected action. For instance, if you use the tile app to find something, like your keys, can you assign the phrase “lost my keys”, and with Siri Shortcuts the Tile app will automatically open directly to your keys so you that you can find your keys.

This is just an example and it will depend on application support.

Notifications

The last feature to note of is regarding Notifications. With Notifications under iOS 12, you will get grouping options. You will now be able to group notifications by application, automatically, or turn it off. This can be done on an app by app basis. You will also be able to group by topic or thread as well. With grouped notifications you can remove an entire group by swiping left, just like notifications under iOS 11.

You can also turn off individuals notifications or types of notifications by pressing and holding on an individual notification.

Siri will also be able to suggest notifications to turn off for applications that you have not used for a while. This will be very helpful to reduce the number of notifications that you receive. Let us turn to the last new feature of iOS, called Screen Time.

Screen Time

Screen time, in general, is a problem for today's technology-based society. The jury is out as to whether or not spending so much time in front of a screen is problematic or not. In order to provide users with information that they need around how much time they are spending on their devices, there is a new feature called "Screen Time".

With Screen Time you can see how much time each type of app category, application itself, and website are used. You can take any one of those categories, apps, or website and set a limits to what you want. These can be customized on a daily basis, or even on a

Besides individuals wanting to get their traffic usage information, the biggest section of user who want to enable limits is parents. A parent can set up the limitations for their child. This can be done from the parent's device and automatically applied to a child's device.

Screen Time will be a huge feature for everyone to keep an eye on overall usage.

That covers the big features of iOS, let us look at tvOS next.

tvOS 12

tvOS has only a few updates that most users will notice. The first of these is that Dolby Atmos audio is coming to tvOS 12. If you have a Dolby Atmos sound bar connected to your Apple TV, and the content that you are watching is Dolby Atmos enabled, it should work.

The second new feature is “Zero Sign-on”. Zero Sign-on is the idea that if you are using your cable company provider’s internet connection you can be automatically signed in to all of the applications that you can stream from, like HBO, ShowTime, and others. This will start with Charter Spectrum customers first, and will expand to other providers in the future.

The third feature revolves around the Aerial views on the Apple TV. With tvOS 12 you will be able to swipe between Aerial Screensavers. Along with this, you will be able to tap on the Siri remote and see the location of the screen saver.

The next feature is that you will be able to tune into live news and sports with the Apple TV. News and Sports are one of the key reasons that people still have traditional cable subscriptions, but that may change.

The last feature of tvOS is the ability to use third-party remotes instead of the Siri remote.

These are minor changes, but welcome ones for Apple TV users. It’s time to move on to watchOS.

watchOS 5

The Apple Watch has a primary focus, health. That has not changed with watchOS 5. The biggest changes for watchOS 5 still revolve around health. These include a new workout type, workout detection, and staying connected.

The new workout type is for Yoga. It is primarily focused on heart-rate. There are millions of people around the world who like to do Yoga and having it be a workout type will allow those individuals to get credit for their Yoga Workouts.

There are often times that you forget to start a workout and only realize it afterwards. This can be particular problematic if you have gone for a while and are not going to get credit. With watchOS 5, this may no longer be the case. watchOS 5 can automatically detect that you are in a workout and suggest you start one. When this occurs, you will receive credit for the time that it detected you were active. Similarly, if you forget to end a workout, watchOS will do the same thing.

Another watchOS feature that may help people stay in touch. There is a large segment of the population that used walkie talkies when they were kids. Apple has brought the same feature to watchOS 5. It is cleverly called “Walkie Talkie”. It does just what you would expect. You can send short audio messages to those who you designate as contacts. The recipient will have to accept an invitation, but after that you will be able to talk freely.

The last feature to highlight is that Siri Shortcuts can now be included in the Siri Watch Face, which include third-party applications are supported.

There are more features on watchOS, but let us move onto macOS.

macOS

Modern macOS was introduced 17 years ago. Since 2013 Apple has been using California place names. For the last four years they have been mountain related. This year though, it is going a bit dryer, with macOS 10.14 Mojave.

macOS 10.14 Mojave has a bunch of new features, with Finder, the Mac App Store, and the Desktop. Let us look at the Finder changes.

