Apple took to the stage yesterday and showed iOS users many features they’ve wanted. For example, do you know that system-wide dark mode you’ve always wanted? Well, Apple got it for you! You know that annoying, full screen volume indicator? Gone!
Of course, Apple didn’t just cater to our demands. They still left a few on the table, like a new home screen, but they instead gave us more updates to Memoji, Animoji, photos, and some fantastic privacy upgrades that will improve your privacy everywhere. Let’s take a look at what’s new.
In This Article:
Dark Mode
Finally! Dark mode has arrived on iOS. The feature has made its way over from macOS to Apple’s mobile platform. It will behave much like the existing dark mode on macOS. You’ll see darker accents, a dark wallpaper, apps will feature a dark background, and third party apps that are compatible will automatically darken.
Dark mode will help you get a good night’s rest by blocking bright light. It’ll increase your battery life substantially on the iPhone X, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max. Dark mode can even make text easier to read in some cases. You can set it to turn on automatically at night, toggle it in Control Center, or leave it always on, as I do for dark mode on macOS.
Keyboard
What’s wring with the Apple keyboard? You likely said “I can’t swipe to enter text!” Well, after iOS 13, that won’t be true. Of course, third party keyboard developers like Swype, SwiftKey, and Google’s Gboard have featured swipe text entry for some time. However, now that it’s built in to your standard keyboard, you won’t need those third party keyboards anymore, if that’s the only thing you were using them for. It’s terrible news for anyone who works on these apps. However, for most iOS users, it’s welcome news.
Apple never made using these third party keyboards seamless, and, as a result, doomed them to eventual obsolescence. Doesn’t seem fair, but as an iOS user, you’ll reap the reward.
Privacy and Security
Unlike some other companies, Apple truly cares about privacy. You can often log in to websites using Google, Amazon, Facebook, or create a new account. The account creation process is a bit of more annoying. However, it’s slightly more private, unless they sell and combine data with another data collection company (and many—if not most—companies do). The only way to truly maintain your security would be to create a fake email address and fake name, and forward everything from those email addresses to your real address. But that would take time and great effort.
Unless Apple did that for you.
With iOS 13, you’ll be able to sign in to websites and apps using your Apple ID. Your Apple ID, like signing in with Facebook or Google, will give the service information about you, such as name or age and a secure login token, instead of a password. However, they won’t be able to track you so easily. Every single service will get a different email address, randomly generated. Those random email addresses will forward to your account. You can cancel them individually as well. The new “Sign in with Apple” feature is a privacy nut’s dream, and it’s exactly what we need in our increasingly insecure and public world, lead by Google, Facebook, and Amazon.
HomeKit Secure Video
The name’s a bit of a mouthful, but Apple is also introducing HomeKit for security cameras. But Apple didn’t just stop there. They’re offering encrypted storage through your iCloud account, which is free and won’t count against your storage plan. If you have a HomeKit compatible camera, you’ll have more security than any camera currently offers. Current solutions send your videos off to actual people to review so they can improve AI, or store video in unencrypted formats. Apple has no interest in seeing the inside of your home or your lawn. They just want to give you a secure place to store your video.
Secure Wifi
Apple got rid of their AirPort wireless routers. It’s a shame. They were powerful, secure, and the easiest routers to use. However, you’ll soon be able to buy HomeKit enabled routers. These will be able to set up local secure networks, so your devices will be able to communicate, but hackers won’t be able to access them.
Location Privacy
With iOS 13, you’ll be able to give apps access to your location just once. You’ll also be able to receive a notification for apps that are using your location in the background. This will stop tracking apps, which ask for your location, perhaps to customize the app’s appearance or suggestions for you, but then track your location to sell to advertisers, Google, and others. Apple will even warn you when sharing a photo that contains your location on social media, allowing you to scrub that information from the metadata.
Maps
The biggest Maps improvement isn’t here. The one I was most looking forward to is absent. Apple Maps still doesn’t have biking directions! I ride a mini cruiser skateboard everywhere I go when the weather’s warm enough, and use biking directions to find safe routes. Without biking directions, I can never switch to Apple Maps. I’m not alone. Cycling is becoming more popular in cities, as is longboarding. People are making conscious decisions for their health, the environment, and their budgets. Plus, getting around a city like New York by bike or longboard is actually faster than getting anywhere in a car, bus, and, often, even beats the trains. The fact that Apple Maps still doesn’t have biking directions is ludicrous.
