iOS 10: Here’s what’s new for iPhone users

Before Apple reveals the next iPhone, the Cupertino giant has announced its latest software update with iOS 10. According to Apple, this is the biggest update yet and we are running down the top 10 new changes that are coming to your iPhone.

New lock screen and notifications

If you’re using the latest iPhone 6s/6s Plus, you probably can’t catch your notifications as TouchID is just too quick for the job. To solve that problem, iOS 10 has a “Raise to wake” function where it will show your current notifications on the lock screen by lifting your iPhone. The new lock screen gets a redesigned interface for notifications and it can do more with 3D Touch.

This allows you to respond to messages or calendar invites from the home screen or even view your current Uber ride status without unlocking your iPhone. The same feature is also extended to the notifications panel when you swipe from the top.

Taking photos is even faster with its revamped interface. Now you can swipe from the right on the lock screen to bring up the camera app. This is much easier than swiping the camera icon upwards. Swiping from the left, on the other hand, brings up your current widgets.

Do more with Siri

Apple is opening up Siri to developers and with that, it can do more than just the usual Q&A. With app integration, you can send a full message on WeChat or even order an Uber car via Siri. The same goes for Photos, payments and this also extends to CarPlay for a better hands-free experience.

Smarter Keyboard Suggestions

The keyboard now gets intelligent text suggestions based on the context of your conversation. For example, if your friend asks “where are you”, it will suggest sending your current location if permitted. Another neat example is if someone is asking for a person’s contact, it is smart enough to find the details and you can send that across with a single tap.

A rather intelligent (or creepy) feature is that it is able to detect a potential event from your text conversation. With machine learning, it knows how to pick up details including venue, time and purpose. So when you’re creating a calendar appointment, it will predict your schedule input based on details from your conversation.

Better Photos

We all take tons of pictures and the new iOS 10 has revamped photos for better organisation. With built-in Face recognition, it is easier to find pictures of friends and family that matters to you. This is pretty much what Google had offered with Photos.

After capturing moments from a trip, you can create short highlight videos instantly. iOS 10 lets you create a short video based on an event and you can customise this further with a little editing.

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A more helpful Apple Maps

Catching up with the likes of Waze and Google Maps, the new Apple Maps aims to be more proactive than before. When starting a trip, it will suggest destinations based on your past history or your upcoming schedule.

While navigating, you can find out the traffic conditions ahead of you or find relevant points of interest including restaurants or attractions. If you’re low on fuel, you can search for petrol stations that are along your route.

Apple is also opening maps to developers for better integration. With map extensions, you can book a restaurant table or an Uber car without leaving the maps application.

Revamped Music Interface

The music app gets a new makeover with a clean look that’s centred around you. There’s a discover mix that matches songs that you’re more likely to listen to based on your playback history. If you love Karaoke, Apple Music now has built-in lyrics so you can sing along to your favourite tracks.

Redesigned Apple News

This is probably Apple’s answer to Flipboard or Samsung’s Briefing app. The new Apple News gets a refreshed interface like Apple Music and there’s a customised For You tab that displays news that are of interest to you. If there’s a breaking news, you’ll be alerted from the notifications panel.

Dedicated app for smart homes

With the growth of smart homes and connected appliances, Apple is introducing a dedicated Home app. This is a one stop smarthome app similar to Xiaomi’s Mi Home which lets you control from your lights and various internet connected devices.

With a connected CCTV and smartlock system, the Home App lets you see who’s at the door and you can communicate remotely via intercom. If a friend is dropping off a package, you can unlock the door remotely from your iPhone. With geo-fencing, you can set Home to switch on the lights and Aircon right before you reach the front door.

Extra features for Phone Calls

On iOS 10, Apple lets you read your voicemail through automated transcription. Now you can know what your missed call is all about without having to listen to the playback.

Get a call from an unknown number? With integration with 3rd party apps like Tencent, the phone app will let you know who’s calling and whether or not it’s from a known spammer.

Fancy Messaging

For moments where text is not enough, Apple is revamping its iMessage app to be more expressive than before. Similar to Google’s Allo app that was introduced at Google IO 2016, you can do fancy stuff with photos, images and even enlarge emojis up to 3X.

Words too mainstream? Emojifying your message is just a couple of taps away. To let your messages stand out, you can use different bubble effects including an invisible ink feature which requires the receiver to swipe to reveal. There are a couple of Apple Watch gimmicks thrown in such as Digital Touch and sending a heart beat.

iOS 10 Support

iOS 10 will be available as a developer preview starting today and it will be open for public beta in July. The official release is slated for Fall which is sometime in September. It will be rolling out on iPhone 5 and above as well as iPad 4th gen and iPad mini 2 and above.

You can watch most of these new iOS 10 features in action below: