Each WWDC ought to finish with a tune composed of app opinions

Partway by WWDC 2025, I began monitoring each time I heard the phrase “pleasant.” I may need missed just a few, however there have been no less than eight instances when some exec was insisting to me that a component of the upcoming iOS 26, macOS Tahoe and Apple’s different platforms merited the adjective. And perhaps some folks really do really feel unfettered pleasure about UI design, however that is the kind of angle in these occasions that makes me roll my eyes.

Apple at all times tries very exhausting to inject levity and persona into its keynotes. More often than not, that winds up leaning on cringe from Craig Federighi, who appears fairly affable about being the punchline. Typically I smirk a bit, however once more, most of the time, it is one other eye-roll. That was the case this 12 months, as Apple bludgeoned us with a tie-in for its upcoming F1 movie, which already leans fairly exhausting on product placement.

Then there’s the developer devotion. Sure, Apple wants devs to make use of its instruments and applications. Sure, the corporate can and may give them some kudos. However generally, the adulation that I’ve heard heaped on the WWDC viewers previously is so tacky, so over-eager that it flies well beyond sincerity and into schlock.

Simply as I used to be prepared to show off the stream, the curtain rose on a grand piano. And to my shock, the ultimate three minutes of a full band performing actual opinions of apps grew to become the precise spotlight of WWDC for me.

This is not an unique concept. Evaluations, good and dangerous, are well-mined fodder for comedians and social media content material. Jimmy Fallon, James Corden and others have made musical gags a staple of latest late night time speak exhibits. However the way in which Apple determined to do it this 12 months was, in a phrase, pleasant.

Every evaluate was heartfelt or dopey or each; see “saved my marriage” for Citymapper and “If this does not win finest app of the 12 months, I will eat my shoe” for Misplaced in Play. It took the important web knowledge of “do not learn the feedback” and turned it into gold. This foolish little tune managed to do all the pieces Apple desires to do at WWDC in a very amusing package deal. It is the dev props, it is the splashy manufacturing, it is legit leisure.

For anybody who, like me, was truly buzzing the tune even after the stream ended, the video is up as a standalone on YouTube and was carried out by soul/R&B singer Allen Stone. And to no matter producer got here up with this concept: you will have my utmost appreciation. Six out of 5 stars certainly.