iOS 13 - What to expect this fall and how to get the public beta right now
Dark Mode
Probably the most requested feature from iOS users is finally here. Dark mode. If you have a Mac computer that was recently updated to macOS Mojave, then you have probably seen this option on your Mac. Basically, the entire user interface of your iPhone or iPad goes dark. Anything and everything that was white before like menus and alerts now has a beautiful black or slate look. Better yet if you have a newer iPhone like the iPhone X or XS Apple is taking full advantage of the OLED display by using a true black which should equate to better battery life as OLED displays can shut off individual pixels making your phone look absolutely stunning in every app you can think of. Apple is also making it easy for developers to adopt the system-wide Dark mode so expect many of your favorites apps to have this feature shortly after iOS 13 releases this fall.
The new Reminders App
The reminders app has not seen some love since Apple released iOS 7 in 2013 which revamped the entire look of iOS and making it modern compared to its old skeuomorphic look. With the new Reminders app, we are now getting smart lists, more powerful Siri intelligence and a whole lot of other refinements.
When creating new reminders, you will now see a new toolbar above your keyboard that will bring up suggestions for times, locations, and even quickly attach an image to your reminder list. We also get a new list called scheduled which works as a calendar list and automatically sorts your reminders based on their context and their deadlines, if one was set.
CarPlay
CarPlay fell in the same boat as the Reminders app and was only given nominal features over the years since its release. Now, CarPlay has an all-new look and runs much better than before.
The home screen now supports a split view where you have your maps on the left side and on the right, you can see your calendar, music app, and relevant shortcuts like say opening your garage door right from CarPlay. The music app also received some love and has a new interface that shows you the album artwork and music controls altogether. Apple also mentioned that the split view maps will work with your favorite 3rd party map apps like Waze and Google Maps this fall, currently, in the beta, you can only use Apple Maps for this split view. We should also see more apps come to CarPlay as Apple is making the integration for developers more seamless this year.
Performance
You should also see all-around performance improvement across iOS. Launching apps is much faster and Face ID unlocks up to 30% quicker than before.
Siri
Siri is finally departing from those robotic pronunciations and moving toward a more natural flowing and sounding voice. Her tone is still the same but I haven’t noticed much of a difference yet so we may not see this fully implemented until the final release in the fall. But what they showed us on stage was a much more realistic and human-sounding voice for Siri. This doesn’t bother me at all, but I know some people may worry when their phone begins to sound like a human. Also, if you have a pair of AirPods Siri will be able to announce messages to you without even lifting up your phone and as soon as she finishes with the message you can immediately reply without needing to say, Hey Siri. I have found this very useful when I’m working out at the gym.
Which turns me to another feature, not Siri related, but say you and your friend both have AirPods, you will now be able to pair two AirPods to one device and listen to the same audio. So long to audio jack splitters on airplanes.
Memoji & Messages
Memoji’s are receiving quite the update with more ways to make your Memoji more like you and to fit your style. Or look like an alien so you can make a Memoji video sing Blue Da Ba Dee (I’ve done it. And it was a lot of fun) You will also see a new app called Memoji stickers, basically your Memoji has become an emoji with hearty eyes and teary eyes and every fun face you can think of!. Along with Memoji updates are updates to the Messages app. Messages is becoming similar to the likes of WhatsApp in the sense that you can create a display name for anyone that has your number and set a profile picture of your choosing, like your Memoji for example. We are also getting a pretty huge enhancement to the keyboard called Quick Path typing or what we call swipe to type. I’ve tried various 3rd party keyboard apps but none had ever felt right or just would bug out too often. Well, Apple decided they should make it themselves and have it right out of the box. In no way does it disrupt the normal typing to text on the phone, but you can seamlessly switch between the two without a hiccup. This has definitely been one of my favorite features in iOS 13.
Screenshots & Sharing enhancements
Taking screenshots on iOS has also been quite annoying for some time and ever since the iPhone X I have taken so many random screenshots it is not even funny… But thankfully changes are coming. With iOS 13 we are getting a brand-new screenshot interface that makes it much easier to markup and resize the screenshot, and if you’re screenshotting a webpage there’s an option to capture the entire page! The trigger for a screenshot also seems less sensitive now so you should see a reduction in those random screenshots. But the next enhancement is by far the best when tapping the share button, you’ll be introduced to a new share screen. We now get smart suggestions as to what you want to do with the content, like a one-tap share to your best friend or significant other. Siri will help with suggestions the more you use your device and have an idea of what you probably want to do. My favorite was a suggestion to AirDrop a screenshot to my Mac when I was creating the screenshots for this article.
Photos & Camera
The Photos app is also getting a nice makeover this year. Focusing more on your photos and organizing them in a beautiful new manner. Now you can quickly switch between four options to view your photos: Years, Months, Days, & All Photos. When you’re in the years and months view the photos app will look like a timeline of your photos collected into albums, but the main photo being displayed is actually a photo from or around the same day of that month or year based on the current day. So, you can easily relieve moments like say it’s your birthday and as you scroll up in the years view you will see photos from your past birthdays if you have them saved in your camera roll.
We are also getting a new portrait lighting mode called High-Key Mono along with finer tune control of the lighting effects in all the portrait modes. We’re even getting more photo editing options within the photo’s app along with editing videos! Something that was definitely long overdue, no more having those videos that you meant to film horizontal stuck in a vertical mode as you’ll be able to rotate and fix those videos, along with edit the color and lighting like a photo.
There are a ton of other enhancements and features coming to iOS 13 that would be too long to list but you can check them all our here on Apple’s website. These have been the most notable and some of my favorites since I have been testing iOS 13 for over a month now and I am so excited for its full release this fall.
If you want to jump in on the fun and test out iOS 13 yourself, you can sign up here for the public beta. Be warned you may not want this on your daily phone but if you don’t mind bugs and hiccups then go ahead and give it a try! I recommend you update to the latest firmware first and backup your phone before proceeding in case you decide it’s not stable enough for you, you can revert back to the current version of iOS 12.
Some photos were provided by Apple.com
