A lot has change since 2007, when iPhone OS arrived on the original iPhone. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
The operating system that powers the iPhone has undergone radical changes since Apple launched the device 10 years ago.
As part of Cult of Mac’s collaboration with Wired UK to mark the 10th anniversary of the iPhone, we took a look at the evolution of iOS, from a simple touchscreen operating system lacking key features into a true computing behemoth with more tools than any one user could possibly need.
iPhone automagically makes movies for you. Photo: Apple
Apple has come out with a brand new iPhone ad this week, only instead of highlighting the device’s amazing hardware the commercial pulls back the curtain on how iOS creates ‘Memories’ based on the photos and videos in your camera roll.
The new ad follows a librarian as he carefully crafts a video for an iPhone owner that highlights the bond between a mother and her children. To accompany the ad, Apple also put out a new how-to that shows how to play the memories hidden inside your iPhone.
Easily save lots of iMessage pictures and movies all at once. Photo: Cult of Mac
You can’t yet automatically save incoming photos and videos from the Messages app in iOS, but there is a way to quickly select a whole bunch of iMessage pictures and movies, and save them all to your Camera Roll.
Why would you want to do this? The main reason is search. Once your media gets inside the Photos app, it can be searched and included in Memories. Plus, all the pictures of people will get scanned and recognized. In short, right now some of your most valued pictures don’t show up in the place you keep all your pictures. Let’s change that.
GIF support means that iOS is now feature-complete. Photo: Cult of Mac
One of the many new iOS 11 features that went unannounced in Monday’s WWDC keynote may be one of the biggest: Animated GIFs are now supported in the Photos app. Not only that, but they get their own dedicated album, called Animated.
It's easy to narrow down a search, even if you can't quite remember where or when you took the photo. Photo: Cult of Mac
Search is open of Photos’ apps best features, but when do you ever really use it? Never, I’d say, but that’s about to change. Search is only useful when there’s something you’re looking for. While it’s fun to see all the photos you took of cats, or guitars, or whatever, search’s real power comes when you’re looking for something specific. That is, when you’re looking for than one photo you need to show your dining companions right now. Let’s see some tricks on how to do that.
The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus helped Apple reverse a three-quarter sales decline. Photo: Apple
Summer is finally upon us and staying up to date with the latest devices is essential for vacation season. With long awaited trips rapidly approaching, having a great camera to document all your adventures is paramount. Do yourself a favor this summer, sell your old device, and upgrade to a new iPhone 7 or 7 Plus just in time for that beach trip!
Depending on where you are, 3D touching a photo offers different options. Photo: Cult of Mac
3D touch is the feature that keeps on surprising you. Just when you thought you’d discovered all its tricks, up pops another one. Today we’re going to see how pressing on pictures in the Photos app offers all kinds of handy shortcuts for wrangling Faces, Albums, and Moments.
See all your photos on Apple's 3D Flyover map Photo: Cult of Mac
The iOS Photos app might just look like a simple grid-like list, but it has a ton of hidden power. For instance, you can see your photos on a full-screen, 3-D Flyover map. And with one simple swipe on a photograph, you can see where it was taken, see other photos taken nearby, and collections photos that your iPhone figures are related to the one you’re looking at. It’s a fantastic way both to find out more about your pictures, and to browse. After all, why limit yourself to flipping through pictures, one by one, in the order you shot them, like some film-camera using hipster luddite, when you can see your photos on a map in Apple’s glorious 3-D Flyover view?
Google Assistant may have just made its way to iPhone, but it’s not even close to the most exciting thing to come out of Google I/O today.
That would be all of the incredible new features coming to Google Photos, including new sharing options, stunning Photo Books you can build in just a few taps, intelligent photo editing, and Google Lens integration.
Instagram will look great on the iPhone 8. Photo: DailyTekk
You can get a good idea of what the iPhone 8 might be like to use, thanks to a new concept video that imagines how redesigned apps will look on the device.
Apple is supposedly going with a bezel-free design this year, which could give developers more space for new features. Viewing pictures will also be an incredible experience if Apple includes an edge-to-edge display that makes it feel like you’re holding a photograph.
Photos can now be grouped into collections. Photo: Instagram
Keeping tabs on all your favorite Instagram posts just got a lot easier today, thanks to a new update that adds a new ‘Saved’ section.
Instagram’s new update lets users create Pinterest-like collections based off of posts from other users. However, unlike Pinterest only you can see the collections. For now.
None of today's announcements were keynote-worthy. Photo: Apple
Apple’s “surprise” announcement of new products and software wasn’t all that surprising if you’ve been keeping up with the latest rumors.
