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iOS
File:IPhone OS 4 Logo.png
File:IOS43GS.PNG
iOS 4.0 on the iPhone 3GS
DeveloperApple Inc.
Written inC, C++, Objective-C
OS familyMac OS X/Unix-like
Working stateCurrent
Initial releaseJune 29, 2007
Latest release18.1[1] (October 28, 2024; 19 days ago (2024-10-28)) [±]
Latest preview18.2 beta 3[2] (November 11, 2024; 5 days ago (2024-11-11)) [±] ,
Available inMultilingual
PlatformsARM (iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad)
Kernel typeHybrid (Darwin)
Default
user interface		Cocoa Touch (Multi-touch, GUI)
LicenseProprietary EULA except for open source components
Official websiteiPhone Developer Program

iOS is Apple's mobile operating system developed originally for the iPhone, and later deployed on the iPod Touch and iPad as well. It is derived from Mac OS X, with which it shares the Darwin foundation, and is therefore a Unix-like operating system by nature. In iOS, there are four abstraction layers: the Core OS layer, the Core Services layer, the Media layer, and the Cocoa Touch layer. The operating system uses roughly 500 megabytes of the device's storage.[3]

History

See also: Apple iOS version history

The operating system was first unveiled with the iPhone at the Macworld Conference & Expo on January 9, 2007, and released in June of that year.[4] At first, Apple marketing literature did not specify its name, simply stating that the "iPhone uses OS X".[5]

Initially, third-party applications were not supported. Steve Jobs argued that developers could build web applications which "would behave like native apps on the iPhone".[6][7] On October 17, 2007, Apple announced that a native SDK was under development and that they planned to put it "in developers' hands in February".[8] The first beta was released on March 6, 2008, at which time the operating system was officially named iPhone OS.

Interest in the SDK was high due to the rapid growth of the operating system's usage. The previous September, Apple had released the iPod Touch, a device featuring most of the non-phone capabilities of the iPhone without the phone hardware. Apple also sold more than one million iPhone units during the 2007 holiday season.[9] Both devices have since seen multiple generations of improved hardware; four iPhones and three iPod Touch models. On January 27, 2010, Apple announced the iPad, featuring a larger screen than the iPhone and iPod Touch, and designed for web browsing, media consumption, and reading iBooks.[10] The iPhone is now advertised as a mobile assistant, and the iPod Touch as a gaming platform. All three are produced by Apple, which does not permit the OS to run on third-party hardware. As of June 7, 2010, there were more than 225,000 applications available for iOS in the App Store, with over five billion downloads.[11]

Version 4, announced in April 2010, introduced multitasking as well as several business-oriented features, including encryption for email and attachments.[12] At the WWDC 2010 keynote on June 7, 2010, Apple announced that iPhone OS had been renamed iOS.[13] Apple licenses the trademark for "iOS" from Cisco Systems (who own IOS), the same company with which Apple had earlier settled a dispute over the "iPhone" trademark.[14]

iOS 4 was released on June 21, 2010, three days before the iPhone 4.[15] Staggering product launches reduces strain on Apple's servers. iOS 4 is the first version of the OS to be a free upgrade on the iPod touch; Apple had charged $9.99 for earlier upgrades. Apple previously announced that iPad users with 3.x software would receive a free upgrade to the next major (4.x) release.[16]

iOS 4.0.1 was released on July 15, 2010. iOS 4.0.1 includes a reception-signal-strength-indicator fix and was released a day before Apple hosted a press conference to discuss its response to the widely publicized iPhone 4 antenna issues. In addition, Apple released iOS 3.2.1 for the iPad which includes tweaks to the tablet's WiFi connectivity, video playback, and copy-and-paste for PDF attachments among other updates.

Features

User interface

The user interface of iOS is based on the concept of direct manipulation, using multi-touch gestures. Interface control elements consist of sliders, switches, and buttons. The response to user input is immediate and provides a fluid interface. Interaction with the OS includes gestures such as swiping, tapping, pinching, and reverse pinching. Internal accelerometers are used by some applications to respond to shaking the device (one common result is the undo command) or rotating it in three dimensions (one common result is switching from portrait to landscape mode).

