iOS 10 – Everything You Need To Know
Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) is filled with anticipation and surprises. This year was no different, as attendees were the first to witness the new and improved iOS 10. To help you with all the information and details, here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming iOS 10!
Is It Out Yet?
We know you’re eager to get your hands on it, but unfortunately, only app developers can download the beta version of iOS 10 for now. As for others, the wait is not too long, as the public beta release is set for July, 2016. But be warned – Since it’s the beta version, it can be quite buggy. We suggest you wait until October for a clean and bug-free version.
What Are The Exciting Changes In iOS 10?
It’s the feature upgrades! Each and every feature is designed to be intelligent and user-friendly. Even though there are traces of Android’s influence, Apple brings in its own twist to make it even more desirable.
The Homescreen Change
Apple has bid farewell to the 8 year old ‘swipe to unlock’ and simply replaced it with a text that states ‘Press home to unlock.’The hardcore Apple fans are going to find it extremely difficult to break free from the habit of swiping and get used to pressing the home button.
That’s not all. Now, all you need to do is swipe the screen right to access the camera or swipe the screen left to access Apple’s Today Menu.
This is an existing functionality in Android, but with Apple introducing such changes, it means that they are open to adopt user friendly aspects to make their product better.
Smarter Notifications
The notification feature has gone through some extreme makeovers to make it more user-friendly and accessible. Here are some of the new notification features:
- Interactive notification: Now reply to messages, view images and watch videos through the notification itself.
- Reply to iMessage Within Your Notification: You can now reply to your text and also witness your friend responding on the other end.
- Decluttered Notification: Messages are clubbed into a single notification to save screen space.
- Clear All Notifications: It was a time consuming and annoying process to close one app’s notification at a time. With iOS 10, you just need to click on the ‘tiny x’ and then clear all notifications. It’s that easy now!
The Control Center Revamp
It’s one of the major revamps in iOS 10, making dedicated space for music and HomeKit. But that’s not all, if you press firmly on the shortcuts you get more options to fine tune the apps. Also, the Control Center has a dedicated place for flashlight and, when you firmly press on it, you can adjust the brightness of the light. Similarly the 3D Press for camera lets you select various options between photo, video, slow-mo, etc. This is extremely convenient for iPhone 6 users.
A Better Photo App
We have all been guilty of downloading Google Photo app on our iPhones. I mean, who wouldn’t. The rich and intelligent features it possesses are simply too awesome to pass out on.
But Apple puts an end to it with iOS 10. They have upgraded their Photo app with some incredible personalization features, which Apple terms as the, ‘Siri intelligence.’What are the new additions you ask?
- Categorizes each and every photograph. For example, when you search for mountains, all pictures of the mountains show up.
- Groups pictures based on people’s facial recognition
- Includes a world map and shows where each picture was snapped
- The “memories tab” can aggregate images based on each occasion and location
- Work on live photos as you can add filters and use markup tools to annotate pictures, even before you shoot
The photo app is powered by the GPUand deep learning to ensure they don’t intrude on the user’s privacy. Apple has also informed upfront that they do not tap into image metadata. So, even if you have multiple devices linked to the same account, each device will scan the images independently.
Texting Is So Much More Fun
It made sense that the iOS 10 release has plenty of feature enhancements to their keyboard, as we use our phone more to text than make calls.
1. If you love Emojis, then you’re going to love what you read next:
- The size of Emojis is made bigger for easy access
- The keyboard can also recognize the equivalent word for each Emoji and replace it through a single tap
2. Convenient and Quick Response
- Contextual texting feature suggests relevant contacts or location as you type a message. For example, if you type, ‘This is Dave’s number’ then the keyboard will immediately suggest the contact’s number from your phone book
- Tapback response will let you immediately respond to a particular message with just a tap
By, just tapping the message you can select one of the 6 automated responses. Not bad, eh!
3. Have Fun With Texting
Send secret messages that are only revealed when users swipe on it. There are also plenty of fun stickers that bring life to your texting sessions
4. Love to sketch and write?
The ‘write yourself’ is a great news for people who simply hate texting. This feature lets you respond to texts by just writing your response. You can also doodle over images and easily create beautiful sketches through your Apple device
5. Voice To Text Feature
Now, Siri lets you text with immaculate voice to text conversions
Siri Goes Open Source With SiriKit
Now 3rd party apps can sync with Siri to get things done for you. SiriKit can work with 6 different kinds of apps:
- Audio or video calling
- Fitness
- Messaging
- Payments
- Photos and videos
- Ride booking
Have an iOS app in these category? We can help you sync it with Siri
Want to send a message through WeChat?
You can just tell Siri to send the message to a particular person with WeChat and then does all the hard work for you!
Looking to book a cab?
You just need to ask Siri to get you a cab to a particular destination and you’re all set.
Want to integrate your app with Siri? We Can Help
Apple Maps – Getting Smarter
Apple Mapshavecome a long way since being introduced. The iOS 10 brings in feature enhancements that make you depend on it every day.
- Designed to map your route based on your calendar inputs
- Find gas stations and restaurants along the way
- The quick control feature lets you access the app when you’re in the navigation mode
- You can even reserve tables and also book on-demand cabs without leaving the map
Home – Connect And Control Your Home Through Siri
Apple brings its very own app called ‘Home’ to connect your devices at home with your phone. Your Apple TV basically works as a hub through which you can connect the HomeKit compatible smart devices. Once the basic setup is done, all you need to do is say “Lock the door” or “Turn on the lights” to Siri to access your connected devices and perform tasks.
Apple News And Music
Apple has redesigned the Music app entirely to let users easily discover and experience their favorite music. The entire app has been revamped to help you organize music easily. It can also understand music you like and suggest a daily playlist for you. If you’re not already excited about these features, Apple has also added the option to display the lyrics of songs that you play.
The News app can almost replace Flipboard from your Apple devices. The Apple news app showcases the headlines as soon as you open the app and stories that you care for are curated to keep you engaged. The overall UI change is appealing and desirable for news lovers.
And Still, Apple Continues To Surprise Us
Looking at the major features from the iOS 10, most of the features, implement the concept of deep learning. But, Apple is determined not to invade on a user’s privacy and is working on a concept called differential privacy.
The science behind it is that before accessing your data, Apple adds randomized data to hide your individual data. Then, with the patterns and trends formed by the final data, Apple can create a personalized experience for users. This ensures user’s privacy as Apple can never trace back to the individual data!
We’re sure you’re as excited about iOS 10 as we are. Want to chat more about iOS 10 and how it can help your business? Contact our iOS team today!
Talk To Our iOS App Developers About iOS 10