Apple today released iOS 7.
With more than 200 new features, iOS 7 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch includes:
• New design
◦ Redesigned interface updates the entire system and every built-in app
◦ Subtle motion and animation; layers and translucency provide depth
◦ Elegant new color palette and refined typography
◦ Updated system sounds and ringtones
• Control Center
◦ Quick access to commonly used controls and apps with a swipe up from the bottom of the screen
◦ Turn on & off Airplane Mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Do Not Disturb; adjust screen brightness; access media controls; turn on AirPlay and AirDrop
◦ Quickly access flashlight, timer, calculator, camera and music controls
• Notification Center improvements
◦ New Today view gives you an overview of your day, including weather, calendar, and stocks
◦ Notifications dismissed on one device dismisses across all your devices
• Multitasking improvements
◦ Preview screens of open apps when you switch between them
◦ Permits any app to keep content up-to-date in the background
• Camera improvements
◦ Swipe through different camera modes – video, still photo, square aspect, and panorama
◦ Real-time photo filters with iPhone 4S or later, and iPod touch (5th generation)
• Photos improvements
◦ Automatically organizes your photos and videos based on time and location into Moments
◦ iCloud Photo Sharing supports multiple contributors and videos, plus a new Activity view
◦ Add photo filter effects
◦ Flickr and Vimeo support
• AirDrop
◦ Quickly and easily share content with people nearby
◦ Securely encrypted transfers with no network or setup required
◦ Supported on iPhone 5, iPad (4th generation), iPad mini, and iPod touch (5th generation) and requires an iCloud account
• Safari improvements
◦ New iPhone tab view that lets you easily switch between open web pages
◦ Unified smart search field for both search terms and web addresses
◦ Shared Links shows web pages shared by people you follow on Twitter
• iTunes Radio
◦ Streaming radio service
◦ Pick from over 250 featured and genre-focused stations
◦ Start your own station from your favorite artist or song
• Siri improvements
◦ New, more natural sounding male and female voices for US English, French and German
◦ Integrated Wikipedia, Twitter search, and Bing web search results
◦ Change settings including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and brightness
◦ Supported on iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPad with Retina display, iPad mini, and iPod touch (5th generation)
• App Store improvements
◦ See apps relevant to your current location with Popular Near Me
◦ Discover age-appropriate apps in the Kids category
◦ Keep your apps up to date automatically
• Find My iPhone Activation Lock
◦ Turning off Find My iPhone, erasing your device, reactivation, and signing out of iCloud requires your Apple ID password
◦ A custom message can be displayed on your device even after a remote erase
• iTunes Store improvements
◦ Preview and buy songs you’ve heard on iTunes Radio while inside the iTunes Store
◦ Add to, and shop from, your iTunes Wish List
◦ Scan code with camera to redeem iTunes Gift Cards
• Music improvements
◦ Play music purchases from iCloud
◦ Rotate your iPhone or iPod touch to browse your music with the Album Wall
• Videos improvements
◦ Play movie and TV show purchases from iCloud
◦ View similar movies and TV shows from Related
• Maps improvements
◦ Turn-by-turn walking directions
◦ Automatic night mode
◦ Bookmarks shared across devices via iCloud
• Mail improvements
◦ New Smart Mailboxes, including Unread, Attachments, All Drafts and To or CC
◦ Improved search
◦ View PDF annotations
• FaceTime audio calling
• Block unwanted Phone, Messages and FaceTime callers
• Support for sending long MMS messages
• Pull down on any Home Screen to reveal Spotlight search
• Scan to acquire Passbook passes
• New ringtones, alarms, alerts and system sounds
• Definitions of a selected word for additional languages: Italian, Korean, and Dutch
• Inclinometer in the Compass app
• Wi-Fi HotSpot 2.0 support
• Accessibility features
◦ Individuals with limited physical motor skills can now control their device using Switch Control
◦ Customize closed caption style
◦ Handwriting input support in VoiceOver
◦ Math input support using Nemeth Braille in VoiceOver
◦ Select from multiple premium voices for speak selection and VoiceOver
◦ Support for Made for iPhone Hearing Aids and stereo audio for iPhone 5 and iPod touch (5th generation)
• Enterprise features
◦ Manage which apps and accounts are used to open documents and attachments
◦ Per App VPN
◦ App Store license management
◦ Enterprise single sign-on
◦ Remote configuration of managed apps
◦ Automatic data protection for third-party apps
◦ Exchange Notes syncing
◦ Install custom fonts
◦ New management queries and restrictions
• Education features
◦ Mobile device management for Apple TV
◦ Request AirPlay Mirroring from a student device to Apple TV
◦ Pre-configure AirPlay destinations and AirPrint printers
◦ Streamlined MDM enrollment
◦ Ability to restrict changes to accounts
◦ Web content filtering
◦ Authorized apps can initiate single app mode
◦ Configure accessibility settings for single app mode
• Features for China
◦ Tencent Weibo integration
◦ Chinese-English bilingual dictionary
◦ Improved handwriting input with improved accuracy, stroke order independence and support for simultaneous multiple character input
• Bug fixes
Some features may not be available for all countries or all areas.
To update your iOS device, check the “General > Software Update” section in your iOS device’s Settings for over-the-air updating or plug into a computer with iTunes installed.
MacDailyNews Take: Happy updating (but expect some delays due to the initial rush)!