Today’s updates were practically announced yesterday when the company said its store would be down in the morning for “maintenance.” Despite all the rumors of new iPads and RED iPhones that have been out for weeks, Apple still managed to sneak in a few surprises that were both good and bad.
We’re eagerly awaiting Apple’s rumored April keynote, but here’s the biggest, most surprising news from today’s teaser.
Photo albums are now on Instagram. Photo: Instagram
The days of sharing one image at a time on Instagram are finally coming to an end.
Instagram revealed that starting today everyone can now post up to 10 photos and videos in a single post, giving users an all-new way to tell stories and share experiences.
Festivities for Brazil’s yearly Carnival party are set to get underway this month and to celebrate the good times, Apple has dropped a colorful new ad showcasing Portrait Mode on the iPhone 7 Plus.
Next year's dual-lens camera will get a big upgrade. Photo: Apple
The dual-lens camera on the iPhone 7 Plus is set to get a big stabilization upgrade next year.
While Apple only added optical image stabilization to the wide-angle lens on the camera this year, a new report claims that Apple plans to bring the feature to the telephoto lens in 2017.
The public release of macOS Sierra 10.12.1 has finally arrived for Macs everywhere, bringing a bunch of bug fixes and tweaks.
Apple Watch owners will definitely want to grab the new update ASAP because it makes unlocking your Mac with your watch a lot more reliable. There are also some new additions for iPhone 7 Plus owners.
The third beta builds of macOS Sierra 10.12.1 was seeded to developers today, less than a week after Apple released the second build that contained a number of bug fixes.
Developers can pick up the new beta directly form the Apple Developer Center, or install it via the Mac App Store’s software update option if the previous beta build is already installed on your Mac.
Don’t miss out on iOS 13. Ditch your old iPhone now. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Apple’s iOS 10 update for iPhones and iPads is the biggest software refresh the iPhone-maker has launched in years, adding a host of major and minor new features that completely change the iOS experience.
I’ve been using beta versions of iOS 10 on my iPhone 6s and iPad Pro since June. While some of the high-profile additions to Messages, Photos, Apple Music and Apple News aren’t totally mind-blowing, the smaller tweaks make all the difference. With iOS 10, using Apple’s devices is easier, faster and far more enjoyable than ever.
This is the big iOS update you’ve been waiting for, but not for all the reasons Apple thinks.
Memories aren't painful in macOS Sierra. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Photos are personal, and no one knows this better than Apple, the company behind the acclaimed “Shot on iPhone” ad campaign. With that in mind, macOS Sierra boasts a new “Memories” feature, letting you rediscover favorite and forgotten moments from your library by automatically creating gorgeous slideshows and curated photo collections.
Here’s how to take advantage of this feature when running the latest Mac operating system, which is currently in public beta and will be released this fall.
Searching your photos just got easier! Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Apple is giving its Photos app a massive overhaul for macOS Sierra, adding cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology to make searching for individual pictures far, far smarter than it’s ever been before.
The Photos app can now search upward of 4,432 scenes and objects, letting you pull just the pictures shot in your backyard, for instance, or only those that include your car. Although the feature’s not working in Apple’s beta releases just yet, the finished version of macOS Sierra also promises to recognize seven different facial expressions — including greediness, disgust, smiles, neutral, surprise, screaming and suspicious.
Here’s how to use Apple’s smart photo search when running the new operating system, which is currently in public beta and will be released this fall.
A new way to scan through your photos! Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
One of the neatest new additions to macOS Sierra is the increased focus on photos. Using the in-built Photos app, it’s now easier than ever to relive your most cherished memories with nifty features like the ability to display all your photos on a world map — presenting a different way to access your pics.
Here’s how to do it using the new operating system, which is currently in public beta and will be released this fall.
Are you ready for some football? Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
The NFL season is set to kick off in just over a month and Snapchat is ready to give users their weekly dose of pig skin action with the first ever Discover sport channel.
Snapchat’s partnership with the NFL comes a year after the two combined to create Live Stories surrounding NFL games. With the new Discover channel, football fans will be able to view headlines hot topics, and inside access videos for all 256 regular season games.
Apple’s iCloud platform is getting fresh competition this week from some of its former engineers who want to completely change the way content is stored on your iPhone.
Co-founded by Bertrand Serlet, former senior VP of software engineering at Apple, the new startup called Upthere is launching its first iOS app that allows users to store digital photos in Upthere’s cloud that was custom made to be screaming fast.
The Photos app is even greater in iOS 10. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Apple stole a great idea from Google for its improved Photos app in iOS 10, and that’s the ability to search for people, places and things. It makes it immensely easier to find the images you’re looking for in large libraries, and it’s so simple to use. Here’s what to do.