The new iPhone 7 and 7 Plus have been released and so has the new iOS 10. You’ve either grabbed your new Apple flagship or need to upgrade it to the new operating system for Apple’s mobile devices. So what exactly are you getting from the new upgrade? Well, to be honest, it would take a couple of pages to go through every single detail. The changes are new, well-placed and very effective. We’ve gathered the major ones on a list, hoping to convince you to make the upgrade. Clearly, this is for the Apple users out there.
Easy accessThe new lockscreen for the iOS is something users have been wanting for ages. Instead of using the fingerprint scanner or typing your password first to dive into your notifications, iOS 10 finally allows you more information with a swipe of a finger. When you swipe form left to right, you’re given the widgets screen of all your favourite or important applications in a column. Here you can view the weather, Siri suggested apps, what the next event is on your calendar is and more.
If you swipe from right to left, you’re instantly connected with your phone’s camera. Now, when you need to get those last second, on-the-go shots, you won’t have to go too far to open those lenses. In addition to all of these swipes, you can also preview a bigger chunk of information you might receive from your mail app. Whether it’s the native Mail app, Gmail or any other third-party mail app, you can easily view, clear or delete without having to open the app itself.
iMessage awayThe new iOS has upgraded the iMessage app in a very fun way. In fact, it almost seems a bit unrecognisable with all the new customisable additions. There is now a new drawing ability given to the messaging system from one iPhone to another. You can either draw with your finger (or stylus) or give gestures by touching the blank screen to create nifty little animations. It’s what Apple likes to call Digital Touch. You have a choice of several basic colours that you can draw with on either a black screen or from a picture or video you’ve just taken.
There’s the usual image sharing, from either a shot taken with the rear camera or the front-facing one. But right next to it is the App store icon. Choosing this option will let you share songs from Apple Music or other apps you wish to share with your friends and family. Sharing is caring folks.
Lights, camera, actionThis may not seem like a huge deal, but the new and improved Photos app is a much welcomed change. The new changes now include a tab called Memories. Freaky enough, this feature will gather all of your best moments from certain places and time periods and puts together an album. If you love taking photos and you have thousands of them in your phone, this is a pretty convenient function that you’ll love visiting often.
Once all those memories are in one place, the picture gallery turns into a slideshow with music playing alongside it. This works with both images and videos. Thanks, Apple, we’ve been waiting for that one.
The tid-bitsAgain, there are way too many new features that can’t be covered in a single go, but here a couple of more to fiddle around with. Remember all those stock apps native to the iPhone or iPad? Well, now you can finally delete them. That’s right, get rid of that Stocks app or the Maps app that will always play second fiddle to Google Maps. Sorry Apple. To make things even easier, you can also clear all your notifications all at once. No more pain going through every single day and pressing that “X” button.
Finally, Apple’s Clock app has almost been revamped. There is now a new feature called Bedtime. If you’re familiar with apps like Sleep Cycle, you’ll know this isn’t just an alarm clock. It makes sure you wake up on time and keeps track of your sleeping pattern. Well, okay, let’s not get too ahead of ourselves. Unfortunately, it’s not as in-depth as Sleep Cycle. Bedtime will actually keep track of how many hours you’ve been clocking in throughout the week. It’s the basics, sure, but it’s a handy tool to have if all you care about are the hours and not quality of sleep. Bedtime has a few soothing sounds to wake up to when the alarm goes off, so you can start the day on a good foot.