WWDC24 highlights, AVOW & Samsung partnership + more | Median Minute
Welcome to the latest edition of the Median Minute, a semi-frequent series scannable in one minute, powered by the team at Median.co, and built for you.
💡 FEATURED STORY: iOS 18 revealed: Highlights from Apple's WWDC24 keynote
Three important themes emerged from the mobile giant’s latest series of product announcements at its annual conference. It’s clear from this year’s keynote that its next software update — iOS 18 — will promote customization, security and privacy, and continuity across devices. Three takeaways in a nutshell:
- iPhone users will have more control over the look and feel of their devices: Home Screens and the Control Center are now more customizable, and app icons will now have dark-mode and tinting functionality — both of which contribute to users creating a more intuitive, personalized UI.
- Security and privacy updates ensure user information is more secure when interacting with apps: With iOS 18, the mobile phone giant is doubling down on the concept by rolling out some enhanced app-specific security features. Core updates include the ability to lock and hide apps and containing folders, stronger privacy when it comes to pairing with apps, and updates to information sharing (i.e. you can now let users hand-select what contacts will be shared vs. sharing all of them at once).
- macOS Sequoia’s iPhone Mirroring makes for a more seamless multi-device experience: According to Apple, this efficiency-first macOS Sequoia feature promotes ‘continuity’ between desktop and iPhone. Users can wirelessly connect and display their iPhone right on the desktop screen, drag and place it where it makes the most sense on the screen.
WWDC24’s keynote was jam-packed with product feature updates that will simplify developer experience and enrich user experience. Explore them more fully in our roundup: iOS 18 revealed: Highlights from Apple's WWDC24 keynote
🆕 New @ Median
Native Media Player enhancements
Median's native media player plugin now supports more video formats and more encoding options.
The native media player is a key element for any app that includes audio playback — you can learn more about our native media player plugin here.
Single Page Applications (SPAs) and Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)
Median's NPM package provides functionality to implement a "soft" page load experience for native app navigation events, including:
- Native navigation button clicks (e.g., tapping a bottom tab bar button)
- Deep link app resume (e.g., opening a deep link from an email/SMS that launches your app from the background)
- Push notification app resume (e.g., tapping a notification banner with an embedded URL that opens in the app from the background)
Android Security enhancements
Google Sign-In now uses the new Credential Manager API for faster and more secure login on Android — and is now available as part of our Social Login native plugin.
Want to know how it all works?
Get hands-on with Median’s comprehensive documentation, and build your app with ease.
🗞️ Apps in the news: June edit
Apple’s iOS updates from WWDC 2024 to Microsoft’s sunsetting of Xamarin support, we’ve been glued to a few mobile app news stories this month.
End of an era: Microsoft’s support for Xamarin comes to an end
Microsoft announces they no longer support Xamarin, officially ending on May 1, 2024 for all Xamarin SDKs. Xamarin.Android, Xamarin.iOS, Xamarin.Mac are now integrated directly into .NET (starting with .NET 6) as .NET for Android, .NET for iOS, and .NET for Mac. You can, however, use a Xamarin alternative like Median.co to build webview apps and integrate native plugins for a full-feature (and functional) native app. Read more on why Median.co is the go-to solution for a Xamarin alternative.
Apple shuts down its ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ service
Apple just shut down its Apple Pay Later services, the installment pay service introduced to iOS 16 just last year. The choice to end Apple Pay Later comes as a part of a global rollout of new Apple Pay features that is scheduled for the fall of 2024. Read more on this story here.
AVOW announces European partnership with Samsung to offer mobile ads
AVOW is now collaborating with Samsung to provide mobile app marketers new advertising opportunities within its Galaxy Store in Europe. This partnership makes AVOW one of Samsung’s key partners to earn management rights over advertising on Samasung’s Galaxy Store throughout the European Union. AVOW also notes that Samsung has over 34% shares in the European smartphone market — this partnership is predicted to enhance Samsung’s overall market reach and streamline advertising efforts.
Need for (app production) speed? Key strategies to amp up app production and maintain quality
At Median, part of our ethos is to “launch an app today, not next year.” That’s what compelled our experts to share strategies to speed up app production and still maintain quality. Some include: adopting agile methodologies, focusing on a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), and using no-code/low-code tools. (But there’s certainly more to it.) Get a more fulsome strategy on how to speed up app production.
Apple rejected Meta’s AI partnership for iPhones — months ago
The Apple vs. Meta saga continues. Apple allegedly rejected an offer by Meta to integrate its AI chatbots into iPhones, reports Bloomberg. Apple says the rejection is due to Meta’s privacy policies not being stringent enough to qualify under Apple’s strict guidelines on privacy.
Apple set to roll out new intelligence features in 2025
Apple is set to launch new intelligence features in 2025. The delay is intentional as Apple aims to avoid issues seen in other AI systems. These AI features were first introduced at the WWDC (see our featured story) and are set to be available to developers later in the summer, and with a preview launch in the fall. Enhancements to Siri and global language support are also expected to arrive by 2025.
Android 15 will automatically delete face or fingerprint unlock (if they’re malfunctioning)
Since its release in April, Android 15 beta has been rolling out new features. The latest of note: users now have the ability to automatically delete face or fingerprint unlock if the system suspects they aren't working well. While users can already manually delete them, they may not be sure as to when to do so. This new feature solves for this by allowing the system to detect when they’re ineffective and then automatically deletes them, saving users the trouble of being locked out of their Android devices.
📱 Anatomy of an App: White label apps
An app’s features, user experience, performance and speed, and visual elements such as screenshots, icons, and app splash screens are important elements, but DYK, all these can be part of white label apps as well?
More importantly, a good white label app can be customized with native functionalities and be published to app stores without any restrictions to its core functions.
What exactly is a white label app, and what are the pros?
A white label app is a pre-built mobile app developed by a third-party app builder allowing enterprises to rebrand and customize it with their own brand identity — logos, icons, colors, and features.
The pros white label apps
White label apps are cost and time efficient. Their pre-built core functionality allows businesses to scale multiple apps to their clients with customization options: you can change branding, style, color, and logos with ease. These apps are also easy to maintain as the app developer will take care of any maintenance and updates required — making sure their white label apps adhere to the app store guidelines.
Can I build a white label app?
As an enterprise, to build a white label app, you need to first look for a highly reliable and responsive app development platform and services provider that will help you realize and publish your app.
Median.co’s team of experts are experienced with white label apps, differentiating it from low-quality template-based app developers out there.
Want to learn more about white label apps? Get some practical tips in this recent article from sidebar Magazine.
🔢 BY THE NUMBERS
30:10
📢 Overheard @ Median
“Is the app’s safe area important for my iOS app design?“
Yes. For your iOS app to be user friendly, considering the app’s safe area is key to maintaining consistent design throughout the app. As a matter of fact, an iOS app’s safe area has been specifically highlighted in Apple’s UI guidelines on formatting content.
Apple defines a safe area as the view that isn’t covered by a navigation bar, tab bar, toolbar, or other views a window might provide. Take a look at the image below highlighting an iOS app’s safe area:
Safe areas can be useful for interactive elements such as navigation bars. They make sure they dynamically adjust to the changes made in content size.
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⏰ Time’s up (for now)!
We’re here to help you make sense of all things mobile. Have specific questions? Get in touch with us here, or visit our website.
Wishing everyone a successful summer!
– The Median Team
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