Apple plans to reveal four significant software changes to Safari, Health, Maps, and iMessage at its Worldwide Developer Conference next week.

This is according to a tweet from Wall Street Journal reporter Joanna Stern, who said that all four pieces of software will receive "major updates" and will be announced at WWDC 2021. Obviously, this is far from a complete list of what to expect when the conference opens on Monday (June 7), but it certainly makes sense given that all four are arguably a bit undercooked compared to their main competitors.

The Health update is particularly noteworthy, as it may give us an idea of what to expect from the upcoming Apple Watch 7. I'm hearing that blood sugar tracking may finally be included (though maybe not this year), and it will be interesting to see if other health metrics are added to the overall package.

On a more basic level, there are rumors that food tracking will be added to the app to rival MyFitnessPal.

Speaking of rival apps, as Facebook continues to deal with the fallout of WhatsApp's privacy changes, Apple would be a good opportunity to show that iMessage has not been forgotten.

Apple has clearly played a big role in privacy recently, but other quality of life improvements, such as improved iCloud synchronization and better ways to search old messages, are welcome and could give users a reason to make Apple's solution their main means of communication The small logo on Twitter's WWDC hash flag giving a thumbs up to iMessage could see a lot of change here.

It may be here that Apple finds its biggest victory in improving Safari when it comes to privacy. Over the past few years, the company has implemented a number of changes to prevent unwanted user tracking, including the "Sign in with Apple" feature that allows users to sign up for websites with a disposable address. Continuing this approach would clearly pierce the waters between Safari and Chrome and encourage non-Mac users to switch.

Finally, there is Apple Maps. However, given Google's current buzz about location sharing on Android, the company may once again play a major role in keeping user data private.

Stern herself says that "bigger things" are on the horizon, noting that these four apps are just what she has confirmed through sources.

We are confident that more will be revealed during Monday's keynote and in the days that follow. Among them, we expect to see many details about iPadOS 15, including the iPhone's addition of the homescreen widgets that were added in iOS 14, the first look at macOS 12, and information about tvOS 15. New hardware is also highly likely, with the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro 2021s said to be announced in a big way next week.

For more software and hardware predictions about the upcoming celebration, be sure to read our WWDC 2021 preview.