iOS 10 preview,iOS,OS 10,iOS 10 developer
We've been testing out the developer preview beta version of iOS 10, here are our first impressions and hands-on preview of iOS 10, Apple's upcoming mobile operating system for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, and its many new features and interface tweaks.
iOS 10 preview: Hands-on first impressions with iOS 10 beta
Welcome to our preview of iOS 10, the newest version of Apple's mobile operating system for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. This represents our first impressions of the OS, based on Apple's showcase of the new features at WWDC 2016, and some hands-on time with the developer preview beta version of iOS 10. We'll update this article many times over the coming months, as we review updated versions of the OS and (in the autumn) when Apple releases the final public version of iOS 10.
iOS 10 preview: Design
There hasn't been a system-wide visual redesign like there was in iOS 7 - I don't imagine we'll get anything as radical as that again for years - but there are still some significant design changes in iOS 10. Apple has focused its efforts in this department on the lock screen, the search/notification page reached by swiping from the left of the lock screen, and the Notification Centre.
(There's also a new feature that means you'll see these screens more often, so we should probably talk about it here rather than in the new features section. It's called Raise To Wake, and means that, like the Apple Watch, an iOS 10-equipped iPhone will light up its screen and show you the lock screen when you lift it up. No more blasting through to the unlocked home screen thanks to superfast second-gen Touch ID. Our understanding is that this feature won't be applied to iPads, and at any rate it hasn't been implemented on iPad in the developer preview.)
The lock and notification screens have been redesigned and expanded in scope. A lot of these changes are focused on 3D Touch, which is a bit of a pain for those of us running iOS 10 on older iPhones, or iPads of any vintage, but it's clear that Apple is following a strategy of drip-feeding the feature more and more throughout the system. By the time iOS 10 comes out, there will be two generations of iPhone with 3D Touch, and it seems likely that a 3D Touch-equipped iPad will emerge in autumn as well.
Notifications continue to become more interactive with each generation of iOS. Most of them can be 3D Touched to get a quick glance at the vital information; and iOS 10 enables live updates within the notifications themselves, so you can open an iMessage notification, then carry on a conversation there and then, with live replies appearing as they're received, without having to open the Messages app.
There is also the inclusion of widgets working in a larger format, allowing them to be a lot more useful for different types of apps.
One last change to the lock screen that we really like: to open the Camera app from here, all you need to do is swipe in from the right. It's just an extension of the previous feature where you need to swipe in from the small camera icon, but a lot less fiddly.
iOS 10 preview: Features
Apple outlined 10 key features that have been changed, added or redesigned - and we look at them in detail in our separate article The 10 best features of iOS 10 - but in this preview we'd like to focus on slightly fewer… while mentioning a couple that Apple didn't.
Messages
This got the most stage time - which is fair enough, given that (as Apple pointed out) it's the most-used app on iOS.
Most of the changes are visual and relatively superficial, however. And lots of them involve emoji. Emoji are now displayed at three times the size in Messages, and will be suggested (where appropriate) by QuickType's predictive text. And if you're partway through typing a message and open the emoji keyboard, iOS will scan the text for any word that has an emoji equivalent, and turn them gold; you can just tap the ones you want to be 'emojified' (sorry).
There are lots of other visual effects you can apply to your messages, and again, most of them are a bit silly. But one we rather like is 'Invisible ink', which scrambled the text or image in your iMessage until the recipient swipes across it - nice for delivering pleasant surprises. And hopefully not for dumping people.
There is also the ability to enable or disable read receipts, where you'll be able to change it per contact or group. As another feature, you can now also send low quality images through the Messages app.
Recently, Apple also replaced a few old emojis, such as the revolver pistol with a water gun and updated a lot of their previous emojis. We like this change and hope to see more included in the future.
Deleting preinstalled apps
Apple didn't mention this in the keynote speech, presumably because it represents something of a climb-down in response to long-term consistent complaints from users. But it's big news that Apple is finally letting us remove Stocks, Tips and various other preinstalled apps from our iPads and iPhones.
Technically only the user data is deleted, while the app remains hidden on your device, taking up (a small amount of) space. But it's still a biggie. We explain how it all works in a separate article
Phone app
The Phone app has received some love in iOS 10. You've now got the ability to have voicemail transcriptions, directly from Apple's very own phone app. The new feature converts speech into text, without you having to intervene. It isn't totally accurate, but a useful feature nevertheless.
Music
The Apple Music app has received an update, where it has had a visual redesign and now has lyrics. You'll also be pleased to know that you can continue listening to your music whilst taking Live Photos. We like the additions to the Music app, but feel that Apple could still add more to the app.
Siri
Siri is now available to third-party developers, meaning you can use Siri in non-Apple apps. This change really opens up the platform and allows a greater number of apps to be controlled by voice.
We like the approach by Apple in being more open-source.
Images
RAW images can now be taken on iOS devices, with Apple announcing the support for the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone SE or 9.7-inch iPad Pro, and newer devices. The feature is great for those who want full resolution images from their iPhones and iPads.
