Download iOS 11.1 now for new emojis and UI changes

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iOS 11.1 emoji on Twitter
New emojis are available to all!
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

iOS 11.1 is now available to all after more than a month of beta testing. The update brings a whole host of new emoji characters, new features, and improvements.

iOS 11.1 is the first significant update to iOS 11, which made its public debut in September. It’s mostly here to fix frustrating bugs and performance problems under-the-hood, but there are some other things to look forward to.

New emojis

Most users will be most excited about the updated emoji collection. Apple has added a bunch of new characters from Unicode 10, including animals, faces, foods, clothing, mythical creatures, and more. It has also made some nice improvements to existing emojis.

3D Touch app switcher

iOS 11.1 also brings back the 3D Touch app switcher. That means you can press on the side of your iPhone’s display while dragging your thumb or finger into the center of the screen to quickly reach the app switcher.

This feature was baked into earlier versions of iOS, but Apple inexplicably removed it from iOS 11. Now it’s back.

Download iOS 11.1 now!

Other changes include a new Camera icon in the Restrictions settings, a new animation when tapping the status bar to go to the top of a page, and a faster unlock animation. Apple has also made it so that the default iOS keyboard suggests multiple emojis while typing.

iOS 11.1 is also more secure, with a fix for the KRACK vulnerability, and (hopefully) more stable.

You can download the update now. It’s compatible with iPhone 5s or later, iPad mini 2 and later, iPad Air and later, and the sixth-generation iPod touch.

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