Here are the apps Apple has ‘Sherlocked’ at this year’s WWDC

Apple “Sherlocked” several apps in its operating system updates announced yesterday at the Worldwide Developer Conference. Sherlocking is when Apple introduces a new feature that renders a third-party tool irrelevant.

According to TechCrunch, ere are the new features that Sherlock what various apps have done in the past:

° Raycast. When you open Raycast, it shows you suggested apps and commands, which is exactly what the new Spotlight will let users do for files, apps, and shortcuts. The kicker, though, is Apple’s “Actions,” which let you do all sorts of stuff like putting an event on your calendar, making a GIF, or creating a folder, just like Raycast lets you do.

° Flightly, which lets you track your own or your friends’ flights and manage check-ins, previously won an Apple Design Award. With iOS 26, Apple is updating Wallet to allow users to see and share flight status through Live Activities.

° Alex for Xcode: Apple is now making ChatGPT the default assistant for the Xcode 26 coding tool, and is also allowing developers to hook up other AI models using application programming interface (API) keys. This takes on a Y-Combinator-backed app called Alex for Xcode, which is an assistant that lets developers perform web searches, fix issues, run terminal commands, search codebases, use local models, replace inline code, and more.

° Riverside. On the iPad, a new Local Capture feature now lets creators record videos using any video calling app, and share the recordings with others. Riverside has helped users do this for years, and also provides a full editing suite. It’s not clear how useful or powerful Apple’s editing tools will be for recording or editing podcasts.

° Robokiller and Truecaller. iOS 26’s new Call Assist feature can take calls from unknown numbers silently, note the caller’s name and reason for calling, and show you these details, letting you choose to accept or reject the call. You can also type in a response to ask the caller more questions. Robokiller and Truecaller both offer this functionality, in addition to other features like SMS spam protection.

TechCrunch also notes that Apple has Sheerlocked a variety of package tracking apps and notes apps for the Apple Watch.

Among the “Sherlocked” apps in the past:

° Rectangle, Magnet, and Better Touch Tool, two window resizing apps for the Mac;

° 1 Password, LastPass, Dashlane, and similar password management apps;

° Grammerly, Hemingway Editor, and other writing assistant/proofreading tools;

° Duolingo, a language learning app;

° Spark (and many other email apps);

° Dragon Naturally Speaking, a speech recognition. App;

° Adobe Photoshop Express, an image editing app;

°  Arc Browser, a free web browser;

° 1Blocker, which 1Blocker lets you block ads, trackers, and other unwanted web content;

° Evernote, Notion, and other note-taking web apps.

° Camo, which was sherlocked by Apple’s continuity feature that allows you to use your iPhone as a webcam.

° Klarna, Clearpay, many others, which were sherlocked by Apple Pay Later.

° Remove.bg, which was sherlocked by Apple’s Visual Lookup feature.

° MyTherapy, Pillbox, which were sherlocked when iOS added medication logging/reminder features.

° Figma’s FigJam, many others, which were sherlocked by Apple’s Freefrom collaboration app.

° Oura, Whoop, which were sherlocked when sleeping tracking was added to watchOS.

Where does the term “Sherlocking” come from? Mac OS 8 and 9’s Sherlock feature could search for content on a user’s computer, but with OS X, it could also pull info from the internet using plug-ins, per “How-To Geek.” In 2001, developer Dan Wood made Watson, a complementary app that expanded what Sherlock could pull — movie showtimes, exchange rates, weather reports, and more.

But when Apple unveiled Mac OS X 10.2, Sherlock could do nearly everything Watson could. Watson had been “Sherlocked.”

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