iOS 13 Hands-On: Scratching the surface of a massive update

Apple spent a considerable portion of its WWDC 2019 keno talking about iOS 13 and I would rightly say that this is probably one of the most feature-rich iOS

update

s we've received in quite some time and if you're watching this video on The Day It Came Out The software is finally available for you to use as a public beta. Now, if you're a classic and Gazza reader, you probably stopped listening to me and started downloading the beta. Well, have fun if you're Still here I wanted to take a few moments to go over my experience with this beta, what I liked, what's not really ready, and what needs to happen before the release of iOS 13 later this year.

Let's take a closer look before continuing. Also, the usual disclaimer applies, this is definitely non-final software, so if you install it on your daily driver device, that's up to you. I wouldn't recommend it. I haven't had any really significant problems so far, but I can't. be responsible for what could happen to you, so be a little cautious. I also want to mention a few things right off the bat that you really can't do with this version of iOS 13 and that's not because the software itself isn't ready, it's because some of the fundamental things that need to be implemented aren't available yet, so Signing in with Apple ID, for example, is probably one of the features of iOS 13 and basically all of Apple's new software

update

s that I like the most.

I'm excited because I don't want anyone to have my personal email address, although I'm sure I already accidentally showed it in several of these videos that said none of the apps on the App Store right now support it, so we can . I don't actually try, the same goes for fonts; You can't change your system font to something totally random, but you can do it on an app-by-app basis, but those fonts must be contained in an app that's not already in the App Store. Now, with all that said, what's really happening in iOS 13, well, to launch dark mode, is here and it actually looks pretty good.

I especially like the kind of dark mode wallpaper that comes by default, it's really pretty, it reminds me. Of the two colors, if that's something you're familiar with, you probably won't notice a big difference just by looking at the home screen, the sort of blurry base at the bottom is a little darker and that's really your only clue until it starts sliding in and launching new apps music photos basically all of Apple's original software has adapted to dark mode and is basically getting it across the board. It's also interesting to see that it's not just pure black everywhere Apple uses subtle shades of gray when you have different layers stacked on top of each other on the screens, which gives these things a sense of verticality and physicality that you might not notice. in other versions of dark mode on other devices, it's a really minor touch, but I think one that makes this dark mode feel less flat than others you might be used to, in addition to looking nice, you can schedule dark mode to activate after a certain time of day and if you go into control center, you can actually quickly toggle dark mode from the brightness controls, so yes, iOS 13 definitely looks a little different than the iOS versions that you would use in the past, but I think the most important thing is the subtle changes that Apple II made to how iOS works and how you interact. with it, I think the keyboard is a great example that they finally enabled a keyboard with swipe to type which I think is called fast path.

It's not a great name, but it's something we'll revisit later because Apple has a habit of using it. They're not great names, but it does exactly what it says, works surprisingly well, and beyond that, some additional changes to the way it handles text make using iOS much easier than it's been in recent years. , so if you just want to place your cursor somewhere and edit some text, you just tap the screen if you want to select things, tap and swipe if you want to undo what you just did, if you've made a mistake, three-finger swipe up. left undoes the previous action and that's because it forms a system-wide gesture, so you'll use it more than when you're just typing things and messing up our other little flourishes worth noting in the volume HUD is now only found on the side of the screen instead of sitting right in the middle and the same for toggling silent mode once you activated a little pill that slides down from the top of the screen to show you what's happening but nothing More annoying than the biggest change so far, at least for me, has been voice control and this is a feature that certainly not many of you are likely to use on a regular basis;

It is primarily intended for people whose disabilities prevent them from physically interacting with a smartphone in the way you and I are normally accustomed to. really granular and fine-tuned control over everything that appears on the screen of your iOS device and that's a huge 11:6 display grid because I've been able to ask it to open Twitter and show me a grid so I can really zoom in on certain parts. of the screen I have been able to ask for numbers to be able to interact directly with the elements on the screen without having to say it specifically.

