This article is about Apple iOS mobile operating system version history. For Cisco Systems' router/switch OS, see Cisco IOS.
iOS is a mobile operating system, developed by Apple Inc. for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. Updates for iOS are released through the iTunes software and, since iOS 5, via over-the-air software updates. With the announcement of iOS 5 on June 6, 2011, a USB connection to iTunes was no longer needed to activate iOS devices; data synchronization can happen automatically and wirelessly through Apple's iCloud service. Major new iOS releases are announced yearly during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), and are usually released in September of the same year, usually coinciding with the release of new iPhone models. The current stable release, iOS 12.0.1 was released on October 8, 2018.
June 2007 saw the official release of what eventually became iOS – concurrently with the first iPhone. iOS did not have an official name until the official release of the iPhone software development kit (iPhone SDK) on March 6, 2008. Before then, Apple marketing simply stated that iPhone ran a version of Mac OS X made specifically for iPhone.[4] When iOS was introduced, it was named iPhone OS. It was officially renamed iOS on June 7, 2010 with the announcement and introduction of iPad. The introduction of iPad, and the existence of iPod Touch, meant the iPhone was no longer the only device to run the mobile operating system. iOS 4 was the first major iOS release that reflected the name change.[5] Apple licensed the "iOS" trademark from Cisco Systems.[6]
Apple concurrently provides the same version of iOS for the comparable model of iPhone and iPod Touch, usually devices released in the same calendar year. iPhone users receive all software updates for free, while iPod Touch users paid for the 2.0 and 3.0 major software updates. As of iOS 4, Apple no longer charges money for iPod Touch updates.[7]
As of 2018,[update] two versions of iOS were never released. iPhone OS 1.2, which after the first beta was replaced by a 2.0 version number; the second beta was named 2.0 beta 2 instead of 1.2 beta 2. The other was iOS 4.2, replaced with 4.2.1 due to a Wi-Fi bug in 4.2 beta 3, causing Apple to release 2 golden masters (4.2 GM and 4.2.1 GM).[8] One version of iOS was pulled back by Apple after being released. iOS 8.0.1 was pulled back by Apple because cellular service and Touch ID were disabled on iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
Apple announced iPhone OS 1 at the iPhone keynote on January 9, 2007, and it was released to the public alongside the original iPhone on June 29, 2007. No official name was given on its initial release; Apple marketing literature simply stated the iPhone runs a version of Apple's desktop operating system, OS X.[9] The release of iPhone OS 1.1 brought support for the iPod Touch (1st generation). iPhone OS 1.1.5 was the final version of iPhone OS 1. It became unsupported on 18 May 2010.
Commonly called the iPhone "January '08 Update" and January Software Upgrade by Apple.[13]
Free update for iPhone; $19.95 in iTunes for the iPod Touch.
Mail, Maps, Stocks, Weather and Notes apps for iPod Touch.
Recent calls contact details now show most recent call times.
Google Maps on iPhone gains the 'Locate Me' feature which can determine the phone's approximate location, using a combination of cellular triangulation and Wi-Fi data from Skyhook Wireless; also adds hybrid map support and the 'Drop Pin' feature.
Icons on the home screen can be rearranged and placed on multiple home screens (up to nine).
iTunes gift cards can be redeemed on the iTunes Store.
Movies downloaded through iTunes have chapter support.
Music has lyrics-support feature.
Web Clips can be added to (and subsequently removed from) the home screen.
SMS messages can be sent to multiple contacts using messages.
SMS storage capacity increased from 1,000 to 75,000 messages.
Default GmailIMAP setup for new accounts (formerly was defaulted as POP3).
The clock timer now remembers the last used options (bug fix).
Incoming SMS messages now prompts the user to "Close" or "Reply" (formerly "Ignore" or "Reply"). Pressing either option now marks the message as "seen".
Labels for contact data can now be deleted.
Applications on the phone no longer run as root; they run as the user "mobile" instead.
Ability to listen to music through a Bluetooth headset by going to the voicemail and choosing "Bluetooth" as the audio source no longer works (still works as long as phone is not locked or voicemail screen is active).
Apple announced iPhone OS 2 at the iPhone software roadmap keynote in March 2008, and it was released to the public on July 11, 2008 alongside the iPhone 3G. Apple did not drop support for any devices with this release. iPhone OS 2 was compatible with all devices released up to that time. The release of iPhone OS 2.1.1 brought support for the iPod Touch (2nd generation). iPhone OS 2.2.1 was the final version of iPhone OS 2. It became unsupported on 3 December 2011.
Initial release on iPod Touch (2nd generation) (as 2.1.1)
Free for iPod Touch users who have upgraded to iPhone OS 2.0.
Companion changes in/with iTunes 8 for this release
Displays capacity and used space of information on iPhone.[24]
Dramatically reduced time to back up to iTunes.[25]
Does not remove all media after restore.
Faster firmware installation and data sync.
Application updates downloaded from iTunes have new finder naming convention.
Bug fixes, performance enhancements
Security fix to prevent from bypassing the double home button exploit.
Fixed bugs causing hangs and crashes for users with lots of third party applications.
Faster installation and updating of 3rd party applications.
Updating applications keeps their icons in place on the home screen.
Improvements to Mail stability.
Improved email reliability, notably fetching email from POP and Exchange accounts.
Faster loading and searching of contacts.
Auto-correct now appears above the text instead of below (fixing a usability problem people were having where auto-correct would appear above the first row of keys).
Smoother browsing in Safari, particularly when scrolling up/down on a web page.
Significantly better battery life for most users.[25]
Decrease in call set-up failures and dropped calls.[25]
Improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display.
Triple-click on the control button of headphones now jumps music to prior track played.
SMS app can alert up to two additional times if you don't acknowledge an incoming text message (will play the alert sound/vibrate again after a period of time as if a new message just came in).[24]
Update supporting languages.
Option to wipe data after ten failed passcode attempts (after 5 attempts, the device will disable itself for 1 minute. After the 6th attempt, it will disable itself for 5 minutes. In the 10th attempt, it will wipe all data).[24]
The camera can now be turned off within the restrictions page.[24]
When taking a screenshot of your phone, there is now the camera shutter noise.
iPhone never gets locked when placed in dock and playing music.
New application features
Genius playlist creation.
More information provided within iPod Music lists (artist and album are now shown below song title when selecting music in addition to remaining time on podcasts).
More information is provided for audiobooks, such as displaying time left in active audiobook.[24]
New podcasts and videos had "filled" blue bubbles next to them to indicate that they were new, now if you have "half-played" a podcast or video, it will include a half filled blue bubble.[24]
Sound from iPod now fades out if you start syncing device with iTunes.[26]
Bookmarked home screen apps open in full screen.[27]
iPod Touch only
Settings for individual speaker sounds. Sounds can no longer be turned off en masse. All sounds must be turned off individually to mute sounds.
Apple announced iPhone OS 3 in March 2009, and it was released to the public on June 17, 2009 alongside the iPhone 3GS. Apple did not drop support for any devices with this release. iPhone OS 3 was compatible with all devices released up to that time, but not all features were available on the original iPhone. The final release supported on the original iPhone and iPod Touch (1st generation) was iPhone OS 3.1.3.[36][not in citation given] The first iPad was introduced along with iPhone OS 3.2.[37] It became unsupported on 9 December 2012.
Features iPhone users got in 2.2 now added for the iPod Touch (e.g. Google Street View, public transit and walking directions, display address of dropped pin, share location via email, and cache of recent locations). Changed behavior when routing directions and showing steps.
Stocks
Landscape mode that enabled viewing detailed price and change information by dragging one or two fingers across the full-screen chart.
Metadata display for detailed information about the symbol, including full company/fund name, market capitalization, price to earning ratio, dividend yield, and statistics about the day and year price range.
Table of news stories from various internet sources related to the selected symbol.
YouTube
Can now log into account.
View subscriptions, Favorites, My Videos, History, and Playlists
Comment on videos, rate videos
Phone
Recent Calls now show more details (call length, etc.).
Ability to change/set "own number" (my number) in the SIM card. Will be displayed in the Contacts list and iTunes, and possibly used for MMS identification.
Contacts are editable via Recent Calls.
Photos
Videos can be trimmed directly from Camera app.
Photos options menu changed (new UI, added copy button).
AVRCP: Play/Pause/Stop for iPod app (no Next/Back yet).
Device side audio control still enabled but does not affect audio stream.
PBAP: wireless phone book access (for use with vehicle head units).
PAN: personal networking for tethering and ad-hoc connections between mobile devices (multi-player gaming).
iPod
Shake to shuffle songs in iPod app.
Search through iPod.
Scrubbing through tracks can now be done at 4 variable rates as user moves finger down the screen, and the speed is displayed on screen ("Hi-Speed", "Half Speed", "Quarter Speed", "Fine").
(When Bluetooth is enabled and a paired audio device is present) Audio output menu added to "Now Playing" screen and Home button iPod controls.
Location dot while playing video/music now glows while you scrub the track/video.
Podcasts
More details shown: time remaining, etc.
Can be played at "½x", 1x, or "2x" speed (actual speeds are 0.8x, 1x, and 1.5x).
Can now sign out of iTunes account and use a different iTunes account.
iTunes account info can be accessed and edited.
Can now read and write reviews for content on iTunes.
Movies, TV shows, audiobooks, and iTunes U content can now be purchased on iTunes Wi-Fi store.
Notes syncing.
Voice memos syncing (audio files added to a "Voice Memos" playlist).
Backups can now be encrypted and password protected.
Tethering over USB and Bluetooth (depends on mobile network ability).P2,P3
USB tethering auto activated when connected to USB on iTunes 8.2+ (if tethering is enabled in iPhone settings and by phone's carrier).
iTunes 8.2 now includes a USB driver for iPhone tethering.
Full access to iPhone possible while tethered.
(In Windows) iPhone shows up as a standard ethernet connection.
Accessibility settings (for the visually/aurally impaired) (iPhone 3GS only).[43]
VoiceOver gesture-based screen reader. Touch screen to hear a description of the item under your finger, then double-tap, drag, or flick to control iPhone. Speaks 21 languages and works with all apps.
Zoom, magnifies entire screen on any app up to 5 times normal size. Move left, right, up, and down to view any portion of the screen close-up.
White on Black, changes display to white on black (instead of the normal black on white), works in any app, and alongside with Zoom and VoiceOver.
Mono Audio, if users hearing is limited in one ear, routes both right- and left-channel audio into both earbuds, so you can hear both channels in either ear.
Speak Auto-text, works with VoiceOver to automatically speak auto-corrections and auto-capitalisations.
Other
Device automatically connects and authenticates to Wi-Fi hotspots which need username and password (e.g. Starbucks, McDonald's).
Locate Me for the iPod Touch accuracy improved.
Restrictions have been updated and now block "Current Location" and allows setting what content is appropriate for iPod music/videos/TV shows and apps.
11 home screen pages instead of 9. Now can store 180 apps (including native applications. i.e. Phone, iPod, Safari).[44]
Voice control (ability to voice dial and control iPod).P3,T3
Holding the home button will no longer force quit an unresponsive application. To force quit an application in 3.0 hold the sleep/wake button until the red power off slider appears. Then hold down the home button to quit the unresponsive application.
Screen captures are no longer numbered separately from photos taken with the camera application; all new images in the camera roll now use a common numbering sequence.
On iPod Touch (2nd generation) the Voice Memos app now successfully records audio if you plug your microphone after you have started the application.
Numbers inside Notes have more options when tap and hold is triggered: Call, Text Message, Create New Contact, Add to Existing Contact.
Voice control over Bluetooth is now available, allowing users to initiate calls and control music playback via Bluetooth headsets (however, voice control while plugged into car audio systems no longer works).
Allows transferring files between a computer and the device for a shared (per app) document store that all applications can access (iOS file sharing). Only available for the iPad.
Allows use of Apple Bluetooth keyboard (possibly other keyboards).
Includes a built-in dictionary which can be used in iWork, iBooks, and possibly other apps.
The Dock can now hold up to six icons.
The iPod app allows users to create and name custom playlists.
Safari's new thumbnail view allows users to navigate to up to nine active pages (similar to Top Sites on Safari for OS X).
Places in the Photos app allows the user to view their photos by location (needs iPhoto '09).
Apple announced iOS 4 in March 2010 and it was released to the public on June 21, 2010 alongside the iPhone 4. With this release, Apple dropped support for the original iPhone and iPod Touch (1st generation), which is the first time Apple had dropped support for any device in an iOS release. The iPhone 3G and the iPod Touch (2nd generation) were capable of running iOS 4, but had limited features. For example, both devices lack multitasking capabilities and the ability to set a home screen wallpaper. However, iOS 4 was the first major release that iPod Touch users did not have to pay any money for. The release of iOS 4.2.1 brought compatibility to the original iPad and was the final release supported on the iPhone 3G and iPod Touch (2nd generation) due to major performance issues. The release of iOS 4.3 brought iPad 2 compatibility.[51][52] It became unsupported on 18 December 2013.
Table of versions: iOS 4.0.x – iPod Touch and iPhone only
Enables FaceTime call connection via email contacts (e.g. for iPod Touch (4th generation) users who won't have a phone number) and through favorites.[58]
iOS 4.2 was replaced because of a Wi-Fi bug in beta 3, causing Apple to release two golden master candidates (4.2 GM and 4.2.1 GM)
Bug fixes
Birthdays calendar does not display birthdays starting more than 77 years ago.[62]
Fixes glitch that can let a user get into the Phone app while the phone is locked via "Emergency Call" by dialing a random number and quickly pressing the lock button after dialing that call.[63]
Fixes the alarm bug caused by daylight saving time changing, affected on a part of iPhone and iPod Touch owners living in various countries.[64]
Improved iPhone 3G and iPod Touch (2nd generation) performance.[65]
AirPlay (replacement of AirTunes, AirPlay will offer stream video, music, and photos over Wi-Fi).[66]
AirPrint wireless printing with Print Center (select models).[66]
Import .ics calendar files directly for events.
Improved battery performance.
Birthdays icon has been changed in the Calendar app.
Updated Carrier Settings (US is AT&T 9.0, UK is O2 9.1, Germany is Deutsche Telekom 9.0).
iOS 4 features for iPad (multitasking, folders, etc.).
Up to 4,400 icons instead of 220 (20 apps a folder).
Updated carrier signal strength display (3G iPad only).
Increase in the length of the smaller signal bars.
The method in which signal strength is calculated has been enhanced.
Additions to the multitasking tray.
Brightness.
Volume control.
AirPlay controls.
Screen rotation lock switch.
Physical iPad screen rotation lock switch is converted into a sound/silent switch in iOS 4.2 (just like on the iPhones), with a virtual screen rotation lock switch added to the multitasking tray.
More than 30 new keyboards and dictionaries, including Arabic, Greek, and Hebrew.
Ability to cancel and delete an app which is currently downloading. Before iOS 4.3, it was only possible to delete an app which had already downloaded.
Stream from an iTunes library to iOS using Home Sharing.
In-app purchases always ask for a password, even if one was entered before.
Internal system clock gets network time updated more often via NITZ (part of the official GSM standard since phase 2+ release 96) and gives a more accurate time for the device, it updates about every five days (iPhone only).
Personal Hotspot feature (Wi-Fihotspot with up to 5 simultaneous devices (Wi-Fi hotspot iPhone 4 only[74])) on supported carriers.
