At its iPhone 7 launch event in San Francisco today, Apple announced that it would publicly release iOS 10 on September 13.
The latest version of the mobile platform has been available in beta for some time now. If you’ve tried it over the past couple of months, you’ll likely be familiar with some of these features already. Here’s a roundup of all the new functionality that’s worth knowing about.
The updated OS brings a new space called ‘Home’to view and manage all your HomeKit devices, as well as the ability to adjust multiple devices grouped into ‘Scenes’ at once.
Siri will also get a boost, as the voice-activated personal assistant has been upgraded with support for extensions to plug into other apps and services. You’ll be able to do things like request a Lyft with just a voice command.
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The interface will allow you to preview your notifications by simply raising your phone, use 3D touch to interact with notifications and adjust audio settings from the Control Center.
In addition, iMessage is also being overhauled to support rich link previews for images and video, and also display large emoji. Users can also react to individual messages and insert emoji quickly using the baked-in advanced keyboard.
You can also pepper your conversations with stickers and full-screen animated effects.
If you take a lot of pictures, you’ll be glad to know that Apple Photos is getting the ability to automatically create slideshows, and a ‘Memories’ feature for looking back at old images.
The OS also brings support for RAW camera image formats and Wide Color capture for more vivid results when shooting pictures. It also adds a new zoom shooting mode for the iPhone 7 Plus’ dual cameras, which include a telephoto lens for up to 2x optical zoom and up to 10x digital zoom.
For iPhone 7 Plus users, the camera app will offer a new portrait mode that takes advantage of the 56mm focal length telephoto lens to create shots with depth of field and bokeh effects. You’ll able to see a live preview of this before you snap the shutter. This feature will be available as a free update to the OS later this year.
iOS 10 will also warn you when you connect to an Wi-Fi network that could allow hackers to snoop on your online activity, and allow you to request medical records and have them delivered straight to your iPhone.
If you can’t wait to try these new features, you can grab the public beta and check them out right now.
Follow our coverage of Apple’s iPhone 7 keynote and find the latest stories about it here.
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