iOS 11 release date, news and features

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Update: iOS 11 has officially been announced by Apple CEO Tim Cook, who said it's being "turned up to 11" on the iPhone and iPad.

He's right. The biggest iOS 11 news today is for iPad, as it's now becoming a true laptop replacement with a real dock of app, just like a Mac computer. That's big – almost as big as Apple's HomePod speaker announcement.

The iOS 11 home screen dock also appears in the multitasking menu, that's now laid out in a grid. Better yet, Drag and Drop is a new iOS 11 feature.

Amazing

You can drop everything across the multitasking splitscreen, from pictures to hyperlinks. Thanks to iOS 11, iPad is finally becoming different from the iPhone.

In fact, this is something that no Android tablet can do. Still no word on which iPads will be compatible with the new iOS 11 dock update. 

iOS 11 release date

Now that all of the iOS 11 news is out there – and before we get to the rest of the changes – let's stop to tell you when the iOS 11 release date happens.

iOS 11 will launch this autumn, according to Apple at it's WWDC keynote today. You should be able to download the iOS 11 beta starting today.

You can also expect an iOS 11 public beta In July. Apple hasn't announced that just yet, but we're expecting that news very soon.

iOS 11 features hint at iPhone 8 AR

The other big iOS 11 news out of the Apple WWDC keynote is that Apple is going into augmented reality with the developer-focused Apple AR Kit.

What does that mean for you? Overnight, Apple became the largest AR platform in the world, having so many iPhone and iPad devices out there. At least, it will be that way when iOS 11 launches to the greater public.

Apple AR Kit is only launching to app makers, but we fully expect it to hint at forthcoming iPhone 8 features three months from now. Get ready for a futuristic life in augmented reality.

What is AppleKit AR on iOS 11? You can place virtual objects into the real world using your iPhone or iPad and its camera. It's sort of like a really advanced very version of Pokemon Go.

The table has nothing on it. But on the iPad, it's an interactive world

In fact, that's Pokemon was one of several AR demos Apple showed off. It took it also showed off a way more advanced Wignut AR outpost battle. You'll be able to play it later this year from the App Store.

iMessages won't take up your storage anymore

Apple is using iOS 11 to tackle a big storage problem for a lot of users – your iMessages are taking up way too much 'Other' space. You know, in yellow.

Well, you'll soon be able to back up all of your iMessages to iCloud as they get archived to Apple's secure internet servers. That's a big relief.

Additionally, you'll have an easier time sorting through stickers, according to Apple.

As expected, Apple Pay is expanding to get a person-to-person payment features. This is a big play on what Venmo and PayPal can do now.

Apple Pay payments use Touch ID for authentication and iMessages to send between friend or other contacts who owe you money.

Siri has been used on 375 million devices, and is in more languages and more countries than any other personal assistant. 

iOS 11 uses deep learning to improve Siri's voice dramatically and has more detailed visual menus when you ask questions.

Need a quick translation? Siri on iOS 11 will speak to you in other languages. So if you want to order an authentic dish in Chinese, just have Siri say it for you.

Apple is changing the way we store videos and photos with new standards that won't take up nearly as much storage.

iOS 11 redesigns Control Center with an all-in-one look that's going to put every quick control at your fingertips. No need to swipe through three panes to control your music. 

iOS 11 is changing the way we access old alerts with a lockscreen that lets us swipe down to see every alert.

Live Photos can now do seamless loops, the example shown was someone blowing a bubble from bubble gum. You can also slow down Live Photos to capture the moment you want from the photo, just in case your eyes closed. This is like an advanced Burst mode – but it happens on every Live Photos shot.

Want to capture photos with long exposures? Well, Apple wants to make it simple in the iOS 11 camera app by adding a long exposure mode. That usually takes a lot of settings configuration on a DSLR.

Maps is getting smarter, with detailed floor plans of malls, an idea that is meant to help you navigate indoor locations. It can even let you scale floors in the app. On the streets, it's getting lane guidance and speed limits – finally. 

iOS 11 will give you an option to Do Not Disturb While Driving, a new feature to suggest (and probably pester you) into not check your notifications while behind the wheel. Thankfully, you can tell the device I'm not driving in case you're a passenger.

iOS 11 multi-room audio and Apple Music

Apple is expanding its already leading presence in Smart Home control. Apple Home will let you control speakers and give you configure multi room audio.

Apple Music is getting equally exciting changes. You'll be able to amass better playlists by consulting with your friends – without ever having to ask them. You can see a new feed to get ideas on what else is out there to listen to.

New App Store

Apple is redesigning the App Store in iOS 11 to make downloading new apps more enticing, with a new Today menu. Ever day this submenu will change and it looks like the Apple Music menus with lots of white space.

Even more important, it'll tell stories, and give you background on why specific apps are picked. Don't worry every app will still have a product page. As WWDC is a developers conference, this got a lot of applause.

Original article

iOS 11 news is the star of Apple's WWDC 2017 keynote, with new features ready to make your iPhone and iPad look brand new.

That's exactly what we're here to explain. We're transitioning this page from a bunch of rumors and a wishlist to a rundown of official details, according to what Apple and CEO Tim Cook announce on stage. It's going to be a big update when you download iOS 11.

