With the iOS 7 release just around the corner (and a beta already out to developers) technophile’s nationwide are buzzing about the features that are rumored to come with it. You’re not alone; we can’t shut up about it in our office! That being the case, we decided to highlight some of the features that are reported to be a part of Apple’s latest release.
Overall Look and Feel
Jony Ive, responsible for Apple’s hardware designs, was tasked with bringing a cleaner, more streamlined approach to the iOS 7 operating system. The overall look is much more modern and Apple is finally taking advantage of the full screen as every app is “edge-to-edge”.
iOS 7 Weather
The updated weather app is the perfect example of Apple’s new design features. It runs the full screen and has an animated background that visually shows you the weather. My Gmail background does this. Even though I don’t need a computer (or iPhone) to tell me what’s happening outside my window, it’s still a fun feature!
Control Center
From now on, there is no need to go digging for your settings app when you need to make some simple changes (like flight mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc.). The new menu, accessed by swiping up from the bottom, gives you the most frequently used settings. I love this because I’m a big fan of organizing all of my apps into folders and I inevitable lose track of which folder is housing (read as hiding) my settings app.
iOS 7 AirDrop
This new feature allows you to easily share data with nearby devices over Wi-Fi. The caveat? It will only work with iPhone 5, fifth-generation iPod Touch, iPad 4, and iPad Mini. I’m not planning on updating my iPhone 4 just for this.
Safari
Safar now runs full screen, giving you a bigger and better picture of the page. There is no longer a separate search box which means you no longer have to shake your head in frustration when you accidentally (and painstakingly) type your search term into the browser box. I’m looking forward to that!
iOS 7 App Store
Not a big change but by far my favorite, Apps will now update automatically in the background. No longer will I have to go in to manually update my apps! For this, I am doing a happy dance!
There are many more changes/improvements/updates to iOS 7 but I fear I am already losing your attention. So stay tuned for feature posts in which we’ll be talking about more features and what exactly this all means for developers!