Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday brought some #BIGnews for users during the livestream of the event’s keynote presentation, hosted by Apple CEO Tim Cook. While last year’s event focused on speed and responsiveness of Apple software, this year’s conference has brought a host of highly-anticipated updates with iOS 13, along with the new Mac Pro – an incredible piece of hardware geared toward professionals by delivering features such as the powerful graphics card and 28-core Xeon Intel processor.
Here are some of the most notable announcements from the event:

iOS 13: Coming this fall

• Dark mode: This new iOS feature had Twitter buzzing with excitement, now that iOS can “live in the dark” across all your Apple apps.
• Maps: Apple has “rebuilt Maps from the ground up,” with the debut of its new, more detailed Maps app. Users can now add favorites, plan a trip with Collections, or take a 3D, high-definition look around with the new binoculars button.
• Photos: iOS 13 also brings some updates to the Photos app, including video editing capabilities and a new way to browse your photos that intelligently organizes them for you, displaying the most important moments of your day, month and year in one view.
• Performance speed: Your favorite features just got even faster. Face ID is now 30% faster, downloads are 50% smaller, app launch speed is twice as fast, and app updates are 60% smaller.
• Privacy: “Privacy is a fundamental human right, and we engineer it into everything we do,” announced Craig Federighi, Apple’s SVP of software engineering. User-privacy was one of the stars of the show during the presentation, with emphasis on how Apple will protect your data from third-party interference or abuse. A new privacy feature now lets you bypass those pesky “login with Facebook or Google” requests from websites trying to access your data. With iOS 13, you will have the option to “login with Apple,” with the choice to share or hide your email address.

Make way for the new Mac Pro:
As “the most configurable, most expandable, and most powerful” new system, the Mac Pro takes the last spot in Apple’s Mac lineup. The processor allows for 1.5 terabytes of system memory and all the expansion ports a pro user could ever need. It also boasts a 1.4 kW power supply with handles and wheels for easy mobility. The 32-inch monitor called the ProDisplay XDR (Extreme Dynamic Range) offers a 1,000000:1 contrast ratio and a 6K retina display.

MacOS “moves from the desert to the ocean” with Catalina
Some notable upgrades with the new MacOS include “Find My” – a combination of Find My iPhone and Find My Friends that allows for Macs and iOS devices to be located anywhere, even when they’re offline, by using other iPhones as bluetooth-enabled tracking beacons. Catalina also brings the highly speculated end of iTunes, which will be broken up into Apple Podcasts, Apple Music, and Apple TV.

WatchOS 6 puts the App Store on your wrist
In a continued effort to make Apple Watch a more powerful and personal part of your daily life, the device is now getting its own app store that allows for app purchasing and installation directly on your wrist. Some new apps for Watch include Voice Memos and a Calculator app that allows you to calculate the tip or split the bill with friends.
Both the Activity and Health app are getting updates as well. Activity Trends now helps you track your activity and offers tips to stay active. The Noise App will let you know when sounds are too loud with decibel detection, and the Health app’s Cycle Tracking lets users log period and fertility aspects discreetly.

iPad gets its own OS
Now, with an operating system designed specifically for the iPad, users will have better multitasking capabilities with a few simple swipes and slides. The Files app is also getting an upgrade with a new column view and support for iCloud Drive file sharing. Finally, Apple is bringing ‘desktop-class browsing” to Safari on the iPad with new shortcuts and fonts, multi-touch, and a simplified way to copy and paste.

Which one of these updates are you most excited about? And what about the conference surprised you the most? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter at @BIGfishPR!