iOS 11 goes live: All the new features you should know about
After being tested upon for months, Apple's latest – arguably the greatest – version of its popular operating system (OS) for mobiles is here. Unlike the flagship phones, with this particular variant of the OS, Apple has not attempted a major redesign — choosing to learn from previous years of development to turn things up a notch in iOS 11.
With the eleventh major update of the OS, the tech giant will look to better the successes of its predecessor, which, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook, enjoys the support of more than 96 per cent of its user base.
The OS update was released to the public by Apple on September 19, 2017 as a free software update for iPhone 5s and later, all iPad Air and iPad Pro models, iPad 5th generation, iPad mini 2 and later and the iPod touch 6th generation.
Get the latest features on your iPhone and iPad with #iOS11. Here's a look at what's new.https://t.co/TatEanwPyW
— Apple Support (@AppleSupport) September 19, 2017
The latest update brings with it some great enhancements and nifty tricks that are sure to improve your usage experience.
Here's everything you need to know about what the new iOS packs.
Control Center
One of the biggest additions that Apple has made to the OS with this latest version is the inclusion of a new Control Center. Apple wants this redesign of the feature to be central to how users interact with their iPhones. With the Control Center, the user is given the power to quickly take a picture, turn on the flashlight, access Apple TV controls and more. It will also use 3D Touch to access more specific controls.
The Control Center has a neatly designed single screen layout this year, which can be accessed by swiping up from the bottom of the screen. Apple has also given its users the power to customise the Control Center according to their taste, and add shortcuts to things they use the most.
Notifications
Apple has also gone ahead and made a significant change to the notification pane. For starters, the lock screen has been merged with the Notifications Center. Swiping down on the screen gives access to notifications and brings up the Lock screen at the same time.
There's also an X button at the top that can be pressed to clear all notifications.
For iPhone X users, the new Notification Center working in tandem with the phone's True Depth facial recognition system, will enable them to hide notifications until the phone does not recognise the user's face – unlike on the other iPhones which will, by default, show text of the notifications on the lock screen.
Hello Siri
Apple's virtual assistant Siri has been given a makeover with iOS 11. Apple claims that with iOS 11, Siri will be smarter than before. Backed by improvements in machine learning and artificial intelligence, Siri will now be able to use new male and female voices that adjust pitch and tempo while speaking to provide the user a more natural experience.
Siri will also be able to translate English words and phrases into different languages. There's also a deeper integration of the AI-powered voice assistant with the iOS ecosystem.
Revamped iMessagae app
iOS 11 brings along with it a revamped iMessage application. The new version packs nifty additions like synchronising messages across devices, and also features a new toolbar for emoji and stickers within the iMessage application. Another functionality added to the iMessage app is the integration of Apple Pay to the messaging app. With this, users can now make payments directly from the iMessage app.
Push for AR
With the latest version of the mobile operating system, Apple is making a strong push for Augmented Reality (AR) technology. With Google and Microsoft already making their moves, Tim Cook's team has also jumped into the fray to conquer this next frontier in the tech industry.
However, unlike its competition, Apple is not taking the additional hardware route planned instead a highly optimised OS to bring about an AR revolution.
iOS 11 will bring with it some new AR applications created using its new ARKit platform — the company's set of tools for developers to add augmented reality elements to new or existing apps.
Apple claims it is the "largest AR platform in the world" and similar to Facebook's take on the technology, which plans to use high-end specs available on mobile phones to help make AR mainstream.
Revamped Photos and Camera apps
The camera software in iOS 11 has also been reworked to improve its performance. The new camera app will use the latest HEVC format compression for captured videos and pictures to offer the same image quality at almost half the size on the user's device.
There's also a new Portrait Mode that will be able to use HDR and OIS technologies to render images with better exposure and colours. Both these additions should make Portrait Mode work much better in low-light conditions.
The Photos App will also gain the functionality to create memory movies based on the photos of your friends.