Okay, that aside, what did Apple add to Maps? They’re introducing a more detailed map view, which Apple says the built from the ground up (there’s a pun in there). They’re also adding favorites for one tap navigation. This can be your home, a park, your gym, work, or a nice scenic spot to enjoy your coffee on your way to work. You’ll also be able to store collections of locations, so you will have all the spots you want to visit in a new city.
For city goers, there’s now real time transit. Knowing the route you have to take and all your transfers is easy. Knowing whether or not you should take a different route because a train isn’t running is something else.
Guidance
Siri will improve guidance now. Instead of saying something like “In 1,000 feet, turn left,” it’ll say “At the next intersection, turn left.” This is a more natural way to deliver directions, and doesn’t force you to double check a map to see if it’s this turn or the next one.
Apple’s also adding Junction View. This will help users get in the right lane so they don’t miss their turns.
Look Around
Look Around is a feature you likely already know. It’s Google’s StreetView. With Look Around, you can get a street-level view of a location. We’ll have to see when it comes out to see if it compares to Google Maps. With Look Around, you can get a street level view of your location, perhaps the paths along your journey, with a 360 3D view.
Performance
iOS 13 will bring performance benefits to your smartphone. This will include faster launch time and, interestingly, faster unlocking with Face ID. Apple says your Face ID unlocks can be up to 30% faster. Apps can launch up to twice as fast.
Apple also reduced the size of apps. This will make your app downloads faster, and they’ll take up less space on your device. iOS 13 will give you some of your storage space back, and make the decision to offload less used apps to the cloud an easier one.
Photos
Since the first iPhone, Apple has outpaced their competition when it came to photos. They ensured the iPhone camera is one of the best smartphone cameras in the business, with intelligent software to help you edit, perfect, organize, and share your photos. iOS 13 will continue this tradition.
iOS 13 brings new photo editing controls, like a new monochromatic effect and advanced portrait lighting. Now you can adjust how the portrait lighting effect hits your subject, allowing you to simulate bringing the lights closer or further away from your subject.
The photos tab is also all new. Instead of scrolling around to find the right view, there’s a new tab bar inside of the photos section. This allows you to see highlights through your years, months, or a day view, which highlights day trips. Of course, you’ll still be able to see all your photos. The purpose of this is to put your best and most meaningful shots forward.
Improved Editing
There’s a new editor, which will allow you to more carefully fine-tune your photographs and videos. You won’t need iMovie anymore just to rotate a video! Right in the photos app, you’ll be able to rotate , adjust, enhance, and tweak videos, all with live representations of your changes.
Memoji
When Animoji and Memoji first came out, it was easy to see them as a gimmick. But they’re actually pretty fun. With iOS 13, they’ll be more customizable than ever, featuring more hair styles, hats, piercings, and accessories. You’ll be able to make your Memoji look just like you.
Also, you won’t have to make faces just to send your friends something. iOS 13 will include stickers for your Memoji and other Animoji. That means you’ll be able to send someone a picture of your Memoji doing something silly… without doing something silly for the camera.
Siri
Siri is still not perfect, and there are many issues with Siri and how it can lead to harassment of and aggression towards women. iOS 13 improves Siri in a few key ways. First, Siri will sound more natural, thanks to better neural language processing. The end result sounds far more like human speech than before. Secondly, Siri on the HomePod will be able to identify who’s talking to it, giving a custom experience to multiple users. And finally, Siri can now read incoming messages aloud to users, so you don’t have to look at your phone.
Reminders
I won’t lie to you, I couldn’t care less about the Reminders app in iOS. For some inexplicable reason, Apple still believes the calendar and reminders are not related. Therefore, I’ll stick to Fantastical, which uses your iCloud calendars (and many others) as well as your iCloud reminders.
Still, if you’re sticking with Apple’s Reminders, you’ll find smart lists, Siri integration, and some new ways to get reminded. You can repeat reminders, have reminders show up when you’re texting a particular friend who’s tagged in a reminder, and add reminders using plain language.
CarPlay
Apple has done with car manufacturers for years refused to do: they simplified their in-dash display. Now you’ll see a few shortcuts, a map view, and heads up information.
Just don’t spend too much time looking at it, please? If it were up to me, car displays would be for navigation only. I hate how distracted people have become behind the wheel. Be safe out there!
And More!
via MacRumors
The volume indicator! We have to talk about the volume indicator! With iOS 13, a silly window won’t hijack your entire screen just because you adjusted the volume. Instead, it’ll appear as a small bar next to the volume buttons as you adjust the volume. The view looks like the volume control in control center, so it should be familiar. This also looks a lot like what Google did with Android P.
There are many more smaller improvements to iOS in iOS 13. You can find a full list here.