Apple's iOS 11 update marks the tenth anniversary of the iPhone, and it's poised to grace a completely redesigned iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus.

The iOS 11 release date therefore has tremendous hype surrounding it, and we should see the first iOS 11 features this summer in beta form.

Apple's finished refining iOS 10 with the recent iOS 10.3.3 beta update, so we're already looking forward to the iOS 11 Developer Preview at WWDC 2017.

Here's all the iOS 11 news and rumors that we've found, along with features that we hope are at the top of Apple’s priorities list.

As expected, Apple Pay is expanding to get a person-to-person payment features. It uses Touch ID for authentication and iMessages to send between friend or other contacts who owe you money.

Siri has been used on 375 million devices, and is in more languages and more countries than any other personal assistant. 

iOS 11 uses deep learning to improve Siri's voice dramatically and has more detailed visual menus when you ask questions.

Need a quick translation? Siri on iOS 11 will speak to you in other languages. So if you want to order an authentic dish in Chinese, just have Siri say it for you.

Original article

iOS 11 news is the star of Apple's WWDC 2017 keynote, with new features ready to make your iPhone and iPad look brand new.

That's exactly what we're here to explain. We're transitioning this page from a bunch of rumors and a wishlist to a rundown of official details, according to what Apple and CEO Tim Cook announce on stage. It's going to be a big update when you download iOS 11.

Cut to the chase

• What is it? The next version of iOS
• When is it out? Likely June 5 announcement and September launch
• What will it cost? iOS 11 will be free to download

iOS 11 release date

The official iOS 11 release date is likely mid-September, along with an iPhone 8, according to Apple's scheduling history.

Good news: you should be able to download iOS 11 beta as soon this week, as it's expected to be unveiled at the WWDC keynote today.

Apple's WWDC keynote is where Apple previews the first iOS 11 features. Just don't expect iOS 11 to be completely finished by Monday morning.

With iOS 11 beta (including a iOS 11 public beta in July), we'll see several iterations over the course of three months until the final public release.

Again, this is all based on past iOS releases rather than any news or rumors, but there’s no reason to think Apple will change its rock-solid schedule.

iOS 11 Siri upgrade

iOS 11 is expected to have Siri graduate from voice assistant to full-blown a AI bot thanks to a new version of Siri, according to multiple rumors.

The big iOS 11 change is due in part to the Apple Siri Speaker release date and news we expect at WWDC. Siri will finally rival Google Home and Amazon Echo.

Siri in 2017 is supposed to learn your habits and change how it treats you based on what you've done in the past. We may also be able to type to Siri in iOS 11. That's great news for anyone who wants to turn to Siri in noisy environments.  

Not only is Siri expected with answer your questions more quickly, it's poised to anticipate how you'd act. It's geared toward "What's your next question?" and having that answer prepared, too.

Major iPad changes

We're already anticipating a 10.5-inch iPad Pro announcement on Monday, and WWDC conference may give us new software too.

iOS 11 needs to help Apple put the 'Pro' in iPad Pro 2. To do that, we expect to see easier ways to switch apps and harness its multitasking potential.

iOS 10 didn't bright enough iPad-specific changes, not next to iOS 9 did, so we're due for software that bridges the gap between an iPhone and MacBook 2017.

If iPads are the future of mobile computing, we need to see Apple create software that takes advantage of its Apple A10 Fusion processing power.

Group FaceTime

It's time to break out of those 1:1 video calls and, with iOS 11, invite the whole group to your FaceTime chat – or at least do a 3-way FaceTime call.

More audio, fewer pictures

Apple is reportedly a Group FaceTime feature, something that's long overdue, as already a part of Google Hangouts, Skype and  Facebook Messenger.

It's still an iOS 11 rumor, but we fully expect to see this logical feature launch in the post-WWDC 2017 beta or, more likely, in the final software this autumn. 

FaceTime Audio takes over phone calls

Prepare to make more FaceTime Audio calls  because that's supposed to be the default of future iPhone-to-iPhone phone calls – like iMessages, but for calls.

FaceTime Audio will become the normal calling mode between Apple devices, according to a now-deleted post from Reddit user cyanhat.

Replacing cellular calls and saving your once-precious minutes would have been ideal ten years ago when unlimited data plans and limited minutes existed. 

Now, data is more precious than minutes in most countries, so we'll see if Apple makes with a Wi-Fi only change when iOS 11 is announced on June 5. 

An official sleep tracking app

Apple could make quick use of its acquisition of Beddit, an app company that's been described as the 'Fitbit of Sleep tracking.'

iOS 11 could get an official sleep tracking app – though we don't expect to see such an app launch right away in the iOS 11 beta.

Apple could save the feature for the Apple Watch 3, but there's bound to be some sort of iOS 11 integration in order to display your sleep score and graph.

Apple Pay with friends

Apple Pay is already in 15 countries, including the US, UK, Australia and most recently, Taiwan. Italy will make the 16th soon. 

The next big step for the iPhone's contactless payment system may have Apple taking a direct shot at popular mobile payment iOS apps like Venmo.