Finder Changes

The Finder has received a new view, called Gallery View. Gallery View will provide you with a preview strip at the bottom of the Finder window and a metadata information panel on the right. In this view, in the lower right corner is a new set of features, Quick Actions.

Quick Actions are just as they sound, actions that can be done quickly. These actions are context aware, meaning that you will see different actions for an image, versus a PDF, and other files. Developers can add quick actions if they wish using any combination of shell scripts or automator actions to perform actions all without needing to open an application.

Next, let us look at the Mac App Store.

Mac App Store

The Mac App Store has seen a complete redesign. This is similar to the one that iOS got last year under iOS 12. There is a new sidebar with seven different categories. These categories are:

• Discover
• Create
• Work
• Play
• Develop
• Categories
• Updates

Each tab contains a variety of applications that match that specific category. The Discover tab will let you find new applications that you may not know about as well as provide editorials about applications. The discover tab also shows the Top Charts.

That covers the Mac App Store changes, now let us move to the new features within the Desktop.

Desktop Changes

The changes around the desktop include a large item, and a small one. The small change is actually around screenshots. Screenshots on macOS now functions a lot like that on iOS. You can take a screenshot and do instant mark-up on the screenshot. It will be great to have consistency between iOS and macOS.

Many users use their Desktop as a temporary holding place for files that they are working on. In order to be able to more easily organize the myriad of files on your Desktop, Apple has created "Stack View". Stack View will allow you to see all of the files on your desktop within stacks. You can organize Kind of file, Date, or Tag. When you add a new item to the desktop, it will automatically be sorted.

The biggest change for the desktop is an all new Dark Mode. Dark Mode on macOS is a true Dark Mode. In previous versions you could have the menu bar and dock be dark but now with macOS Mojave, all aspects of the operating system can be Dark, including applications, provided the developer has added support for them.

If you use your Mac throughout the day, there is a Dynamic Desktop which will automatically adjust the screen throughout the day, from Light Mode to Dark Mode.

Closing Thoughts

There have been a large number of changes across iOS, watchOS, tvOS, and macOS. iOS brings ARKit enhancements, new Animoji, the new Memoji feature, FaceTime group chat, Siri Shortcuts, the ability to group notifications, and the all new Screen Time all bring iOS forward and help people more quickly do things to get back to what they were doing.

tvOS has a few new features that include Dolby Atmos, Zero Sign-in, Live News and Sports, and the ability to swipe to switch Aerial views and their locations. These are minor, but well needed updates.

watchOS brings Siri Shortcuts, the Yoga workout, automatically starting and ending of workouts, and the new Walkie Talkie feature.

macOS includes a whole new Mac App Store, new Quick Actions in Finder, a new Gallery View for Finder. The Desktop gets Dynamic Desktop, a whole new Dark Mode, and Markup.

Overall, the changes to all of Apple's operating systems should be quite beneficial for users across all of their Apple devices.

There are even more features that have not been included, but will be covered in my e-books. There will be more information about those later in the summer.

We are now just over a week out from Apple's World Wide Developer Conference keynote. With that making predictions for what Apple will announce is generally a fool's errand. That does not stop some, like myself, from having a wish list of items that I would like to see changed. Predictions are particularly difficult given Apple's continued goal for reducing the information that leaks from the company. Despite this reduction in information, some information still gets out. With the scant amount of information that is available, I have some ideas for what Apple could do with their operating systems. Last year I did two separate posts, however I think that this year will be a bit more low-key as compared to previous years. To coincide with that, I will only be doing a single post about everything that I think Apple will do. Let us start with something that I think will affect all all of Apple's operating systems. If you want, you can skip straight to the recap.

All Platforms

There are some things that span all of Apple's operating systems, so this needs its own section.

Siri

Even though all of Apple's operating systems have Siri, they are not the same, and do not have the same capabilities. For instance, Siri on macOS cannot control any items in the Home app on iOS. Given that the HomeKit information is synchronized over iCloud, this seems like an oversight. There is no reason why macOS could not control the HomeKit items. I totally understand that it may not be possible if you are not on the same network, but if you are on the same network, it should be entirely possible to do so.

