Apple releases iOS 6

Apple today released iOS 6.

iOS 6 is compatible with: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation), iPad 2, The new iPad with Retina display.

This update contains over 200 new features, including the following:

• Maps
◦ Apple designed vector based maps
◦ Turn-by-turn navigation with spoken directions on iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular (2nd and 3rd generation)
◦ Real-time traffic information
◦ Flyover for photo-realistic, interactive 3D views of major metro areas on iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPad (3rd generation), and iPod touch (5th generation)
◦ Local search results with Yelp photos, ratings, reviews, and available deals
◦ Siri integration for requesting directions and finding places along a route

• Siri improvements
◦ Sports: scores, player stats, game schedules, team rosters, and league standings for baseball, basketball, football, soccer and hockey
◦ Movies: trailers, showtimes, reviews and facts
◦ Restaurants: reservations, reviews, photos and information
◦ Send a Tweet
◦ Post on Facebook
◦ App launch
◦ Eyes Free in supported automobiles
◦ Local search available in Siri supported countries (availability may be limited during initial rollout)
◦ Additional country and language support for Canada (English and Canadian French), China (Mandarin), Hong Kong (Cantonese), Italy (Italian), Korea (Korean), Mexico (Spanish), Spain (Spanish), Switzerland (Italian, French, German), Taiwan (Mandarin), US (Spanish)
◦ Supported on iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPad (3rd generation) and iPod touch (5th generation)

• Facebook integration
◦ Single sign-on from Settings
◦ Post from Photos, Safari, Maps, App Store, iTunes, Game Center, Notification Center and Siri
◦ Add location and choose audience for any post
◦ View up-to-date Facebook profile photos and contact information in Contacts
◦ View Facebook events and birthdays in Calendar
◦ Like content and see your friends’ Likes in App Store and iTunes Store

• Shared Photo Streams
◦ Share selected photos with the people you choose
◦ Friends can view shared photos in Photos app, iPhoto and Apple TV
◦ Friends can like and make comments on individual photos

• Passbook
◦ One place for boarding passes, store cards, movie tickets and other passes
◦ Barcode display for boarding flights, buying coffee, getting into movies and other actions
◦ Passes displayed on Lock Screen based on time or location
◦ Passes can be automatically updated
◦ Supported on iPhone and iPod touch

• FaceTime improvements
◦ FaceTime over cellular support for iPhone 5, iPhone 4S and iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular (3rd generation)
◦ Receive FaceTime calls, sent to your iPhone number, on your iPad and iPod touch

• Phone improvements
◦ Do Not Disturb to suppress incoming calls and notifications
◦ ‘Reply with message’ option when declining a call
◦ ‘Remind me later’ option based on time or location when declining a call

• Mail improvements
◦ VIP mailbox to quickly access mail from important people
◦ Flagged email mailbox
◦ Insert photos and videos when composing email
◦ Open password protected Office docs
◦ Pull down to refresh mailboxes
◦ Per account signatures

• Safari improvements
◦ iCloud tabs to see open pages on all your devices
◦ Offline Reading List
◦ Photo upload support
◦ Full screen landscape view on iPhone and iPod touch
◦ Smart app banners
◦ JavaScript performance improvements

• App Store and iTunes Store improvements
◦ Updated store design
◦ iTunes Preview history
◦ Complete my season
◦ Complete my album

• Game Center improvements
◦ Challenge friends to beat high scores and achievements
◦ Post high-scores and achievements to Facebook and Twitter
◦ Friend recommendations based on your Facebook friends

• Accessibility improvements
◦ Guided Access to limit device to one app or restrict touch input on certain areas of the screen
◦ VoiceOver integration with Maps, AssistiveTouch and Zoom
◦ Support for Made for iPhone Hearing Aids for iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S

