iOS 6 Features You Might Have Missed

BY Rounak Jain

Published 17 Jun 2012

Apple added more than 200 new features in iOS 6, including some that highlight Apple’s attention to details.

We list some minor new features and changes coming to iOS 6 that you might have missed.

iTunes Match Now Also Supports Music Streaming:

Apple’s music streaming service, iTunes Match, previously required songs to be downloaded onto your iOS device before you could play it. In iOS 6 that has changed, and you can simply stream your music off the cloud. The download option is still there, though, just that it isn’t the only way you can play a song.

This is a great addition, enabling you to listen to more music than you actually can store on your device.

Here’s a video shot by the folks at Apple N Apps demonstrating iTunes Match’s newly gained ability to stream music:

Stocks and Clock apps on iPad with iOS 6

The iPad, when launched, was missing some of apps like Calculator, Clock, and Stocks that come pre installed with iOS on the iPhone. It seems that with iOS 6, Apple is adding some of these apps to the iPad as well.

While the Clock app is clearly intended to be included on the iPad, the Stocks app appears to be more of a remnant.

Image via Cult of Mac

Unlike Clock, Stocks isn’t actually present on the iPad homescreen, but is in fact accessible through Siri using its newly gained ability to open apps. Another difference between the two is that, while the Clock app is optimized for the iPad’s large screen, the Stocks app runs as an iPhone app. This was spotted by an iDB reader.

The spinning wheel is finally optimized for Retina screens

Given Apple’s obsessive attention to detail, you’d expect that the company’s designers would have created a Retina optimized spinning wheel graphic, but more than a year passed without this being addressed. In iOS 6, the spinner is finally Retina optimized, making it pleasant to look at.

(Image via TNW)

Find My Friends gets geofencing alerts

Apple’s added geofencing alerts to Find My Friends, which will let you select your close ones and alert you whenever they leave or arrive at a predefined area. This can be great for keeping track of your kids, or even informing your close ones of your location without them have to bother about calling you, or even opening the Find My Friends app. (spotted by Macworld)

Lost Mode

Apple’s enhanced the Find My iPhone service by introducing a “Lost Mode” which allows you to remotely lock your phone with a passcode and displays a message on your lost iPhone with a phone number so that the finder of your iPhone can contact you.

Tweaked status bar

We’ve already told you about this, but MaxThemes has a bit more info on how the status bar color is arrived upon:

Rather than going on the tintColor, It uses the average color from the bottom pixel row of the header bar. This is illustrated by Simon’s yellow header bar with a blue and red bottom pixel row, resulting in a purple status bar:

Let us know what you think of these new features in iOS 6 in the comments section below.