Monday June 9 it was that time of the year, Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference kicked off with the usual Keynote where they introduce the new versions of macOS, iOS, iPadOS, visionOS, tvOS and watchOS. I was lucky enough to have obtained a ‘golden ticket’ through the lottery system and actually attend this event at Apple Park in Cupertino! As an Apple consultant and macOS developer at long-time Jamf-partner Root3, it was both very exciting and relevant for me to attend. I’d like to share my in-person experience while also highlighting key announcements, especially for Apple IT admins and how this may affect us this fall.
In-person experience
The WWDC event for attendees is actually a multi-day event with most activities taking place from Sunday to Tuesday. It starts with a welcome reception at the historic Apple Campus at 1 Infinite Loop where you check-in, get your badge, happy Apple employees high-fiving and lots of photo opportunities. It’s a great start of the week to mingle with other people, talk about the projects you’re working on while enjoying some drinks and food.
Monday morning, people lined up next to the Apple Park Visitor Center, Caffè Macs staff serving coffee and pastries right to the queue. The gates opened at 8 a.m., and we walked toward the iconic circular building, sunlight reflecting off its massive glass panels. Photos were being taken everywhere as it was the first time at Apple Park for many, including me. Eventually, we reached the outdoor theater where I found a great seat under the sunshade near the stage. Breakfast was relaxed and with pastries, fruit, coffee while Apple execs like Phil Schiller and Greg “Joz” Joswiak casually walking around between attendees. As 10 a.m. neared, Tim Cook kicked off the Keynote with his signature “Good morning!” and introduced Craig Federighi, who energized the crowd with a hilarious racing-themed intro video featuring Tim as his “pit crew.” Then came all the big announcements.
The afternoon included the Platforms State of the Union, where developers cheered for major updates like Xcode 26 with AI integrations, Foundations Model Framework for on-device LLM support, and new APIs. As soon as I could, I headed to the download stations in the inner ring, gigabit Ethernet ready at the Download Station, to install macOS 26 and test our Support App and App Catalog.
Later, I joined in-person labs focused on “Business & Education”, got questions answered by Apple engineers, and learned about useful new APIs for our apps. The day ended with a closing reception including food, drinks, DJ, and a new Finder pin as a surprise gift. I joined some Dutch attendees for group photos and a laugh with the retail staff, who kept the energy high all day long. An unforgettable day!
Tuesday concluded official activities for me with a visit to the Apple Developer Center right next to Apple Park. An extended and live session from multiple presenters, guided us through the Liquid Glass design, best practices and code examples. The Apple Design team is definitely very passionate about their work!
A final surprise event Tuesday evening was just for fun but very cool to attend: an early screening of F1 The Movie at the Steve Jobs Theater!
Highlights
Let’s discuss some of the biggest announcements for organizations.
- Simplified setup for Platform Single Sign-On: This enhancement to Platform SSO is probably the missing link to a truly native zero-touch deployment on macOS while integrating deeply with an identity provider. Previously, Platform SSO could only be registered after the local user account was created and required multiple sign-ins during enrollment. Now, with a simplified setup, users will be able to register Platform SSO right in the Setup Assistant. It can even automatically sign-in a Managed Apple Account when federated with the same identity provider.
- More control over Apple Accounts: Later this year it will be possible to get a list of Apple Accounts used with Apple services and target your own communications before enabling federation of Managed Apple Accounts. This will help organizations greatly reduce IT tickets as users can be informed up front and avoid any surprises and potential confusion about the process. Also new, it will become possible to limit the use of Apple Accounts. For example, organizations can decide to only allow Managed Apple Accounts on organization-owned devices. A welcome innovation, because thanks to this setting, organizations can confidently allow (all or Managed) Apple Accounts and possibly also permit more functionalities of, for example, iCloud. After all, they then run no risk of data being stored on personal Apple Accounts, as it will always be within the managed environment.
- MDM migration easier than ever: Migrating from one to another MDM solution is becoming easier with enforcement and automatic workflows. Controlled within Apple Business/School Managed, organizations can set a deadline which will start notifying users and ultimately enforcing the process in a seamless way. Previously, advanced solutions (scripts) with certain dependencies and uncertainties were required. Alternatively, users had to wipe their device and re-enroll it in the new MDM solution, resulting in the loss of settings and time.
