iOS 10 is not a revolutionary upgrade. It’s a solid foundation on which we’ll see newer Apple technologies and services develop. Some places, iOS 10 hardly looks any different. But there are some corners that have been completely redesigned – from the Lock screen to the Music app. We show you all the small and big UI changes in iOS 10 that you might have missed.

1. Two Widget States

Widgets in iOS 10 are now more versatile. They have two views – Compact and Large. The Compact view is what you’ll see when you 3D Touch the app icon. It’s also the default for widgets in Today View. You can tap the “Show more” button on the top-right of the widget to expand it.

2. Notifications as Cards

Notifications everywhere show up as cards now. They have a glass like background. You can 3D Touch the notification to bring up live previews (if supported) and to reveal Quick Actions.

3. Lock Screen Doesn’t Fade Anymore

Anytime you’d get notifications, the Lock screen would fade the wallpaper. That doesn’t happen in iOS 10.

4. Today View in Lock screen

If you swipe right on the Lock screen you’ll come to the Today View. This includes all the widgets.

5. Lock Indicator in Lock screen

The status bar shows a lock icon when the device is locked. And when you unlock the device, you’ll see an “Unlocked” text and animation there. This is a good visual cue because there’s so much that can be done on the Lock screen now.

6. Larger Now Playing View on Lock screen

The Now Playing view in the Lock screen is now much bigger. The buttons are now a lot more tappable and the volume scroller is easier to hit. Also when you play or pause, the album art animates to get bigger or smaller.

7. Redesigned Alarm and Timer Notifications

When a timer goes off, you’ll get a new screen now. There’s an actual button for “Stop” in the center (real buttons are such a rarity in iOS that I actually got excited seeing this).

For alarm, this center button is for “Snooze”. There’s a smaller, text only button for “stop” in the bottom, in all caps.

8. Dark Mode in Clock App

Just like the Watch app, the Clock app now has a dark UI. And it is awesome.

9. Control Center Panes

You must have noticed this right away. Control Panel now has different panes. The center plane is the classic Control Center -for controls. On the right is the Now Playing pane and on the left are controls for devices added to the Home app (this pane will only show up if you’ve set up the Home app).

10. 3D Touch in Control Center

The four shortcuts in the bottom of the Control Center – Flashlight, Timer, Calculator and Camera are all 3D touchable.

11. Big and Bold Typography in Music App

Apple’s answer to making the Music app’s UI better was to make everything bigger. And it kind of works. First of all, it all looks amazing. Plus bigger text and targets are easier to use.

12. Redesigned Now Playing Screen

There’s a mini player that goes just above the bottom navigation bar. When you tap it you get to the Now Playing screen. There’s no longer a blur effect. And buttons and text again are big.

Controls like Up Next and the new Lyrics feature aren’t hidden behind buttons. Instead, you need to swipe up to reveal them – like a page.

13. Widgets in 3D Touch Quick Actions

When you 3D Touch an app’s icon that supports the new compact widget in iOS 10, you’ll see the widget right there on the top.

14. News App Modern Reading View

News app also got a big new redesign. Most importantly, they switched from the old serif fonts to modern fonts for UI and text. The design is similar to the Music app. Big, bold and beautiful.

15. Face Gallery in Watch App

If you’ve got an Apple Watch and have upgraded to watchOS 3, you’ll see a new “Face Gallery” tab. From here, you can explore all the watch faces, select and add them, plus customize all the complications.

16. Favorites view in Phone App

The Favorites view in the Phone app shows the contextual information for a contact a bit differently. In iOS 9, it used to be in the right edge. Now it’s show below the person’s name.

17. Today View in Health App

There’s a new Today view in the Health app (there’s also a 3D Touch shortcut for it) and it makes the app much better, at least for me. The Today view shows all the info for the day – in one screen. Things like how much you walked, the stairs you climbed, your heart rate or BP and your weight (if you logged them).

18. Look Up

Define option in the text selection menu has been replaced by Look Up. And Look Up does a bit more. Along with definitions, you’ll also see links to Wikipedia page along with web videos. This makes researching stuff much easier.

19. Maps App Redesign

Maps app has been redesigned from the ground up. Now, all the interaction elements are in the bottom of the screen, in this new Control Center like drawer. Buttons are clearly marked (like a big green Go) button and doing things like getting directions takes a lot less steps.

20. Extension in Maps

When you tap on a place and swipe up, you’ll also find something new there – extensions. They could be a Zomato review for the place or a button to get an Uber to there.

What Did We Miss?

I’m sure we missed something or the other. Share what we forgot in the comments below. We’ll add it to the article and give you a shout out!