Similarly, the HomePod should be able to search for documents in iCloud and send a link to your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. I think Apple will announce that they are going to start having Siri become one unified platform. There will always be things that each platform cannot do. For instance, tvOS cannot search files within iCloud. Although if Apple did allow tvOS, and by extension watchOS, to find files, they could be opened on an iPad, Mac, or iPhone.

It would also be great to ask the HomePod to be able to do something like "Siri, open my '2018 Budget' on my Mac", and having it open. Implementing this would be an overnight thing, but it is certainly something that Apple could indicate that they are working on. This may be feasible since iCloud knows about all of your devices, and it could signal to each what to do. Next, let us turn to the most mature operating system that Apple has, macOS.

I give the likelihood of Apple announcing that Siri is going to be largely the same across all devices as 50%.

Messages in the Cloud

One of the features that Apple announced, but has not yet shipped is Messages in the Cloud. It is designed to have all of your messages be available on all of your devices, particularly when you add a new device. Despite being in beta multiple times, but it has not yet been released. It does not surprise me that it has not been released yet. It is best to make sure that everything will work flawlessly, given the amount of information and history contained within messages.

If Apple does indeed release this, I think there will also be an iCloud version of it as well. I think the iCloud version will not necessarily be able to send any message from your iPhone's number, but you would be able to do so from your Apple ID. I do not think it would have all of the same bells and whistles that are on iOS, but you would be able to do basic messaging.

I am giving this a 80% chance of Messages in the Cloud being released. I give the probably of having an iCloud version of Messages at 25%. It would be nice to have, but it is not likely.

AirPlay

It is not often that I have had to use AirPlay. This is because I typically do not need to stream something from my Mac, iPhone, or iPad to my Apple TV. However, recently I have been bingeing This Old House, and there are no apps for it. The only way to view this is by using a browser. Since tvOS does not come with a browser, the only option left is to AirPlay. My biggest problem with the arrangement is that I cannot send video to my Apple TV but audio to my HomePod, instead the audio is outputted via the TV, which works but does not sound as good.

One of the things that Apple announced in September of 2017 was AirPlay 2. I anticipate that it will be coming with iOS 11.4, but it is entirely possible that Apple will push things off to iOS 12. AirPlay 2 will allow an iOS device to output the same audio to multiple devices simultaneously. This will work well for those with multiple HomePods. I would like to see iOS 12 provide betas for the HomePod, but I do not know if that will happen or not. I am going to guess it is not likely.

The likelihood of AirPlay being released at WWDC, whether it is with iOS 11.4 or iOS 12, at 80%. I give the probability of HomePod developer betas at 10%, it may be too early in the lifecycle of the HomePod for betas. I do not expect public betas for the HomePod, but developer betas would be nice.

Dark Mode

With the release of the iPhone X and its OLED screen, it would be really great for there to be a system-wide Dark Mode. This Dark Mode should apply to all macOS and iOS. tvOS has a dark mode already, and watchOS uses a dark theme by default, in order to save the screen and battery. Having a dark mode option, and allowing developers to opt-in, would provide a more consistent look and feel when switching between applications. This would be most prominent on macOS when you could be working in an application like GarageBand and its dark theme and then switching to Safari with its super bright theme.

I think the probably of all of Apple's operating systems having a system-wide dark mode at 60%.

macOS

macOS is a very stable operating system. macOS is likely the Apple operating system that I use for getting most everything done. You might think that there is not much that could be done. In fact, there is still quite a bit that can be done, particularly with bringing some features over from iOS.

Messages

Messages on iOS is pretty full featured, however its counterpart on macOS is quite lacking in some areas. It would be nice to have macOS have feature parity with iOS. Doing so would maintain a consistent experience between iOS and macOS. This could be as simple as providing the same effects that are possible with iOS onto macOS.

I predicted this last year at 95%. This year I am giving it a 35% chance.

Workflow

In March of 2017, it was announced that Apple purchased the iOS app, Workflow. Workflow allows you to you to perform different automation techniques using iOS. This could include sending items to a web service, converting files, or various other tasks. The possibilities are endless. The best part of Workflow is that you do not need to be a programmer to be able to figure it out. Workflow has a drag and drop interface that allows you to tie things together. When Apple purchased Workflow, it was thought that improvements to the app would cease, but there have been some small improvements over the last year.

