September 18, 2013: iOS 7 launches with a radical redesign that divides the tech world.
The biggest overhaul Apple’s mobile operating system has seen in years, iOS 7 ditches the skeuomorphic objects, dials and textures of previous iterations. Instead, it boasts stark patches of white space, simpler icons and more abstract controls for settings. The Jony Ive era of software design is truly underway.
If you’re still rocking an older iPhone running iOS 7, you’re going to need to upgrade if you want to continue using WhatsApp.
The world’s biggest messaging service will soon stop working on iOS 7 devices. Other aging operating systems are going to get left out in the cold, too.
The overall UI of iOS hasn’t changed too much since iOS 7 got rid of skeuomorphism, but an ex-Apple employee has come up with a brilliant UI concept that makes elements on your iPhone look like real-life objects.
Former Apple software engineer Bob Burrough posted a video of an environmentally-lit user interface he’s developing and even though it’s still very basic, it looks very promising. By using the iPhone’s front-facing camera, the iPhone’s UI shades objects based on the lighting in a room. It may not sound that exciting, but once you see it in action you’ll be wowed.
Check it out:
WhatsApp has confirmed plans to drop support for iOS 7.
The hugely popular messaging service, owned by Facebook, will continue to work for a little while yet. However, WhatsApp warns that it is no longer actively developing for iOS 7, and certain features could stop working at any time.
A judge has ruled that a lawsuit against Apple for breaking FaceTime in iOS 6 can continue.
It is alleged that the iPhone-maker purposely allowed the feature to be disabled on older devices in an effort to force users to update to iOS 7.
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.
Apple has pulled its iCloud Activation Lock page which helped users find out if an iOS device was locked to an iCloud account.
The tool could be used to verify that a used iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch wasn’t stolen before you purchased it — but the website’s URL now leads to an error page.
The public release of iOS 9 got off to a rocky start yesterday but it appears that Apple’s problematic servers didn’t stop the big software update from gaining faster adoption in the first 18 hours than iOS 8.
Even though iPhone and iPad users are downloading iOS 9 at a slightly faster rate than they installed iOS 8, the number crunchers at TapyJoy found that iOS 9 is still lagging way behind iOS 7’s adoption rate.
Check out the race in the comparison chart below:
Hackers have just given iPhone and iPad users a big reason to upgrade to iOS 9 due out later today: it fixes a serious AirDrop security vulnerability.
Mark Dowd, an Australian security researcher with Azimuth Security, revealed this morning that iOS 8.4.1 contains a critic security flaw in AirDrop that could allow an attacker to install malware on any device within range. Worst of all, even if a victim tried to reject the incoming AirDrop file, the bug lets attackers tweak the iOS settings so the exploit will still work.
Check out the lethal bug in action:
Swiping a finger across a smartphone screen to unlock it may soon become a universal gesture, even on devices not made by Apple, because Germany’s top civil court has decided Apple didn’t invent “slide to unlock.”
