The soon-to-launch iOS 11 operating system is nothing like past iOS versions from Apple. It borrows so much good from macOS, despite retaining the familiar iOS look and feel, getting the best of both worlds.
iOS 11 is out in beta for everyone to try out, and it unlocks the iPhone and iPad in a way that hasn't happened before, showcasing a renewed level of versatility, productivity and multitasking that hasn't been seen on iOS devices before. Here are some of the major highlights:
The Control Centre in iOS 11 gets a major revamp. Apart from a cosmetic overhaul, you can also add or remove functions from Settings.?
iOS 11 lets you multitask like never before. You can drag and drop apps, work on them side by side, close them with the swipe of your finger. No more extra steps!
For the first time ever, iOS 11 will allow you to search and locate files and folders in a familiar Explorer view. All thanks to the Folder app by default.
The App Store has received a much-needed facelift in iOS 11, and finding top apps and curated lists, not to mention daily trending stars, has become slightly more intuitive. And easier. It looks like the Apple Music app, to be honest, don't you think? We aren't complaining.
The Notes app lets you scribble handwritten notes already, but now it has a feature to let you scan documents. Take a photo of a physical document or a signboard, and save it as a note. Done.
The new screenshot action lets you do so much more in iOS 11. Not only can you crop the picture, but you can also edit it in several other ways -- apart from sketching all over it.
Live Photos in iOS 11 now support HDR mode. Not just that, after capturing a Live Photo, you can go back and edit the duration of the clip, and also select a Key Photo. Customizing Live Photos is an important step to generally make them more popular, which is what iOS 11 does.
Remember how we press on the other key to shift between different symbols on the same key? Well, no more clicking on the Symbols or Shift key anymore, as the default keyboard on iOS 11 just requires you to swipe down on a key to highlight its secondary action. So if you have to type 1, just swipe down on the Q key. This is an amazing, time-saving feature, as far as typing is concerned.
While Siri's voice recognition and voice has improved, she's still not perfect at picking up accents. In those instances, iOS 11 now allows you to type your query to Siri. You'll need to enable it in the General > Accessibility tab.
In iOS 11, there's finally a Smart Invert option which flips the colour scheme to a dark theme, ideal for night use. The feature only works with native Apple apps for now, though. Hopefully, by the time iOS 11 is finalized and rolls out more third-party apps would support it.
The biggest tick in iOS 11's responsibility box comes in the form of its Do Not Disturb mode. When turned on, the DND mode completely suspends any incoming message pings or other distractions as long as you're on the road and driving.