It would be great to see Workflow make its way to macOS. By porting Workflow over to macOS it will provide a way to automate some tasks, which would be simpler than using one of the current solutions like Automator or AppleScript. It would require some changes to the App, for sure, but it could extend more functionality to macOS.

I give this a likelihood of 40%. It is more likely that Workflow will be integrated than getting a macOS version.

Notification Center

When Mac OS X 10.7 Lion was released one of the features was one that came from iOS. That feature was Notification Center. In the intervening 7 years, not much has been done to improve Notification Center on macOS. It would be great to have additional customization options for Notification Center. For instance, the ability to have all of your Notifications from all devices gathered in one place. Dismissing it in one place would dismiss it on all devices.

This would help all users not have to dismiss notifications on all of their devices. I give this a 25% chance of happening.

macOS Server

I will be honest, this next prediction is pretty much a gimme, since Apple has already indicated the future course for macOS Server. The next version of macOS Server, version 6, is likely to include graphical interface management for Profile Manager, Open Directory, and Xsan Server. All of the other graphical management that was in macOS 5.6 will be removed. Some of the underlying services, like Apache, will still ship with macOS itself, so they can be still be managed via Terminal.

One thing that has not been clarified, and is purely a guess on my part, is that macOS Server will still include certificate management.

The other item that I think Apple will FINALLY do, is allow Profile Manager to be accessible on an iPad in Portrait mode, AND on an iPhone. I think it is entirely feasible, given the the workflow for Profile Manager to be able to accommodate the devices. Additionally, when you need to make changes in Configuration Manager, you are not always at your Mac or near an iPad and it would help server administrators. What would be even better would be an app that is accessible on iPhones, iPads, and macOS.

I give the likelihood of Server being significantly reduced at 100%. Similarly, I give certificate management's probability at 85%, and Profile Manager being accessible from devices besides iPads in Landscape and Desktops at 50%, and the probably of an app for accessing Profile Manager servers at 10%.

iTunes

This next one is entirely a guess and wishful thinking. I think Apple will let us know that iTunes is being overhauled. Here is what I wrote last year, and I still want it to be true.

iTunes' original intent was as a syncing mechanism back when all of our media was locally on our computers. That was back in 2001. 16 years later times have changed and while a percentage of individuals still synchronize their music to their computers, that number is a very small percentage. It would be nice to see Apple completely re-think iTunes. One of the hinderances from this occurring is that iTunes is also on Windows. However, Apple could give macOS a boost by providing an even better experience and keeping iTunes on Windows the way it is now. The biggest change would be to separate out the classic iPod syncing portion to its own application. This would still allow those individuals who need to synchronize their items to be able to do so. Meanwhile, the remaining functions, Music, Podcasts, Movies, TV Shows, iTunes U, and Apps could all become their own applications. This approach would allow each of these applications to be updated on their own schedule. Alongside this, each application could have a user-interface which matches the functionality of that application. There are two aspects to this prediction. The first is that Apple will preview a refreshed iTunes. The second is that it will be released "in the fall" (meaning when the new iPhones are released). I give the chance of a refreshed iTunes a 10% chance of happening. It is a slim chance, but still a chance.

I do not know if it is going to happen, but it would be a great way to have a big item amongst stability improvements.

There is one other thing that I have noticed. My "Wish List" is not in sync between my Apple TVs, iOS, and iTunes on the Mac. All of my devices are signed into the same Apple ID, so the wish lists should be the same, but they are not. I am not talking about the any apps on my Wish List, but the movies. I do not get why they would be out of sync, but they are.

I give this a 15% chance of occurring, because I am probably an outlier in this situation. Here are two images to prove the mismatch.

Next let us take a look at the operating system for the Apple TV, tvOS.

tvOS

tvOS is Apple's operating system for the Apple TV. As has been the case since television became mainstream, people generally tend to do one thing, consume media. Given that this is the primary purpose of large screens in our lives, there is not much that I can think of that Apple would need to add to tvOS. I am sure there are things, but I cannot think of any for tvOS.

There is one slight modification that would be good. I received a "low battery" warning for my Siri Remote on my Apple TV. As is the case on all iOS-based operating systems, "Low Battery" means 20%, or less. This means that my Siri remote can probably go for another 3 or 4 months, if not longer, before actually needing to be charged. I understand why Apple does this for iOS devices, Macs, Apple Watch, Keyboards and Mice, but it seems a bit odd given how long the Siri Remote lasts. It would be nice to have this warning be changed to something like 10%. Even at 10%, the Siri Remote will still last for another couple of months at least.