Ability to set amount of times a text tone repeats (up to 10 times).
In field test mode refresh button has been removed and updated information has been displayed in bottom of the screen (it updates every 4–6 seconds).
Slideshow options moved to Photos app.
New look for taking a picture for a Contact.
When receiving a text message, the iPhone now vibrates 2 times.
Some SMS tones have been shortened (iPod Touch only).
Apple announced iOS 5 on June 6, 2011 at its annual Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) event, and it was released to the public on October 12, 2011 alongside the iPhone 4S.[76] Apple did not drop support for any devices with this release, only the iPhone 3G and the IPod Touch 2nd Generation as this had already been done with the release of iOS 4.3 seven months earlier. Therefore, iOS 5 was released for the iPhone 3GS onwards, iPod Touch (3rd generation) onwards, and all iPad models.[77] The release of iOS 5.1 brought support for the iPad 3. iOS 5.1.1 was the final release supported for the iPad (1st generation) and iPod Touch (3rd generation). It became unsupported on 12 August 2015.
All notifications concentrated to Notification Center: swipe downwards from the status bar to open it. Notification center shows a list of all notifications and widgets (widgets available only on iPhone and iPod Touch).
Notification order can be arranged.
Choose Notification Type: Banner notifications, the classic pop-up notifications, or no notification at all (selectable on an app-by-app basis).
Notification list on lock screen. Swipe an icon to unlock and go to the specific notification.
Notifications announcing earthquakes with 2 minutes (only in Japan).[78][79]
Messages
Messaging between all iOS devices running iOS 5 through Wi-Fi or 3G. Allows to send text, photos, videos, contacts, and locations.
All iMessages and conversations will be synced between all iOS devices linked under a single Apple ID. You can start a conversation on one device and continue it on another.
Can message between multiple people simultaneously (group messaging).
Shows when other person(s) is typing.
Delivery receipts.
Optional read receipts (enable in Settings).
Animated GIF image support for iMessage.
Ability to set how many times an alert will be shown when a new message is received (ranges from once to ten times).
The name of the person that responds appears in small light blue text directly above the response when SMS is sent to a group.
Slight redesign for text messages. Font and time-stamp layout.
Hide keyboard; hidden by downwards scrolling in message screen (after being used to type a message). Unhidden again by tapping in text entry field.
A new icon on the home screen, which opens to an iBooks-inspired folder which shows all papers and magazines downloaded from the App Store.
Subscriptions to newspapers and magazines available for browsing and downloading in a dedicated section of the App Store, stored in the Newsstand folder.
Reminders
"To-Do list" functionality in Reminders app.
Date-based reminder notifications.
Location-based reminder notifications that can be set to when you leave, or arrive a specified area (P4,P4S).
Twitter integration
Tweeting from native applications: Photos, Camera, YouTube, Maps, and Safari using new Tweet Sheet which supports multiple accounts.
Music
iPod app now split and renamed to Music and Videos (iPhone and iPad only; was always split on the iPod Touch).
Video podcasts can only be found in the Videos app.
Ability to play content while the device is synchronizing with iTunes.
Ability to delete songs from device (by swiping over the corresponding song).
Tap and hold on a song to view extended song information (iPhone and iPod Touch only).
Long names scrolling in now playing.
Album artwork now displays in full resolution (Retina Display only) on Now Playing screen.
Broadcast song information on devices (e.g. car stereo) when connected over Bluetooth.
Improved Sound Check for Music.
"Group by Album Artist" option for Music.
iTunes Store button has been added to the Music app.
Removed ability to view lyrics (on iPad).
Camera
Volume-up key as shutter release button to take photos (also works using headphone remote volume up button). Also works for starting/stopping recording of videos.
Shortcut to Camera app from lock screen, accessed by double-clicking the home button (iPhone 3GS and later and iPod Touch 4th generation only).
Grid composition aide (3x3).
Spread to zoom-in, pinch to zoom-out.
Swipe left to reveal camera roll.
Tap and hold to lock/unlock Auto Exposure and Auto Focus.
Options button added, HDR toggle and Grid composition aide toggle.
New Camera button on Photos app that returns to Camera instead of a "Done" button (was on OS before this) to close the Camera Roll.
Can now create, rename, and delete calendars right on the device.
Tap and hold or double-tap to create a new event.
Tap and hold in "all-day events" to create a new all-day event.
Drag appointments to a new time slot.
Drag handles to change start and end times.
Creating new Event, now an "Invitees" field; takes to screen for multiple email address entry, emails sent to all invitees once event is saved.
Invitee can "Accept"/"Decline"/"Maybe"; reply sent to iCloud servers then reflected for all invitees to see.
Calendar event on device lists those invitees accepting event.
All users on iOS 5.x devices get notification when event is nearing.
Ability to specify a time zone to events.
Ability to add URLs to events.
Current time on Calendar if in landscape mode.
Navigate in day view by swiping.
Event attachments can now be viewed directly in the app.
Share calendars through iCloud with friends and family. Edits made by subscribers to that calendar are updated and pushed to other subscribers of that calendar (can be disabled by the creator of the calendar and locked so others cannot make edits).
Japanese or Buddhist calendars support.
Mail
Rich text formatting (bold, italics, and underline).
Indentation control.
Ability to mark multiple mail items as read.
Ability to flag emails.
Draggable mail address in the recipients field.
Alert if the subject line is blank.
Search now includes body of messages.
Delete mails while in Airplane mode.
Exchange ActiveSync Email can now be deleted offline.
Can create new email folders.
Mail sidebar.
S/MIME support.
Ability to show 1000 recent messages; 25 message option removed.
Ability to create additional @me.com email address within the Mail settings.
Ability to increase quote level in Mail settings.
New and updated tiny icons on Mail for Windows Live Mail, Gmail, Exchange, etc.
Hotmail accounts now have new icons and folders.
While reading an email you can swipe right to open a list of messages and swipe left to bring back the open email message again.
If you have multiple email accounts configured in Mail.app, swipe left or right from one's mailboxes folder list, it will take you to another account's mailboxes.
Support for three popular Chinese email services: Tencent's QQ Mail, and Netease's 163.com and 126.com mail inboxes.[80]
Photos
Built-in basic photo editing: crop, red-eye, auto-enhance and rotate photos.
Ability to create and edit local photo albums folders (only those that aren't synced with iTunes).
Ability to sync pictures taken on one iOS device automatically with other iOS 5 devices using Photo Stream.
Ability to select all when adding pictures to an album.
Slight re-design for video time-line under Photos app.
Safari
Safari Reader: new "Reader" icon appears in address bar if Safari detects a webpage article, removing need to click-through to each page. Scrollable window sheet appears over current webpage showing all article pages together separated by page breaks, removing ads and page clutter.
Ability to change font size in reader mode.
Reading List: a new area of the bookmarks window has been added, purposed for pages you might want to read later. New pages can be added from a new option in the action menu or when long-pressing on a link.
Items from the Reading List can be synced to iCloud to be pushed to all of your other iOS devices.
Safari bookmarks can be synced to iCloud.
Ability to open pages in background or in new page (change in Settings).
Ability to replace a word with a word from a list of similarly spelled words spellings when typing in a text box on a web page.
Private Browsing; interface colours change from blue to black (change in Settings).
Ability to remove custom website data.
CSS fixed position support.
Slight fade out at end of long URLs (instead of ellipses) in the address bar.
iTunes, iBooks (books and progress), App Store, Photo, Contacts, Calendar, Notes, Reminders, Mail, Safari (Bookmarks and Reading List), Settings, app data, iWork, and backup data; saved in iCloud to automatically or manually download to all linked devices (iOS and Mac/Windows PCs).
All iMessages and conversations will be synced between all iOS devices linked under a single Apple ID. You can start a conversation on one device and continue it on another.
Backup home screen layout on iCloud.
Document sync.
Ability to buy more storage.
Free upgrade to 256 kbit/s bit rate for iTunes purchased songs if backing up on iCloud.
File names in iCloud Storage are case-sensitive.
Documents/data can now be selected to sync with iCloud account.
Option to disable iCloud Sync via cellular network to save cost, especially if roaming.
Points in Game Center: shows you how many points you have on the home screen of Game Center.
Sort and view Friends on the basis of Points.
Friend recommendations.
Game recommendations.
Games can be purchased from within Game Center.
New Friend requests screen.
Native support for turn based games.
Settings
Help Center: learn more about every option under settings app to explore more about it.
New menu under Location Services, named System Services, where some services can be toggled on or off (such as setting the time-zone, location-based iAds, Diagnostics, etc.).
Hearing Aid Mode.
Ability to rename your device.
Ability to set up an AirPort base station or Time Capsule devices.
Ability to organise Notification Center items "Manually" or "By Time".
Can select which apps can be included in Notification Center.
Can select which type of notification will be used for each app: banner notification, classic pop-up style notification, or no notification.
Ability to turn off app badges.
On the "Ringtone" and "Text Tone" page, instead of showing "new", they are all in one category now.
Custom sounds for New Message, New Voicemail, New Mail, Sent Mail and Reminders alerts.
Ability to purchase text, email, and voicemail alert tones.
Under "Mail, Contacts, Calendars", on the bottom it shows "Reminders" and gives an option to Sync.
In the "Messages" section, the "Alerts", "Show Preview", and "Repeat Alert" options have been removed.
The Usage screen is improved and now shows how much of the memory is consumed by each app.
Storage usage clean up.
Backup to iCloud shortcut added.
Software Update menu added. This allows easier and faster updating of devices independently, without a computer with iTunes installed; the update downloads directly to the iOS device; needs Wi-Fi or cellular network connection.
Photo Stream settings.
New purchases Settings; automatically download new purchases made on other devices (for music, apps, and books). This can also be enabled or disabled for use on cellular when not connected to Wi-Fi.
Twitter sign-in OS-wide with support for multiple Twitter accounts.
Ability to set left or right for mono audio.
Ability to turn on/off sending of iOS diagnostic data to Apple.
Keyboard
Ability to create keyboard shortcuts to replace custom phrases. By default includes "omw" which expands to "On my way!".
Emoji keyboard no longer needs an app to enable it (regarding non-Japanese devices).
Define your own words in Offline Dictionary.
New keyboard with prominent # (hash-tag) and @ (mention) buttons for Twitter app similar to the ".com" button when entering an address into the Safari address bar.
New Chinese-Pinyin keyboard spreading.
Quick Chinese input method.
List of associated words show on the top of Chinese input keyboard.
iTunes/USB no longer needed to activate new devices via a computer.
New welcome screen when using the device for the first time (or after resetting a device).
Ability to start fresh with no need to tether it to iTunes. Option to restore all data on a device from an iCloud backup through a simple iCloud sign in.
Ability to wirelessly sync to iTunes over Wi-Fi added (an initial tethered sync is needed to pair them together and the setting must be enabled in iTunes).
OTAdelta updates: from iOS 5 forward, devices can now self-update the system software right on the device itself through Wi-Fi or 3G; no iTunes or computer needed.
YouTube
Ability to play 480p/720p videos over 3G (iPhone only).[81]
Scrolling titles for YouTube videos.
Seek bar fine scrubbing visual notification has been added.
FaceTime
Improved video quality.
Ability to set your FaceTime caller-ID to be your email or your phone number.
Ability to mirror the FaceTime call on large screen.[82]
iTunes/App Store
iTunes Tone Store.
New Purchased History section.
Genius support for finding songs and apps similar to ones users have purchased formerly.
Ability to completely disable in-app purchases.
iTunes password prompt.
Restrictions with password needed for purchases if enabled.
Shows "Install" instead of the price for formerly purchased apps. Shows "Installed" for installed apps.
Additional "iForgot" button on App Store if a user has forgotten their Apple ID password.
Simultaneous app downloads.
Custom tones for almost everything under "Sounds" with "Buy more tones" button.
Music app now has a "Store" button that goes to the iTunes Store.
Contacts
Add family relations ("related names") to contacts.
Add social media info into contacts.
VoiceOver
VoiceOver item chooser.
VoiceOver action support.
Arabic language support for VoiceOver.
Option to speak text selection.
New voices for VoiceOver.
Bluetooth
AVRCP 1.4 supported (sends track and artist info to supported devices).
Minor improvements/bug fixes
New rounded UI switch graphic.
Ability to use the device while syncing.
Spotlight search now includes Reminders and searches through Messages.
Built-in system-wide dictionary; in the typical Cut/Copy/Paste pop-up when selecting text, there is a new option to "Define". Define brings up a view with definition of the selected word.
Ability to delete app data.
Fixed a bug that caused a song to crash for a second while switching to another application in the multitasking tray.
Apps fade to home screen when they crash, rather than flicking off.
Option to automatically set the time (new for Wi-Fi only devices).
Switching the ringer switch to "on", the indicator now shows the volume level bar (iPhone and iPad only).
Screenshots are saved using the device's orientation (formerly, all screenshots were saved as if the device was in portrait mode).
Hindi virtual keyboard based on standard InScript layout. (iPhone and iPod Touch only).
Notification Center
Option to display Stock and Weather widgets in Notification Center. Swipe weather left or right to get five-day forecast.
Improves voice recognition for Australian users using dictation.
Contains security improvements.
Activates the LED camera flash, whether the speaker is muted or not, for incoming calls and messages, when activated within the Accessibility sub-menu.
Introduces a new way for developers to specify files that should not be backed up.iPhone 4S only (Build 9A406)
Attempts to fix "Invalid Sim" and "No SIM card installed" issues.
Apple announced iOS 6 on June 11, 2012 at its annual Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) event, and it was released to the public on September 19, 2012 alongside the iPhone 5, iPod Touch (5th generation), and iPad 4. With this release, Apple dropped support for the iPod Touch (3rd generation) and the iPad (1st generation) due to hardware limitations, and offered only limited support on the iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, and iPod Touch (4th generation). The iPhone 4 onwards, the iPod Touch (5th generation), the iPad 3 onwards and the iPad Mini (1st generation) were fully supported.[88] iOS 6.1.6 was the final release supported for the iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch (4th generation). It became unsupported on 23 November 2016.
Siri now available on iPad (3rd, 4th generation and Mini) and iPod Touch (5th generation).
Additional country and language support for Canada (English and Canadian French), China (Mandarin), Hong Kong (Cantonese), Italy (Italian), Korea (Korean), Mexico (Spanish), Spain (Spanish), Switzerland (Italian, French, German), Taiwan (Mandarin), US (Spanish).
Siri can provide information on movies like find movie reviews, ask about actors and actresses, play a movie trailer, get showtimes for movies and find a theater/cinema.
Yelp! built-in reviews and launch to open up more information and create reservations with OpenTable.
Restaurants are listed by reviews and nearest with more information.
Apps can be launched by saying "run <app name>" or "open <app name>".
Siri can send Tweets and update Facebook status.
Siri can read items from Notification Center.
"Eyes Free", allowing car companies to build-in Siri integration; with a mic button on steering wheel, and for launching Siri functions, and screen disabling during Eyes Free mode.
Message previews can now be toggled on/off for alerts.
Calendar now shows the current date in the title bar.
Shows ending times for Calendar events.
Added "Do Not Disturb" for Notifications. (See Settings, below, for more information)
Photos
Shared Photo Streams. Photos can be shared with other contacts. Photos shared can be commented on and liked. Notifications are enabled for when a contact shares a photo with the user.
New sharing menu, using new icons.
Constantly shows a button to create new Albums.
Sharing menu has options for Twitter, Facebook, Weibo (when Chinese keyboard is enabled), Copy, Slideshow, AirPlay, Use as Wallpaper, Print.
Videos can be uploaded to Youku and Tudou when Chinese keyboard is enabled.
Music
New streamlined UI with white and black themes.
Late Night Mode equaliser.
Redesigned rewind, play/pause, and fast forward controls (videos kept the same touch controls from prior iOS software.)
Settings
"Bluetooth" moved to top of Settings list.
Added "Do Not Disturb" mode, allowing users to avoid calls and notifications unless calling parties are on the user's Favorites group. A crescent moon icon will appear in the status bar when enabled. Has no effect when the screen is on.
New Privacy Controls. Apps must now ask for permission to access the users photos, calendars, contacts and reminders.
Revised Settings icon, similar to that of the OS X System Preferences app icon.
New gear animation in the Settings app shown whilst downloading an over-the-air update.
In the Usage menu, Time Since Last Full Charge, showing "Usage" and "Standby" time, is now available for all devices.
Enable 3G under Cellular setting (iPhone).
Maps menu for changing voice volume, map label language, label size, and distance units (iPhone 4S and later, iPad 2 and later, and iPod Touch (5th generation)).
Settings categories now separated into groups on iPad.
"Advertising" option added under "About", just above "Diagnostics & Usage" to enable or disable advertising networks from serving you "targeted ads".
Phone
Adds phone icon on lock screen for showing additional ignoring options, similar to the camera sliding icon on the lock screen in iOS 5.1.
When ignoring a call, the user can message the caller by sending one of three customizable quick SMS responses or set a Reminder to call them back later.
Phone call doesn't take up the entire lock screen when a call is incoming. (QuietIncomingCallsonLock)
Maps are now Apple-sourced instead of using Google sources.
Turn-by-turn Navigation with Siri Voice powered by TomTom (iPhone 4S and later, iPad 2 and later, and iPod Touch (5th generation)), voice directions (iPhone 4S and later only).
3D overview for maps (iPhone 4S and later, iPad 2 and later, and iPod Touch (5th generation)).
Satellite view.
Flyover view for maps gives 3D satellite view.P4S,P5,T5,S2,S2
New Map icon.
Lock Screen integration for turn-by-turn navigation (iPhone 4S and later, and iPad 2 and later), voice directions (iPhone 4S and later only).
Yelp! integration available for businesses provides reviews and information on the business. Allows the user to launch Yelp! app from Maps.
Info cards of businesses.
Traffic crowd sourcing with anonymous data sent from all iPhones, also adds events of traffic slow-down. Re-routing around traffic accidents and road work.
Tapping search bar will automatically give you directions from current location to back home, can be changed.
Fullscreen landscape mode (for iPhone and iPod Touch).
iCloud tab syncing across iOS devices and Macs.
Offline Reading List caches the user's Reading List for later use, even when not connected to the Internet (not available for iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch (4th generation)).
Smart App Banners: Banners on mobile webpages prompt users to download the website's native App Store counterpart in the App Store.
Faster JavaScript engine.
Apps in search results.
Support for photo upload via Camera Roll to web forms with <input type="file"> elements.
Support for up to 24 open tabs on iPad (up from prior limit of 9).
Bookmarks window now displays tabs along the bottom of the window to switch between viewing "Bookmarks", "History" and "Reading List"; formerly was listed all in one source list (iPad 2 and later only).
Bookmarks button changes to Reading List icon with a progress bar when updating the Reading List for offline use (iPad 2 and later only).
Long press the "Back" or "Forward" button to reveal the browsing history (for iPhone 3GS and later, iPod Touch (4th generation) and later. formerly only available for iPad since iOS 5.x).
Lost Mode: If an iOS device is lost, Lost Mode triggers an attention grabbing sound, prompting the person who finds the iPhone to call a specific number set by the owner remotely.
Additional features for China (Baidu search engine added, China social network, improved inputting method).
New music controls on lock screen when you double-press home button.
Siri can now purchase movie tickets via Fandango (USA only).
LTE now works with several European, African, Asian and American carriers.
Individual songs can again be downloaded or deleted when using iTunes Match.
An empty Passbook will automatically add a sample pass explaining passbook functionality. The pass text changes slightly for users in British English speaking countries, changing "movie tickets" to "cinema tickets" in the first sentence, and "theaters" to "cinemas" in the last sentence.
Reset Advertising Identifier button now works.
New cellular data option for iTunes (it is available from iOS 6.0).
When setting up an iOS device for the first time with iCloud, it will now ask you to confirm your Apple ID password for FaceTime and iMessages. It will also ask you to confirm how you'd like people to reach you, and tells you that you can change these settings at any time later on.
Fixed an iPhone 5 bug that prevented the phone from reconnecting to the cellular network when it lost connection for an extended amount of time.
"Accessory attached" splashscreen removed. Bi-directional control now possible.
Fixed a Bluetooth A2DP trigger delay – the beginning of the audio stream cut off (e.g. when navigating turn-by-turn, you heard "HT in .5 miles" instead of "TURN RIGHT in .5 miles" in your A2DP headset/speakers)[92]
Fix CVE-2014-1266, a bug in Secure Transport that can cause it to fail to properly authenticate a SSL/TLS connection. This bug also occurred in iOS 7, and was caused by a duplicate goto fail; statement in the source code that caused critical parts of the certificate verification code to become unreachable code. This bug is informally known as the goto fail bug as a result.
Apple announced iOS 7 on June 10, 2013 at its annual Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) event, and it was released to the public on September 18, 2013 alongside the iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S. With this release, Apple dropped support for the iPhone 3GS (due to hardware limitations) and the iPod Touch (4th generation) (due to performance issues). iOS 7 has limited support on the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4 since they do not support Siri. However, other devices from the iPhone 4S onwards, iPod Touch (5th generation) onwards, the iPad 3 onwards, and the iPad Mini (1st generation) onwards were fully supported. The release of iOS 7.0.3 brought support for the iPad Air and iPad Mini 2. iOS 7.1.2 was the final release on the iPhone 4.
Flat design and move away from skeuomorphism in general (exceptions exist – for a move towards more skeuomorphism, see for example the Countdown with a new skeuomorphic 3D animation of a spinning wheel).
Full Screen apps that make use of the system status bar and navigation bar.
Translucent design in tab bar, navigation bar, status bar, system keyboard, Control Center, and Notification Center (some translucent layers not on the iPhone 4, the iPad 2 and the iPad 3 due to hardware constraints).
Opaque design in Alert view, Action Sheet and Share Sheet.
Borderless buttons in general.
Back navigation gesture by swiping from left edge of the screen.
New UI for arranging tab-bar icons.
System-wide dynamic font size, configurable in Settings.
Enhance the viewing experience of non-iPad apps on iPad 2 and iPad mini, remove the 1x and 2x toggle, apps are opened in '2x' mode by default on iPad 2 and mini.
Home Screen
Spotlight Search is now accessible on each screen by pulling it down.
"New" banner on newly installed apps have been replaced with blue dots.
Brand new icons for built-in apps.
Newsstand is now a dedicated app instead of a folder.
Control Center
A unified screen to quickly access toggles and controls for system settings and services, and for using AirDrop and AirPlay.
System wide, accessible by swiping upward from the bottom of the screen.
Accessible in the lock screen.
Flashlight (device-specific features that come with physical camera) toggle button.
Integrates Apple's ad-hoc Wi-Fi sharing feature AirDrop (iPhone 5 and later, iPod Touch (5th generation) and later, iPad (4th generation) and later, and iPad Mini (1st generation) and later).
Alert view, for receive invitation from other devices, option to accept/cancel.
Options to set discoverable: Off/Contacts only/Everyone.
Inter-app Audio
Register audio streams to share with other apps.
Provides for MIDI control of audio rendering, remotely launching other registered Inter-App Audio apps.
Notification Center
Accessible in the lock screen.
Today tab, for previewing the events calendar, stocks, and tomorrow's events; provides traffic info on oft-visited places.
Missed filter: can filter list to see notifications that occurred when phone was not actively in use.
Bounces when swiped down quickly.
Folders
Unlimited number of apps via folder subpages.
Newsstand app can now be moved inside any folder.
Transparent background.
Folders change color when apps are downloading and clock-like animated progress graphic is superimposed over folders that have actively downloading apps.
Alert
A countdown for snooze.
Calculator
New feedback when pressing a key.
Toggle landscape mode button.
Spotlight
Accessible on every page of the Home screen by swiping downward from anywhere.
New animation.
Multitasking
Redesigned switcher, with horizontal scrolling for previewing all running apps, and swipe upward gesture to stop any running apps.
Can close multiple apps simultaneously by swiping with multiple fingers.
Landscape switcher.
Background App Refresh; fetches data in the background based on network connectivity and user habits.
Bookmarked website thumbnail icons appear when text field is activated.
Top-hit, Google suggest, Bookmarks, and History appear on the unified text field while typing.
Preview tabs on iPhone and iPod Touch are no longer limited to 8.
Preview tabs use new 3D vertical animation for previewing the opened tabs; long press to edit positions, swipe to remove.
Reading List shows website thumbnails on the right.
Scrolls articles one-by-one vertically from Reading List, as per OS X Mavericks.
Swipe gestures for back/prior history, as per OS X.
Parental controls.
Private button: enables "Do not track me" feature per website within the app; formerly, configuration appeared in Settings for every website.
Recent links: a reading list of all user's friends on Facebook or Twitter post.
Reading List button: new round glasses icon pays tribute to Steve Jobs.
The .com button removed and replaced with a simple period button. The .com, .net, and .org domain extensions can be accessed by holding down on the button.
Updated voices, and a new male voice (in select regions/languages). English (US), French, and German will be available with the launch of iOS 7 (additional languages will be added over time).
Controls certain system settings, such as turning on/off Bluetooth, and changing display brightness.
Activation Lock: re-activation with iCloud account if the device have been wiped remotely using Find My iPhone service, to prevent unauthorized usage of the lost device.
No longer included in the AssistiveTouch, they appear on the layer of the image.
Trusted Devices
User is warned when plugging their iOS device into their Mac/PC, "Trust the currently connected computer? Trusting this computer will allow it to have full access to your device and all of its data."
Voice Memo
New design.
Save to iCloud.
Share using AirDrop.
Status bar
Translucent design.
1xRTT icon on CDMA iPhones changed from "o" icon to "1x" icon.
GPRS icon on GSM iPhones changed from "o" icon to "GPRS" icon.
Dots representations for cellular signal strength.
Icon size slightly increased for better readability on the lock screen.
Lock screen
Charging the battery: rather than battery image on the lock screen, x% charged briefly appears under the clock, then reverts to the date.
Access to Notification Center and Control Center.
When playing music, the lock screen will now display the time.
iPad has Camera control on the lock screen, like the prior version on iPhone and iPod Touch.
Timer counting down is shown when the device is locked.
Scrubbing bar is now displayed on the lock screen.
Wi-Fi
New Wi-Fi diagnostics mode.
Wi-Fi Hotspot 2.0.
Other
New first-time setup menus.
The unlock sound from prior iOS releases up to iOS 6 is no longer present. From now on, whenever one either correctly inputs a passcode or simply slide to unlock on the lock screen, no sound will play when unlocking a device's lock screen.
Photos and Camera tab in iOS Settings has a new "Upload Burst Photos" option.
You can disable Parallax effect independently of other animations when setting up wallpaper.
Notification Center now displays "No Notifications" and "No Missed Notifications" for the "All" and "Missed" sections respectively when there are no notifications.
Caller ID photos: no longer full screen, instead small circle portrait for incoming/outgoing calls.[97]
New Yahoo logo, in both Notification Center and the Weather and Stocks apps.
A new dialogue "Touch ID requires your passcode when iPhone restarts" when restarting.P5S
New iPad wallpapers.
"Touch ID and Passcode" has been moved-up to the main menu in Settings.
Animations and transitions are noticeably faster.
Keyboard has new Shift/Backspace key highlights.
Control Center has a new "spring" animation upon opening.
Control Center sliders – volume and brightness – have momentum.
Icons for Phone, Messages and FaceTime apps have less vibrant colors.
Music app: Albums now in descending order when browsing by Artist.
The buttons are circular in shape and do not show the word of what the icon means.
The Phone and FaceTime app have a new-look dialer and "end call" button.
The slide-to-power-off UI has been redesigned; the shape of the slider is circular and the thing that says "slide to power off" is oval in shape. Same with the "slide to answer" slider in the Phone and FaceTime apps.
Bug fixes/improvements
Fixes a home screen crash bug.
Fixes display of Mail unread badge for numbers greater than 10,000.
Patches 41 security exploits, including those used by the Evasi0n 7 jailbreak. This firmware, along with iOS 7.1.1 and 7.1.2 can be jailbroken via the Pangu jailbreak.[99]
Reduce Motion function in Settings app is introduced. This function reduces the motion of the UI and disables the parallax effects.
First update to iOS that enables beta versions to update over-the-air to the final release.
Issues
Touch ID fingerprint recognition is disabled when rebooting, turning Touch ID on and off; even restoring or resetting the device does not solve the problem.P5S
Apple announced iOS 8 on June 2, 2014, at its annual Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) event, and it was released to the public on September 17, 2014 alongside the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. With this release, Apple dropped support for only one device, the iPhone 4. iOS 8 has limited support on the iPad 2, iPhone 4S, and the iPod Touch (5th generation), as Apple received widespread complaints of extremely poor/slow performance from owners of these devices. All other devices from the iPhone 5 onwards, iPod Touch (6th generation) onwards, the iPad 3 onwards, and the iPad Mini (1st generation) onwards were fully supported. The release of iOS 8.1 brought support for the iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3, and the release of iOS 8.4 brought support for the iPod Touch (6th generation). iOS 8.3 was the first version of iOS to have public beta testing available, where users could test the beta for upcoming releases of iOS and send feedback to Apple about bugs or glitches. The final version of iOS 8 was iOS 8.4.1.
Photo Library – all photos and videos are automatically available in the iCloud Photo Library, and is consistent on all the linked devices automatically.
iCloud Drive – various files that are being written or worked on are automatically saved in iCloud Drive and is consistent on all linked devices automatically, including a Mac or PC.
iCloud settings now display account information, payment information and security settings.
Ability to send voice messages instantly by using a new "microphone" button to the right of the text entry field.
Pressing and holding on the microphone button lets you record your voice and then swipe up to send it.
Messages can be listened to by either pressing play or raise to listen. Messages can also be listened and responded to on the Lock Screen by raising to listen and raising to respond.
Ability to send photo and video messages instantly by using the "camera" button to the left of the text entry field.
Pressing and holding on the camera button lets you take a photo or record a video and instantly send it.
Tapping the camera button shows the most recent photos in your camera roll. Options are also present for taking a new photo or video and to view your entire photo library. Multiple photos and videos can be selected to send at once.
A new details menu is available for each conversation which contains many new functions:
You can now title group message threads.
A list of everyone participating in a message thread is listed with buttons to call, FaceTime and view their full contact card.
Ability to drop or add people to groups.
Ability to leave groups.
Send current location.
Can share location with an individual or group for one hour, until the end of the day or indefinitely until you choose to stop.
Do Not Disturb option per group.
