Apple announces iOS 7, the biggest change to iOS since the iPhone [Updated]

BY Jason

Published 10 Jun 2013

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Apple has officially announced iOS 7, the next version of its mobile operating system for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple TV at the WWDC Keynote that is currently taking place at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

iOS 7 is packed with amazing new features and a stunning new interface.

  • It features an all-new look, refined typography, all home screen icons have been redesigned with a flatter design and a whole new palette of colors.
  • Animated lock screen.

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  • Home screen moves around the background as the phone is physically moved, probably using the motion sensing technology.
  • All the stock apps have been redesigned:
    • Game Center loses its green felt
    • No wood in the Newsstand app
    • New Weather app now comes with animated backgrounds reflecting the current weather.

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  • Gesture from left edge of the iOS device goes back from one screen to the previous.
  • Folders now have multiple pages
  • Notification Center has been redesigned with a blurred background. It also comes with tabs that shows you all notifications, missed notifications and new “Today” view.

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  • Notification Center now available via the lock screen.
  • New feature: Control Center, which can be accessed by swiping from the bottom. It gives you quick access to the Settings toggles. Check this post for all the details.

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  • Improvements to multitasking
    • iOS 7 keeps the most frequently used apps up to date. Apps will now get updated in the background.
    • Push notification for an app will also act as a trigger to update an app if required.
    • The app switcher has also been completely redesigned with a card-like interface.
    • Multitasking now for all apps and with great battery life.

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  • Mobile Safari has been redesigned with new full screen mode, smart search/url field, new interface for tabs, parental controls, iCloud Keychain. Check this post for more details.
  • New feature: AirDrop allows you to easily share with people around you. Any app that supports a share sheet will show you your friends around you so you can share things like photos with them by tapping on them. They can accept the sharing right on their device. It is supported by iPhone 5, iPad 4, iPad mini and iPod Touch 5G.

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  • Camera app has been redesigned with new features and improvements:
    • It has a new camera mode called Square for Instagram shots.
    • You can now swipe from video camera to photo, to panoramic mode and to square mode using the navigation bar at the bottom.

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    • You can organize photos into ‘moments’ based on location and time, allowing users to view by location, month, or year.

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    • You can now share videos via iCloud Photo sharing.
  • Improvements to Siri:
    • Siri gets an all-new interface.

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    • You can now use Siri to enable or disable system toggles like Bluetooth etc., increase brightness, play last voicemail.
    • Siri also gets a new male voice and new international voices, which can be adjusted via the Settings app.
    • You can search on Twitter and Wikipedia using Siri.

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    • You can now get web search results from Bing.
  • iOS in the Car
    • iOS is integrated into car console.
    • iOS Maps, music control, all Eyes Free are displayed on the nav screen in the car.

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    • Looks like a number of car manufacturers are working with Apple to integrate the feature in their cars, which will be introduced in 2014.

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  • Auto-updating apps in the background.
  • New feature: iTunes Radio – As expected Apple has introduced iTunes Radio, it’s music streaming service for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV and Mac. Check this post for all the details.
  • FaceTime audio.
  • Notification sync across devices.
  • New feature: Activation Lock – If a thief tries to turn off Find my iPhone or wipe the device, they will not be able to reactivate it.
  • iOS 7 comes with over 1500 new APIs for developers.

That’s it. Apple has announced that the beta version of iOS 7 will be available today and will be released to the public later this fall.

Update 1:

Check this post to find out iOS 7 is compatible with which iOS devices.

Update 2:

Here’s The List of iOS 7 Features That Are Not Available On Older iOS Devices

Are you happy with the redesign and the new features? Let us know what you think about iOS 7 in the comments.