There were a number of surprises at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference yesterday. Most of them, naturally, had to do with all the exciting updates coming for our favorite Apple products. But there was one surprising (and hilarious) onstage Easter egg that had little to do with the company's announcements.
While demonstrating iOS 10's new lock screen capabilities, which will allow iPhone users to better interact with notifications and widgets without unlocking their phones, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, did something completely unthinkable: He dismissed a Facebook friend request from Taylor Swift. Craig, you may have made a mistake with that one. No one is too cool for T.Swift.
The notification screen also included a missed call from Federighi’s mother and a Clash of Clans raid alert from Apple coworker, Phil Schiller, who is senior vice president of worldwide marketing. (Both notifications were similarly dismissed.)
Of course, all of these notifications were faked — this was a demo, after all. It also happened very quickly; if you blinked, you may have missed it. (Some eagle-eyed fans watching The Verge's live blog called it out.)
It's likely the "snub" was all in good fun. While Apple and Taylor Swift briefly butted heads last summer over Apple Music's royalty policy, she now seems friendly with the folks in Cupertino, CA. (She's starred in several Apple Music ads now.)
But even if she wasn't cool with having her friend request denied, Taylor's pretty good at shaking things off.