Home screen

The home screen (rendered by "SpringBoard") with application icons, and a dock at the bottom of the screen where users can pin their most frequently used apps, is presented whenever the device is turned on or the home button pressed. The screen has a status bar across the top to display data, such as time, battery level, and signal strength. The rest of the screen is devoted to the current application. Double pressing the home button activates the application switcher. A scrollable dock-like interface appears from the bottom, moving the contents of the screen up. Choosing an icon switches to an application. To the far left are icons which function as music controls, and a rotation lock. Holding the icons makes them wiggle (similarly to the homescreen) and allows the user to quit the applications.

Included applications

The iPhone home screen contains these default "apps":

Primary
Name Usage Version Included
Phone Telephone, FaceTime Video calling 1.0+ (FaceTime Video Calling 4.0+)
Mail E-mail client 1.0+
Safari Web browser 1.0+
iPod Portable media player 1.0+
Secondary
Name Usage Version Included
Messages Text messaging, MMS 1.0+ (MMS 3.0+)
Calendar Calendar 1.0+
Photos Photo viewer 1.0+ (Video viewer 2.0+)
Camera Camera 1.0+ (Video recording and auto-focus 3.0+, HD video 4.0+)
YouTube YouTube video streamer 1.0+
Stocks Yahoo! Finance 1.0+
Maps Google Maps 1.0+ (Assisted GPS 2.0+, Compass 3.0+ (iPhone 3GS onwards)).
Weather Yahoo! Weather 1.0+
Voice Memos Voice recorder 3.0+
Notes A simple note-taking program 1.0+
Clock World clock, stopwatch, alarm clock and timer 1.0+
Calculator Calculator (includes scientific version) 1.0+
Settings Settings 1.0+
iTunes To access the iTunes Music Store and iTunes Podcast Directory 1.1+
App Store To buy iOS apps 2.0+
Compass Compass 3.0+ (iPhone 3GS onwards).
Contacts Address/phone book 1.0+
Nike + iPod Records the distance and pace of a walk or run, can connect to Nike + iPod sensor. 2.2.1+(iPod Touch, 2nd generation onwards.), 3.0+(iPhone 3GS onwards).

All of the "utilities," such as voice memos, clock, and calculator are in one folder called "Utilities" in 4.0.[17][18] Many of the included applications are designed to work together; allowing for the sharing or cross-propagation of data from one application to another (e.g., a phone number can be selected from an email and saved as a contact or dialed for a phone call).

The iPod Touch retains the same applications that are present by default on the iPhone, with the exception of the Phone, Messages, Compass and Camera apps. The "iPod" App present on the iPhone is split into two apps on the iPod Touch: Music, and Videos. The bottom row of applications is also used to delineate the iPod Touch's main purposes: Music, Videos, Safari, and App Store (Dock Layout was changed in 3.1 Update).

The iPad comes with the same applications as the iPod Touch excluding Stocks, Weather, Clock, Calculator, and the Nike + iPod app. Separate music and video apps are provided, as on the iPod Touch, although (as on the iPhone) the music app is named "iPod". Most of the default applications are completely rewritten to take advantage of the larger form factor. The default dock layout includes Safari, Mail, Photos and iPod.

An example photo taken using the iOS4 zoom feature at maximum zoom.

Multitasking

Prior to iOS 4, multitasking was limited to a selection of the applications Apple included on the devices.[19] Apple was concerned that battery life would suffer if multiple third-party applications were allowed to run at once. Starting with iOS 4, on 3rd generation and newer iOS devices, multitasking is supported through the use of 7 background APIs.[20] Specifically,

  1. Background audio
  2. Voice over IP
  3. Background location
  4. Push notifications
  5. Local notifications
  6. Task finishing
  7. Fast app switching

Game Center

Main article: Game Center

Announced during an iOS 4 preview event hosted by Apple on April 8, 2010, Game Center is scheduled to be launched "later this year" for iPhones and iPod Touches running iOS 4. It is currently available as a preview to registered Apple developers.[21]

Unsupported technologies

iOS does not support Adobe Flash or Java.[22] This adversely affects viewing websites that use these technologies. Steve Jobs wrote an open letter criticizing Flash, saying it is insecure, buggy, battery-intensive, and incompatible with a touch interface (even though theoretically Flash could be supported on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad).[23] iOS 4 does support HTML5 as an alternative to Flash.