A collection of all photos that have been sent in a message thread.
Batch save/delete all images in a message thread.
Messages threads are now synced between all of your devices.
Images in conversations are now much larger.
Scrolling to the top of a message will now automatically cause older messages to load.
Can mark all texts as read.
Added options to automatically delete standard messages after 1 year, 30 days or never.
Added options to automatically delete video/audio messages after 2 minutes or never.
Faces of contacts display next to contact name on select iPhones.P6P
Music
Left swipe to delete albums.
Can add music to a playlist from another playlist.
Updated Icon.
Multitasking UI
The faces of recently conversed people now appears above the open applications, and with a swipe to the right one can also access their favorites.
The animation speed when entering and leaving the app switcher is now much faster.
Share sheets
Share sheet action icons are now redesigned.
Share sheet icons can now be rearranged and hidden.
UI
Improved animation system. Gestures such as bringing down Notification Center won't be blocked by an animation, such as the home screen icons flying in.
Can swipe to the left for options to flag it for follow-up, move it to a folder or delete.
Can swipe all the way across the screen to the left to delete immediately.
Can swipe all the way across the screen to the right to mark as read/unread.
Ability to swipe mail compose sheet down allowing access to the rest of ones mailbox to gather the information needed in order to compose the message.
When Mail recognizes a reservation, flight confirmation, or phone number in an email, a notification appears at the top of the message. In order to add it to the calendar or contacts, one needs to tap the notification(s).
Mail conversations are now threads.
Individual threads can be set as VIP so that the user will receive a notification when a reply is received.
Per thread S/MIME.
Automatic reply messages.
Can delete attachments.
New mailboxes: Unread, To or CC, Attachments, Thread Notifications, Today.
Interactive notifications – one can take action on texts, email, calendar invitations, reminders, and messages from apps like Facebook and other third-party apps.
Can be performed from within Notification Center by swiping a notification to the left to reveal actions available.
Can be performed directly within an apps notification banner/alert all without having to leave the app one is in.
Notifications in Notification Center can be individually dismissed.
Indoor Mapping – iOS 8 adds the M7 and M8 processor's and iPhone motion sensors to the CoreLocation API, allowing venue owners to create indoor positioning systems.
Camera Roll and My Photo Stream removed and replaced by "Recently Added, Videos, Recently Deleted" albums.
Search Photos by location and more.
Date, time and location information displayed.
Photos can now be favorited.
Photos and videos can be hidden from Moments.
Hidden photos and videos get added to the "Hidden" album.
New Albums added for Bursts, Slo-Mo Videos, and Time-Lapse Videos.
Option to auto optimise storage on device by removing local copies of pictures and videos.
Improved editing.
Smart composition tools.
Smart adjustments.
Extension support.
Voice Memos
Play/Pause button next to the record button in Voice Memos.
Lock Screen
App shortcuts for Handoff on the Lock Screen.
App shortcuts on the Lock Screen based on your location.
Audio iMessages received while the phone is locked can be listened to by raising to listen and responded to by raising to respond.
iTunes Radio "buy" song button on Lock Screen.
iTunes Radio skips remaining displayed on Lock Screen.
New animation when opening apps from the Lock Screen.
Access to Medical ID from emergency dialer.
New "Slide to Unlock" text in certain languages.
Keyboard
QuickType – as one types, they see choices of words or phrases one would probably type next, based on their past conversations and writing style, using a more formal language for mail, and a casual one for Messages. The system also adjusts the system based on the person one converses with, and the region of the user (currently available in 14 countries).
QuickType can be hidden by swiping down.
QuickType can be toggled on or off from within the keyboard switcher.
Extra functions added to the keyboard on select iPhones.P6P6P
Smiley icon for when emoji keyboard is the only alternate keyboard set up. Becomes a globe icon when multiple keyboards are set up.
Streaming voice recognition for Speech to Text.
iOS 6 keyboard no longer appears in apps that are not optimized or updated to a version optimized for iOS 7 or higher.
New keyboards (Indian language and Indian English keyboards, Tagalog, Irish Gaelic, and Slovenian).
Family Sharing – a service of sharing purchases from iTunes between up to 6 people.
All group members must pay for family purchases with the same credit/debit card.
Ask To Buy – a parent can approve youngsters' spending right from a parent's device.
Coincides with iCloud Photo Library – automatically sets up a family photo stream where you can share photos, videos, and comments, and all the family photos are available from any device within the family.
Offers shared calendar and Reminders.
Family Sharing can automatically share the user's location with the family members, or keep their location hidden.
With the Find My iPhone app, family members can use their devices to locate one that's lost and have it play a sound.
Apple IDs for youngsters under age of 13 years are now possible due to Family Sharing.
Health app –shows a dashboard of all the fitness and health data of the user (iPhone and iPod Touch only).[107]
Shows the heart rate, calories burned, blood sugar, cholesterol, etc. of the user.
One can create an Emergency card with medicinal details, from within either the application or the lock screen.
Natively tracks steps taken and other movement activity within the Health app.
Export health data.
Continuity – iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Mac communication.[108]
Handoff – start writing an email or surfing a website on one device, then continue on another device, for devices connected to the same iCloud account.P5P5CP5SP6P6PT5S4S5M1M2
Answer a phone call, receive and send SMS/MMS from an iPhone on an iPad or a Mac (all devices must run iOS 8 or OS X Yosemite, and be connected to the same Wi-Fi network or to the device's hotspot).
Intelligent hotspot – intelligently discover when an iPhone is nearby and automatically list the device under Wi-Fi networks in Settings.
Spotlight
Spotlight now also searches Wikipedia, iBooks, iTunes, App Store, nearby places, news, Suggested Websites, and Movie showtimes.
Shutter Mode (timer can be set to 3 or 10 seconds).
Burst photos can now be taken with the FaceTime camera in addition to the iSight camera.P5SP6P6P[111]
Settings
Every app installed now has its own settings panel, regardless of whether the app specifies its settings to appear in the Settings app (e.g. Notifications, Privacy, Background App Refresh, and Cellular Data usage).
Patches the ability to access the .app folder within App Store and 3rd-party apps through device file explorer programs such as iExplorer or iFunbox on non-jailbroken devices.
Option to Enable/Disable dictation in keyboard settings.
iBooks icon and Reader view icon in Safari have been redesigned.
Settings app for third-party apps has been tweaked.
Apple Pay support for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus (in physical store, online, or in app) P6P6P, Apple Watch-compatible devices (in physical store) P5P5CP5SP6P6P, for Touch ID devices (online or in app). P5SP6P6PP6PS6M3
Photos
Adds iCloud Photo Library as a beta service.
Adds Camera Roll and My Photo Stream albums back to Photos app after disappearing in iOS 8.0.x.
Removes Recently Added album.
Camera
Provides alerts when running low on space before capturing Time Lapse videos.
Messages
Adds the ability for iPhone users to send and receive SMS and MMS text messages to an iPad, iPod Touch and OS X Yosemite.P5P5CP5SP6P6P[118]
Resolves an issue where searching messages would sometimes not display results.
Fixes a bug that caused read messages not to be marked as read.
Fixes issues with group messaging.
Resolves issues with Wi-Fi performance that could occur when connected to some base stations, like the FIFA 15 Ultimate Team servers.
Fixes an issue that could prevent connections to Bluetooth hands-free devices.
Fixes bugs that could cause screen rotation to stop working.
Fixes an issue in Safari where videos would sometimes not play.
Adds an option to select between 2G, 3G, 4G, or LTE networks for cellular data on certain carriers (iPhone and iPad (Wi-Fi + Cellular) only).[119]
Fixes an issue with VoiceOver where tone dialing would get stuck on tone until dialing another number.
Improves reliability when using handwriting, Bluetooth keyboards, and Braille displays with VoiceOver.
Fixes an issue that was preventing the use of OS X Caching Server for iOS updates.
Patches the "date trick" for apps like GBA4iOS. Emulators (for non-jailbroken devices) can still be installed on this firmware, but not by the date trick.
This firmware can be jailbroken via the Pangu8 jailbreak, just like its predecessors, iOS 8.0 and 8.0.2.
Fixes an issue where you could be continuously prompted for login credentials
Addresses an issue where some devices disconnect intermittently from Wi-Fi networks
Fixes an issue where hands-free phone calls could become disconnected
Fixes an issue where audio playback could stop working with some bluetooth speakers
Orientation and rotation fixes
Addresses an issue that sometimes prevented rotating back to portrait after having rotated to landscape
Improves performance and stability issues that occurred when rotating the device between portrait and landscape
Fixes an issue where device orientation appeared upside down after pulling the iPhone 6 Plus from your pocket
Resolves an issue that sometimes prevented apps from rotating to correct orientation after switching apps in multitasking
Messages fixes
Addresses issues that caused group messages to sometimes split
Fixes an issue that sometimes removed the ability to forward or delete individual messages
Resolves an issue that sometimes prevented a preview from appearing when taking a photo in Messages
Adds the ability to report junk messages directly from the Messages app
Adds the ability to filter out iMessages that are not sent by your contacts
Family Sharing fixes
Fixes a bug where certain apps would not launch or update on family members' devices
Fixes a bug that prevented family members from downloading certain free apps
Increased reliability for 'Ask to Buy' notifications
CarPlay fixes
Fixes an issue where Maps could come up as a black screen
Fixes an issue where the UI could be incorrectly rotated
Fixes an issue where the keyboard could appear on the CarPlay screen when it shouldn't
Enterprise fixes
Improves reliability of installing and updating enterprise apps
Corrects the time zone of Calendar events created in IBM Notes
Fixes a problem that could cause web clip icons to become generic after restarting
Improves reliability of saving the password for a web proxy
Exchange out-of-office message can now be edited separately for external replies
Improves recovery of Exchange accounts from temporary connection problems
Improves compatibility of VPN and Web proxy solutions
Allows use of physical keyboards to log into Safari Web sheets, such as for joining a public Wi-Fi network
Fixes an issue that caused Exchange meetings with long notes to be truncated
Accessibility fixes
Fixes an issue where using the back button in Safari causes VoiceOver gestures to not respond
Fixes an issue where VoiceOver focus becomes unreliable in draft Mail messages
Fixes an issue where Braille Screen Input cannot be used to type text in forms on webpages
Fixes an issue where toggling Quick Nav on a Braille Display announces that Quick Nav is off
Fixes an issue keeping app icons from being moveable on home screen when VoiceOver is enabled
Fixes an issue in Speak Screen where speech will not start again after pausing
Other improvements and bug fixes
Introduces a redesigned Emoji keyboard with over 300 new characters
iCloud Photo Library has been optimized to work with the new Photos app on OS X 10.10.3 and is now out of beta
Improves the pronunciation of street names during turn-by-turn navigation in Maps
Includes support for Baum VarioUltra 20 and VarioUltra 40 Braille displays
Improves the display of Spotlight results when Reduce Transparency is turned on
Adds Italic and Underline format options for iPhone 6 Plus landscape keyboard
Adds the ability to remove shipping and billing addresses used with Apple Pay
Additional language and country support for Siri: English (India, New Zealand), Danish (Denmark), Dutch (Netherlands), Portuguese (Brazil), Russian (Russia), Swedish (Sweden), Thai (Thailand), Turkish (Turkey)
Additional dictation languages: Arabic (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates) and Hebrew (Israel)
Improves stability for Phone, Mail, Bluetooth connectivity, Photos, Safari tabs, Settings, Weather, and Genius Playlists in Music
Addresses an issue where Slide to Unlock could fail to work on certain devices
Addresses an issue that sometimes prevented swiping to answer a phone call on the Lock screen
Addresses an issue that prevented opening links in Safari PDFs
Fixes an issue where selecting Clear History and Website Data in Safari Settings did not clear all data
Fixes an issue that prevented autocorrecting "FYI"
Addresses an issue where contextual predictions did not appear in Quick Reply
Fixes an issue where Maps did not enter night mode from hybrid mode
Resolves an issue that prevented initiating FaceTime calls from a browser or third-party app using FaceTime URLs
Fixes an issue that sometimes prevented photos from properly exporting to Digital Camera Image folders on Windows
Fixes an issue that sometimes prevented an iPad backup from completing with iTunes
Fixes an issue that could cause Podcast downloads to stall when switching from Wi-Fi to cellular networks
Fixes an issue where remaining time on timer would sometimes incorrectly display as 00:00 on Lock screen
Fixes an issue that sometimes prevented adjusting call volume
Fixes an issue that caused the status bar to sometimes appear when it shouldn’t
Attempt to fix problems with custom keyboards crashing, not appearing, or being replaced with the default keyboard
Adds support for the new Apple Music streaming service which is available in 100 countries starting on June 30, 2015.
New features including personalized music discovery and recommendation based on the user's favorite genres or artists. Adds support for 24/7 online radio service named Beats 1 and new Connect tab in which all artists can communicate with their listeners.
Apple Music costs $9.99/month for 1 person and $14.99/mo. for up to 6 people and a free trial will be given to users for 3 months.
Apple Radio, Beats One, and Connect feature are still available for users not choosing to subscribe to Apple Music
Redesigned Music Application
Streamlined design
Recently Added tab makes it easier to discover music that you recently added
MiniPlayer makes it easier to see what's currently playing and to control music playback
Up Next section lets you see and control what is going to play next
Enables search from anywhere in the music application with a new unified magnifying glass icon at the top. Trending Search was added which shows which music within Apple Music is being searched for most by users.
Adds support for offline music playback including a toggle and icon to show which songs are available offline.
iBooks improvements and fixes
Browse, listen, and download audiobooks inside iBooks
Enjoy the all-new Now Playing feature, designed specifically for audiobooks
Books that are made for iBooks now work on iPhone and iPad
Improves accessibility of widgets, glossary, and navigation in books made with iBooks Author
New default Chinese font.
New setting to turn off Auto-Night theme in your library
Resolves an issue that may have prevented Hide Purchases from working
Resolves an issue that may have prevented downloading books from iCloud.
Bug fixes and stability improvements
Fixes an issue where receiving a specific series of Unicode characters causes device to reboot.
Fixes an issue that prevented GPS accessories from providing location data
Fixes an issue where deleted Apple Watch apps would re-install
Apple announced iOS 9 on June 8, 2015, at its annual Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) event, and it was released to the public on September 16, 2015 alongside the iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus and iPad Mini 4. With this release, Apple did not drop support for any iOS devices. Therefore, iOS 9 was supported on the iPhone 4S onwards, iPod Touch (5th generation) onwards, the iPad 2 onwards, and the iPad Mini (1st generation) onwards. However, iOS 9 has limited support on the iPhone 4S, iPad 2 and iPad 3, iPad Mini (1st generation), and iPod Touch (5th generation). This release made the iPad 2 the first device to support six major releases of iOS, supporting iOS 4 to 9. Despite Apple's promise of better performance on these devices, there were still widespread complaints that the issue had not been fixed. iOS 9.3.5 is the final release on the iPhone 4S, iPad 2 and 3, iPod Touch (5th generation) and iPad Mini (1st generation).
Attachments receive can now be saved and attachments can be added to messages from iCloud Drive or other document providers while composing a new message.
Support for public transit lines, station details with exits and entrances, schedules and directions in select major cities. Also, popular places such as restaurants, stores, and points of interests will be highlighted and presented to the user in a central location.
Apple Pay support is indicated on place cards at participating retail locations.
