Gallery: Take a Tour of the Huge Visual Contrasts Between iOS 6 and iOS 7
01The Home Screen
Even if you're going to pass on one of the new iPhones, you can still get most of their best new features when you upgrade to iOS 7. Apple's new mobile operating system will be available to download on Wednesday. It's the biggest graphical overhaul to iOS in its six-year history. But if you look beyond the aesthetic changes -- the skinny fonts, the new colors, and the 3-D effects -- you'll find several new features and gestures that improve the way you use your iPhone or iPad. The Home Screen --------------- Gone is the venerable track labeled, "slide to unlock." It's replaced by ... a whole screen that you can slide to unlock. Aside from a few aesthetic differences -- a more lightweight typeface, an adjusted camera shortcut -- it remains functionally the same as the lock screen you've grown to love over the past six years.
02The Shortcuts Drawer
The Shortcuts Drawer -------------------- Perhaps the best improvement to usability comes in the form of the Shortcuts drawer, which gives you instant access to the phone's most critical settings. You can unlock it at any time by sliding up from the bottom of the screen, in a motion that is effectively the opposite gesture used to access the Notifications drawer. Inside, you'll find more efficient ways to alter the settings that have the biggest effect on battery life. For instance, you can switch off Wi-Fi with a single touch. It used to be a multiple-tap process. Same with adjusting the screen brightness slider. And if you've ever purchased a flashlight app, it's now obsolete -- there's a handy shortcut in the drawer to turn on your phone's LED camera flash. In fact, you can remove the Clock and Camera apps from your homescreen if you'd like, because they're easy to access here in the bottom row of the drawer.
03Notifications
Notifications ------------- The notifications panel -- which was introduced in iOS 5 and which you still access by sliding your finger down from the top of the screen -- gets a major makeover in iOS 7. First, Apple has split notifications into three tabs: Today, All, and Missed. The Today tab includes information from the Calendar app, and stock and weather data from Yahoo. All is basically the same notifications you've always seen in previous versions of iOS. The Missed tab will show you notifications you've missed and haven't acted on yet. One thing you might be sad to see go when you upgrade: there's no longer a tappable widget that lets you update Twitter or Facebook from inside the Notifications panel.
04Safari
Safari ------ Safari gets a major tune-up in iOS 7, but there are some features for power users that need explaining. For instance, there's a "back" gesture now: simply swipe from the left side of the screen to the right. Reverse that gesture to go forward a step. Safari now also allows you to open more than nine browser tabs at once, but this means it's easier to leave too many old tabs open. Open your tab switcher and you'll see the open tabs all stacked up vertically. To kill unwanted tabs, throw them off the left side of the screen -- the motion is similar to the app switcher, but you toss the tabs to the side as opposed to upward. Lastly, if you're on a web page and you want to access the bottom navigation bar with your bookmarks, the back and forward buttons, and the tab switcher, just scroll up a little.
05Multitasking
Multitasking ------------ Although iOS has had multitasking since iOS 4, the new update adds live previews and a handy gesture for closing apps you don't want. Just like before, double tap the home button to access the multitasking window, and if you want to close an app, swipe up (a gesture stolen from WebOS.)
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Search My Phone --------------- Instead of placing iOS's Spotlight search in the ancillary screen to the left of the first homescreen, it's omnipresent in iOS 7. You just have to know how to access it. Swipe downwards on your homescreen (from somewhere in the middle, not from the top -- that summons the Notifications panel) to search your device. One major note: Spotlight no longer searches Google or Wikipedia, so you'll have to do that in Safari.
07Improved App Updates
Improved App Updates -------------------- One of the biggest pain points in previous versions of iOS was Apple's App Store updates, which never offered the most pleasant user experience. Starting in iOS 7, apps update automatically (if you want them to) and if you download apps using two Apple IDs, you'll no longer have to manually sign in and out if you simply want to update one app -- it will ask you for the appropriate Apple ID and password for the account that downloaded the app. Keep an eye out for the new "updating" icon: a square stop symbol surrounded by a progress wheel. We could be seeing that icon all over Apple products very soon.
08Embiggen Text
Embiggen Text ------------- This is a new feature in iOS 7, so there is no real equivalent in iOS 6: the ability to change the system-wide text size. You can make your SMS texts super-huge or magnifying-glass-tiny by dragging the Text Size slider. Find it under the General category in the Settings app. Change this setting on your parents iPhone and iPad; your mom will thank you.
09Block Callers
Block Callers ------------- Finally, iOS gets a method to ignore calls and texts from the annoying ruffians in your life. Android's had this feature through apps for a while, and it's about time we saw it on iOS. Ironically, to block a caller, you have to first add them to your Address Book. Find his or her contact, and scroll to the bottom. Block 'em. They'll never know.
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Audio FaceTime -------------- For Apple users who hate videoconferencing, but want to make voice-over-IP calls, FaceTime now does audio. Using an internet connection instead of your minutes, Voice-Only FaceTime call is basically the equivalent of an iMessage phone call.
11New Ringtones
New Ringtones ------------- Say so long to the ubiquitous Marimba ringtone. There's a new default sound for calls, and it's a jaunty sequence of woodblock(-ish) tones called Opening. In total, there are 13 new text tones and 25 new ringtones in iOS 7. But if your Pavlovian responses are so ingrained you can't bear to change, all the previous iPhone ringtones are collected under the banner "Classic."
12Frequent Locations
Frequent Locations ------------------ A few years ago, there was a minor kerfuffle when it turned out Apple was saving geolocation data on many iPhones. The seemingly hidden iOS 7 Frequent Locations menu may seem scary, but it's actually just the same data that was saved before. Find it through Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services > Frequent Locations. If you've got Frequent Locations turned on, you'll be able to see a couple of addresses you've recently been to. Turn it off.
13Slightly Different Keyboard
Slightly Different Keyboard --------------------------- The iOS 7 keyboard is essentially a face-lifted version of the previous iPhone keyboard. You'll be able to tell when the app you're using hasn't been updated because it will use the old-style keyboard.
14Safari's Hidden Twitter Client
Safari's Hidden Twitter Client ------------------------------ If you use iOS Twitter integration, you might be surprised to find that there's essentially a Twitter client baked into Safari. Under the bookmarks pane, if you select the "@" symbol at the top, you'll find Shared Links, which are the links your Twitter follows and Facebook friends are sharing. You won't get any text-only status updates, but if you wanted a super-simple client to see what links your friends are sharing, Safari's Shared Links is minimal and fast.
