iOS 7

iOS 7 introduced a complete visual overhaul of the user interface. With "sharper, flatter icons, slimmer fonts, a new slide-to-unlock function, and a new control panel that slides up from the bottom of the screen for frequently accessed settings", the operating system also significantly redesigned the standard pre-installed apps from Apple.[3] Jonathan Ive, Apple's head of design, commented that "There is a profound and enduring beauty in simplicity, in clarity, in efficiency. True simplicity is derived from so much more than just the absence of clutter and ornamentation - it's about bringing order to complexity. iOS 7 is a clear representation of these goals. It has a whole new structure that is coherent and applied across the entire system."[4] The background colour of the Boot screen matches the device's front bezel colour of white or black, with the oppositely coloured brand logo.[5]

iOS 7 introduced AirDrop, a wireless sharing technology accessible from the share icon, which lets users send files from their local device to other, nearby iOS devices.[6] It can be enabled in the Control Center, with options for controlling its discovery by other devices, including Off, Contacts Only, and Everyone.[7]

At launch, AirDrop was only available on the iPhone 5 and later, fourth-generation iPad and later, all iPad Minis, and the fifth-generation iPod Touch.[8] Support can be added unofficially, with some quirks, via jailbreaking.

iOS 7 introduced the Control Center, a menu that users can access by swiping up from the bottom of the screen, providing access to frequently used settings such as Airplane Mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Do Not Disturb Mode, and Rotation Lock. There is a slider for adjusting screen brightness, controls for music playback, along with a volume slider. A Flashlight toggle is also available,[9] as is an icon for quickly accessing the camera.[10]

iOS 7 overhauled the Notification Center, with both visual and functional changes. It has three tabs; "Today" (information on what's coming during the day), "All", and "Missed." Notifications are now visible on the phone's lock screen, and notifications are synchronized across devices, so users don't need to dismiss the same notification multiple times on different devices.[11][12]

iOS 7 expanded the screen for app switching. Users double-pressed the home button and were taken out of the current app for a view of full-screen thumbnails of recently accessed apps.[13][14]

CarPlay (formerly iOS in the Car), released as part of iOS 7.1, integrates with selected car models to offer phone interaction, including music controls and Maps navigation, through the car's display. Users can also talk to Siri to send messages hands-free.[15] It supports all Lightning-equipped iPhones with iOS 7.1 or later.[16]

Siri features a new design where the assistant fades in with the background app being blurred. While speaking, visual vocal waves appear, that form into a spinning circle as the device communicates with Apple's servers. Siri can now control a limited set of device settings, including Bluetooth. The assistant can alternatively send the user directly to the settings menu if their query cannot be controlled by voice, or otherwise, displays an error if the request can't be processed. For searching the Internet, Bing became the default search engine, and Siri's web resources were expanded to include Wikipedia. Siri was also more deeply connected into Twitter, offering full tweet search.[17]

iOS 7 also allowed the user to change Siri's gender, with new options for male and female voices.[18]

Spotlight search is accessed by holding and dragging down the home screen.[19][20]

iOS 7 came with new wallpapers that included a "Parallax" effect; the icons appear to be moving as the user moves the phone around, producing an "illusion that the icons are floating above the background wallpaper".[21]

In Settings, users have the option to make custom vibrations for certain types of notifications,[22] turn off the parallax wallpaper animation effect using a Reduce Motion setting,[23] and block callers, with the block applying across multiple devices and apps, including Phone, Messages, and FaceTime.[24]

On the home screen, newly installed apps and recently updated apps have a blue dot next to them until the user opens the app for the first time.[25]

Folders are updated to incorporate different pages, similar to the home screen layout, allowing for a significant expansion of folder functionality. Each page of a folder can contain up to nine apps, and there can be 15 pages in total, allowing for a total of 135 apps in a single folder.[26]

The iPad’s “Picture Frame” feature on the Lock Screen has been removed.

The App Store received several significant changes in iOS 7. Users can enable automatic app updates.[27][28] Users can now view a history of updates to each installed app. With location services enabled, the App Store has a Near Me tab that recommends popular apps based on the user's geographic location.[29] It also became possible to download older versions of apps, in case new iOS versions left older devices incompatible for system updates, allowing users to maintain a working copy of the last supported update of each app.[30]

iOS 7 introduced a square photo mode for the Camera app, enabling "Instagram-style photos". Also new are live filters; nine different filter options that each change the photo's appearance.[10] Further improvements to the camera included the ability to pinch-to-zoom during video recording, and a Burst mode for easily taking successive photos by holding the shutter button, causing the phone to take 10 frames per second.[31] On the iPhone 5S, a slow-motion video option was added, with the ability to shoot a video at a high frame rate of 120 frames per second. All iPhones record slow motion video with audio. It can be edited in the Photos app, where users can decide where to start and end the slow-motion part.[32]

The Photos app was updated with new categorization options. Three tabs on the bottom, "Photos," "Shared," and "Albums," each open to different app sections featuring galleries. On the main Photos interface, the app displays a timeline of all photos, sorted into "Years," "Collections," and "Moments". Filters were added, allowing users to choose from several types of filters to add to their photos. Alongside existing options for sharing pictures, the app was updated with support for the new AirDrop functionality.[33]

The iOS 7 camera user interface has been redesigned. Elements such as the shutter button use flat design with simple geometrical shapes.

