Apple's recent Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) revealed a plethora of innovative features in its updated operating systems. However, these updates have left some third-party developers feeling "sherlocked" – a term that refers to when Apple creates an app or feature that supplants existing functionality found in a third-party app.

The term "sherlocking" dates back to the early days of OS X, where Apple's Sherlock search tool enhanced features from a third-party app called Watson. This led to accusations of copying without compensation, and the term has since been used to describe apps that are supplanted by Apple.

Sherlocked Features in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, and watchOS 26

Apple's latest updates have sherlocked several popular existing apps. Here are some of the notable features:

  • Intelligent Spotlight Search: This feature provides suggested apps, commands, and custom shortcuts with the ability to perform actions like creating calendar events or making GIFs directly from search. This innovation sherlocks Raycast and LaunchBar.
  • Enhanced Call Screening: Apple's new call screening feature takes calls from unknown numbers silently, captures the caller's name and reason for calling, then lets you choose to accept or reject with typed responses. This feature sherlocks Robokiller and Truecaller.
  • Seamless Parcel Tracking: The Wallet app now uses AI intelligence to automatically track and summarize order status by analyzing emails from merchants and delivery services. This feature sherlocks various package tracking apps.
  • Flight Tracking at Your Fingertips: With the new Live Activities in Wallet, users can track and share flight status plus airport navigation with gate and amenity information in Maps. This innovation sherlocks Flighty.
  • AI-Powered Coding Assistants: Apple's AI model integration in Xcode makes ChatGPT the default assistant for Xcode 26 and allows developers to connect other AI models using API keys for coding assistance. This feature sherlocks Alex for Xcode.
  • Local Video Recording on iPad: The new Local Capture feature enables creators to record videos locally using any video calling app and share recordings with others for podcast creation. This innovation sherlocks Riverside.
  • Notes App Comes to Apple Watch: With watchOS 26, the official Notes app is now available on Apple Watch, allowing users to take notes directly on their wrist. This feature sherlocks various note-taking apps for Apple Watch.
  • Customizable Menu Bar Items: In macOS Tahoe's System Settings, you can now control which third-party apps are allowed to display menu bar items. This feature sherlocks Bartender and Ice.
  • Spotlight Clipboard Search: In macOS Tahoe, Spotlight users can search and view previously copied content in their clipboard history – including both text and images – making it easy to retrieve items copied earlier. This innovation sherlocks Paste and Pastebot.

While some of these features may have supplanted existing third-party apps, developers often find ways to improve their apps to differentiate them from Apple. So, there's still life left in many of these apps yet.

Do you know of any other new features not listed here that potentially sherlock existing third-party apps? Let us know in the comments.