Apple Operating Systems eBook Available for Pre-Order

Since 2012 I have been publishing a set of books each year for Apple's new operating systems. At first there were two separate books, one that focused on the iPhone and iPad, and another that focused on the Mac. Starting in 2021 this changed from two books, down to a single book that covers the new features for all of Apple's operating systems. I have written another book for this year and this year's book is macOS Sequoia, iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and watchOS 11 for Users.

Last year I made a slight change to the availability of the book, by making only one digital version available. This was from Apple. The same is true for this year as well. There is no digital right management (DRM) on the ePub from Apple, so you can use read the ePub on any compatible device. However, there is one other minor change to this year's book.

It is possible that you may not have noticed the subtle change in the title. The end now has the phrase "for Users". This is a switch from last year, where it was "for Users and Developers". This year's book does not have a developer section. There are a couple of reasons for this change. The first is because there has not been any feedback regarding the developr section. The second, and more important reason, is that developers typically do not use books to find example code. Instead they use sites like Apple's developer site, Stack Overflow, and Hacking with Swift in order to learn about the new features. So, this year there is no developer section.

Even without a developer section, there is still quite a bit of information within the book and here is the blurb describing the book.

Each year Apple releases new versions of its operating systems. This year’s releases of macOS Sequoia, iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and watchOS 11 are full of features including customization options, a new way to manage passwords, and some changes for messages.

On iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 there are new customization options for your Home Screens, including placing apps wherever you would like, a new dark mode for icons, and you even have the ability to tint all of your icons. Within Messages you can add some effects to your text, including adding bold, italics, underline, or strikethrough. But that is not all. You can also add motion effects that will give even more animation to your text. For those that communicate with those on another platform, RCS is now supported as well.

watchOS 11 adds some new features, like time and location-based widgets appearing on the Smart Stack. Along with this, there is now a Vitals app that you can use to get a quick glance at some overnight metrics like heart rate, blood oxygen, and sleep duration. Fitness is an import aspect of the Apple Watch, you can now pause your rings and maintain your streaks. This is a good addition for those times when life gets in the way and you want to keep your streaks going.

Apple has introduced their take on artificial intelligence and this can help you create your own emoji, rewrite text, and even generate images. For anything that needs to be sent to the cloud, it will go to Apple’s Private Cloud Compute platform.

These are just some of the topics covered in macOS Sequoia, iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and watchOS 11 for Users. There is bound to something for everyone, no matter what your level of expertise.

You can pre-order it from Apple. You can pre-order it today and it will be available when iOS 18 is released to the public. A paperback and hardcover version are forthcoming as well.