- iPadOS, next-level multitasking: Perhaps the biggest update to iPadOS ever and fully focused on multi-windowing with almost complete freedom in arranging (multiple) windows wherever you want. You can snap windows to a corner or part of the screen with a swipe. And it works much more intuitively, so many more users will likely find and start using the options. All this while adopting some familiar macOS design elements. For example, the colored buttons in the top-left of windows for closing or minimizing apps. And there is now even a menu bar and a download folder in the Dock. Is the iPad now powerful enough to be used instead of a Mac? It might for several use cases.
- API for Apple Business/School Manager: For organizations that want a deeper integration with Apple Business Manager or Apple School Manager, there is also good news. Through an API, they can retrieve information from the portals and integrate it into other processes such as inventory management or device assignment. The information that can be retrieved includes a list of devices, MDM servers, device information, device assignments, and actions for assigning devices to an MDM server. And good news: this feature is available now! To get started, you can generate a Private API Key in the portal and use it in a REST API request, but of course, we hope that relevant applications will eventually build this in.
For a full overview, please make sure to check out the documents at AppleSeed for IT!
Personal thoughts and hopes
Now that we had a few weeks to dive deeper into the announcements and digest everything, I have a few personal thoughts and hopes:
- DDM use and adoption: As Apple has been adding more and more Declarative Device Management features, it now seems that we get to a point where IT admins and MDM vendors need to make more use of this technology. I believe the adoption is lagging behind a bit with making all declarations available or make use of predicates for conditional activations. Apple has also now deprecated legacy MDM update commands which is also an important fact and signal. I do see good developments with features such as Blueprints, where Jamf should be able to quickly add new declarations into the product by parsing Apple’s DDM spec on Github. Personally, I’m waiting for a custom Blueprint option and API availability where we would be able to apply raw declarations and test with the new operating systems.
- Foundations Model Framework: Not something immediately impacting for every Apple IT admin, but this seems to be the biggest highlight for developers. This framework will allow app developers to directly tap into the LLM powering Apple Intelligence and create on-device, unlimited and private AI features. Even though the on-device model is limited as it needs to be small enough to fit on the device, the APIs are both easy and powerful which potentially unlocks a whole new segment of apps to implement AI. Will Apple admins who are also developing for Apple platforms now build powerful features and experiences with AI?
- Managed Apps on macOS: macOS 11 in 2020 brought us Managed Apps for macOS while this has been available on iOS/iPadOS much longer. With Managed Apps, organizations have more control and how the app and data exists and persists after unenrollment. Still, the use of Managed Apps on macOS was very limited due to limitations on Apple’s side and lack of implementation by MDM vendors. Installing a Managed App required the app to be installed by an MDM command while many organizations deploy apps with different and more capable mechanisms such as Jamf policies, Munki, Installomator, Root3 App Catalog and more. This may change now, as Apple added support for macOS to take over management of an app, regardless of the installation source using the AppManaged declaration. My primary thought on this, is that Apple sees and acknowledges enterprise workflows and app management, which seems they approve us using these mechanisms. Hopefully we can see some implementations of this in MDM solutions so we can take advantage of this.
- Apple Business/School Manager become more crucial: Some new features such as the MDM migration or limiting Apple Accounts on organization-owned devices are getting incorporated into Apple Business/School Manager instead of the MDM-protocol. This makes the portal and associated programs more crucial than ever as these features aren’t exposed to the MDM-protocol. A key benefit is the quick availability of features and organizations can adopt them quicker. Will we see more features shifting from MDM to ABM/ASM in the future?
Key takeaways
As every year, now’s the time to start testing the new operating systems and provide the necessary feedback to Apple and your MDM vendor. I believe it’s a big year for organizations and IT administrators using Apple devices with lots of improvements in areas where we needed them the most. This must be the result of Apple growing in the enterprise, more focus on enterprise workflows and organizations submitting more feedback and becoming member of AppleSeed for IT. And if you are a member of the Apple Developer Program, make sure to submit your request to attend WWDC26 next year. It will be an unforgettable experience with many opportunities and new connections!
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