iOS 11 is officially available starting 19th September. I’m pretty sure most of you have already updated to iOS 11.
You would notice many design changes on iOS 11 such as notifications center, App store, control center. Here are some new features and tips on iOS 11.
1. Notification Center
In past few years, Apple has constantly changed the way notification center works with each version of iOS. In iOS 11 also there are plenty of changes in the notifications center.
You can access Notification center by swiping up from Lock Screen. You would notice that now on Swiping left to right the app would not open. Instead you will see an option saying Open tapping which would open the app. And swiping right to left gives options to view and clear the notification. View options works similar to 3D touch.
To access notifications when phone is not locked, swipe down from top of the screen. No idea why is Apple complicating notifications center over each iOS update.
2. Control Center
In iOS 11, you would notice that Control Center is totally redesigned. It not more has 2 screens like iOS 10 where you could swipe to get Music Player. Everything is now on one screen.
Biggest change in Control Center is customization. Yes, you read it correct. You can customize the shortcuts you see on Control Center. To customize go to Settings —> Control Center —> Customize. You can add or remove shortcuts for various built in features like flashlight, camera, DND, Wallet etc.
3. Messages App
In iOS 11, Messages app hasn’t got any big updates. The major change in Messages app is with the App Drawer which was introduced with iOS 10. The app drawer is more organized and can be customized now. The new app drawer is located at bottom on the messaging app.
To organize the app drawer scroll all the way to right end and tap on More icon. A popup would appear where you can edit the apps that appear on App Drawer. You can also chose favorites apps so that they always appear at start of the app drawer.
In addition to this, Apple Pay is also integrated with Messages app for Peer to Peer payment. (This feature is not yet released in iOS 11 in the current release).
4. Screen Recording
You can now record your screen and make videos. This feature is not useful for everyone on day to day. But I’m sure there would have instances where you needed this feature desperately. Well now you can record the screen and share with people.
To record, just swipe to open Control Center and tapScreen Recording. Screen recording will start with a delay of 3 seconds. This will allow you open the app which you want to record with. While the recording is happening you will see a red bar on top of your screen which will indicate the screen recording is in progress. To stop tap on Red indicator on top of screen or pull up control center and tap Screen Recording to stop it.
5. Screenshot Editor
In recent past use of Screenshots have increase exponentially. Every other person uses screenshots option. And sometimes it is frustrating to take a screenshot then open photos app and share. Apple has added a quick preview and edit options now. As soon as you take a screenshot now, you will see a small preview screen on left bottom side of device tapping which Markup Editor opens up. You can edit the image and share right from the Markup editor. Once shared you can chose to save/delete the image.
You can take multiple screenshots and edit them one by one.
6. Photos App
Photos app now supports GIFs. You can save GIFs and share them just like you share other photos. This was again a much needed feature.
Photos app also have got some updates for Live photos. Now you can change the live photos into effects like Loop, Bounce and Long Exposure. Just swipe up on the photo to apply these effects on your live photo.
7. QR Codes
Camera app now has capability to scan QR codes. Just open Camera app and place over a QR code. Camera app will scan it and show a banner at top to open the same in Safari browser.
8. Notes – Scan documents
Notes app has also got some upgrades. Now you can scan documents in Notes app and add them to the notes. It works similar to some other scanning apps like Office lens.
9. Do Not Disturb while Driving
Your phone can automatically detect that you are driving and can activate Do Not Disturb mode. You can also chose to activate DND mode manually or when a Car’s bluetooth is connected. Incoming calls will be allowed when DND is activated and phone is connected to a Car’s bluetooth or a hands-free device. Your phone can detect the motion based on which it will activate DND mode.
If you are passenger in the car, DND mode can be disabled by a tap on DND notification seen on screen and selection “I’m not driving” option.
10. Offload Unused Apps
Now you can automatically uninstall unused apps from your phone. Apple has added an option to offload unused apps from your phone. However the data and documents will not be deleted from phone. They will still remain on phone and when you re-install the app the data and documents will be placed back in.
To enable this goto Settings —> iTunes & App Stores and toggle Offload Unused Apps.
11. Auto Brightness
Auto brightness option is removed from Display Settings menu and moved under Accessibility settings. To turn on or off auto brightness goto Settings —> General —> Accessibility —> Display Accommodations and toggle Auto-Brightness.
12. Shut down & Restart
Now you can turn off your phone from without using the power button. Shut down option is added under General in Settings app. You can also restart your phone without using power buttons. You can do this by using the Restart option on AssistiveTouch button. To restart the phone using AssitiveTouch tap on AssistiveTouch button, from the menu that appears tap on Device, then tap on More and select Restart option.
Enabling AssistiveTouch: Goto Settings –> General –> Accessibility –> AssistiveTouch and toggle On AssistiveTouch. You can also customize Top level menu shortcuts of AssistiveTouch. You can have upto 8 buttons on Top level menu.
13. Type One Handed
Keyboard can be made small to type with one hand. To enable this type to emoji key on the keyboard and select the small sided keyboard for left or right hand.
14. Files App
After 10 years, Apple has finally added a File management app on iOS. Files app can be used to manage and share files. Files app can be integrated with various cloud services like Google Drive, Dropbox etc. Files app allows you to create folders and add tags to files. Also it allows you to share files with other user of iCloud. Files app is also integrated with third party apps so when you click a file, it will open the file in the app compatible. (Will be writing another post on detailed options on Files app shortly)
List of devices compatible with iOS 11
iPhone
- iPhone X
- iPhone 8
- iPhone 8 Plus
- iPhone 7
- iPhone 7 Plus
- iPhone 6s
- iPhone 6s Plus
- iPhone 6
- iPhone 6 Plus
- iPhone SE
- iPhone 5s
iPad
- 12.9-inch iPad Pro
- 2nd generation
- 12.9-inch iPad Pro
- 1st generation
- 10.5-inch iPad Pro
- 9.7-inch iPad Pro
- iPad Air 2
- iPad Air
- iPad
- 5th generation
- iPad mini 4
- iPad mini 3
- iPad mini 2
iPod
- iPod touch
- 6th generation
vichupedia 