Apple has announced iOS 13 onstage at WWDC 2019, giving a first look at the company’s latest software for the iPhone. Apple claims that iOS 13 is the “next big release for iOS,” and will offer a variety of improvements to the operating system.
Chief among those is the long-awaited dark mode, improvements to performance, and more changes.
Dark mode
Probably the single most anticipated change, and the biggest visual update Apple’s made to iOS since it introduced the current software design in iOS 7, iOS 13 is finally offering a true, system-wide dark mode.
All of Apple’s first-party apps are supported, and even notifications and the dock get new dark hues to go with it.
Improved performance
As with last year’s iOS 12 update, Apple is putting a big emphasis this year on improvements to performance, especially for older devices. Hopefully, the company has learned from its past issues where new versions of iOS resulted in slowed-down phones, although we’ll have to wait until iOS 13 makes its way into the world before we can know for sure if Apple’s succeeded a second time.
Apple promises things like Face ID will unlock 30 percent faster, and that apps will launch twice as fast in iOS 13.
New swiping keyboard
While Apple has offered support for third-party keyboards on iOS for years, it’s updating its own default keyboard with a new feature: a swiping function that should be familiar to anyone who’s used SwiftKey, Swype, or Gboard over the years, which Apple’s calling the “Quick Path” keyboard. It’s not a huge upgrade, but it’s nice to see Apple finally getting with the times.
Apple Maps
Apple is completely redoing Apple Maps with iOS 13. The company says that it’s rebuilt the app from the ground up, with more comprehensive map data and a new mode that’s… basically just Google Street View.
Reminders
Long overdue for an update, Apple is redoing the Reminders app entirely in iOS 13, adding new “Today,” “Scheduled,” “Flagged,” and “All” filtering options for sorting your tasks, along with a whole new visual look. Apple’s also pushing big AI integration here — you can type and Reminders will automatically suggest when you’d like to be reminded, and you’ll be able to tag contacts and be reminded when you open up their thread in Messages.
Also gone is the weird, paper-like texture that had been a mainstay of the old skeuomorphic iOS design since the original version of iOS.
Privacy
As is expected for Apple, privacy is a big part of the announcement here: now, you can choose to give your location data to an app “just once,” preventing it from constantly being able to ping your location when you’re using it.
Apple is also launching a new “Sign in with Apple” feature, which it’ll be making available to developers for logging into apps and services. Users will be able to log into Face ID and create a new account for a service “without revealing any personal information.”
Apple accounts will also be able to automatically create new, private email addresses on a per-app basis that forward to your real email, preventing apps from getting access to your email or spamming you.
Updates to Apple Mail, Notes, and Safari
Apple’s also tweaking a few of its core applications on iOS 13. Apple Mail is set to get new desktop formatting. Safari is getting per-website preferences, and Notes is getting a new gallery view for looking at all your notes at once.
iMessage profile pictures
iOS is getting WhatsApp- and Facebook Messenger-style profile pictures and display names that let users share their name and photos with other users for Messages — in other words, Apple will make your phone look like its product demos where all the contacts have proper names and pictures.
And of course, you’ll be able to use your Memoji as a profile picture, too. To that end, Apple is also adding tons more options for customizing Memoji, as well as adding the ability to use your Memoji as iMessage stickers, similar to the way that Bitmoji does. Those sticker packs will also be usable as custom emoji in apps like Mail and even third-party apps like WeChat.
Apple hasn’t announced when iOS 13 will be out yet, but presumably it’ll release sometime this fall.
