Apple took the wraps off of the latest version of its iOS operating system at its big developers conference Monday, and it promises to bring a boatload of new features to your iPhone and iPad. Available later this fall, iOS 10 is one of the largest updates to the operating system to date.
The OS has been upgraded from the bottom up, but these are the seven biggest innovations.
1. Messages
IOS’s
Messages has never been a very fun app, but Apple might have just
changed that with the most significant update to the software in years.
First off, Messages now features intelligent responses through Siri. So
if someone asks where you are, Siri will offer up a quick reply that
lets you send your current location.
The
addition of rich links to Messages now means that when you send someone
a link to a YouTube video they can watch it within messages. And
website links no longer look like a discombobulated string of numbers
and letters; they actually appear as site previews.
The Messages app in iOS 10 has received some major updates.
Emojis
have also gotten some love with iOS 10. Not only are they three times
larger in your message transcript, but there’s also a new predictive
emojis feature. Similar to predictive text in your iOS keyboard,
predictive emojis will show up in the predictive text line when iOS
thinks you’ll want to add one to your message.
When
you want to feel like one of the cool kids and send a message littered
with emojis, you can type out your missive and tap the emoji button on
the keyboard to see which words can be replaced with the tiny symbols.
Because words are dumb … I guess.
You
can also adjust the way your recipient gets messages using bubble
effects. So if you want someone to know you’re speaking softly, you can
make the Message bubble super small. Invisible ink, meanwhile, hides
your message until your recipient slides over it with their finger.
Apple
has also opened Messages to developers who can create their own
sub-apps for the service such as payment apps, gifs or stickers.
2. Lock screen
Apple
wants to change the way you interact with your iPhone’s lock screen by
making it far more interactive. I’m sure at this point you’re asking,
“Isn’t that the antithesis of a lock screen?” Well who cares, because
Apple’s doing it anyway.
iOS 10 now has a more interactive lock screen.
It
starts with Apple’s new Rise to Wake feature, which turns on your
iPhone’s screen whenever you lift it up. Motorola’s Moto X offered a
similar function that showed you notifications and the time on a black
and white screen to help save battery life. Apple’s solution lights up
the entire screen, though — so I’m not sure how much this could impact
your handset’s battery.
You
can also interact with your notifications from the lock screen via 3D
Touch — as long as you have an iPhone 6s or 6s Plus that is. For
example, if you have a text message on the lock screen, you can
long-press it using 3D Touch to send a reply without opening the
Messages app. Similarly, if you call for an Uber and receive an update,
you can long-press the notification to see where your ride is on a map.
The new lock screen interface in iOS 10.
Swiping
up from the lock screen still pulls up the Control Center, but now if
you swipe from the right to the left you’ll open the music player.
Swiping
in from the right on the lock screen also opens the Camera app, which
is a bit easier than swiping on the tiny camera icon in the corner of
the iOS 9 lock screen. Swiping in from the left, meanwhile, pulls up
your widgets screen.
3. Photos
Apple
is finally catching up with Google when it comes to its Photos app. In
iOS 10 the app can now perform scene and object recognition, so you can
search for things like dogs or New York City and the app will pull up
photos showing those items. You can already do that in Google’s Photos
app, but Apple is obviously hoping it can bring back some users that
have left for its rival’s offering.
Apple has updated the Photos app with a new Memories feature.
A
new Memories tab organizes photos based on where you took them and with
whom you took them. At the top of each entry is a premade movie created
using all of the photos and videos you took on your trip. It’s a pretty
neat feature that will inevitably make you wish you were still on your
vacation in Aruba and not stuck in your office with your coworker Brian.
(No offense, Brian.)
4. Siri
Everyone’s
favorite voice assistant, Siri, has also received a bump with iOS 10 in
that it is now available to developers. That means you’ll be able to
use Siri to send messages via third-party apps like WeChat, Slack and
Whatsapp, which should prove extremely useful when behind the wheel.
Siri is now more functional in iOS 10.
You
can also use Siri to get an Uber or Lyft, perform voice searches for
photos, make payments and start and stop workouts. It’s nice to see Siri
being opened up like this, but the voice assistant still won’t prove as
useful as something like Amazon’s Alexa until it breaks free of your
smartphone and can be used in a larger device in the home like the
Amazon Echo.
5. Apple Music
Apple
Music also received a major update, with a new interface that looks far
easier to navigate with big, bold text. The Now Playing screen is much
more attractive and less bland and now includes lyrics. Spotify also
includes lyrics, but only on the desktop version.
The
For You section is also far less convoluted and seems more inviting
than its current incarnation. That said, it’s hard to say whether
consumers will want to give Apple Music a try after its rocky start. And
pulling people away from Spotify could prove a difficult proposition
for Apple Music. Unless, that is, it continues to get songs and albums
from the likes of Taylor Swift whose offerings aren’t available on
Spotify.
6. Maps
After
a rocky start in 2012, Apple’s Maps is now a solid alternative to
Google Maps. And now Apple Maps is getting some improvements that bring
it more in line with its rival, though don’t outdo it. New proactive
features let you see when you do things like when you usually leave for
work or upcoming appointments and will provide you with the best route
for that time.
That
said, Google Now can also show you when you normally leave for work and
the best route. And it seems to make more sense to get updates like
that through something like Google Now. After all, why would you look in
your Maps app to check your upcoming appointments?
Maps has also gotten some needed tweaks.
You
can also search for general locations like seafood restaurants using
the improved search tool, which actually looks easier to use than Google
Maps’ own search function.
Maps’
navigation feature now gets traffic on route, letting you plan ahead to
see what traffic will be like and automatically get alternate routes
based on traffic conditions (all of which Google Maps does).
Like
many of Apple’s other services, Maps has also been opened to
third-party developers. So you can book a restaurant with OpenTable and
get an Uber there from within Maps. Google Maps also lets you make a
reservation with OpenTable and call and Uber — but you have to leave the
app to do the latter, which isn’t as efficient as Apple Maps.
7. Home
Finally,
there’s Home, Apple’s new hub for all of your HomeKit-enabled devices.
From Home you can see all of your devices no matter what company makes
them, as long as they support HomeKit, of course.
The
app’s Scenes feature lets you take control of all of your connected
devices at once to fit a specific setting. So if you tap Good night, for
example, your blinds will close, the doors will lock and the lights
will turn off or dim all at once. Siri can also take control of your
Homekit devices.
The new iOS 10 Home app.
IOS
10’s new lock screen notifications also offer home support, so if
someone rings your connected doorbell, you’ll get a notification on your
phone that lets you view its associated camera, use the intercom and
unlock your door. Here’s hoping you never do any of that by accident.
Geo-fencing
in the Home app can also determine when you arrive at your house, and
do things like automatically open the garage door and turn on the lights
in your house. I was personally hoping Apple would say Home could make
me dinner and fold my laundry, but there’s always next year, right?
