Apple at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2019 previewed iOS 13 that brings with it dark mode in iPhones and offers new ways to browse and edit photos, sign in to apps and websites, and navigate the world with an all-new map. iOS 13 is faster and more responsive with optimisations across the system that improve app launch, reduce app download sizes and make Face ID even faster.
Dark Mode
The dark mode is a new dark colour scheme that works system-wide and across all native apps to enhance the readability in low-light environments by adjusting background and foreground colours to make content stand out.
Dark Mode is available to third-party app developers for integration into their own apps and can be scheduled to turn on automatically at sunset or at a certain time.
Editing Tools for Photos
Using on-device machine learning, Photos curates the entire library to highlight the best images, automatically hiding clutter and similar photos to showcase significant events from the past day, month or year. In iOS 13, Photos and videos are intelligently organised, making it easier to browse, discover and relive favourite memories, with auto play videos to bring the library to life.
Apple also announced new tools that are easier to apply, adjust and review at a glance. With just a swipe, effects can be increased or decreased to create the look you desire, providing photographers with more creative possibilities and control over their images. And in iOS 13, most photo editing tools are now available for video editing, making it possible to rotate, crop or apply filters right within the Photos app.
With iOS 13, Portrait Lighting adjustments can be made right in the Camera app to virtually move the light closer to sharpen eyes and brighten and smooth facial features, or push the light farther away to create a subtle, refined look. A new High-Key Mono effect creates a beautiful, monochromatic look for Portrait mode photos.
Fast, Easy and Private Sign-in with Apple
Apple has also introduced a new, more private way to simply and quickly sign into apps and websites. Instead of using a social account or filling out forms, verifying email addresses or choosing passwords, customers can simply use their Apple ID to authenticate and Apple will protect users’ privacy by providing developers with a unique random ID.
Even in cases where developers choose to ask for a name and email address, users have the option to keep their email address private and share a unique random email address instead.
All-New Maps Experience
After driving approx. four million miles to re-build the base map from the ground up, Apple is delivering a new Maps experience with broader road coverage, better pedestrian data, more precise addresses and more detailed landcover. The new map is available now in select cities and states, and will roll out across the US by the end of 2019 and to more countries in 2020.
Powered by the new base map and high-resolution 3D photography, a new Look Around feature delivers a street-level imagery of a city with smooth and seamless transitions. iOS 13 brings additional new features to the Maps app, including Collections to easily share favourite restaurants, travel destinations or places to shop with friends, and Favourites for navigating to frequent destinations, such as home, work, the gym or school, with a simple tap from the launch screen.
Additional iOS 13 Features
Reminders has a new look and offers intelligent ways to create and edit reminders, with more ways to organise and keep track of them. The quick toolbar makes it easier to add times, dates, locations and flags, or add attachments. With deeper integration with Messages, it’s easy to tag someone in a reminder so that it surfaces when the user messages with that person.
Messages can automatically share a user’s name and photo, or customised Memoji or Animoji, to easily identify who is in the Messages thread. Memoji are automatically made into sticker packs built into the iOS keyboard, so they can be used in Messages, Mail and other apps. Memoji also feature new hairstyles, headwear, makeup, piercings and accessories.
Siri has a new, more natural voice, and Siri Shortcuts now supports Suggested Automations that provide personalized routines for things like heading to work or going to the gym.
CarPlay gets its biggest update ever with a new Dashboard to view music, maps and more in a single view, a new Calendar app and Siri support for third-party navigation and audio apps.
HomePod can distinguish voices from anyone in the home to deliver personal requests, including messages, music and more. Live radio gives Siri access to over 100,000 radio stations from iHeartRadio, radio.com and TuneIn, and a new sleep timer turns off music after a set amount of time. Handoff enables users to easily move music, podcasts or a phone call to HomePod when they arrive home.
With AirPods, Siri can read incoming messages as soon as they arrive, from Messages or any SiriKit-enabled messaging app. A new audio sharing feature makes it easy to watch a movie or share a song with a friend by simply bringing a second pair close to iPhone or iPad.
Voice Control provides a powerful new experience that enables users to operate their iPhone, iPad or Mac entirely by their voice. Using the latest Siri speech recognition technology, Voice Control gets even more accurate text transcription and editing.1
Notes has a new Gallery View, more powerful collaboration with shared folders, new search tools and checklist options.
QuickPath brings easy one-hand typing to the iOS keyboard by continuously swiping through the letters of a word.2
Text Editing is enhanced, making scrolling documents, moving the cursor and selecting text faster and more accurate.
Files app introduces the ability to share folders with iCloud Drive and access files from external storage devices like SD cards and USB flash drives.
Health offers ways to monitor hearing health and brings new ways to track, visualise and predict a woman’s menstrual cycle.
Location Services controls give users more choices for how they share location data with apps, including a new one-time location option and more information on when apps are using location in the background.
Performance improvements make the entire system more responsive with faster Face ID unlock, and a new way to package iPhone apps on the App Store that reduces app download sizes by up to 50 per cent, makes app updates over 60 percent smaller and results in apps launching up to twice as fast.
QuickPath brings easy one-hand typing to iOS keyboard.
Memoji creations can be turned into sticker packs. Reminders features a new toolbar to quickly add times, dates, locations and flags. QuickPath brings easy one-hand typing to iOS keyboard.
Availability
The developer preview of iOS 13 is available to Apple Developer Programme members at developer.apple.com starting today, and a public beta program will be available to iOS users next month at beta.apple.com. New software features will be available this fall as a free software update for iPhone 6s and later, and will be available with iPadOS for iPad Air 2 and later, all iPad Pro models, iPad 5th generation and later, and iPad mini 4 and later.
