9 Apple apps and products copied for iOS 13 and macOS Catalina

Another WWDC, another set of apps, products and services that has just been "Sherlocked" by Apple. The term, used as a familiar way to refer when Apple builds a native feature that effectively renders a third-party application or product useless, comes back every year as the company develops its service offerings. and introduces new features worthy of your thirty minutes to update.

So what has Apple been trying to get rid of this year or at least borrow money? If all the items presented here will not be considered dead by the time Apple launches iOS 13 and macOS Catalina in the fall, these developers must at least find a way to differentiate themselves enough to prevent customers from switching to the Apple version. .

Single authentication

Of all the companies that Apple is trying to tackle, it is clear that Google and Facebook have been at the center of their concerns for a very long time, especially with regard to security. With Apple Connect, users can now ask Apple to sign them for apps and services instead of signing in through a Facebook or Google account. Apple promises to provide less information to apps than Facebook or Google. It goes even further and offers users a way to generate a random email that allows applications and services to spear without giving them their real address. This will also allow users to log in with a face ID.

Applications of menstruation and fertility monitoring

Apple has been criticized for its lack of comprehensive support in monitoring women's health (it has not added women's health monitoring until 2015). This year, WWDC has finally announced that users can track their menstrual cycles through the new Apple Watch's Cycles application or the iOS Health app. This feature is rather late, allowing third-party applications such as Clue, Flo, Eve and Glow to conquer the market for most of the decade. Some of these applications have also been criticized for using sensitive encrypted data for marketing and research and development purposes. Another group, Femm, was recently discovered to have been funded by anti-abortion groups, claiming the application to monitor menstrual cycles while encouraging users to avoid hormonal birth control.

Being able to track your cycles locally on your device prevents users from worrying about third parties with whom your data is potentially shared. It is also included in the cost of your iPhone and Apple Watch. Do not pay for an app or use free apps funded by advertising.

Tablets to draw

macOS Catalina includes a new feature called Sidecar that lets you use an iPad as a secondary screen on your Mac's desktop. Since the iPad supports the Apple Pencil, it means that if you already have the three elements, you no longer need a dedicated Wacom-style tablet to draw in your Mac applications. And since the iPad has its own operating system, unlike most tablet computers, it will probably be a much more profitable investment for artists who draw and draw on the fly, because they can use with all relevant illustration applications. Nevertheless, it will not replace huge drawing tablets like the Wacom Cintiq.

Luna, Duet Display and other drawing applications / secondary display

Sidecar also means that third-party applications that allow you to use the iPad as a second screen are no longer needed. Some of the most popular apps include Luna and Duet Display, although the latter also offers PC support for the iPad. It is therefore not totally dead for households with varied operating systems.

Google Street View

I am not quite sure that Apple will have already beaten Google's Street View, but at least it is trying. By including its own version of Street View (called "Look Around"), Apple is trying to recruit users of Google Maps in the hope of populating its applications with more data. After all, Google Maps has become almost its own travel guide, given all the companies listed next to the photos and reviews submitted by users, and Apple clearly wants some of that cake.

Apple Watch voice memo applications

A voice memo arrives on the Apple Watch in watchOS 6, so there is no longer really any reason to use free audio recording applications from third-party vendors. There is probably less reason to use paid software as well, unless they offer more detailed tools, such as transcription or editing. Yet, these are features that Apple could reasonably create if enough users / developers wanted, especially as it extends its accessibility tools.

Video editing applications

With iOS 13, users will be able to edit videos to adjust color balance, sharpness, saturation, and more. You can now even rotate and trim videos or apply filters! This is not as detailed as other video editing applications that allow you to cut and paste music tracks for a full suite of editing on the go, but just the casual users who share them on social networks can do this without going through a third party. third-party application.

Cloud storage of home security cameras

Apple has long touted its encryption on the device for all data sent by users, whether it's passwords, Siri voice data or health information, and now offers the same functionality to HomeKit to fight vulnerable third-party security cameras. piracy. The new HomeKit Secure Video API changes how these products store security footage by encrypting video content before sending it to iCloud. Apple also offers 10 days of free recording storage without eating in your iCloud space.

Although Apple does not sell its own security camera, companies that do not adopt HomeKit have more difficulty selling their product, given recent information that Google's home security cameras and doorbells Amazon's ring can be hacked. And because encrypted home security videos are now included with the cost of iCloud, it will be difficult to convince customers to pay extra money for companies like Nest and Canary to back up their videos in the cloud.

SwiftKey / Swype

iOS 13 also offers a new input method, allowing you to drag the word you want on the keyboard without lifting a finger. Apple calls it "QuickPath Typing," which is very similar to Swype and SwiftKey, two of the most popular apps that started offering this feature years ago. It's as if Apple did not even claim that anyone else had popularized this input behavior with this naming mechanism.

Tile

Tile Bluetooth trackers are not yet completely destroyed by Apple, but they take the same idea with regard to the operation of the technology. Tile and Apple's new Find My application on macOS use the power of crowdsourcing to locate a misplaced product by letting its Bluetooth connection poll other people's devices, relaying that information to the cloud. This allows the application to search my app to work even when a MacBook is closed and offline.

So, even though the MacBook needs to have enough battery life to last until it's detected, it's one less device on which a thumbnail is pasted. Of course, users do not just use mosaics for Apple laptops. Therefore, the device lives for another day. The focus is on "for the moment".

Picture of James Bareham / The Verge

If we missed products that Apple duplicated the features of WWDC 2019, feel free to leave them in the comments. It should be noted that Apple is not the only one to have this practice (we do not have to tell you how many copies of iPhone are available) – companies in the sector of technology find, inspired from each other or take a long time to launch similar features. All the time. As my colleague James Vincent said, it's a professional risk to be an application developer nowadays.