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iOS 15 is Here – Here is What You Should Know

Posted on September 24, 2021October 9, 2024 by galaxy-admin

From September 20th onwards, iPhone users has been able to update to iOS 15. Apple first unveiled iOS 15 in June 2021 at its Worldwide Developers Conference. Since June, the iOS community is elated about the new features offered in the latest iOS 15. Now is the time for iOS 15 to get into the limelight.

In this article, Galaxy Weblinks shows you what the new OS is capable of, how to use it, and everything related.

A Rundown on Apple iOS 15

The new Focus mode is the biggest change coming with iOS 15. It accompanies the “Do Not Disturb” feature and does not replace it. Users can configure various modes. Like choosing apps and people to get notifications from. They can change focus depending on what they are doing or where they are. For instance, creating a work mode, a sleep mode, a workout mode, and so on.

The new weather app, updated maps, an improved version of FaceTime, and more. These are some of the many new features launched. Safari also gets a brand-new appearance. Responding to the feedback, Apple has improved its new take on Safari.

With the Live Text feature of iOS 15, users can scan photos for text. And, highlight, copy and paste text in photos. This can also turn into a great accessibility feature as well. These features are handled on-device directly.

iOS 15 is available as a free download for iPhone 6s and the following models. All models of iPhone SE and the most recent iPod touch model can also upgrade to iOS 15.

New iOS 15 Features At A Glance

Redesigned notifications experience.
With ‘Focus’ reduce distractions.
Spatial Audio and SharePlay in FaceTime calls.
Live Text using on-device intelligence.
Redesigned Safari (new browsing experience).
Advanced privacy features.
ID cards in the Wallet app.
Restyled Weather and Notes app.

Opinion!

Apple’s ecosystem continues to excel and impress

The new iPhone 13 and the new operating system i.e. iOS 15 bridge the gaps with Android. It also continues to pull ahead of the competition. Visually, there are no drastic changes. Apple has integrated major innovations in a manner that one can’t even notice at first glance. At instances, users will think it’s always been like this. It’s good news as users will find it easy to jump from iOS 14 to iOS 15.

Innovations in FaceTime and iMessage seem to bridge the gap with its competitors. Google Meet, WhatsApp, or Telegram. In this regard, Apple certainly has some serious catching up to do. It is nice to see the necessary efforts coming from the giant tech company. Live Text, Notes, etc. features can become indispensable tools daily. Extracting text from images feature can be used regularly. AI processing happens on the smartphone itself. Information isn’t sent to Apple’s servers. It is a real plus point not only for data security and privacy but also about performance.

Functions like Private Relay will put a stop to the data collection frenzy on the Web. It is about time other companies follow this suit and stay clear of collecting personal data.

Offering iOS 15 to all iPhones from the iPhone 6s onward shows how much Apple cares about sustainability. That said, older models lack the requisite hardware to take advantage of all the new features.

Apple will gain even more ground on its competition with iOS 15 in conjunction with macOS and iPadOS.

Apple carefully orchestrates integration between operating systems and devices. It offers simplicity that is hard to find in other OS or platforms. Apple’s consistency in implementing privacy is a lesson for other companies.

How To Install iOS 15?

Updating your iPhone with the latest OS is pretty straightforward. Go to the Settings App. Click on General > Software Update. Then follow the instructions present on the screen.

Conclusion

iOS is the most advanced mobile operating system globally. iOS 15 is the latest update that allows building apps that connect people in new ways. Developing feature-rich iOS 15 powered mobile apps requires expertise and experience. Galaxy Weblinks is the best mobile app development company with expert iOS developers. We can build your mobile app as per your requirements.

About Galaxy Weblinks

We specialize in delivering end-to-end app design & development services and have hands-on experience with mobile app and site design in agile development environments. Our designers, engineers, and developers help improve security, reliability and features to make sure your business application and IT structure scale and remain secure.

Top iOS 14 features you MUST know!

