Time flies, doesn’t it? It seems like just a couple weeks ago that we all received the iOS 10 upgrade. It promised to add bells, whistles, and extra polish to an already-stellar operating system. Fast-forward fifty days and we find that many of the minor bugs that were found in the initial release have been dealt with. And, although mileage varies from person to person, not a single one of my apps is incompatible with iOS 10.
(You should still check to make sure your most-important apps do support iOS 10, especially if the app’s design still resembles iOS 6. Also, backup your device.)
The GUI: New, but Familiar
Hitting an exhaustive 10th-release milestone, iOS finally feels like it’s come into it’s own as a fully-fledged operating system. From a UI perspective, interactions with objects on-screen are more consistent than ever, especially in apps like Maps and Music. A lot of users had some issue making the jump from iOS 6 to 7, where a lot the design work based upon real-material aesthetics changed to a minimalistic, flat look. The shift was vibrant and admittedly futuristic in approach, but it threw off a lot of veterans. Now we’re met somewhere in the middle: everything is flat but more iconic, buttons are more obvious (if they’re not to you, you can make buttons more pronounced in the settings), quick settings and widgets are more powerful and organized in their off-screen drawers, and system searches have received a couple wonderful updates:
- Siri is much faster and a bit smarter at giving you results.
- The search bar contains more resources in results.
- The define feature, renamed “look up,” has ramped up it’s reference chops as well, allowing highlighted items to display definitions, Wikipedia results, locations, and suggested web results.
Old Devices: No Worries
Which iPhone are you using? If you’re part of the large population still on older iPhone hardware, you may be leery. Fear not: although some actions may be slightly slower in use, the amount of new features is well worth it. If you want more in-depth info, check out Ars Technica’s write up.
As a daily driver, iOS 10 has been knocking it out of the park for me. Sure there’s some getting used to the new unlock mechanism, which is now a button press versus the classic swipe-to-the-right, but the rest should feel like old hat. Newcomers to an iOS device will be thrilled at having the App Store library, now with a rapidly-growing stickers and iMessage micro-App Store, extensions to make connections between apps more seamless, and Apple Music for an untethered music experience.
And one more thing… Apple has also built the future into these operating systems. Every week reveals gradual improvements to Apple’s once relegated Maps services, especially in the transit department. The Home app is now baked into the system, allowing purchases of new-and-compatible home appliances. Thermostats, blinds, lightbulbs, and cameras can be easily managed via an exclusive “scenes” window in the control center drawer (store link).
Stable, Secure, & Smooth
As Day 51 of iOS 10 approaches, it’s exciting to be met with a stable, well thought-out upgrade. What have your experiences been? Let us know in the comments below. Remember: if your device is acting up on you, try restoring the phone from a backup before throwing in the towel.
Thanks for reading! Please check out our services to see if Start On Technology is a good fit for you, your company, or someone you know. For a full rundown of iOS 10’s new features, check out Apple’s landing page.