Adds support for "Follow up by Email" that allows Apple to email users about issues reported.
Browse for places nearby by category, including Food, Drinks, Shopping, Fun and more.
Place cards include Wikipedia information for landmarks and cities.
Adds a new app named News which provides curated lists of personalized news content for iOS users, offering content from popular websites and newspapers and displaying it in an iOS-friendly layout. This app replaces the Newsstand app.[124]
Add photos to notes with the built-in camera or from the Photo Library.
Support for hand-drawn sketches, checklists, and inserting photos from the internet or the Camera Roll.
Adds different fonts for headings, body, and titles.
Recently deleted folder.
Share Sheet extension that allows a user to input text, pictures, or other attachments from anywhere in the system via an extension in the share sheet.
There are now video recording settings to change the quality of recorded videos.
There is a new iCloud Drive app which can be enabled in the iCloud Settings.
Battery moved to the top level.
Updated Notifications icon.
Additional options for Auto-Lock.
Wallpapers
Adds 15 new wallpapers to iOS which replaces most of the wallpaper present in iOS 8.
When changing wallpapers, there is a new "Still" option which keeps the wallpaper still.
Wallet
Replaces the Passbook app with a new app named Wallet and enhances the features of Apple Pay with support for Discover credit/debit card, store loyalty card, and Apple Pay in the UK.[126]
To check out even faster, upcoming payments can be prepared by double-clicking the Home button from the Lock Screen and keeping the finger on Touch ID.
Watch
Renamed from Apple Watch.
Updated haptic feedback icons.
Battery improvements
Up to one hour of additional time before the battery needs to be charged.
Facedown detection for turning display off when not in use
New Low Power Mode (iPhone only) disables Background App Refresh, Mail Fetch, Motion Effects, and Animated Wallpapers. It also extends device's battery life by up to three hours.P4SP5P5CP5SP6P6PP6SP6SP[123]
Low Power Mode turns off when device is connected to a power source.
Notification Center Widget (when paired with Apple Watch).
Presents relevant information even before the user starts typing.
Notifies the user when the user needs to leave for appointments using traffic conditions.
Learns what the user listens to in a certain location or at a particular time of day and can automatically display playback controls for preferred music and audio apps.
Suggested events and contact details are added to apps based on information found in Mail.
Siri has a new colorful interface, similar to that of the Apple Watch.
Removed sound from Siri activation.
Updated Siri icon in Settings.
Search personal photos and videos based on dates, locations and album names.
Ask Siri to remind about things being looked at in apps, including Safari, Mail, Notes and Messages.
Request directions via public transit.
Siri can now use an accent (same language) which differs from the input language.
Siri no longer asks for confirmation of reminders that are created.
Spotlight Search.
A more intelligent Spotlight search provides info such as Weather, News, Stocks, nearby places, and recent/favorite contacts based on the user's preference. Spotlight search can be activated by swiping to the right on the first page of the home screen or swiping down on any page of the home screen.P5P5CP5SP6P6PT6S4S5S6M2M3
Perform tasks such as currency conversions and calculations.
Get sports scores, weather conditions and stock prices.
Initiate messages, phone calls and FaceTime calls from contact search results.
Redesigned notification center view when in landscape.
Keyboard improvements
New keyboard now displays whether the letters are upper-case or lower-case depending on whether the Shift key has been toggled or not.
Cut/Copy functions on the keyboard have been replaced with an Undo/Redo button. The Cut/Copy buttons still appear when text is selected.
Over 50 new flag emojis.
A "deep press" (3D touch) on the keyboard will convert the keyboard to a track pad to move the cursor and make it easier to manipulate text. (6S and 6S Plus only)
Ability to disable character preview.
Performance and stability improvements.
Extends the battery life of iOS devices by an extra hour.
Minimizes iOS update file size to 1.3 GB.
Improves performance on iOS devices by utilising Metal API throughout iOS to deliver faster scrolling, smoother animation, and better overall performance.
Reduced touch latency from sixty milliseconds to less than thirty milliseconds.[128]
Security improvements
Touch ID devices now use a 6-digit passcode by default, though a 4-digit option is still available alongside options for a passcode with a custom number of digits and an alphanumeric passcode.P5SP6P6PS6M3[129]
Adds 2-factor authentication for iCloud on iOS.
Adds support for add a IKEv2VPN directly in Settings without need for third-party app.[130][131]
Other improvements
Print preview screen. Allows the user to view all pages, select which pages to print, and print in black and white.
Leave a message option if recipient isn't available for a FaceTime call.
Share voicemails from the Phone app using the share sheet.
Added confirmation dialog when an app attempts to open another app.
Support for right-to-left languages.
Flight and package tracking for data detectors[132]
iCloud Drive app.
Easily search for a file or browse in the new iCloud Drive app by date, name, or tags added on associated Mac.
Open files in any compatible app.
Organize folders and files.
Get the iCloud Drive app in Settings > iCloud > iCloud Drive and select Show on Home Screen.
Wi-Fi Assist to automatically use cellular data when Wi-Fi connectivity is poor.
It is possible to go directly back to a formerly used app if a link opens another app.
Recent Contacts have been removed from the multitasking UI. They have now been placed in the new Proactive Menu.
Handoff is now displayed as a pull up menu in the app switcher.
Redesigned Voice Control audio waveform.
Redesigned audio dictation audio waveform.
Expanded language support
New PingFang Chinese system font.
Improved predictions, learning and autocorrection for Chinese in QuickType.
Redesigned punctuation input on 10-key Chinese keyboard.
Redesigned User Interface for right-to-left languages.
Added Siri support for Austria, Belgium (French and Dutch), and Norway.
Added Spotlight search support for Mexico.
New display languages for German (Germany), German (Austria), German (Switzerland), English (Canada), French (France), French (Switzerland), Italian (Italy), Italian (Switzerland), and Traditional Chinese (Taiwan).
New keyboards for French (Belgium), German (Austria), Gujarati, Hindi (Transliteration), Hinglish, Punjabi, Spanish (Mexico), and Telugu.
Predictive input for French (Belgium), German (Austria), Korean, Russian, Spanish (Mexico), and Turkish.
Dictation support for Dutch (Belgium), English (Ireland, Philippines, South Africa), French (Belgium), German (Austria), and Spanish (Chile, Colombia).
Spell check for Finnish and Korean.
Definition dictionary for Hindi, Norwegian and Swedish.
Bilingual dictionary for French-English and German-English.
New Japanese autocorrection and improved predictions and learning in QuickType.
Option to switch between number systems for Arabic and Hindi.
Enterprise and Education
DEP (Device Enrolment Program) Support added for 26 countries.
Assign apps directly to iOS devices without needing to have an iTunes Store account configured.
Improved calendar reliability for customers using Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync v16.
Expanded Per App VPN support for the built-in IPSec and IKEv2 VPN clients.
New networking controls for managed apps to help limit international data roaming costs.
New restrictions to prevent changes to passcodes, device names and wallpapers, or to disable AirDrop on managed devices.
Third party app extension support for VPN, advanced content filtering, and captive Wi-Fi networks.
Accessibility
Touch Accommodations provides additional touch control for those with physical motor limitations.
Speak Selection and Speak Screen can now use Siri voice.
Fixed issues with VoiceOver when using Camera face detection.
Added support for VoiceOver to wake up the screen.
Added support for VoiceOver to invoke app switcher with 3D Touch gesture.
Fixed an issue with Guided Access when trying to end phone calls.
Improved functionality for Switch Control users when using 3D Touch.
Fixed an issue with speech rate of Speak Screen.
SFSafariViewController now supports 3rd party Action Extensions. Any Action Extension that works in Safari will also work in SFSafariViewController.
Long tapping the Reload button in Safari View Controller now gives options to Reload Without Content Blockers and Request Desktop Site, like in Safari.
Fixed an issue where WebApps saved to the home screen would not respect the apple-mobile-web-app-status-bar-style meta tag.
Adds support for a new feature named Night Shift which, manually or automatically (based on user preference), makes the display color warmer so it is easier to view at night. Users can adjust the color temperature in the Settings app.
Control Center
Adds toggle for Night Shift mode on supported devices.
Night Shift toggle redesign in Beta 4.
Notes
Adds support for protecting notes inside the Notes app with a passcode or Touch ID.
News
News delivers stories that are better curated to a user's tastes.
News suggests editors' and top picks to users at the top.
When checking for updates, News refreshes much faster.
If a story contains video, it is possible to view it directly from your feed.
Support for pairing multiple Apple Watches to your iPhone.
Health
Easier app discovery with the Health app.
Health now includes data from the Apple Watch and Activity app.
Photos
When removing a photo from an album, users are given a choice to remove the photo or to delete it.
CarPlay
Adds support for the For You and New tabs in the Music section of CarPlay
Adds the Nearby feature in Maps which quickly lets you discover points-of-interest nearby.
Classroom Enhancements
Adds support for multi-user logons in schools so any student can log in (with a passcode) to an iPad issued by the school.
Adds a new Classroom app for those devices registered with schools which allows teachers to guide students through a lesson, see their progress, keep them on track, present quizzes and tests, and wirelessly display their work with AirPlay and Apple TV.
Adds support for a device manager in which school administrators can set up multiple Apple IDs, change passwords, enroll students in iTunes U courses, etc.
Dolby Digital Plus
Adds support for playing video encoded with Dolby Digital Plus audio streams. (iPhone 5s and newer, iPod Touch 6th gen and newer, iPad Mini 2 and newer, iPad Air series, iPad Pro series)
Multichannel output is supported using the Apple Lightning Digital AV Adapter.
New 3D Touch shortcuts added for Health, App Store, iTunes, Settings, Weather, Stocks, and Compass apps.
Support for Spanish (Latin America) display language.
Siri support for Finnish, Hebrew, and Malay.
Improvements to stability and performance.
Fixes an issue where manually changing the date to May 1970 or earlier could prevent 64-bit devices from turning on after a restart.[138]
Fix CVE-2016-1788, a security vulnerability that allowed an attacker to decrypt iMessage attachments, by rejecting replay attempts.
Build 13E236 and 13E237 were issued to devices that were affected by the Activation Lock bug. These re-issued builds helped correct the issue after the prior builds were withdrawn.
Fixes an issue that caused apps to be unresponsive after tapping on links in Safari or other apps.
Fixes an issue where connecting to a fake Apple time server which sets system time to January 1, 1970 can cause 64-bit devices to overheat and become unresponsive after a restart.[139]
Fixes CVE-2016-4654, a memory corruption vulnerability in IOMobileFrameBuffer found by Team Pangu that allows arbitrary code execution with kernel privileges.[140]
Fixes three zero-day vulnerabilities.[141] These vulnerabilities were chained together by the NSO Group into the Trident exploit chain.[141] Trident is composed of CVE-2016-4657, CVE-2016-4655, and CVE-2016-4656 and uses them in that order.[141] First, Trident's first stage uses CVE-2016-4657 to exploit WebKit, iOS's built-in web browser engine, via malicious JavaScript to cause WebKit to execute arbitrary Trident's second stage malware.[141] Trident's second stage then downloads the Pegasus spyware package, uses CVE-2016-4655 to locate the kernel, and uses CVE-2016-4656 to disable signature verification in order to allow unsigned code like Pegasus to execute.[141] The second stage malware then uses the previously discovered location of the kernel to install and load Pegasus with kernel privileges, allowing the attacker to steal all data on the phone and spy on the victim's conversations live.[141]
Apple announced iOS 10 on June 13, 2016, at its annual Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) event, and it was released to the public on September 13, 2016 alongside the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. With this release, Apple dropped support for devices using an A5 or A5X processor: the iPhone 4S, iPad 2 and iPad 3, iPad Mini (1st generation) and iPod Touch (5th generation). iOS 10 has limited support on the iPhone 5, iPhone 5C, and iPad 4 because those devices have 32-bit processors. However, the iPhone 5S onwards, iPod Touch (6th generation) onwards, and the iPad Mini 2 onwards are fully supported. The release of iOS 10.2.1 brought support for the iPad 5, and iOS 10.3.2 brought support for the iPad Pro (10.5-inch) and the iPad Pro (12.9-inch, 2nd generation) iOS 10.3.3 is the final supported release for the iPhone 5, iPhone 5C, and iPad 4 and also the last iOS version to run on 32-bit processors.
Bubble effects allows sending messages loudly, gently, with a slam or with invisible ink.
Full-screen effects.
Tapback for quick replies to messages, links and photos.
Handwritten messages animate like ink on paper.
Digital Touch allows sending of sketches, taps and heartbeats.
Tap to replace can emojify text with just a tap.
Rich links show a preview of shared web pages.
iMessage apps
New App Store for iMessage.
Use the power of apps in Messages to share and collaborate with friends.
Download stickers to send and place on text bubbles and photos.
Siri
Siri now works with the following types of apps.
Messaging apps to send, search and read back text messages.
VoIP apps to make phone calls.
Photos apps to search for images and photos.
Ride service apps to book rides.
Payment apps to make personal payments.
Fitness apps to start, stop and pause workouts.
CarPlay carmaker apps to adjust climate, radio, seat and personal settings.
Maps
All-new look.
Proactive suggestions for places user is likely to go next, based on routine or appointments in Calendar.
Improved search with new callout design, clustered results and category filters.
Home, work, favourite locations and locations from upcoming Calendar events are displayed on the map.
Displays where the users car is parked via CarPlay or Bluetooth.
Weather for the currently viewed area.
Extensions
Make a reservation within Maps using extensions from participating reservations apps.
Book a ride to a destination within Maps using extensions from participating ride service apps.
Turn-by-turn navigation improvements.
Search along route for petrol stations, food and coffee shops.
Automatic view adjustment of the road ahead.
Use pan and zoom during navigation.
Option to avoid tolls and motorways.
Photos
Advanced face recognition designed with deep learning to automatically group similar faces together.
Object and scene recognition to intelligently search for photos by what's in them using computer vision that scans the photo library locally on the device.
Places album to see all photos, videos and Live Photos on a map.
Memories
Intelligently highlights forgotten events, trips and people, and presents them in a collection.
Memory movies automatically edited with theme music, titles and cinematic transitions.
Related memories to rediscover photos, based on location, time, people, scenes and objects.
Easily share with family and friends.
Brilliance control applies region-specific adjustments to brightness, highlights and contrast.
Home
New Home app to securely manage and control HomeKit-enabled accessories.
Scenes to control groups of accessories with just a tap.
Rich notifications with quick actions to control accessories.
Optionally share home access with family and friends.
Remote access and automation of accessories with Apple TV or iPad.
Apple Music
An all-new design.
Navigate Library with modified menu and see all the Downloaded Music that can play on device while offline.
See recommendations in For You that highlight mixes, playlists, albums and Connect posts – selected based on their music and artist preferences.
Browse to see exclusive releases, find curated playlists and discover the most important new releases – picked by editors.
Modified Radio interface – clearly see what's live on Beats 1, hear favourite shows on demand or choose a curated station for any genre of music.
Modified Now Playing interface – swipe up to view available lyrics and quickly see or edit songs that are coming up next.
Apple News
All-new design in For You adds bold typography, vibrant colour and distinct sections to find stories on specific topics.
Important stories of the day within Top Stories – updated by editors throughout the day.
Find most popular stories right now within Trending Stories – selected based on what others are reading.