I give the probability of Apple changing this at 25%, probably because it is hard coded into the operating system.

watchOS

watchOS is probably the Apple operating system that has the largest place for improvement. The biggest feature, that would be personally beneficial, would be the ability for developers to use background audio in a reliant manner, without needing to start a workout first. In particular, my preferred podcast player cannot synchronize my podcasts to the Apple Watch because it is slow, and there is no reliable playback possible. What would be needed for this is probably more than we will get this year, but it would be great to have.

The possibility of this occurring is likely 50%.

Watch Faces

Apple has narrowed the focus for the Apple Watch. One thing that the Apple Watch has had since the beginning is the Faces. While Apple has added a couple of new Watch faces, like the Toy Story characters, and the Siri Watch Face, it would be nice to have a few additional options. In particular, it would be nice for developers to be able to create their own Watch Faces. This could include a Watch Face store, but having too many choices could be cumbersome. With this knowledge it might be best to have more customizable options for the Siri Watch Face. Apple could partner with some Fashion houses to come up with custom watch faces that could be purchased.

I give this a 40% chance of happening.

Personalized Goals

watchOS 4 introduced personalized goals for each month. Some of the personalized goals I have had since last year are:

• Double move goal every day
• Burn a certain number of calories
• Average number of exercise minutes per day
• Performing a number of workouts in a month
• Going a certain distance in a month
• Burn an average number of calories a day

There are a couple of improvements that I would like to see. The first is additional personalized goals, what in particular I do not know. The second improvement is to not have the goals be too far-fetched. Specifically, one of my goals was to do 48 15-minute, or longer, exercises. Maybe it is just me, but having to do 48 exercises in one month seems excessive.

I give this a 70% chance. There are already a variety of goal types, and more may not be necessary. At the same time health and fitness are primary functions of the Apple Watch.

Interface Improvements

watchOS does not use the standard User Interface controls that iOS applications do. Instead watchOS has its own user interface language. It might be time for Apple to bring UIKit over to watchOS. Particularly with the Series 3 Apple Watch battery life is not an issue, and speed does not seem to be a problem either. By having UIKit on watchOS it is possible that more applications would be made available for the Apple Watch.

I give this 75%, only because I am sure Apple knows this would help applications on the watch, but it would take some major performance improvements to make happen.

iOS

Augmented Reality

One of the areas in which Apple is putting a lot of focus is in Augmented Reality. At WWDC 2017, Apple announced ARKit, a new framework that would allow developers to overlay different items on the physical world. With iOS 11.3, Apple released ARKit 1.5, which included allowing objects on vertical surfaces, mapping irregular shapes, and integration with real-world images.

I think Apple will improve ARKit with ARKit 2.0. It is hard to guess what will be included. I am going to guess that they will have ARKit 2.0 require the iPhone 7. I give this an 85% chance of occurring.

Battery Health

I think with iOS 12, the Battery health, which is currently in beta, will come out of beta.

Notifications

There are often items that we use every day, and when they were new they were novel, but now just come to think of as a normal thing. A feature that was introduced with iPhone OS 3.0 was Push Notifications. Over the last nine years, notifications have become an indispensable tool for users and developers alike. Over its history notifications have seen a number of enhancements, but there is still more to do.

It would be nice to see Apple add even more customization options, in particular when it comes to VIPs, in particular, it would be nice to be able to only get notifications from particular individuals. Right now, this works in Mail, but it would be helpful to extend this to all applications, but in particular messages.

One area that I have seen issues lately is that I am not always being notified when a new message comes in. The badge will be shown, but I do not receive any indication on my Apple Watch. It would be great to see Apple improve the reliability of notification of iMessages.

I give this a 80% chance, it would likely coincide with Messages in the Cloud.

Parental Controls

Technology can be a boon, but it can also be detrimental. Many parents wonder what, if any, harm is being done by allowing so much screen time for their children. While parents attempt to limit screen time, it is not always an easy task. It would be very helpful to provide parents with even more controls to allow them to customize the screen time for their children.