• Improved privacy controls for Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Photos and data shared over Bluetooth
• Reminders can be reordered in the Reminders app
• Custom vibrations for alerts on iPhone
• Clock app for iPad
• Clock alarm with song
• Search all fields in Contacts
• Automatic movie mode for improved video sound quality
• Definitions of a selected word for Chinese, French, German and Spanish
• New keyboard layouts for French, German, Turkish, Catalan, Arabic and Icelandic
• Keyboard shortcuts shared across devices via iCloud
• Bluetooth MAP support
• Global network proxy for HTTP

• Features for China
◦ Baidu web search
◦ Sina Weibo integration
◦ Share videos to Tudou
◦ Share videos to Youku
◦ Improved text input for handwriting and Pinyin

• Bug fixes

Some features may not be available for all countries or all areas. Please visit this website for more details: http://www.apple.com/ios/feature-availability

For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

51 Comments

      1. I’d love replace my MacBook a.s.a.p., but OSX is still a need. iOS is the future. There’s no more Mac, now is called OSX, Mac is just the hardware. Lion is the last big cat. Next OSX 10.9 Black Lion, 10.10 White Lion so on. Til iOS be a full OSX replaceable.

    1. “Big let down”?
      No, but it snt as good as google was.
      Example, typed in a high school name and city yesterday (google maps) it was found and off I went.
      Today that search was remembered in th new map app, clicked search, and it wasn’t found. Needs much more exact info to find locations, that’s annoying. Faster though, screen updates seem faster as you zoom in or move the map.

      Hopefully this will only get better,

    2. I’m sure that you clearly recall Google Maps on the day it was launched. And I am sure you conveniently overlook how Google Maps evolved over the years. It’s not as if Google Street View was available on Day One. In fact, you probably conveniently overlook that it took years for Street View to cover the US and foreign countries in detail.

      So yes, by all means, poke a stick at Apple for not being perfect on Day One with its new maps feature. Everyone else does, so why not join the hog pile?

      People like you make my head hurt.

      1. Brian the fact is Apple is not competing with where Google was when it launched years ago – they are competing with where Google is now.

        This is a big deal for users of the iPhone and it needs to be spot on.

  1. iPad 2, wi-fi only. Took about 15mins to download and install (through iTunes). Seems to be fine. Haven’t found any apps that are having any trouble. Maps is a bit of a step backwards, but it’ll get there. I don’t use it much as it is. I think I got an extra .1GB of space after the install. Doesn’t really seem any snappier, but certainly no slowdowns of any kind. Siri is only for the iPad 3, I guess. Didn’t know that. The new Clock is kinda nice. The stock is starting to go up. 🙂

      1. Some of us are on Verizon with the grandfathered unlimited data plan. If you want to keep the plan, it’s not $200 it is FULL price ( over $600 ). With three in the family, that takes it to $2000.

    1. Man iOS 6 works great on my iPad 3! Siri is way cool (waiting to upgrade my iP4 to iP5 so never had Siri there) and really helpful and useful. God this iPad super-rocks now! Just playing around with stuff. Seems a lot snappier and the display even seems different. Might be my imagination but I hope not!

  2. Phone is way snappier now. However, no flyover of San Antonio in maps. Really Apple? You said “major metro areas.” We’re the 7th largest city in America. Bigger than Dallas. Twice as far up the list as Austin. They both have flyovers. What gives? Freakin taco stands…

  3. Wow…usually the ‘Snappier’ comments are snarky. But in the this case, the update really rocks on the 4S. Everything is fast; super fast!

    Highlights for me:
    Ability to search ALL fields in contacts
    Do Not Disturb
    Flagged Messages in Mail
    Open Tabs across all devices

    Lowlights:
    Maps — Apple’s geocoding library is certainly not up to Google’s. Hopefully it will change quickly —

    APPLE PLS SPEND YOUR MONEY ON GETTING MORE GEO-DATA.

  4. I have to say I’m kind of angry with Apple.
    I have the iPod Touch 4th gen. and apparently it can’t do flyover or panorama photos… >:( I’m almost positive when they made the announcement for ios 6 back in spring the only feature that wasn’t going to be a available for the iPod touch 4th gen was photo stream and (siri of course) but now this WTF APPLE?

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