User can see all stories grouped into sections based on the topics they follow or read.
Featured Stories – selected by editors.
Share stories – tap the icon on any story to send it to a friend from For You.
Receive breaking news notifications from users trusted sources.
Subscribe to favourite magazines and newspapers directly in News.
New personalised Today View widget lets user keep up with the latest stories throughout the day.
Experience
Raise to Wake automatically wakes the screen as iPhone is raised.P6SP6SPPSEP7P7P
Rich notifications that support real-time information, audio, photos and videos.
Today view is redesigned and supports all-new widgets for apps like Weather, Up Next, Maps, Stocks and more.
Control Center is redesigned including dedicated cards for music playback and Home.
Expanded use of 3D Touch.
Lock screen notifications to support an expanded view and access to quick actions.
New quick actions for built-in apps like Weather, Stocks, Reminders, Health, Home, FaceTime, iCloud Drive and Settings.
Home screen widgets.
Control Center for access to quick actions for Torch, Timer, Calculator and Camera.
Clear all in Notification Center.
QuickType
New emoji, including gender-diverse options to existing characters, single-parent family variations, rainbow flag and redesigns of popular emoji.
Contextual predictions for current location, recent addresses, contact information and calendar availability using deep neural network technology.
Emoji predictions.
Calendar events are intelligently populated using deep learning technology with information from conversations in Mail and Messages.
Multilingual typing now lets user type in two languages at once without having to switch keyboards.
Rest & Type on iPad intelligently adapts to users unique typing patterns.
Predictive typing now uses deep neural network technology for greater prediction accuracy.
Phone
Voicemail transcription (beta).
Spam call alerts with spam call identification apps.
Support for third-party VoIP apps receiving calls on the Lock screen, including support for Call Waiting, Mute and Do Not Disturb.
Contacts
Emergency bypass allows call and text notifications to sound aloud regardless of silent or Do Not Disturb mode.
View two pages at once using Split View in Safari on iPad.
Notes collaboration lets user invite people to work on notes together.
Markup support in Messages, Photos and PDFs stored in Notes.
Bedtime Alarm in the Clock app lets user set a regular sleep schedule and receive bedtime reminders.
Health adds support for health records and organ donation (US only).
Stabilisation support for Live Photos for improved camera capture.
Live Filters support when capturing Live Photos.
iCloud Drive now supports Desktop and Documents folders from macOS.
Live search results in Spotlight for Chinese and Japanese.
Siri support for Spanish (Chile), Chinese (Cantonese – China), English (Ireland), English (South Africa).
Ling Wai and Kaiti Black document fonts for Chinese.
Yu Kyokasho and Toppan Bunkyu fonts for Japanese.
New definition dictionaries in Traditional Chinese and Danish and bilingual dictionaries in Dutch and Italian.
New keyboard for Spanish (Latin America).
New display languages and locales for English (Ireland), English (New Zealand), English (Singapore), English (South Africa), Spanish (Argentina), Spanish (Chile), Spanish (Colombia), Spanish (Costa Rica), Spanish (Ecuador), Spanish (United States), Spanish (El Salvador), Spanish (Guatemala), Spanish (Honduras), Spanish (Nicaragua), Spanish (Panama), Spanish (Paraguay), Spanish (Peru), Spanish (Puerto Rico), Spanish (Dominican Republic), Spanish (Uruguay), Spanish (Venezuela), French (Belgium), Dutch (Belgium), Dutch (Netherlands), and Traditional Chinese (Macau).
Accessibility
Magnifier now uses the camera on iPhone or iPad like a digital magnifying glass for real-life objects.
New range of display colour filters to support different forms of colour blindness or other vision challenges.
VoiceOver adds a Pronunciation Editor to customise the way words are pronounced, additional voices and support for multiple audio sources.
Additional text highlighting options in Speak Screen and Speak Selection, as well as the ability to speak keyboard letters and predictive typing suggestions to support multi-modal learning.
Switch control now lets user control iOS, macOS and tvOS all from the same iPhone or iPad, so user doesn't need to configure switches for the secondary device.
Software textphone allows user to make and receive textphone calls without the need for traditional hardware teleprinter accessories.
Bug Fixes from 10.0 (iPhone 7/Plus changelog)
Fixes an issue that could prevent recognizing "Hey Siri" requests.
Fixes issues that could affect audio quality for calls made over VoLTE.
Fixes issues that could impact Bluetooth connectivity and pairing with Apple Watch.
Improves stability of the Camera and Contacts apps.
Introduces Portrait Camera for iPhone 7 Plus that creates a depth effect that keeps your subject sharp while creating a beautifully blurred background (beta).
People names in the Photos app are saved in iCloud backups.
Improved the display of wide color gamut photos in the grid views of the Photos app.
Fixes an issue where opening the Camera app would show a blurred or flashing screen for some users.
Fixes an issue that caused Photos to quit for some users when turning on iCloud Photo Library.
Maps
Transit support for every major train, subway, ferry, and national bus line, as well as local bus systems for Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya.
Sign-based transit navigation including layouts of all underground structures and walkways that connect large transit stations.
Transit fare comparison when viewing alternative transit routes.
Messages
New option to replay bubble and full screen effects.
Messages effects can play with Reduce Motion enabled.
Fixes an issue that could lead to contact names appearing incorrectly in Messages.
Addresses an issue where Messages could open to a white screen.
Addresses an issue that could prevent the report junk option from displaying with unknown senders.
Fixes an issue where videos captured and sent in the Messages app could be missing audio.
Apple Watch
Adds distance and average pace to workout summaries in the Activity app for outdoor wheelchair run pace and outdoor wheelchair walk pace.
Fixes issues that may have prevented Music playlists from syncing to Apple Watch.
Addresses an issue that was preventing invitations and data to appear in Activity Sharing.
Fixes an issue that was allowing Activity Sharing to update over cellular when manually disabled.
Resolves an issue that was causing some third-party apps to crash when inputting text.
Other improvements and fixes
Improves Bluetooth connectivity with third party accessories.
Improves AirPlay Mirroring performance when waking a device from sleep.
Fixes an issue where playback would not work for iTunes purchased content when the "Show iTunes Purchases" setting is turned off.
Fixes an issue where certain selfie apps and face filters used with the FaceTime HD camera on iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus did not display a live preview.
Fixes an issue in Health where individual strokes are converted to separate characters when using the Chinese handwriting keyboard.
Improves performance of sharing websites from Safari to Messages.
Fixes an issue in Safari that caused web previews in tab view to not display correctly.
Fixes an issue that caused certain Mail messages to be reformatted with very small text.
Fixes an issue that caused some HTML email to be formatted incorrectly.
Fixes an issue that in some cases caused the search field to disappear in Mail.
Fixes an issue that could prevent Today View Widgets from updating when launched.
Fixes an issue where Weather widget sometimes failed to load data.
Fixes an issue on iPhone 7 where Home Button click settings would not appear in search results.
Fixes an issue that prevented spam alert extensions from blocking calls.
Resolves an issue that could prevent alarm sounds from going off.
Fixes an issue where audio playback via Bluetooth would cause the Taptic engine to stop providing feedback for some users.
Resolves an issue preventing some users from restoring from iCloud Backup.
Use Up Next to see the movies and shows you're currently watching and pick up where you left off.
Get recommendations for new movies and TV shows in Watch Now.
Discover new apps and the latest iTunes releases in the Store.
Access the Library for your iTunes purchases and rentals.
New Widget for TV and Videos app.
Videos
Removed from iOS completely, as the TV app replaces it (US only, as of this update).
Emoji
Redesigned emoji that reveal even more detail.
Over 100 new emoji including new faces, food, animals, sports, and professions. Unicode 9.0 support.
Photos
Improves stabilization and delivers faster frame rate for Live Photos.
Improves accuracy of groupings of similar photos of the same person in the People album.
Fixes an issue where Memories might generate a memory from photos of screenshots, whiteboards or receipts.
Fixes an issue where the camera would stay zoomed in after switching back from the Camera Roll on iPhone 7 Plus.
Additional support for RAW digital cameras.
Messages
Adds new love and celebration full screen effects in Messages.
Fixes an issue that sometimes prevented the keyboard from displaying in Messages.
Music
Swipe up the Now Playing screen to more easily access Shuffle, Repeat and Up Next.
Choose how to sort Playlists, Albums, and Songs in Library.
'Show Star Ratings' option under Music Settings.
News
Stories you've saved for later now appear the new Saved section.
The best paid stories from channels you subscribe to will now appear in a dedicated section in For You.
It's now easier than ever to get to the next story, just swipe left or tap Next Story while reading.
Mail
Fixes an issue that caused the Move sheet to persist after filing a Mail message.
Addresses an issue with long press activating copy and paste in Mail.
Fixes an issue in which the wrong message would be selected after deleting a Mail conversation.
Settings
New wallpapers for iPhone 7 and 7 Plus - These include the ones Apple showed off at their iPhone 7 press event.
New 'Preserve Settings' menu under Camera Settings.
New 'Press and Hold to Speak' menu under Home Button Accessibility settings.
New TV app section
New TV Provider section for Single-Sign-On.
SOS
iPhone calls emergency services if power button is pressed five times (India only).
Siri
New introduction screen for Siri.
Accessibility
Adds BraillePen14 support to VoiceOver.
Fixes an issue where the braille table could switch unexpectedly with VoiceOver.
Fixes an issue where sometimes Siri enhanced voices were unavailable to VoiceOver.
Fixes an issue where VoiceOver users could not re-order items in lists.
Fixes an issue where Switch Control was sometimes unable to delete Voicemails.
Other improvements and fixes
Adds notification support for HomeKit accessories including window coverings, occupancy, motion, door/window, smoke, carbon monoxide, and water leak sensors.
Adds notification support for HomeKit accessories when software updates are available to HomeKit accessories.
Improves Bluetooth performance and connectivity with third party accessories.
Fixes an issue that could cause FaceTime participants to appear out of focus.
Fixes an issue that could cause FaceTime calls to appear with incorrect aspect ratio and orientation.
Fixes an issue that prevented some Visual Voicemail from completing playback.
Fixes a Safari Reader issue that could cause articles to open as empty pages.
Fixes an issue that could cause Safari to quit unexpectedly after marking an item as read in Reading List.
There's a new "Find My AirPods" tool in Find My iPhone to help users locate lost AirPods.
The Location and Play Sound is now supported for AirPods.
This sound emits a noise from the AirPods that reaches a high volume after a few seconds. Users should remove their AirPods from their ears before playing the sound.
Siri can now display cricket scores from the Indian Premier League and the International Cricket Council.
Siri updated to be able to pay bills, check on the status of payments, and schedule future rides (via services such as Uber and Lyft) for apps that support it.
Siri now has breadcrumb support. For example, users can say "Hey Siri, open the App Store" and a back arrow (or left arrow) will appear in the left of the iOS status bar to jump back to the Siri interface.
Safari
Safari now supports the Reduced Motion accessibility preference for web apps.
Maps
The weather icon in the Maps app includes 3D Touch to show hourly forecasts.
Removed 3D globe, replaces it with a flat 2D look.
Calendar
Shows an alert below the "Event Details" page, for event invitations sent from an unknown senders, and allows users to report event invites sent from unknown senders as junk.
CarPlay
CarPlay includes new shortcuts for launching recently used apps.
There is now an option to 'show disliked' channels on the bottom of the "Favorites" page.
An option has been introduced to where users can now quickly favorite or dislike news channels from the "Explore" section or the news channel that is currently open.
Home
There is now support in Home which allows users to trigger scenes which use accessories that contain switches and buttons.
There is now support in Home which allows users to see the remaining charge of the batteries in their HomeKit accessories.
Mail
Conversation View in the Mail app features navigation improvements.
When an email is open in Mail app, the "back" button in the left corner of the screen shows the number of unread emails in the mailbox you opened the email in (Similar to the Messages app).
Animations
Slightly refined opening animation for apps to where rounded edges are now visible when opening applications (more noticeable on applications that load slowly).
Field Test
Now updated for iPhone 7 and 7 Plus devices which contain modems from Intel.
Podcasts
Support for 3D Touch and a Today widget has been added which allows users to access recently updated podcasts.
Podcast shows or episodes can now be shared in the Messages app and they feature full playback support.
Settings
Notifications
Users can now get notifications for settings other than software updates such as for two-factor authentication.
Restrictions
Users can now restrict certain TV providers.
iTunes and App Store
New system level way for developers to request app ratings, opt out option in Settings.
iCloud
The iCloud tab has moved to the top of Settings instead of being at the bottom, and also now displays the user's name and picture along with the email address(es) associated with their Apple ID(s).
Underneath this new tab is where settings notifications appear.
The amount of storage users have and how much storage users have used is now shown.
iCloud Drive cellular data usage settings have been moved to the cellular tab.
"Backup" has been renamed to 'iCloud Backup".
General
"Diagnostics and Usage" is now labeled "Analytics", corresponding changes included in menu.
There is a new button to toggle iCloud data over cellular networks.
Touch ID and Passcode
When choosing an alphanumeric code with numbers only, passcodes can no longer be shorter than 4 characters in length. An error displays saying that "this passcode must be longer".
Calling
Calls on Other Devices even when not nearby is now enabled for Verizon's Integrated Calling feature.
News
An option was added where users can disable the Next Up button from appearing while in a news article.
"Show Disliked" section under Favourites, this shows the channels that you have disliked.
Keyboards and IME
Facemarks have been shuffled around in the Chinese and Japanese keyboard layouts.
The icon of the emoji button on the keyboard is now filled in and no longer outlined like it was in previous versions of iOS.
Music
It is now possible to rearrange songs while repeat mode is turned on.
App Store
Developers can now respond to reviews on the App Store.
Developers will now be able to update the icons for their apps at any time, with an app update no longer required to push out new icon artwork for their apps.
App Store reviews now include the publish date of when the review was published.
When a user uses 3D Touch on an app review, they can rate the review as Helpful, Not Helpful, or Report a Concern with the review.
Users no longer have to enter their Apple ID password when writing a review.
Spotlight
Spotlight Search Suggestions now have a border, floating text no longer appears.
Other improvements, bug fixes, and enhancements
Users can now rent a movie once and they can watch their iTunes movies across their various devices.
Fixes the 30% battery bug that was present in previous versions of iOS 10 for IPhone 6 and iPhone 6S devices.
An alert is now displayed to indicate that 32-bit apps on 10.3 need to be updated and will no longer work in future versions of iOS. An "App Compatibility" list of 32-bit apps can be accessed by going to General > About > tapping on "Applications".
Improves performance across the system and the responsiveness of the operating system has been improved.
The file system has been updated to the Apple File System (APFS), which replaces HFS Plus, and is designed for Flash/SSD storage. APFS also features improved security and encryption, and improves system performance.
Fixes an issue related to the Messages app where the app would freeze and crash upon receiving a long text message.
Fixes an issue on the iPad Pro where the Apple Pencil's battery wouldn't charge above 5%.
Fixes an issue where the Telephoto lens on the iPhone 7 Plus would not activate while in the 2x zoom mode.
Fixes an issue in Notification Center where tapping the search bar in between the Today view and Notification Center would cause the Springboard to crash and reload.
The passcode menu UIs have been updated to show dots instead of dashes.
VoiceOver stability improvements for the Phone, Safari, and Mail apps
Fixes an issue that could prevent Maps from displaying a user's current location after resetting Location & Privacy settings.