Development

Mac OS X applications cannot be copied to and run on an iOS device. The applications must be written and compiled specifically for iOS and the ARM architecture. The Safari web browser supports web applications as with other web browsers. Authorized third-party native applications are available for devices running iOS 2.0 and later through Apple's App Store.

SDK

Main article: iPhone SDK
File:IPhone SDK - New Project.png
iPhone SDK included in Xcode 3.1 final.

On October 17, 2007, in an open letter posted to Apple's "Hot News" weblog, Steve Jobs announced that a software development kit (SDK) would be made available to third-party developers in February 2008.[24] The SDK was released on March 6, 2008, and allows developers to make applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch, as well as test them in an "iPhone simulator". However, loading an application onto the devices is only possible after paying an iPhone Developer Program fee. Since the release of Xcode 3.1, Xcode is the development environment for the iPhone SDK. iPhone applications, like iOS and Mac OS X, are written in Objective-C.[25]

Developers are able to set any price above a set minimum for their applications to be distributed through the App Store, of which they will receive a 70% share. Alternately, they may opt to release the application for free and need not pay any costs to release or distribute the application except for the membership fee.[26]

Since its release, there has been some controversy regarding the refund policy in the fine print of the Developer Agreement with Apple. According to the agreement that developers must agree to, if someone purchases an app from the app store, 30% of the price goes to Apple, and 70% to the developer. If a refund is granted to the customer (at Apple's discretion), the 30% is returned to the customer from Apple, and 70% from the developer; however, Apple can then take another 30% of the cost from the developer to make up for Apple's loss.[27]

Jailbreaking

Main article: Jailbreaking for iOS

For several reasons, iOS has been subject to a variety of different hacks centered on adding functionality not supported by Apple. Prior to the 2008 debut of the App Store, the primary reason for jailbreaking was to gain the ability to install third-party native applications.[28] Apple stated it would not design software updates specifically to break these native apps (other than applications that perform SIM unlocking).[29]

Since the arrival of the App Store, the focus of the jailbreaking community has now shifted somewhat. Third-party native applications can now officially be installed through the App Store,[30] but there are some restrictions. A major focus of jailbreaking is now the options of themeing, using emulators and community made tweaks like multitasking and editing the springboard. Multitasking is only supported on 3rd generation and newer iOS devices, and applications are not allowed to modify the look of the OS.

Some jailbreakers also attempt to pirate paid App Store applications. This focus has caused some strife within the jailbreaking community, as it was not the original focus of jailbreaking and is illegal.[31]

Digital rights management

The closed and proprietary nature of iOS has garnered criticism, particularly by digital rights advocates such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, computer engineer and activist Brewster Kahle, Internet-law specialist Jonathan Zittrain, and the Free Software Foundation who protested the iPad's introductory event and have targeted the iPad with their "Defective by Design" campaign.[32][33][34][35] Competitor Microsoft, via a PR spokesman, has also criticized Apple's control over its platform.[36]

At issue are restrictions imposed by the design of iOS, namely DRM intended to lock purchased media to Apple's platform, the development model (requiring a yearly subscription to distribute apps developed for the iOS), the centralized approval process for apps, as well as Apple's general control and lockdown of the platform itself. Particularly at issue is the ability for Apple (or any other authority that can persuade Apple) to remotely disable or delete apps at will.

Some in the tech community have expressed concern that the locked-down iOS represents a growing trend in computing, particularly Apple's shift away from machines that hobbyists can "tinker with" and note the potential for such restrictions to stifle software innovation.[37]

However, there are some outside of Apple who have voiced support for the iOS closed model. Facebook developer Joe Hewitt, who had previously protested against Apple's control over its hardware as a "horrible precedent", has subsequently argued the locked apps in the iPad are akin to web applications and provide added security.[38]