Switching between the camera modes is done using swiping gestures or tapping on the name of the mode (text) near the on-screen shutter button.

The camera user interfaces of all succeeding iOS versions are based on this layout and design introduced in iOS 7.

The redesigned camera interface offers new controls for adjusting exposure value and locking the autofocus.

Tapping inside the viewfinder adjusts the focus and exposure to that area in the camera's field of view. In order to hold (lock) the current focus and exposure state, the desired location inside of the viewfinder can be tapped and held down for half a second. This is known as the AE/AF lock or AF/AE lock.

After tapping, with or without locked focus/exposure, the exposure value can be adjusted by swiping up or down. In case AE/AF lock is activated, the exposure will be fixed indefinitely until unlocked manually.

These controls are also available during both normal and slow motion (high frame rate) video recording and also for both front camera photo and front camera video modes.[34][35]

The Music app integrated Apple's iTunes Radio service; a station-based music service that let users choose an artist, with the service generating a "station" based on that and similar artists' songs. Users were able to skip songs and search through the history of previous songs, in addition to being able to purchase the songs directly from the iTunes Store while playing. iTunes Radio also had a feature that showed songs currently trending on Twitter. iTunes Radio was free and ad-supported, but users could subscribe to iTunes Match, that enabled ad-free playback.[36]

After more than two years of release, iTunes Radio was eventually discontinued in January 2016, with the features moving to the new Apple Music music subscription service and Beats 1 radio station.[37][38]

In iOS 7, the Safari web browser received multiple significant updates. The two search bars found in previous iterations of the browser have been combined into a single "Smart Search" field. Tab management was improved to allow more than eight open tabs at once, as well as stacking tabs on top of each other vertically as opposed to a horizontal card view. The option to enter a Private tab was built into the app itself rather than in Settings menus, and a new "Do Not Track" button allows the user to further manage their privacy levels.[39]

Apple Maps now features turn-by-turn walking directions.[40]

The design of Maps was updated to feature a full-screen view, where interface elements such as the search bar disappear from view, alongside new translucent search and lower toolbars, and a Night Mode that automatically activates when users drive at night. A separate Siri volume control is available in Maps, enabling users to "change the relative volume of Siri's voice feedback independently of the system volume, so it doesn't shout too loud over your background music."[41]

The Weather app on iOS 7 received significant changes, including a new icon, the absence of a static weather indicator on the app thumbnail on the home screen, and new dynamic, visual representations of the current weather.[42]

iOS 7 has its own FaceTime app on iPhone, with FaceTime Audio, a feature that allows users to call while on Wi-Fi. FaceTime Audio is accessible from the Phone app, the Contacts app, or the FaceTime app itself. It is available on devices running iOS 7 or later.[43]

The Messages app now allows users to see timestamps for every message they have sent or received.[44]

In September 2013, Pranav Dixit of Fast Company reported about user complaints shared on Apple's support forums that the new design of iOS 7, including "many zoom animations while multitasking and opening and closing apps, in addition to a slight parallax effect" were causing users to feel sick. Dixit noted that while the parallax effect could be turned off, most animations did not have such an option.[56]

Dr. George Kikano, "division chief of family medicine at UH Case Medical Center in Ohio," told Fox News that "There's some validity to this, for people who are susceptible." Fox News wrote that Dr. Kikano said "It's a new "parallax" function that causes the background of the phone to subtly move back and forth, a feature that leads to an effect not unlike car sickness. The inner ear is responsible for balance, the eyes for vision. When things are out of sync you feel dizzy, nauseous. Some people get it, some people don't, and some people get used to it."[57]

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes of ZDNet wrote in March 2014 that iPhone and iPad users reported battery drain with the iOS 7.1 update.[58] In lab testing, Andrew Cunningham of Ars Technica found some hardware models experienced minor battery depletion, while others experienced no statistically significant changes.[59]

Dom Esposito of 9to5Mac reported in June 2014 that a new lock screen bypass method had been discovered in iOS 7, allowing access to the phone in "5 seconds under certain circumstances". The issue was later fixed.[60]

Many users reported performance issues with their iPhone 4 after upgrading to iOS 7. Apple added some performance enhancements in iOS 7.1 to attempt to rectify this.