For instance, it would be nice to be able to set limits for specific application use. As an example, imagine your kid has an iPad that they can use and you want to limit the amount of YouTube time that they have, to two hours during the school week and at the same time not limit their use of applications that are needed for school, or are educational. There could be an interface that would allow parents to set which days, and times, that a child can use. In this case, you would want to limit them to 2 hours, Monday through Friday.

While it would be acceptable to have this be possible on the iPad itself, having a web-based interface would be even better and would make it easier to administer the iPad. The ability to manage devices is already available through Apple's Profile Manager, but this would be a bit more specific and would not require knowledge of Profile Manager, nor would it require the use of management profiles.

I give the likelihood of improved parental controls a 60% chance of occurring. I give the likelihood of granular controls at 40%.

Recap

Here is a recap of all of my predictions. Some are more likely to occur than others.

What was previous presumed is now official. Apple will be having their World Wide Developer Keynote at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time on June 4th. The invites to select media outlets have gone out.

I will have my predictions out early next week and will also have a round up of what is announced after the keynote on June 4th. If you have any predictions, let me know and I will include them in with my predictions.

Earlier this year Apple announced a shift for macOS Server. Since writing up that article I have been thinking about some directions that Apple could take macOS Server. I have a couple of ideas, and thought I would share them.

Per Apple, the primary focus for macOS Server going forward will be device and storage management. Device Management within macOS Server is handled through Apple's Profile Manager service. One of the primary tasks with Profile Manager is to be able to restrict functions on iOS devices. With this being the focus, there is a possibility for some expansions. This is great for solution companies, but what about individuals?

Profile Manager can be installed, and managed by just about anyone. The tricky part is that some of the settings are not easy to understand and determine how they affect operating of an iOS device. Most of the setting are somewhat self-explanatory, for those more technologically inclined. What if Apple were to make profile manager non-techie friendly? This is my first idea.

User-Friendly Profile Manager

There are many different aspects to iOS that can be configured with Profile Manager, but many users are not like myself, and are able to understand what impact each of those settings could have, when they are set. I would love to see Apple create a cloud-based management portal for non-techies. In particular, one that can allow parents to manage their children's iOS devices.

Many parents would love to see the ability to limit the days and times that the iOS devices that their child has can be operated. In addition, they would also like to be able to allow certain applications all the time, like apps for school work, or maybe evening learning applications.

In order for Apple to provide this type of service, additional and more granular restrictions would be needed for iOS, but providing this type of service, as well as the restrictions, would go a long way to helping parents keep an eye on what their children are using.

The reason for making this could based, instead of just iOS-based, would be so a parent could adjust settings from anywhere. It would also be useful to have an app for the

Cloud-based Profile Manager

One of the other ideas that I have pondered, is one where Apple provides a cloud-based profile manager, similar to its current form, just cloud-based instead of on-premise. This would not necessarily replace profile manager for those who host it within their company, but could allow smaller companies to get into Profile Manager without needing to have a server on-site.

Profile Manager requires an Open Directory server to connect to. This means that you either have to have one on the same server as the profile manager server, or one that can connect.

Providing this service would require an additional Open Directory server to be present on the Profile Manager server. This server could be a secondary server, but one would be necessary. If a company is only hosting their profile management server in the cloud, then it would make configuration a lot easier.

Providing a cloud-based profile manager server could be a benefit smaller companies who would want to be able to have the ability to control devices, but do not have the internal expertise to manage a macOS Server. Similarly, this could help Apple add to its services revenue, which could help in the long run.

These are just a couple of ideas for where Apple could take macOS Server. Only time will tell if this is the direction Apple will take macOS Server or not.

The first version of what we call macOS was released in 2001, with the release of Mac OS X 10.0 Cheetah. When Mac OS X 10.0 Cheetah was released, a separate version called Mac OS X 10.0 Cheetah Server was also released. At the time of its release the landscape of servers, and their utility, was entirely different from today's landscape. Back then, high speed internet was generally limited to large companies and home users typically had dial-up, ISDN, or possibly even slow DSL connections. The roll out of cable-based internet was not nearly as ubiquitous as it is today. Mobile internet was not even on the horizon for many users. That would come a half dozen years later with the release of the iPhone. Today's internet landscape is vastly different. Mobile broadband as well as home broadband are more common than before. Of course there are some exceptions, but having high speed internet is the norm in many places.

