16 Jun

5 Things you’ll Love about your iPhone with iOS 10

Apple iOS 10 Update for iPhone iPadWhen our favorite techie devices get a major update, the excitement can be palpable. Such was the atmosphere on Monday at Apple‘s unveiling of the upcoming iOS 10 update for iPhone and iPad. We’ll take a closer look at the top 5 enhancements coming to your devices this fall, like simply raising up your phone to awaken it!

Lockscreen Features & Notifications

Traditionally, the lockscreen prevents us from access things without unlocking the phone. A simple swipe was all it took to do that, but not anymore. Now, if you want to unlock your iPhone, you’ll need to press the home button (or Touch ID fingerprint sensor, if equipped). However, swiping left or right has new functions.

A left swipe will bring up the camera, while a right swipe brings up a screen of mini-widgets to let you access notifications, like messages, sports scores and weather. Yes, you can actually send and receive messages without unlocking your iPhone! Genius…

Open-Source Making Siri Smarter

Apple has liberated Siri for open-source developers, which means third party apps will finally be able to work with Siri. Users will soon be able to control things like Spotify and WeChat via a Siri conversation. The iOS 10 update works on Siri-infused vehicles too, so you can do a lot more by voice command without taking your eyes off the road.

Additionally, Apple has brought Siri’s intelligence to the keypad. If someone texts asking where you are, Siri can chime in, suggesting you text back your current location. When someone asks for Greg’s phone number or email, Siri can search your contacts and instantly provide that information for you – should you choose to divulge it to the asker.

Camera gets Facial/Location Recognition

Smartphones have been able to use facial recognition for awhile now, but iOS 10 is taking it to the next level. The camera can now use facial and location recognition to scour your photo gallery and group images by people, locations and surroundings. Want to see all the pictures from your family’s annual trip to Disney? Not a problem…

Fun With Emojis & Text Bubbles

iOS-10-Emojify

Not everyone appreciates the childlike amusement of overloading a text with emojis, but for those who do, you’ll love this one! Come this fall, your iPhone will be able to instantly highlight all text that can be converted to an emoji. Click to ‘emojify‘, and you’re messages now looks like a Scooby Doo My First Reader!

Text messages now offer more features, like expanding text bubbles when you want to say something loud, or the new invisible ink option, requiring the receiver to swipe a finger over the incoming text or photo in order to unveil it. For a more personal touch, you can even use your finger to write your own text, delivered in your handwriting.

Delete Built-In Apps

Finally, my personal favorite, iOS 10 will give us the option to delete those unwanted built-in apps that take up unnecessary space on our iPhones and iPads. Hallelujah! And don’t worry, you can’t accidentally delete any required files to run iOS.