Posted on September 4, 2020October 10, 2024 by galaxy-admin

Apple unveiled the latest version of its iOS operating system, iOS 14, at the WWDC keynote in June 2020.

iOS 14 is one of Apple’s biggest iOS updates to date, introducing Home screen design and widget changes, picture-in-picture, Siri improvements, updates for existing apps, and many other tweaks that streamline the iOS interface.

Apple has seeded a total of seven betas yet of upcoming iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 updates to developers for testing purposes.

Let’s look into some major UI updates and features that stole the spotlight.

Widgets

‌iOS 14‌ introduced a redesigned Home Screen that supports widgets on iPhone for the first time, breaking up that stagnant tiled-grid-of-apps look. ‌Widgets‌ have been redesigned and can now be customized in three sizes through the new ‌widgets‌ gallery.

Widgets provide more data than ever to provide more functionality, and Apple redesigned its widgets for default apps like Weather, Stocks, and Calendar. There are also new widgets for Apple News and Screen Time.

Widget Gallery will comprise all of your widget options — by long pressing on the display, choosing “Edit Home Screen” and then tapping the “+” button.

These suggestions are based on what users are installing the most, and third-party app developers can create new widget experiences for their apps.

Widget Smart Stacks

You can stack up to 10 widgets on top of one another to better utilize space and can swap between them with a swipe, both in the Home Screen and Today view.

There’s a separate Smart Stack feature that’s different from widget stacking. A Smart Stack is a widget stack, created in the Widget Gallery view, that automatically surfaces the best widget option based on activity, location, and time – making sure you’re looking at what’s most relevant.

You can, of course, swipe through the Smart Stack yourself.

App Library

App Library is a great new feature that shows all of the apps you have installed in an organized, simple-to-navigate view that’s similar to the app list view on the Apple Watch. That is categorized into Health and Fitness, Social, Reference and Reading, Productivity, Utilities, Education, Games, Creativity, and Lifestyle.

Compact UI

In the previous version, there are plenty of apps and actions that just unnecessarily take up the entire screen. Now they are all fixed.

Incoming phone calls no longer take up the entire screen in iOS 14 and instead show up as a small banner at the top of the display that you can easily hide, ignore, accept or reject based on your preference.

This also applies to Siri, FaceTime calls, and third-party VoIP calls.

While doing a FaceTime, you will experience a Picture-in-Picture UI that you can easily swipe up, go home, and do other things without pausing the video.

Picture-in-picture has been widely supported throughout the entire OS. So, if you are watching any video in Safari or a movie on Apple TV or an app, you can shrink the video in a picture-in-picture window while getting other things done in the background.

Siri Search Updates

Like before, Siri does not take up the whole screen in iOS 14 now. You can call Siri long-press the power button and can see a small animation at the bottom of the screen. It pop-ups an answer at the top of the screen. (But it doesn’t let you interact with anything underneath directly without exiting Siri- if you want to).

Unique iOS 14 Accessibility Features

These upgrades may look minor for iOS 14, but they will be immensely helpful for visually and hearing-impaired users.

Within the new update, you’ll be able to set up your iPhone to listen out for specific noises such as a siren or fire alarm or even a cat. If the phone hears the noise, it’ll notify the user.

According to Apple, it won’t be sending any of your data onto the internet to allow for this feature as this is all done using on-device technology.

Another unique feature in accessibility settings is that you can now map double-tap or triple tap on the back of the phone to a shortcut like Siri, mute, volume down/up, lockscreen, and others.

There are so many other minor changes that have been made in each beta version. ‌iOS 14‌ and ‌iPadOS 14‌ are available to registered developers and public beta testers at this time. Stay tuned to find out which features we are finally going to see in the iOS 14 final release this month.

iOS 13 design | What’s changed and what remains?

Posted on September 19, 2019October 11, 2024 by galaxy-admin

Ever wondered why Apple allows only selected employees in its Industrial Design Studio?

