News

Apple previews iOS 13

Yesterday, 3 June 2019, Apple previewed iOS 13, introducing a dramatic new look for iPhone with Dark Mode and new ways to browse and edit photos, sign in to apps and websites, and navigate the world with an all-new map. iOS 13 is faster and more responsive with optimisations across the system that improve app launch, reduce app download sizes and make Face ID even faster. 

“iOS 13 brings new capabilities to the apps you use every day, with rich updates to Photos and Maps, and privacy-protecting features like Sign In with Apple, all while delivering faster performance,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “We’re excited for customers to experience what’s coming to iPhone this fall and can’t wait for them to see how great everything looks in Dark Mode.”

Dark Mode: A Dramatic New Look for iPhone

iPhone has a beautiful new look with Dark Mode, a new dark colour scheme that works system-wide and across all native apps to deliver a great viewing experience, especially in low-light environments. Dark Mode is available to third-party app developers for integration into their own apps and can be scheduled to turn on automatically at sunset or at a certain time.

Easier Browsing and Powerful Editing Tools for Photos

Using on-device machine learning, Photos curates the entire library to highlight the best images, automatically hiding clutter and similar photos to showcase significant events from the past day, month or year. Photos and videos are intelligently organised, making it easier to browse, discover and relive favourite memories, with auto play videos to bring the library to life.

Photo editing is more comprehensive and intuitive with new tools that are easier to apply, adjust and review at a glance. With just a swipe, effects can be increased or decreased to create the perfect look, providing photographers with more creative possibilities and control over their images. And in iOS 13, most photo editing tools are now available for video editing, making it possible to rotate, crop or apply filters right within the Photos app.

With iOS 13, Portrait Lighting adjustments can be made right in the Camera app 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 creates a beautiful, monochromatic look for Portrait mode photos.

Fast, Easy and Private Sign In with Apple

Apple is introducing a new, more private way to simply and quickly sign into apps and websites. Instead of using a social account or filling out forms, verifying email addresses or choosing passwords, customers can simply use their Apple ID to authenticate and Apple will protect users’ privacy by providing developers with a unique random ID. Even in cases where developers choose to ask for a name and email address, users have the option to keep their email address private and share a unique random email address instead. Sign In with Apple makes it easy for users to authenticate with Face ID or Touch ID and has two-factor authentication built in for an added layer of security. Apple does not use Sign In with Apple to profile users or their activity in apps.

All-New Maps Experience

Apple Maps helps millions of people navigate and explore the world, all while protecting user privacy. After driving 4 million miles to rebuild the basemap from the ground up, Apple is delivering a new Maps experience with broader road coverage, better pedestrian data, more precise addresses and more detailed landcover. 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.

Powered by the new basemap and high-resolution 3D photography, a new Look Around feature delivers beautiful street-level imagery of a city with smooth and seamless transitions. iOS 13 brings additional new features to the Maps app, including Collections to easily share favourite restaurants, travel destinations or places to shop with friends, and Favourites 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 organise 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 customised 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 personalised 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, visualise 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 per cent, makes app updates over 60 percent smaller and results in apps launching up to twice as fast.

Availability

The developer preview of iOS 13 is available to Apple Developer Program members at developer.apple.com starting 3 June 2019, and a public beta program will be available to iOS users later this month at beta.apple.com. New software features will be available this fall as a free software update for iPhone 6s and later, and will be available with iPadOS for iPad Air 2 and later, all iPad Pro models, iPad 5th generation and later, and iPad mini 4 and later. iPadOS also introduces new capabilities and intuitive features that take advantage of the unique characteristics of iPad. For more information, visit apple.com/ios/ios-13-preview and apple.com/ipados/ipados-preview. Features are subject to change. Some features may not be available in all regions or all languages.

Please Read…

A few weeks ago we removed all traces of our dilly dally with advertising. The adverts were intrusive and spoilt your enjoyment of TheAppWhisperer.com, you told us. We were happy to do this but of course the revenue did help to support our not for profit site. Therefore, please consider offering a contribution or supporting us with a regular monthly donation of your choosing, so that we can continue to bring you this high quality level of specialist journalism, day in and day out. Please reward our passion, as we reward yours…we would not ask if it was not important.

[seamless-donations]

Joanne Carter, creator of the world’s most popular mobile photography and art website— TheAppWhisperer.com— TheAppWhisperer platform has been a pivotal cyberspace for mobile artists of all abilities to learn about, to explore, to celebrate and to share mobile artworks. Joanne’s compassion, inclusivity, and humility are hallmarks in all that she does, and is particularly evident in the platform she has built. In her words, “We all have the potential to remove ourselves from the centre of any circle and to expand a sphere of compassion outward; to include everyone interested in mobile art, ensuring every artist is within reach”, she has said. Promotion of mobile artists and the art form as a primary medium in today’s art world, has become her life’s focus. She has presented lectures bolstering mobile artists and their art from as far away as the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea to closer to her home in the UK at Focus on Imaging. Her experience as a jurist for mobile art competitions includes: Portugal, Canada, US, S Korea, UK and Italy. And her travels pioneering the breadth of mobile art includes key events in: Frankfurt, Naples, Amalfi Coast, Paris, Brazil, London. Pioneering the world’s first mobile art online gallery - TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com has extended her reach even further, shipping from London, UK to clients in the US, Europe and The Far East to a global group of collectors looking for exclusive art to hang in their homes and offices. The online gallery specialises in prints for discerning collectors of unique, previously unseen signed limited edition art. Her journey towards becoming The App Whisperer, includes (but is not limited to) working for a paparazzi photo agency for several years and as a deputy editor for a photo print magazine. Her own freelance photographic journalistic work is also widely acclaimed. She has been published extensively both within the UK and the US in national and international titles. These include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Popular Photography & Imaging, dpreview, NikonPro, Which? and more recently with the BBC as a Contributor, Columnist at Vogue Italia and Contributing Editor at LensCulture. Her professional photography has also been widely exhibited throughout Europe, including Italy, Portugal and the UK. She is currently writing several books, all related to mobile art and is always open to requests for new commissions for either writing or photography projects or a combination of both. Please contact her at: joanne@theappwhisperer.com