Security
Fixes over 100 security vulnerabilities in various aspects of iOS such as Audio, the Core libraries, and WebKit.
Fixes a Wi-Fi-related vulnerability through improved input validation where an attacker within range may be able to execute arbitrary code on the Wi-Fi chipsets of iPhone 5 and later.
Includes bug fixes and improves the security of your iPhone or iPad.
One of the bugs that is fixed is in the Broadcom Wi-Fi chipset formally known as CVE-2017-9417 and is nicknamed "Broadpwn".[147] Broadpwn allows a worm to propagate among affected Broadcom Wi-Fi chipsets just by having the Wi-Fi chipset turned on even if it is not connected to any networks, and can be used to force a remote code execution on the main CPU of an affected smartphone.[148]
Apple announced iOS 11 on June 5, 2017, at its annual Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) event, and it was released to the public on September 19, 2017 alongside the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. With this release, Apple dropped support for the 32-bit iPhone 5 and iPhone 5C, and the iPad 4, making iOS a 64-bit only OS that only runs 64-bit apps. iOS 11 has limited support on devices with an A7 processor: the iPhone 5S, iPad Mini 2 and iPad Mini 3, and the iPad Air. However, all other devices from the iPhone 6 onwards, iPod Touch (6th generation) onwards, iPad Air 2 onwards, and iPad Mini 4 onwards are fully supported. iOS 11.0.1 brought support for the iPhone X and iOS 11.3 brought support for the iPad (6th Generation). The final version of iOS 11 was iOS 11.4.1.
All-new App Store designed for discovering great apps and games everyday.
New Today tab helps you discover new apps and games with stories, how-to guides, and more.
New Games tab to find new games and see what's most popular with top game charts.
Dedicated Apps tab with top picks, dedicated app charts and app categories.
App pages include more video previews, Editors' Choice badges, easier access to user ratings and information about In-App Purchases.
Siri
New Siri voice is more natural and expressive.
Translate U.S. English words and phrases into Chinese, French, German, Italian or Spanish (beta).
Siri suggestions based on your usage of Safari, News, Mail and Messages.
Works with notes apps to create to-do lists, notes and reminders.
Works with banking apps for account transfer and balances.
Works with apps that display QR codes.
Hindi and Shanghainese dictation.
Camera
Portrait mode now supports optical image stabilization, HDR and True Tone flash.
Photos and videos will take up half the space with the new HEIF and HEVC image and video formats on devices with an Apple A10 chip or newer.[149]
Redesigned set of nine filters optimized for natural skin tones.
Automatically identify and scan QR codes.
Photos
Loop, Bounce, and Long Exposure Live Photo effects.
Mute, trim, or choose a new key photo for Live Photos.
Memory Movies automatically adapt content for portrait and landscape orientation.
More than a dozen new memory types including pets, babies, weddings and sporting events.
People album is more accurate and stays up to date across devices with iCloud Photo Library.
Animated GIF support.
Maps
Indoor maps for major airports and shopping centers.
Lane guidance and speed limit information with turn-by-turn directions.
One-handed zoom with double tap and swipe.
Interact with Flyover by moving your device.
Do Not Disturb while Driving.
Automatically silences alerts while driving and keeps iPhone silent and display-off.
Optional iMessage auto reply to alert selected contacts that you're driving.
iPad new features
An all new Dock provides quick access to your favorite and recently used apps and can even be shown on top of active apps.
Dock resizes so you can add all of your favorite apps.
Recently used and Continuity apps are available on the right.
Enhanced Slide Over and Split View.
Apps can be easily started in Slide Over and Split View from the Dock.
Slide Over and background apps now run simultaneously.
Apps in Slide Over and Split View can now be placed on the left side of the screen.
Drag and drop.
Move text, images and files between apps on iPad.
Multi-Touch to move multiple items at the same time.
Spring-loading to move content between apps.
Markup
Markup works across documents, PDFs, webpages, photos, and more.
Instant markup anything in iOS—just place Apple Pencil on what you want to mark.
Create a PDF and markup anything that can be printed.
Notes
Instantly create a new note by tapping on Lock Screen with Apple Pencil.
Inline drawing available by simply placing Apple Pencil in body of a note.
Search handwritten text.
Document scanner autocorrects for skewing and uses image filters to remove shadows.
Table support to organize and display information.
Pin important notes to the top of the list.
Files
All-new Files app to browse, search and organize files, (replaces iCloud Drive app).
Works with iCloud Drive and third-party cloud file providers.
Recents view for quick access to recently used files across all apps and cloud services.
Create folders and sort files by name, date, size and tags.
QuickType
Flick down on letter keys to enter numbers, symbols and punctuation marks on iPad.
One-handed keyboard support on iPhone.
New keyboards for Armenian, Azerbaijani, Belarusian, Georgian, Irish, Kannada, Malayalam, Maori, Odia, Swahili and Welsh.
English input on the 10-key Pinyin keyboard.
English input on the Japanese Romaji keyboard.
HomeKit
New accessory types including AirPlay 2 speakers, sprinklers, and faucets.
Expanded occupancy, time and accessory based triggers.
QR code and tap to pair accessory setup support.
Augmented Reality
Augmented reality technologies that apps from App Store can use to deliver content on top of real-world scenes for interactive gaming, immersive shopping experiences, industrial design, and more.
Machine Learning
Core machine learning technologies that apps from App Store can use to deliver intelligent features with machine learning data processed on device for high performance and user privacy.
Other features and improvements
Control Center redesign brings all controls on one page.
Control Center custom controls including accessibility, guided access, magnifier, text size, screen recording and Wallet.
Apple Music now helps you discover music with friends. Create a profile so friends can listen to playlists you've shared and see the music you listen to most.
Apple News now includes Top Stories picked just for you, recommendations from Siri, the best videos of the day in Today View and great stories selected by our editors in the new Spotlight tab.
Automatic Setup signs you in to iCloud, Keychain, iTunes, App Store, iMessage and FaceTime with your Apple ID.
Automatic Setup restores device settings including language, region, network, keyboard preferences, places you frequently visit, how you talk to Siri, Home and Health data.
Easily share access to your Wi-Fi networks.
Storage optimization notifications and free up space in Settings for apps like Photos, Messages, and more.
Emergency SOS calls emergency services based on your current location and automatically notifies emergency contacts, shares your location and displays your Medical ID.
FaceTime lets you capture Live Photos from the other person's Mac or iPhone camera.
Easily check Flight status in Spotlight and Safari.
Definitions, conversions and math support in Safari.
Russian and English bilingual dictionary.
Portuguese and English bilingual dictionary.
Arabic system font support.
Accessibility
VoiceOver descriptions support for images.
VoiceOver tables and lists support in PDFs.
Type to Siri support for basic search queries.
Spoken and braille caption support for videos.
Dynamic Type increases text and app UI to larger sizes.
Redesigned Invert Colors make media content easier to view (smart invert colors).
Highlight Colors improvements in Speak Selection and Speak Screen.
Switch Control typing can scan and type whole words at a time.
Over 70 new emoji characters including new food types, animals, mythical creatures, clothing options, more expressive smiley faces, gender-neutral characters and more
Photos
Resolves an issue that could cause some photos to appear blurry
Address an issue that could cause Live Photo effects to playback slowly
Fixes an issue that could cause some photos to not display in the People album when restoring from an iCloud Backup
Fixes an issue that could impact performance when swiping between screenshots
Accessibility
Improves braille support for grade 2 input
Improves VoiceOver access to multi-page PDFs
Improves VoiceOver rotor actions for announcing incoming notifications
Improves VoiceOver rotor actions menu when removing an app from the App Switcher
Fixes an issue for some users where alternative keys would not display when using VoiceOver with Touch Typing
Fixes an issue where VoiceOver rotor would always return to default action in Mail
Fixes an issue where VoiceOver rotor would not delete messages
Other Improvements and fixes
Adds back support for accessing the app switcher by pressing on edge of display with 3D touch
Fixes an issue that cause cleared Mail notifications to reappear on Lockscreen
Fixes an issue in enterprise environments that prevented data from being moved between managed apps
Fixes an issue with some 3rd-party GPS accessories that caused inaccuracies in location data
Resolves an issue where settings for Heart Rate notifications were appearing in Apple Watch app (1st gen)
Fixes an issue where app icons were not appearing in notifications on Apple Watch
iOS 11.2 introduces Apple Pay Cash to send, request and receive money from friends and family with Apple Pay (US only). This update also includes bug fixes and improvements.
Other improvements and fixes:
Adds support for faster wireless charging on iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X with compatible third-party accessories.
Introduces three new Live wallpapers for iPhone X.
Improves video camera stabilization.
Adds support in Podcasts to automatically advance to the next episode from the same show.
Adds support in HealthKit for downhill snow sports distance as a data type.
Fixes an issue that could cause Mail to appear to be checking for new messages even when a download is complete.
Fixes an issue that could cause cleared Mail notifications from Exchange accounts to reappear.
Improves stability in Calendar.
Resolves an issue where Settings could open to a blank screen.
Fixes an issue that could prevent swiping to Today View or Camera from the Lock Screen.
Addresses an issue that could prevent Music controls from displaying on the Lock Screen.
Fixes an issue that could cause app icons to be arranged incorrectly on the Home Screen.
Addresses an issue that could prevent users from deleting recent photos when iCloud storage is exceeded.
Addresses an issue where Find My iPhone sometimes wouldn’t display a map.
Fixes an issue in Messages where the keyboard could overlap the most recent message.
Fixes an issue in Calculator where typing numbers rapidly could lead to incorrect results.
Addressed an issue where the keyboard could respond slowly.
Adds support for real-time text (RTT) phone calls for the deaf and hard of hearing.
Improves VoiceOver stability in Messages, Settings, App Store and Music.
Resolves an issue that prevented VoiceOver from announcing incoming Notifications.
Added Now Playing option for controlling content on the Apple TV in Control Center
Adds a feature that lets developers offer new customers discounted introductory pricing for auto-renewable subscriptions on the App Store
Fixes bug that causes device to respring when apps send local notifications after 12:15am, December 2, 2017
iOS 11.2.5 includes support for HomePod and introduces the ability for Siri to read the news (US, UK and Australia only). This update also includes bug fixes and improvements.
Other improvements and fixes:
Setup and automatically transfer your Apple ID, Apple Music, Siri and Wi-Fi settings to HomePod
Addresses an issue that could cause the Phone app to display incomplete information in the call list
Fixes an issue that caused Mail notifications from some Exchange accounts to disappear from the Lock screen when unlocking iPhone X with Face ID
Addresses an issue that could cause Messages conversations to temporarily be listed out of order
Fixes an issue in CarPlay where Now Playing controls become unresponsive after multiple track changes
Adds ability for VoiceOver to announce playback destinations and AirPod battery level
ARKit 1.5 allows developers to place digital objects on vertical surfaces like walls and doors in addition to horizontal surfaces
Adds support for detecting and incorporating images like movie posters or artwork into AR experiences
Supports a higher resolution real world camera view when using AR experiences
iPhone Battery Health (Beta)
Displays information on iPhone maximum battery capacity and peak performance capability
Indicates if the performance management feature that dynamically manages maximum performance to prevent unexpected shutdowns is on and includes the option to disable it
Recommends if a battery needs to be replaced
iPad charge management
Maintains battery health when iPad is connected to power for prolonged periods of time, such as when it is used in kiosks, point of sale systems, or stored in charging carts
Animoji
Introduces four new Animoji on iPhone X: lion, bear, dragon and skull
Privacy
When an Apple feature asks to use your personal information, an icon now appears along with a link to detailed information explaining how your data will be used and protected
Business Chat (Beta) - US only
Communicate with companies to easily ask questions, schedule appointments, and make purchases inside the built-in Messages app on iPhone and iPad
Health Records (Beta) - US only
Access health records and view lab results, immunizations, and more in a consolidated timeline in the Health app
Apple Music
Features a new music video experience, including an updated Music Videos section with exclusive video playlists
Find friends that have similar tastes using updated suggestions in Apple Music that reveal genres people enjoy and mutual friends that follow them
News
Top Stories now always appear first in For You
Watch Top Videos curated by News editors
App Store
Adds ability to sort customer reviews on product pages by Most Helpful, Most Favorable, Most Critical, or Most Recent
Improves Updates tab information with app version and file size
Safari
Helps protect privacy by only AutoFilling usernames and passwords after selecting them in a web form field
Includes warnings in the Smart Search Field when interacting with password or credit card forms on non-encrypted web pages
AutoFill for usernames and passwords is now available in web views within apps
Articles shared to Mail from Safari are now formatted using Reader mode by default when Reader is available
Folders in Favorites now show icons for the bookmarks contained within
Keyboards
Adds two new Shuangpin keyboard layouts
Adds support for connected hardware keyboards using the Turkish F keyboard layout
Improves Chinese and Japanese keyboards for better reachability on 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch devices
Enables switching back to the keyboard after dictation with just one tap
Addresses an issue where auto-correct could incorrectly capitalize some words
Fixes an issue on iPad Pro that prevented the iPad Smart Keyboard from working after connecting to a captive Wi-Fi access point
Fixes an issue that could cause the Thai keyboard to incorrectly switch to the numeric layout when in landscape mode
Accessibility
App Store adds accessibility support for bold and large text for display customization
Smart Invert adds support for images on the web and in Mail messages
Improves RTT experience and adds RTT support for T-Mobile
Improves app switching on iPad for VoiceOver and Switch Control users
Addresses an issue where VoiceOver incorrectly described Bluetooth status and badge icons
Fixes an issue where end call button might not be presented in the Phone app when using VoiceOver
Fixes an issue where in-app app rating was not accessible with VoiceOver
Resolves an issue when using Live Listen that could distort audio playback
Other improvements and fixes
Introduces support for the Advanced Mobile Location (AML) standard which provides more accurate location data to emergency responders when SOS is triggered (in supported countries)
Adds support for software authentication as a new way for developers to create and enable HomeKit compatible accessories
Podcasts now plays episodes with a single tap, and you can tap Details to learn more about each episode
Improves search performance for users with long notes in Contacts
Improves performance of Handoff and Universal Clipboard when both devices are on the same Wi-Fi network
Fixes an issue that could prevent incoming calls from waking the display
Addresses an issue that could delay or prevent playback of Visual Voicemail
Resolves an issue that prevented opening a web link in Messages
Fixes an issue that could prevent users from returning to Mail after previewing a message attachment
Fixes an issue that could cause Mail notifications to reappear on the Lock screen after they had been cleared
Resolves an issue that could cause time and notifications to disappear from the Lock Screen
Resolves an issue that prevented parents from using Face ID to approve Ask to Buy requests
Fixes an issue in Weather where current weather conditions may not have been updated
Fixes an issue where contacts may not sync with a car's phone book when connected over Bluetooth
Addresses an issue that could prevent audio apps from playing in cars when the app was in the background
iOS 11.4 includes AirPlay 2 multi-room audio, support for HomePod stereo pairs, and Messages in iCloud. This update also includes bug fixes and improvements.