The size of these images will be big, but nevertheless, the feature is a great inclusion by Apple. Note: RAW images will only be available on the rear-facing camera, where you won't be able to use image stabilisation either. Speaking of which, Live Photos now have image stabilisation.
The Photos app in iOS 10 has also received an update, with the inclusion of artificial intelligence. Apple announced that the Photos app will be able to draw together photos and videos by place, people and time where it will automatically create a highlight reel.
Home
This is a brand-new app: a hub from which you can control all of your HomeKit-compatible smart-home appliances.
If you open up Home, you'll see all your HomeKit-compatible accessories, no matter which company makes them, and you can easily control them all from one hub. Many of these will have 3D Touch shortcuts: you can force-tap and slide on a dimmer app, for instance, to adjust light levels.
There's a nice feature called Scenes, which collects frequently used settings for various devices under a single button - so you could press the 'Good night' button to turn down the lights, turn down the thermostat, lock the door and so on.
QuickType
We mentioned predictive emojis in the Messages section, but QuickType is getting cleverer in other ways too. If someone asks for a friend's contact details and iOS thinks it knows what they're talking about, it will scrape the relevant phone number or whatever from Contacts and offer it as a suggestion; if someone asks where you are it will offer your precise location.
QuickType will support the use of more than one language at once, too, although it's not clear at this point whether it will work out on the fly that you user both English and French, say, or if you'll need to select the languages you're familiar with in Settings somewhere.
iOS keyboard
The default iOS keyboard has undergone a few changes in the beta versions, with Apple reverting changes made in the first betas, to the latest ones. As it stands, the iOS keyboard sounds have changed, with the space, return and backspace keys having a slightly different sound from the default keys.
This change could be seen by some as positive, but others are missing the old, stock sounds. We hope Apple will give us the option in the final public release in September.
Unlocking
As a minor, but legacy feature many will see a change in, is the Slide to Unlock feature has been axed amd replaced with a 'Rest Finger to Unlock' option, whih is found within the Accessibility settings.
iOS 10 preview: Compatible devices
After iOS 9 was rated as compatible with all of the same devices that could run iOS 8, Apple's been fairly strict on device compatibility this year. The iPad 2 and 3, the iPad mini 1, the iPhone 4s and the 5th-get iPod touch have all dropped off the list.
Which means the following iPads, iPhones and iPod touch models can run iOS 10:
iPad 4, iPad Air 1, iPad Air 2, iPad Pro (9.7in and 12.9in models)
iPad mini 2, iPad mini 3, iPad mini 4
iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone SE
6th-gen iPod touch
Plus, of course, any devices launched alongside the OS in autumn.
Read more: Which iPads and iPhones can run iOS 10?
iOS 10 preview: Release date and how to get it now
Apple hasn't announced the final release date of iOS 10, but we've got a fair idea of the release schedule over the next three months.
The developer preview beta version - which is for app developers only, and is likely to be riddled with bugs and compatibility problems with third-person apps - has been released already. If you're an app developer (or prepared to pretend that you are) and willing to put up with the bugs, you'll find instructions on installing it here: How to get the iOS 10 developer preview beta right now. We advise you to install the beta on a secondary device, not the iPad or iPhone you need to use every day for work.
The next major landmark will come in July (again, Apple refuses to be more specific just yet, but we'll update this article as soon as we know more), when the public beta launches. Like the developer preview beta, this won't be finished, polished software - it's for pre-release testing and the reporting of bugs. But coming a month further along the line it should be reasonably stable, and will become more and more so as successive iterations of the beta are released. Anyone can join the public beta.
The final public version of iOS 10.0 will become available for general download in autumn, alongside the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, and possibly the iPad mini 5 and iPad Pro 2. Autumn is the official position at this point, but the iPhone 7 launch is very likely to happen in September 2016.
OUR VERDICT
It's too early to say whether iOS 10 will be a groundbreaker or a placeholder: the developer preview is still buggy, as it has every right to be at this early stage in development, and some features haven't yet been implemented. But we love a lot of what we've seen so far.
Raise To Wake is a nice idea, even if we've not got it work yet - iOS 10 is only installed on 5 and 5s-generation iPhones in the Macworld offices, which may be the cause of the problem. The ability to at least hide preinstalled apps is long overdue, and much appreciated. The changes in Messages would be easy to mock but a) they're aimed at a user base considerably younger than your humble previewer, b) are entirely optional and c) are actually a lot of fun anyway. And there are so many smart, useful changes throughout the rest of the OS that we simply couldn't cover them all here.
Some features remain a mystery, and we'll need to test them later in development before we know if they're going to do the trick; and the widespread opening up of 1st-party functions to 3rd-party development - Siri and Messages, notably - will live or die depending on the enthusiasm and innovation of Apple's software partners… but they've never failed the company before.
For the time being, then, all we can say is that this is a highly promising update, and we look forward to testing and trying each successive iteration as we get closer to launch. Autumn can't come quickly enough.