See also

References

  1. ^ Clover, Juli (October 28, 2024). "Apple Releases iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1 With Apple Intelligence". MacRumors. Retrieved October 28, 2024.
  2. ^ Clover, Juli (November 11, 2024). "Apple Releases Third Betas of iOS 18.2 and More With Genmoji, Image Playground and ChatGPT Integration". MacRumors. Retrieved November 11, 2024.
  3. ^ Haslam, Karen (January 12, 2007). "Macworld Expo: Optimised OS X sits on 'versatile' flash". Macworld. Retrieved October 15, 2007.
  4. ^ Honan, Matthew (January 9, 2007). "Apple unveils iPhone". Macworld. Retrieved January 16, 2010.
  5. ^ "Apple - iPhone - Features - OS X". {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); |archive-url= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  6. ^ Gonsalves, Antone (October 11, 2007). "Apple Launches iPhone Web Apps Directory". InformationWeek. Retrieved February 16, 2010.
  7. ^ Ziegler, Chris (June 11, 2007). "Apple announces third-party software details for iPhone". Engadget. Retrieved June 9, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ Nik Fletcher (October 17, 2007). "Apple: "we plan to have an iPhone SDK in developers' hands in February"". TUAW. Retrieved June 8, 2010.
  9. ^ "Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results". Apple Inc. October 22, 2007. Retrieved June 9, 2010.
  10. ^ "Apple Launches iPhone Web Apps Directory". Apple. January 27, 2010. Retrieved May 8, 2010.
  11. ^ "Apple Presents iPhone 4" (Press release). Apple Inc. June 7, 2010. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
  12. ^ "Get a sneak peak into the future of iOS". Apple. April 8, 2010. Archived from the original on April 8, 2010.
  13. ^ Nilay Patel (June 7, 2010). "iPhone OS 4 renamed iOS 4, launching June 21 with 1500 new features". Retrieved June 9, 2010.
  14. ^ "Cisco and Apple Agreement on IOS Trademark". "Cisco Blog". Retrieved June 7, 2010.
  15. ^ "Steve Jobs live from WWDC 2010". June 7, 2010. Retrieved June 9, 2010.
  16. ^ "iPad licensing agreement specifies paid annual OS updates". March 29, 2010. Retrieved July 2, 2010.
  17. ^ "iPhone Applications". Apple Inc. July 10, 2008. Retrieved July 11, 2008.
  18. ^ "iOS 3.1 Software Update". Apple Inc.
  19. ^ "iOS 4 walkthrough". June 14, 2010. Retrieved June 14, 2010.
  20. ^ "Apple announces multitasking for iPhone OS 4 (iPhone 3GS/iPod touch G3 only)". April 8, 2010. Retrieved June 14, 2010.
  21. ^ "What's New in iOS 4". Apple. Retrieved June 14, 2010.
  22. ^ Pogue, David (January 13, 2007). "Ultimate iPhone FAQs List, Part 2". Pogue's Posts. The New York Times. Retrieved June 22, 2010.
  23. ^ Jobs, Steve (April 2010). "Thoughts on Flash". Apple. Retrieved June 22, 2010.
  24. ^ Jobs, Steve (October 17, 2007). "Third Party Applications on the iPhone". Apple Inc.
  25. ^ "Did Apple Make A Mistake Choosing Objective-C For iPhone SDK? at Simon's Blog". Psynixis.com. Retrieved May 9, 2010.
  26. ^ "Introducing the iPhone Developer Program". Apple Inc.
  27. ^ "iPhone developers could be bankrupted". March 25, 2009.
  28. ^ Healey, Jon (August 6, 2007). "Hacking the iPhone". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 6, 2007.
  29. ^ "Apple's Joswiak: We Don't Hate iPhone Coders". September 11, 2007. Retrieved June 9, 2010.
  30. ^ Baig, Edward C. (June 26, 2007). "Apple's iPhone isn't perfect, but it's worthy of the hype". USA Today. Retrieved June 28, 2007. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  31. ^ "iPhone App Piracy is Out of Control". January 14, 2010. Retrieved June 14, 2010.
  32. ^ "iPad DRM endangers our rights".
  33. ^ Nate Anderson (January 27, 2010). "Protestors: iPad is nothing more than a golden calf of DRM". Retrieved June 9, 2010.
  34. ^ "Mobile Devices and the Next Computing Revolution". February 3, 2010. Retrieved June 9, 2010.
  35. ^ Bobbie Johnson (February 1, 2010). "Apple iPad will choke innovation, say open internet advocates". The Guardian. Retrieved February 7, 2010.
  36. ^ "Microsoft PR spokesman condemns iPad for being "locked down"".
  37. ^ "Apple's Trend Away From Tinkering". Slashdot. January 31, 2010. Retrieved June 9, 2010.
  38. ^ Leander Kahney (January 30, 2010). "Pundits On The iPad's Closed System: It's Doom For PCs, No It's Great". Retrieved June 9, 2010.

Further reading

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=IOS&oldid=377504663"