Each day, we are getting closer and closer to Apple’s World Wide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) 2019 on June 3rd where Apple is to announce new software. In this Article, I’m going to focus on iOS 13 and its new features. iOS 13 is rumored to have a Full Redesign. iOS 12, as one would recollect, was intended to have a full redesign but unfortunately, it was not possible for Apple to do that, cause iOS 11 bought in many bugs and glitches. With iOS 11 , both older as well as some of the newer devices , slowed down and had the worst battery life leaving the older devices like the iPhone 5s , iPhone 6 , iPhone 6 Plus , iPad Mini 2nd generation and 3rd generation , iPad Air 1st generation and the iPod Touch 6th generation to suffer the most . To fix up all these issues Apple delayed the redesigning to iOS 13 and concentrated on doubling down on performance in iOS 12 which made older devices faster.
Thus, the iPhone 5s and all the other A7 chip devices got their 6th year of support.
The transition between iOS 12 to iOS 13 might be like iOS 6 to iOS 7. iOS 13 may also offer 40% better performance to a few devices.
So Let’s move on to the rumored features coming to iOS 13
- Dark Mode : The Most Wanted and the Awaited feature of iOS is Dark Mode. MacOS Already has it (high contrast) and even a few Android competitors have it. Jailbreak Tweaks have it for years now. At present, iOS 12, has a kind of Dark Mode, known as smart invert in accessibility settings. Again this is also not perfect, as it is not a real, True Dark Mode. iOS 13 is going to bring in a System– Wide Dark Mode which is going to apply in all apps after App developers start supporting Dark mode in their apps. If it is going to be A True Black Dark Mode, & not a high contrast version like macOS , it is specially going to help those iPhone users who have an iPhone X, iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max because they have OLED Displays which can turn off individual pixels to give a true black colour which will preserve battery life and also the OLED Display. There may be a toggle in control centre to enable/ disable this feature. This feature is somewhat confirmed with the new updated WWDC App. If we search the term “dark” , or if we see June 4th 2019,Tuesday’s sessions list , this is what appears:
Most probably, this will be a session to guide App developers on how to implement Dark Mode in their Apps.
2. The Interface of the INTRUSIVE Volume HUD : The volume HUD is supposedly going to be less / non intrusive in iOS 13 , it may come to the side where the volume buttons are . Something Similar to the Android Pie software.
3. The Non-Intrusive Call interface: When you receive a call on any iOS device , the whole screen is filled up , and there is no escape from it except for declining the call. But if you just want to ignore the call, you can’t because of iOS restrictions. It may slide down just like a notification and you can also use the device or even swipe up to ignore it and let it ring in the background.
4. Less Intrusive Siri interface and a smarter Siri: Siri will not take up the entire screen anymore, but just one portion. Siri may also get smarter with voice detection. Example: If you have a HomePod, there are many people living in your house, HomePod will now give personalized answers depending on who is interacting with Siri. Siri may get Multi-Command Support, minor improvements to contextual understandings and major improvements to general understanding.
5. Undo Gesture : The Undo gesture is now “ Shake to Undo” but with iOS 13 , it may change, 9to5Mac says
“The gesture starts, the site predicts, as a three-finger tap on the keyboard area; once you’ve instigated this, “sliding left and right allows the user to undo and redo actions interactively”.
6. Mouse Support on iPad : It’s rumored that the mouse support for iPad will be coming with iOS 13 as an accessibility feature in settings. This will unlock the true potentials of an iPad. It is already powerful, but the current software is not taking full advantage of it. This will be one step ahead towards a more powerful use of an iPad. No other tablet is even close to the iPad. The mouse can be either connected by Bluetooth or by the USB-C port on the iPad.
7. Redesigned lock screen and home screen: There is going to be a full refresh and redesigned interface for iOS . It’s just going to be like a transition from iOS 6 to iOS 7.
8. Faster Performance : There is going to be a boost in performance by upto 40% in a few devices . Probably the newer ones because they are much more powerful than the previous generations.
9. Always-On Display for OLED iPhones : Apple may surprise us with an Always-On Display for OLED iPhones like the iPhone X, iPhone Xs and the iPhone Xs Max and of course the upcoming 2019 OLED iPhones. Since OLED displays can turn off individual pixels and show true and deeper blacks, Always on display won’t drain the battery of the iPhone . It may display time, notifications, etc . Complications on the Always on Display would be just as cool like the Apple Watch.
10. Multi ”“User Support for iPad : With iOS 13, Apple may give us multi-user support for the iPad. It is beneficial for business organizations and educational institutes where multiple users can unlock the iPad with their identity- which is Face ID or Touch ID.
10. Downloads Manager in Files App : iOS 13 is rumoured to bring a downloads section to the Files App especially for the iPad. This feature will make iPad even more powerful.
12. Cross Platform – iOS and MacOS Apps : iPhone and iPad Apps will now run on MacOS . The Apps developed for the iPhone will now also support MacOS thus making it much more easier for developers to code.