Peer-to-peer Apple Pay payments will be a part of an Wallet app update, notes to the same Reddit post. It's said to have a social feed and iMessage integration, too. 

More from Apple Clips

Apple was also rumored to be working on a new video sharing and editing app, similar to Snapchat. We got that with Apple Clips (so far, everything rings true). 

But we could see the filtered video app get a proper spotlight and new features with the iOS 11 launch, maybe right inside the default camera app. 

After all, Apple really needs to redesign its barebones camera app (Why can't you switch resolutions in the camera app instead of in the settings menu?).

Better sharing

Apple is also apparently working on enhanced social features, according to sources speaking to Bloomberg.

The company's tipped to make sharing and connectivity with contacts a system-wide feature, and it may consolidate communications to a single optional menu.

This way, you'll be able to see all your SMS messages, emails and social network interactions with a given person on a single screen.

iOS 11 low-power mode

Apple needs a small rethink on the great, but unrefined low-power mode. That could very well happen in the iOS 11 update.

Rumors point to a more intelligent low-power mode that will learn your habits battery conserving habits and try to create a schedule to automatically put itself into low-power mode, according to cyanhat.

It's also said to be geographically adaptive, so if you want to be in low-power mode whenever away from your house, iOS will automatically make those changes for you.

The other change we're hoping to see is bringing low-power mode out of its settings menu confines and into the Control Center. My, my, that giant Night Shift button is mighty big. Low-power mode could easily fit in half of Night Shift's Control Center real estate.

Dark Mode

One thing we’re expecting to see soon from iOS is a Dark Mode, which would make backgrounds black, so you don’t strain your eyes when using an iOS device at night or in other dim environments.

Resources for the feature have already been found within iOS 10, so it’s probably something that Apple plans to add imminently.

Of course, there’s already a Night Shift mode, but that’s a bit different, as it reduces the amount of blue light rather than making the display darker.

What we want to see

That can't be everything from the iOS 11 update, so we're diving into theories about other features ahead of this week's WWDC announcement.

Here's our wish list for addition iOS 11 features.

1. Customizable Control Center 

Control Center is a handy shortcut to a number of quick settings, but it’s not customizable, meaning that for certain options, such as music controls, you must swipe to the second tab – an annoying extra step for anyone who listens to a lot of music or podcasts on their device.

Worse, some actions, such as GPS, don’t have Control Center toggles at all, so we’d like to see the ability to customize both what options are displayed and which tab they appear on.

2. Always-on display 

Samsung impressed us with the always-on display of phones like the Galaxy S7 – giving you a constant clock and a window onto your notifications, and we’d like to see a similar option built into iOS 11.

Raise to wake makes it quicker than ever to view the lock screen, but if we just want to check the time we'd rather not have to even raise the phone, and an always-on display would be a solution.

3. Home screen widgets

Apple’s lock screen widgets are handy, and help stop the home screen getting too cluttered, but we’d still like the option to put widgets on our home screens.

It’s not just about having quick access to apps and information, but also about customizing devices to make them our own, whether that means having a big custom clock and weather forecast on our main home screen, an overview of upcoming calendar events, or whatever else.

4. Smarter Siri

Siri is getting better all the time, but there’s still room for improvement, especially as in many ways Google Assistant has it beat.

We’d especially like to see improvements to Siri’s context awareness – so for example reliably being able to answer follow-up questions without you having to clarify the subject again.

5. Grouped notifications

Everyone likes to be loved, and there's nothing better than your WhatsApp blowing up - until that is, you take a gander at your lock screen or notification bar. 

Currently, iOS seems unable to group messages from the same contact, or message group, together, giving you an almost never-ending stream of notifications. 

Come on Apple, give us "19 new messages from 2 chats" and the ability to expand to see more if we so desire. Pleeaassssseeeeee.

6. Clear all background apps

Being able to hop quickly between different apps is handy, but sometimes we like to clean up the multi-tasking panel and start fresh. Thing is, on iOS 10 that involves swiping each individual app to close it.

For iOS 11 we'd love to have a "clear all" option, allowing us to shut all the background apps with a simple tap of an icon.

7. Easy video resolution changes

iOS is often thought of as simple and intuitive, and for the most part it is, but glaring usability issues sometimes emerge, and one of those is the inability to change video resolution from the camera app.

Instead you have to dig down into the main settings screen, which takes time, isn’t intuitive at all and could leave some users unaware that it’s even an option.

This should be an easy fix, so hopefully with iOS 11 Apple will add a video resolution toggle to the camera app itself.

8. Improved Mail app

Apple's Mail app got a bit of love in the iOS 10 upgrade, but the new look isn't overly slick. Scrolling through an email conversation feels clunky, and rival apps such as Gmail feel better put together overall.

In iOS 11 we'd like to see a cleaner, slicker and more user friendly Mail app, and if Apple wants to take a few pointers from Google's Gmail offering we won't complain.

Also, we want to be able to insert hyperlinks into anchor text with the Mail app. Yes, that's still not possible today, resulting in Long URLs for all links you send.

• After a new tablet? The iPad Pro 2 could be coming soon