Surprisingly, it’s a part of their design concept and not a security concern.

Apple isolates their industrial design team to allow them to indulge in deep work. It lets them make cutting edge design decisions without having to worry about the practical and limiting aspects of its implementation.

Such creative isolation is one of the reasons behind Apple’s incredible products. Products that are amazing to look at and are effortless to interact with.

Apple then unveils these ingenious products in their annual events. This year’s launch events also followed through with new iPhone 11 series donning a double and a triple camera setup, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, a dedicated OS for iPad, multi-core ultra-spec Macs for professionals, and UI upgrades for the new generation of Apple devices.

But it was the design announcements that caught our ‘viewport’.

iOS 13 has been in the developer’s beta since the announcement at WWDC 2019. Here are a few notable UI/UX designs from the beta that made it to the end users.

New Default Modal Presentation style

Screenshot of iOS UI — Image source: Applypixels.com

It’s been almost two years since iOS interface ditched capacitive buttons for swipes and gestures. The new ecosystem relies on card style modal sheets which lets the user dismiss or present recent screens with swipes only. Modal presentation style is now default due to which view controllers appear as a form sheet overlaid one over another and not in full screens.

This card-like appearance allows users to dismiss screens interactively with a downward swipe. And the layered design provides users a sense of context about where they are in the application.

Modals are really convenient but they’re not fit for the apps that has scrolling, pinching, or swiping as their fundamental interaction. Photo editing and reading apps for example.

Revised System-Wide Gestures

Selection gestures in custom text views:

Thanks to the new text editing gestures! There will be no need to shake the entire device to undo a text (only if someone even bothered to do that).

One can simply tap to select, pinch in and pinch out to copy-paste with three-fingers.
One can also undo-redo by swiping left and right with three fingers.

In addition to that, it will allow users to quickly manage their text editing on either of the devices i.e. iPhone or iPad, without using formatting shortcut bars.

Multiple selection gestures in tables and collection:

Apple has introduced a new way of quickly selecting contiguous batch of items in table and collection views. By simply dragging two fingers on a list or collection of items to draw a selection.

It’s important for easy and seamless user experience to add gestures when left with very little space on screen. It will immensely help designers overcome space-based challenges.

However in hindsight, so many gestures may leave users overwhelmed before they get used to it.

Dear Apple, it’d be great if you did something about…

Incoming Phone Call UI
It’s something that iPhone users want Apple to learn from Android. Why a full-screen app jump? It covers the whole screen, pushing back the application you are using. This call UI needs a refresh, and like android can show a banner up in the top that allows users to dismiss the call or let it ring in the background and be done with it.
Swiping App Switcher
Since iPhone X Series’ redesign, users have been reporting the inability of swiping away all the apps in the app switcher in one go. Surprisingly, it’s still there in iOS 13. Apple is not fixing this problem because clearing recent apps in the App Switcher doesn’t improve battery life or device’s performance, as all the apps are in suspended state.However, removing all of the recent apps from the app switcher only has aesthetic value where the user wants to be able to scan the app switcher quickly for their most used apps. But taking away the option to swipe away the mess is a bad design choice. It’s up to the user if they prefer a clean and efficient experience or a cluttered one.

Camera App Settings
There are tons of improvements in iOS13 camera and photos application, but it still doesn’t allow to change video recording resolution within camera app itself. For that, users are supposed to go all the way into Device’s Main Settings > Camera. Whereas the interaction is only worth a button and two taps in the app.

Similarly, there are few other features that are buried in the iPhone Settings that are meant to be in the app in the first place.

Wrapping up

Contrary to popular belief the design is not always about what a user wants. Most of the times it’s about utilization of the new tech-laden devices. It might mean some compromises here and there but at the end of the day it’s for the software stability.

Maybe Apple keeps things the way they were built, because they know better. But Apple, if you’re listening at least change the in-your-face call notifier screen.