10 New Features Apple Borrowed, Copied, And Stole From Google, Samsung, Microsoft, And Fitbit

Apple unveiled a list of new things during its WWDC keynote, but most of them were old news to Android fans.

- Michael Simon

Apple’s WWDC keynote was jam-packed with an array of new features, apps, and tweaks designed to make our Apple device prettier and more powerful than ever before. Come September, Apple devices new and old will have an assortment of new tricks to try in iOS 13, iPadOS, and watchOS 6, and to hear Craig Federighi and company deliver the news, they’ll be nothing less than ground-breaking, earth-shattering, and straight-up revolutionary.

But while the new updates may indeed be as dramatic and delightful for iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches as Apple says they are, they’re not exactly new. At least not for anyone other than Apple users anyway. Most of the marquee features Apple announced have already been done before, and as the crowd whooped and hollered at every obvious applause break, Android and Fitbit fans were likely smirking rather than clapping.

1. DARK MODE Yes, Apple delivered dark mode for the menu bar and Dock with Yosemite and expanded it to apps with macOS Mojave last year, but Dark Mode on smartphones is old hat. Google’s has had a dark theme on its phones for years, and Samsung introduced a systemwide dark mode with its One UI redesign (go.pcworld.com/1uir) earlier this year. When Apple says Dark Mode is “thoughtfully designed to make every element on the screen easier on your eyes and is seamlessly integrated throughout the system” just remember that Galaxy and Pixel users had it first.

2. DOWNLOAD MANAGER This feature is so overdue Apple doesn’t even have a fancy name for it. In iPadOS, you’ll be able to “see your active and recent downloads in Safari and access them easily from the new Downloads folder in Files,” thanks to the existence of a bona fide downloads manager. Talk to any Android user and they won’t be able to remember a time when they couldn’t do that.

3. WATCHOS APP STORE