AirPlay 2
Control your home audio system and AirPlay 2-enabled speakers throughout your house
Play music at the same time on multiple AirPlay 2-enabled speakers in your house, all in sync
Control AirPlay 2-enabled speakers from Control Center, the Lock screen, or AirPlay controls within apps on your iPhone or iPad
Use your voice to control AirPlay 2-enabled speakers with Siri from your iPhone or iPad, HomePod, or Apple TV
Take a call or play a game on your iPhone or iPad without interrupting playback on your AirPlay 2-enabled speakers
HomePod stereo pair
This update supports setting up your HomePod stereo pair using your iPhone or iPad
HomePod pair automatically senses its location in the room and balances the sound based on the speakers' locations
Advanced beamforming provides wider soundstage than traditional stereo pair
HomePod will automatically update to support stereo pairs, unless auto updates are disabled in the Home app
Messages in iCloud
Store your messages, photos, and other attachments in iCloud and free up space on your devices
All your messages appear when you sign into a new device with the same iMessage account
When you delete messages and conversations they are instantly removed from all your devices
To turn on Messages in iCloud, enable Messages in iCloud settings (Settings > [your name] > iCloud)
Your conversations continue to be end-to-end encrypted
Other improvements and fixes
Enables teachers to assign their students reading activities in iBooks using the Schoolwork app
Fixes an issue where certain character sequences could cause Messages to crash
Addresses a Messages issue that could cause some messages to appear out of order
Addresses an issue that could prevent logging in or accessing files on Google Drive, Google Docs and Gmail in Safari
Fixes an issue that could prevent data syncing in Health
Fixes an issue that could prevent users from changing what apps can access Health data
Resolves an issue that could cause an app to appear in an incorrect location on the Home screen
Fixes an issue where CarPlay audio could become distorted
Fixes an issue where selecting music from your iPhone could fail when playing music over Bluetooth or when connected to USB on some vehicles
iBooks has been renamed to Apple Books. A continuation of Apple's phasing out of the "i" prefix for its services. Rebranding also includes a redesign, featuring a new introduction, a Reading Now screen that's like Apple Music and the App Store in being more editorialized, and new cards for individual books.
Apple Books settings preferences have been updated. More options and a change of layout when looking at Books under the Settings app.
Compass
Leveler has been removed and the function moved to the Measure app as one of its features, still working the same way as previous versions.
Measure
The new app built using ARKit 2.0, which allows users to measure the dimensions of real-world objects viewed through the iOS device's camera.
Measure app only works with A9 devices and later.
News
Redesigned to have three tabs at the bottom of the iPhone version including Spotlight section. A new tab was added, named Channels, which provides a browsable list of followed topics and outlets.
Stocks
Redesigned for easier-to-view stocks on a new welcome screen, as well as interactive charts. One of a number of first-party iOS apps that have also been ported to macOS Mojave, using new tools still under development.
Apple News integration, this allows you to see news in a panel at the bottom of the app. Expanding the news panel shows stocks in a ticker at the top of the app.
Now available on iPad.
Voice Memos
Redesigned immediately shows a clear list of existing recordings when opening the app, with new recordings produced in a compact pop-up panel at the bottom of the app, complete with repositioned waveform graphic.
Now available on iPad.
Weather
Air quality settings preferences to tracks air quality. Scrolling to the bottom of the day's weather shows a general "Air Quality" category ("Good" etc) for the location.
Weather app now tracks the air quality index. As with the general air quality feature, the "Air Quality Index" figure for the detected location is provided at the bottom of the day's weather report.
Phone
Field test mode now supports landscape view.
Settings
Redesigned app notifications
New wallpaper; removed older wallpapers
Screen Time added
Automatic updates toggle added in Software Update tab
Bedtime Feature in Do Not Disturb
Stocks section added
New Measure section
New app limits page
New Battery Statistics Chart
More battery information: Battery Health out of Beta for more accurate battery capacity readings
The Alarm feature of the built in Clock app in the iPhone and iPod Touch has been plagued by major bugs in all versions of iOS 4. The first bug noticed was the "DST bug" which was first seen when some countries switched to/from daylight saving time from/to standard time in October/November 2010.[151][152] It caused recurring alarms to start going off an hour too early or late. Apple promised the bug would be fixed in iOS 4.2 but according to some reports it still exists even in iOS 4.3.1.[153]
The second alarm clock bug discovered was the "New Year's Day bug" which showed up on January 1, 2011 and January 1, 2012. It caused non-recurring alarms to never work.[154] However two days after each New Year's Day, on January 3, 2011, they "magically" started working again. This bug was seemingly fixed in iOS 4.3.[155]
Apple confirmed that several battery life bugs were negatively affecting battery life in iOS 5.[156] They attempted to fix these bugs with iOS 5.0.1 and 5.1 but the problem still remained.[157] Finally, these bugs were fixed in iOS 5.1.1.
Wi-Fi
The launch of the iOS 5 update on October 12, 2011 (including iOS 5.0.1 released on November 10, 2011), led many users to report a major bug causing the device to lose Wi-Fi access. This problem has supposedly been fixed with the release of iOS 5.1.1[158][159]
SIM card
Some users of the iPhone 4S and iPad (Wi-Fi + Cellular) reported issues with the SIM card in iOS 5.0,[160] and even though Apple attempted to fix these issues in version 5.0.1 build 9A406 (for iPhone 4S only), they still remained.[161]
Echo bugs
Some users of the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S reported issues with having echo problems during phone call in the initial release of iOS 5, which causes echoes to appear randomly during phone calls made through earbuds. The other party in the call is generally unable to hear the conversation due to this problem.[162] Apple has since released version 5.1.1 in an attempt to fix the problem.
Apple has admitted that there were several bugs in the mapping app on iOS 6, with cities in the wrong location, some places being missed off altogether, some places misnamed and places of interest in the sea.[163][164][165] Problems submitted by users have gradually been addressed with daily updates to Maps.[166]
Bluetooth
Many users report a problem with Bluetooth audio streaming to a range of compatible devices. The sound cuts out every now and then for no apparent reason. As of October 2012[update], no solution has been provided by Apple.[167]
Location-based Reminders
Location-based reminders do not work for iPads, even though they were promised to work on cellular enabled devices.[168] It has later been clarified by Apple that only the 4th generation iPad and the iPad Mini 1st generation or later will be able to use this.[169]
Cellular Network
In iOS 6.1, users reported problems with cellular connectivity. This was addressed for the iPhone 4S in iOS 6.1.1 which "fixes an issue that could impact cellular performance and reliability for iPhone 4S."[170]
Do Not Disturb
Many iPhone users experienced a bug with the Do Not Disturb feature when the calendar changed from 2012 to 2013. The feature would be left on past the scheduled time set by the user, allowing texts, notifications, and alarm settings to be missed. The bug was caused by a difference in formatting in the ISO calendar system versus the Gregorian calendar system.[171] Apple did not offer a quick software update for the bug, instead saying that the bug would fix itself on January 7, 2013.[172]
Microsoft Exchange
Another bug causes issues when iOS devices connect to a Microsoft Exchange server to retrieve email, resulting in message "mailbox server resources are consumed, log growth becomes excessive, memory and CPU use may increase significantly, and server performance is affected".[173] Microsoft have suggested several workarounds,[174] and Apple responded with a KnowledgeBase article describing the cause of the bug and a suggested temporary workaround, promising a fix in the near future,[175] which was then fixed with release of iOS 6.1.2.
Lockscreen bypass code
On iPhones, another bug found in 6.1 allowing bypassing the lock screen's passcode to temporarily gain full access to the Phone app, by performing a specific sequence of actions on the phone that remained unfixed,[176] with Apple acknowledging the bug[177] and then addressed with release of iOS 6.1.3.
Audio profile speakerphone
iPhone 5 users experienced dropped calls during the release of iOS 6.1.3 when there was an issue with the audio microphone profile. This also caused issues with many voice-over commands, including Siri, to get different results than expected or to fail easily. Apple fixed this bug with the release of iOS 6.1.4, which updated the audio speaker profile so users would get better results.
FaceTime
Shortly after Apple released iOS 7, users running iOS 6 were said to have problems using FaceTime. Apple later released a support document stating that this was due to an expired device certificate and that devices that support iOS 7 should update to it in order to resolve these issues.[178] Devices that are unable to run iOS 7, such as the fourth-generation iPod Touch, should upgrade to iOS 6.1.6.[178]
Data security
An attacker can collect or modify data in sessions protected by SSL/TLS protocols. This same bug was also reported on iOS 7.0.4 and iOS 7.0.5 for the iPhone 5C and 5S. For the iPhone 3GS and the iPod Touch 4th generation, iOS 6.1.6 was released to fix this issue since iOS 7 is not compatible with these devices (see iOS 7.x).
People are able to bypass the "Enter Passcode" screen. This flaw was discovered within hours of it becoming publicly available. This is only able to be done on iPhone 5 and earlier while the iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S are safe from this bug. This is caused by the ability to use the control center via the lock screen and tapping on the camera or timer buttons. This feature can be turned off in the Settings app.[179] This was fixed in iOS 7.0.2.
Motion Sickness
Users complained about dizziness and vertigo-like symptoms when using this operating system because of parallax motion effects.
In iOS 7.1, a new function in the Settings app named "Reduce Motion" was introduced to reduce the motion of the user interface and disable the parallax effects.[180]
Creation of CardDAV Accounts not working
Creating a CardDAV Account contains a bug that needs manual fixing of the CardDAV-Server-URL.[181]
Battery drain problems
In iOS 7.1, users have reported seeing significant drain on their batteries after installing the new update.[182]
FaceTime
Issues with video-calling and connection errors. This was fixed in iOS 7.0.4. (See iOS 6.x)
Safari ignores local domain
Local domain names can no longer be resolved in Safari.[183][184] This breaks short names on the local network, e.g. 'nas' for nas.<ourdomain>.
Home screen crashes
Users have reported various crashes of the home screen, the core service that renders the home screen icons, Notification Center, Control Center, Siri and the lockscreen.[185] This was fixed in iOS 7.1.
Data security
Secure transport failed to validate the authenticity of connection. This issue was addressed by restoring missing validation steps. This may cause an attacker with a privileged network position to capture or modify data in sessions protected by SSL/TLS.[186] This issue was addressed by the release of iOS 7.0.6.
Battery Indicator stuck until restart
iPhone 4S users report experiencing problems with the battery indicator; the indicator will freeze at the same value until the iPhone is restarted again.[187][188]
Touch ID
In iOS 7.1, Touch ID was not functioning on the iPhone 5S. The problem cannot be resolved by turning Touch ID on and off in the "Fingerprint and Passcode" menu, restarting, resetting, or restoring the device using iTunes. This problem was similar to the iOS 8.0.1 release, which crippled iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus of both cellular and Touch ID. This was fixed in iOS 7.1.1.
Shortly after the release of iOS 8, Apple released a statement pointing out that a bug had been found in the operating system which prevented HealthKit-compatible apps from being released alongside iOS 8.[189] Apps already released that included Healthkit functionality were withdrawn from the App Store. iOS 8.0.1/8.0.2 included a fix for this issue.
iOS 8.0.1
iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus users who updated to iOS 8.0.1 wirelessly had cellular service and Touch ID disabled due to a software issue. Over-the-Air downloads of iOS 8.0.1 were stopped within an hour of the release of the software, but many early adopters had been affected. These issues were fixed with the release of iOS 8.0.2 a day later.
Touch ID
Users who updated phones with Touch ID enabled to iOS 8.3 found out that they could not use Touch ID to make App Store purchases.[190] A workaround has been devised by users to repair this issue.[191]
Performance
Many users of older generation devices such as the iPhone 4s and the iPad 2 reported performance issues with iOS 8. Apple has since released iOS 8.1.1 in attempt to fix the problem.
Keyboard
Several issues with the new Keyboard API in iOS 8 were reported, including problems with custom keyboards crashing or not appearing, or being replaced with the default keyboard. Apple has since released iOS 8.3 in attempt to fix the problem.
iMessage
When a specific set of Arabic, Unicode, and English characters are sent through iMessage to an iOS device running iOS 8.0 or later, it causes the device to crash. This bug was discovered by a Reddit user in May 2015. Apple has since released a software update (iOS 8.4) to fix this issue.[192]
Many users reported greatly reduced Game Center loading times[citation needed] which in turn caused apps that used Game Center logins to appear to load slowly.[193] This was fixed in iOS 9.1.
January 1, 1970
On 64-bit iOS devices, setting the date to January 1, 1970 and restarting the iPhone would brick the device until the device lost power.[194] This was fixed with the release of iOS 9.3.
Error 53
Updating an iPhone 6 with a replaced Touch ID sensor to a new version of iOS would cause the update to fail and the device's date to be lost due to "Error 53."[195] This was fixed with an iTunes re-release of iOS 9.2.1 with build number 13D20.
Bluetooth
Many iPhone SE owners experienced various issues relating to phone calls via Bluetooth connectivity.[196] This issue was fixed with iOS 9.3.2.
Security
A WebKit rendering component exploit was discovered that threatened users' security by allowing access to device sensors was discovered with the release of 9.3.3. The exploit worked by tricking the user to click on a URL contained in an SMS.[197] This was quickly fixed with the release of 9.3.5.
Many users, especially those owning an iPhone 6s, reported that their phones would shut down automatically with 30% battery left.[198] This issue was fixed with the release of iOS 10.3.
As of the iOS 10.2.1 release, iOS throttles CPU performance on iPhones with batteries in poor health. This eventually led to Batterygate shortly after the iOS 11 release. As a result, Apple announced battery replacements would be $29 instead of $79.[199] They also announced that iOS 11.3 would show battery health in the Settings > Battery menu and let the user decide if they wanted the previous 30% shutdown behavior or the throttled CPU.[200]
Many users reported worse battery life with iOS 11 than with iOS 10.3.3.[201] This issue was addressed with the release of iOS 11.1.[202]
Calculator
Due to an animation bug, quickly typing in an equation caused the built-in Calculator app to display incorrect answers.[203] The bug was fixed in iOS 11.2.
Mail
Users with Outlook.com, Office 365, and certain Exchange accounts were unable to send email.[204] This has been resolved with the release of iOS 11.0.1.[150]
AutoCorrect
Users complained of a bug in the built-in keyboard in iOS 11 that changed the letter "I" to "A [?]".[205] This was fixed with the release of iOS 11.1.1.[206]
December 2 respring
A bug in iOS 11 was present that would cause the device to constantly respring and crash if an app sends local notifications on or after 00:15 on December 2, 2017. Apple responded by releasing iOS 11.2 early, which fixed the bug.[207]
Telugu Character Bug
A bug was present in iOS 10 and 11 that would cause an app to crash when a certain Indian character was pasted into it, or for the phone to respring if pasted into Spotlight.[208] The bug was fixed with iOS 11.2.6.[209]
iPhone 8 touchscreen issues after third party repair
A bug with iOS 11.3 caused some iPhone 8 devices that had had their screens repaired by a third party repair shop to become unusable by disabling the touch screen. Apple corrected this issue by releasing iOS 11.3.1.[210]
^"Apple Introduces the New iPhone 3G" (Press release). Apple Inc. June 9, 2008. iPhone 2.0 software will be available on July 11 as a free software update via iTunes 7.7 or later for all iPhone customers
^Gibbs, Samuel (September 20, 2013). "Apple says it's working on fix for iOS 7 lockscreen bypass flaw". theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media. Archived from the original on September 20, 2013. Retrieved September 22, 2013. Embarrassing discovery comes within hours of release of new software and exploits Control Center feature to hack into photos, texts and Facebook content
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