The server portion of macOS has seen its share of changes over the years. At first, the Server version was a separate installation and had its own pricing structure. As time progressed, the features of macOS Server increased. As the feature set increased, the pricing of macOS Server has decreased. Initially, Server came in two versions, a 10-client and Unlimited Client versions. With the release of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, the unlimited version was the only one released. Its price was reduced to the price of $499, which was the original cost of the 10-client version. This is down from $999.

Mac OS X 10.7 Lion completely changed the server paradigm on the Mac. Instead of being a different version, the entire Server application was released as an application. The price was reduced again to $49.99. This was a substantial reduction from the previous price, a 90% price drop. With OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, Apple reduced the price even further to $19.99 for the app. This has been the pricer new purchases, but for the last few versions if you previously purchased macOS Server, each new version was a free upgrade.

macOS Server has had a standard set of services that it has provided, with a few additions over the years. The set of all services that macOS Server has provided over the years is as follows:

• Caching Server
• Calendar
• Contacts
• DHCP
• DNS
• File Sharing
• Mail
• Messages
• NetInstall
• Open Directory
• Profile Manager
• Software Update Server
• VPN
• Websites
• Wiki
• Xcode
• Xsan

With macOS High Sierra (10.13), Apple moved a couple of these services to the core operating system itself. Caching Server and File Sharing were both integrated into macOS itself. Xcode Server was also removed from macOS Server and that service was integrated into Xcode 9, and its core functionality changed. Xcode Server removed the ability to host code repositories, instead relying on services like GitHub to do this for users. Apple has unveiled some new information about the future of its macOS Server application, specifically what the spring update to macOS Server will bring to those who use macOS Server.

macOS Server is changing to focus more on management of computers, devices, and storage on your network. As a result, some changes are coming in how Server works. A number of services will be deprecated, and will be hidden on new installations of an update to macOS Server coming in spring 2018. If you've already configured one of these services, you'll still be able to use it in the spring 2018 macOS Server update. These deprecated services will be removed in a future release of macOS Server, so those depending on them should consider alternatives, including hosted services.

The list of deprecated services include:

• Calendar
• Contacts
• DHCP
• DNS
• Mail
• Messages
• NetInstall
• VPN
• Websites
• Wiki

Apple does provide a list of alternatives for each of the deprecated services, within the support article. These alternatives will require a bit more knowledge, and more likely more configuration, over the graphical interface provided by the Server application. This change will have the biggest impact on small and medium businesses who rely on macOS Server to be able to run their custom applications. It is not impossible to continue to use macOS to host these, it just will not be a elegant to do so.

The deprecation of these services leaves only a few remaining services. These service are:

• Open Directory
• Profile Manager
• Xsan

That is all that remains of macOS Server with the next update in the spring. If you have any of the deprecated services already configured, these will still be available to be managed. Profile Manager, and by extension Open Directory, are still areas which Apple can differentiate themselves and management of macOS and iOS devices is an area that Apple still feels is very important. I think the writing was on the wall for macOS Server after the Software Update Service was officially deprecated. If one of the features that many institutions relied on was being deprecated, what about the other services.

The removal of Calendar, Contacts, DHCP, DNS, Mail, Messages, Net Install, VPN, and Wiki, honestly all make sense. The usage of these services by individuals and small businesses is probably very small. These services were big and much needed 15 years ago, but are not necessary today. The one that I would like Apple to keep is Websites, only because I tend to do some web development on my Macs. With the removal of Websites, packages like XAMPP are likely to become even more heavily used by developers.

As the article states, "These deprecated services will be removed in a future release of macOS Server". It is my guess that these services will be removed in the version of Server that corresponds with the next version of macOS. Like macOS Server 6.0 that is paired with macOS 10.14. It is entirely possible that these remaining services will be integrated directly into macOS itself and activated similarly to how Caching Server is activated, through System Preferences, however since these services still require a bit of advanced knowledge, these are more likely to still be configured by a separate, albeit a much smaller, application. It is possible that Apple may even reduce the price further, to $9.99 or possibly even free. I know I am interested in seeing how macOS Server 6 is under the next version of macOS.

Source: apple.com.