Apple iOS 10 Brings a Host of New Features

Apple at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2016 launched the much-awaited iOS 10. Compatible with iPhone 7, iPhone 6, iPhone 5, iPad 3, iPad mini 2 and iPod touch 6th gen or higher, iOS 10 offers more powerful and better features.

All the iOS 10 new features are free to download. Users are asked to upgrade, but if you didn’t get any notification you can manually do it by going to Settings > General > Software Update. If you are planning to work on iOS 10 platform, then you will need Xcode 8 in its beta version if you want to build applications for this platform you can approach any app developer. Also, ensure that you use Swift 3 while making the code.

Here are some of the latest features of iOS 10 for the users and the developers:

New Siri Feature

Now to control third-party apps you can use Siri,  this means, through voice control, you can activate few of the non-Apple functions and apps. For example, to control WhatsApp which is a third-party app, you need to go to Settings > Siri > App Support and enable WhatsApp, with this you will be able to tell Siri to send messages and make calls. Therefore, a lot of your third party apps like Lyft, Uber, Pinterest, Slack, Shutterfly, etc. can get Siri support.

Redesigned Notifications

iOS 10 comes with interactive notifications: a long press lets you reply to an incoming message without having to unlock the phone and open the app. iOS 10 automatically ‘ON’ the screen to show your notifications as you pick up the phone. Moreover, it’s easy to clear or delete all the notification, all you need to do is a long press on the close icon.

Find People and Places with the Photo App

Using deep learning technique to recognize people, place, and time, it creates a smart and photo album for you. The process of identifying faces is automatic and to protect your privacy, it happens on your phone rather than in the cloud. Photo section analysis all the photos and video clips that are related and creates an album that is called as ‘Memories’ by Apple.

Water Detection

iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are only the phones in iPhone series that are water-resistant. Taking a step further, Apple has made it possible to avoid any potential water damage with iOS 10. The software includes a warning message to unplug the cable at the bottom of a device if the phone and new software detect water.

New and Modified LockScreen

Slide to unlock feature has been removed, and new LockScreen has been modified. When you swipe to the left on the LockScreen, it reveals the new side panel of Widgets. It has now become easier to flip on camera with iOS 10, as when you swipe LockScreen to the right, it takes you to the camera app.

Recognition of Speech

The iOS 10 supports speech recognition and thus helps developers in building applications which can recognize and transcribe the speech into text.

Security

The SecKey API incorporates developments for an asymmetric key generation. You can use the SecKey API instead of the deprecated Common Data Security Architecture (CDSA) APIs.

The RC4 symmetric cipher suite has been disabled by default for all SSL/TLS connections, and SSLv3 is not supported in the Secure Transports API. It is suggested to stop the use of SHA-1 and 3DES cryptographic algorithms.

Apple Map Offers Better Navigation

iOS 10 has solved a big problem about Apple Maps- its incapability to move ahead on a route, i.e. Maps would take you back to your current location whenever you try to look anywhere else. Now it is easy to zoom in and out of complex interchanges and long stretches. iOS 10 will update about the traffic and better alternative to your destination.

Vehicles supporting Apple CarPlay are also suggested alternate routes based on traffic conditions, Maps’ turn-by-turn directions pops up on the instrument (if they have a screen next to the odometer).

CallKit

Developers can utilize this system to give users an opportunity to view and answer incoming Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls with the LockScreen and retain contacts from VoIP calls in the phone application’s Favorites and Recents views.

Apple Music and Apple News

Apple has redesigned Apple Music with iOS 10. It comes with much cleaner design, highlighting cover art correctly and suggesting music only for paid subscribers. The For You tab curates your personal playlist, likewise, the ‘New’ tab has become ‘Browse’.

Apple News has been redesigned. The For You tab breaks news into personalized topics and hand-picked stories by the editors. Breaking news notifications have been added to this app so that big stories appear right on the iOS 10 lock screen.

Messaging Will Be More Fun

By adding a new set of features, Apple is making your messaging experience more exciting as you will be able to use rich links in Messages, it will enable you to replace words with emojis, and add various bubble effects to your messages. It will now be possible create a message in ‘invisible ink’, and the receivers will not be able to read the message until they swipe across it.

Proactive Suggestions

In iOS 10 it will be easier to give information regarding the actions of the users in the application. This will help the system in promoting your app in other places, like the keyboard having QuickType suggestions, interactions with Siri, Maps the app switcher and the device’s lock screen.

Final Thoughts

For now, it’ll take the time to adapt the new functionality of this mobile operating system. However, by modifying and adding new features, Apple’s iOS 10 update for iPhone and iPad has lived up to its milestone.

This article is written by Ritesh Patil. He is the co-founder of Mobisoft Infotech that helps startups and enterprises in mobile technology. He loves technology, especially mobile technology. He’s an avid blogger and writes on mobile application. He works in a leading a mobile app development company with skilled android app developers that has developed innovative mobile applications across various fields such as Finance, Insurance, Health, Entertainment, Productivity, Social Causes, Education and many more and has bagged numerous awards for the same. Follow him: Twitter | LinkedIn.