Apple executives took the stage today at the keynote for their annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2019) and unveiled iOS 13.
Dark Mode
The new mobile operating system introduces a new Dark Mode for the iPhone, which is a new dark color scheme that works system-wide and offers an improved low-light viewing experience. Dark Mode can be included by developers in their own apps, and can be scheduled to turn on automatically at sunset or at a certain time.
Easier Browsing and New Editing Tools for Photos
The improved Photos app uses on-device machine learning to curate the entire library, highlighting the best images, while hiding clutter and similar photos. The app showcases significant events from the past day, month or year. Photos’ intelligent organizing makes it easier to browse and discover favorite memories, autoplay brings videos to life.
New photo editing tools are easier to apply, adjust and review at a glance. With a swipe of a finger, effects can be increased or decreased. Most photo editing tools are now available for video editing, allowing users to rotate, crop or apply filters to video inside the Photos app.
Portrait Lighting adjustments can be made in the Camera app, including the ability 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 applies a monochromatic look for Portrait mode photos.
Private Sign In with Apple
In iOS 13, Apple is introducing a new, more private way to quickly sign into apps and websites. Users will no longer need to fill out a form to create a login, or use their Facebook or Google accounts to sign in. Instead, they can use their Apple ID to authenticate. Apple will protect users’ privacy by providing developers with a unique random ID. When developers request a name and email address, users will have the option to keep their real email address private, and can share a unique random email address instead.
Improved Maps Experience
Apple has driven 4 million miles to rebuild the Apple Maps basemap from the ground up, will now offer broader road coverage, better pedestrian data, more precise addresses and more detailed land cover. 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.
A new “Look Around” feature delivers street-level imagery of cities with smooth and seamless transitions. New features of the Maps app include Collections to easily share favorite restaurants, travel destinations or places to shop with friends, and Favorites 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 organize 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 customized 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, visualize 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 percent, makes app updates over 60 percent smaller and results in apps launching up to twice as fast.
The developer preview of iOS 13 is available to Apple Developer Program members at developer.apple.com starting today, and a public beta program will be available to iOS users next month at beta.apple.com.
iOS 13 is compatible with these iPhones:
- iPhone XS
- iPhone XS Max
- iPhone XR
- iPhone X
- iPhone 8
- iPhone 8 Plus
- iPhone 7
- iPhone 7 Plus
- iPhone 6s
- iPhone 6s Plus
- iPhone SE
- iPod touch (7th generation)