13. Hearing Health : iOS 13 will bring in a Hearing Health feature, enabled by Airpods or Earpods, which will notify you to reduce the volume to stop harming your ears. iPhone may also notify you if you are in a too loud an environment .This Hearing Health Feature is confirmed in the new and updated WWDC App . It shows :
14. Combination and Redesign of Find my iPhone and Find my Friends App with the name of it as “Find”: Apple is working on combining both these apps into one named “Find” . Apple may also introduce a Tile-Like instrument which you can put on anywhere and trace it.
“The app will include a new “find network” feature for allowing Apple devices to be tracked even when not connected to Wi-Fi or a cellular network by leveraging other nearby devices.” ”“ Says MacRumors
15. The new Reminders App: Reminders will be redesigned to work more efficiently.
16. Messages : You will now be able to create an iMessage profile similar to Whatsapp. You can put in your profile picture and profile name .
17. Home: The Home App will get support for more third party devices like the security cameras. You will now be able to access previous recordings within the Home App itself without using any other app.
18. Keyboard : The iOS Keyboard may be getting a swipe feature when you can swipe on letters to enter a word. This feature is already available on Swiftkey and Gboard and users will be happy if the default iOS Keyboard could bring in this feature.
19. Share ”“ Sheet : The share sheet will get suggestions on who you share things with frequently and will let you instantly send it with a tap. This feature has been there on Android for a while. This feature may also work with third party apps like WhatsApp , Facebook, etc.
20. Live Photos : The current length of a live photo is three seconds. In iOS 13, Apple may make it to six seconds and also give you options to choose whether you want a three-seconds live photo or a six-seconds live photo.
21. Screen Time and Parental Control : With Screen Time in iOS 13 , parents can limit who their child can or cannot contact at specific times.
22. New Emojis : iOS 13 may bring in New emojis. Few of them include flamingo, otter, waffle, sloth, white heart, people holding hands, ice cube, snorkel, orangutan, juice box, falafel, and more.
23. Ability to change video resolution in the Camera App: To change to Video resolution , we need to go to Settings > Camera > Resolution. In iOS 13 , Apple will supposedly add a shortcut to change the resolution in the camera app itself.
24. Split Screen : Apple should bring split screen for at least the Plus and Max size devices, it is so helpful. Running two apps together gives you real power. The Android Competitors has it for Years.
25. Accessibility Settings are now going to be more accessible: Right now with iOS 12, for accessibility Settings , we need to go to Settings >General >Accessibility. With iOS 13, it may change. It will be there as a main section in the settings app.
SUPPORT LIST
The devices that should and will support iOS 13 are
- iPhone 6s
- iPhone 6s Plus
- iPhone 7
- iPhone 7 Plus
- iPhone 8
- iPhone 8 Plus
- iPhone X
- iPhone Xs
- iPhone Xs Max
- iPhone Xr
- 2019 iPhones
- And All the iPads running the A9 chip and later
The devices that won’t be getting iOS 13 for sure :
- iPhone 5s
- A7 chip iPads
The devices that are rumored not to get iOS 13 but should and have a 50/50 chance of supporting it are :
- iPhone 6
- iPhone 6 Plus
- iPod Touch 6th Generation
- A8 chip iPads
I personally feel that iPhone 6 and 6 Plus would be supported because till now, with every S upgrade , Apple extended one year of extra support for S-upgrade devices which was then followed by the Whole lineup .
- iPhone 2G ( 1st Generation ) ”“ 3 years of support ”“ iPhone OS 1 to iPhoneOS 3
- iPhone 3G ”“ 3 years of support ”“ iPhoneOS 2 ”“ iOS 4
- iPhone 3GS ”“ 4 years of support ”“ iPhoneOS 3 ”“ iOS 6
- iPhone 4 ”“ 4 years of support ”“ iOS 4 ”“ iOS 7
- iPhone 4s ”“ 5 years of support ”“ iOS 5- iOS 9
- iPhone 5 ”“ 5 years of support ”“ iOS 6 ”“ iOS 10
- iPhone 5s ”“ 6 years of support ”“ iOS 7 ”“ iOS 12
- iPhone 6 ”“ 5/6 years of support ”“ iOS 8 ”“ iOS 12/iOS 13
As you see , with every S upgrade, the support increases for one version and for one year and it’s not only just for the S devices but it is followed in the lineup. By seeing this, iPhone 6 should support iOS 13 but it may not have enough power to run it. It is the last device to have 1 GB of RAM .
If we see in that perspective , even the iPhone 4s was the last device to have half a gigabyte of RAM in iOS 9. This leads us to think that there is a 50/50 chance of the iPhone 6 and the other A8 devices getting iOS 13. So let’s together welcome iOS 13, hopefully with all these new rumored features.
Appleosophy will be doing live coverage for Apple’s WWDC 2019 Keynote that will take place on June 3 at 10:00 AM PT.