There is a lot of power here and I think it could really redefine how people with disabilities use devices. like iPhones, but also iPads and Macs, beyond all this type of fundamental interaction with iOS, Apple has also thoroughly updated many of the standard applications that come in iOS 13, so Maps, for example, benefits from a Dramatic redesign. I'm told that Apple basically redesigned their basemap from scratch, so the quality of the map itself is significantly better than what you might be used to because, let's be fair, Apple's apps were pretty bad there for a while, if I'm honest, beyond that, we're also considering adding some new features that make it nicer when you really want to start browsing directly to a new favorite, for example it gives you quick access to places you've saved, like your home or office , which is a useful thing, you can also do it now. create collections and this for me is probably one of the biggest additions here because I'm that person who very often gets asked for a list of things to do in New York and instead of finding the text document that I saved on a service in cloud somewhere Now I can also send someone my Maps collection, which is surprisingly useful or at least will be once other people use iOS 13.

Photos have also received a pretty big redesign and, honestly, it's something beautiful. I never thought I'd say that. about photos that in the past have always been this kind of fully functional utilitarian layout and had some interesting machine learning flourishes that would appear in different albums and photo collections at specific times, but beyond that, it was pretty cool a lot of that machine learning. the sophistication carries over here because you get collections curated for events and with specific people in them, which is always nice, but overall it just looks better. The best example is when you just look at your default photos and flip through your days because you get this beautiful edge-to-edge photo grid that shows you what's happened in your life recently, which is actually pretty nice to see.

I've also been trying to stay on top of my life and my life is working a little better, so something like the new reminders app should help in theory. Now I will say that I have something to do with a person only because it is cross-platform and works better than the previous reminders, which actually did not work. do a lot in the first place, but the ability to now tag people has suggestions for people that appear in messages so you can remind someone that this is something that needs to be done to schedule tasks in the reminders app, even if you've never used it .

It's worth paying attention to now. I'm not sure it will break any loyalty you have to whatever productivity or reminder software you currently use, but don't think about it, it's actually really good, and there's improved health too. significant updates plus a small redesign powered by machine learning so you can get the health data that belongs to you or that the phone thinks belongs to you most on top, it now also tracks new types of data like menstrual cycle information and your hearing health, which is huge because my hearing is terrible, but now I can see what decibel level I tend to have my hearing aids at and how often I tend to listen to music that loud and even also get and okay or a very loud warning depending on As defined by the World Health Organization guidelines, it is surprisingly useful.

I don't see it really changing things for people who weren't already somewhat committed to their hearing health, but this is something that's very easy to stick with. Plus, it could save you a lot of headaches in the long run, so definitely keep your eyes peeled because in the health section, beyond all of this, there are a lot of really cool little flourishes that Apple built into iOS 13 that make it more pleasant use everything, you can now save files locally on the iPhone and iPad, which is arguably more important, but we'll get to that in a different video, this is a big deal, it's something we hadn't seen on iOS before really work.

A long way to make iOS feel like a more complete computing platform. I can now download attachments from my email and save them to a folder I created inside another folder I created. These are mundane and varied computing tasks, but they really help make the iPhone feel more capable, even if it's not something many people are required to use regularly. Also new in iOS 13 is the ability to mute unknown callers, which basically does exactly what the name implies if you're the kind of person you like. I, who am plagued by unwanted phone calls, this should help me quite dramatically.

My only regret is that I found out about this feature a little late, so I haven't been able to test it too much when you're watching this video it says. If it does anything along those lines and it has any impact on the number of people calling me illegitimately, I can't endorse this company enough, and if you're like me and you have to rely a lot on your mobile hotspot because you're like me. running around, you'll be pleased to know that the hotspot is non-persistent, so it doesn't turn off when your phone goes off, so when you're sitting in a taxi trying to write a story, something I've done more times than I'd like to admit in my life, you didn't get carried away, thank you, we've been through a lot already and, frankly, there's a lot going on here.

This video could easily be an hour long, but I probably don't think it's right for any of us right now, since the public beta is so new that there are some things we haven't really understood about Siri and its new shortcuts integrations. eg carplay, because I don't have a more pronounced push from Apple is what I meant actually, these are all things that will feel better in the future and maybe we'll prepare another video if that's something you really want to see, but suffice it to say that there is a lot going on here, in fact it seems like we're just

scratching

the

surface

.

There are a lot of things I like so far. I think there are still opportunities for Apple to iron out some of these rough edges, but in the meantime stay with us. We'll continue to dive deeper into iOS 13 in videos and active communications, so thanks for watching.