Radio – you can ask Siri to play 100,000
stations from all around the world. And
HomePod will allow you to recognise who in
your family is talking, and personalise the
response – great with Apple Music, where
selections will be based on your taste and
history. It goes beyond Music, Messages,
Notes, Reminders, and more.
SIGN-IN WITH APPLE
Apple is taking on Facebook Connect,
Google and other platforms that allow you to
conveniently sign in to third-party accounts.
Sign-in with Apple is poised to protect your
privacy more than Facebook and Google do.
What’s neat is that if you don’t want to fork
over your email to an app developer or
website, Apple will create a unique random
email for you, and the email will be unique to
that site or app.
MAPS GET REVAMPED
iOS 13 Maps looks a lot better, even if
everyone likes to hate on it. Will it ever be
better than Google Maps? No, probably not.
But for people who want Apple’s pre-loaded
maps app on iOS 13, it’ll be much better.
There’s way more detail here by way of
Apple rebuilding maps from the ground up.
There’s more realistic detail for roads, beaches,
parks, and buildings, and you can now explore
cities with a 3D 360-degree experience.
Favorites were a part of Maps before, but
iOS 13 makes these saved locations easier to
navigate to with one tap – they appear at the
very top of a search menu. Sometimes Google
Maps on iOS doesn’t get this right (but does
better on Android). That’s one reason to
keep Apple Maps installed, even if you’re a
Google Maps person.TEXT FORMATTING IN MAIL
Mail is getting some changes when it comes
to writing out properly formatted email.
You’ll have more control over font style, size,
color, alignment, indenting and outdenting
text, and numbered and bulleted lists.
What we’re really hoping to see in iOS 13
is the ability to insert a hyperlink into some
text in an email. On both iOS and Android
devices, that’s just not possible in their
default mail clients (that we’ve seen) – you
have to paste long URLs, and that’s not a
computer, no matter what you call your
operating system.CONNECT TO WI-FI AND BLUETOOTH
FROM CONTROL CENTER
This is huge – and we’ve been asking for it
for several years. You’ll soon be able to select
Wi-Fi networks and Bluetooth accessories
right from Control Center.
Android has had this for years, and it was
always convenient to connect to new Wi-Fi
networks or Bluetooth earbuds without
having to navigate away from your current
app and dive into five Settings submenus.
Apple is finally coming around in iOS 13.XBOX ONE AND PS4 GAME
CONTROLLER SUPPORT
If you’re going to play games on your phone,you might as well do it with one of the twobest
controllers available (and maybe something
you already own).
Enter PS4 and Xbox One game controller
support for iOS 13. Apple didn’t say if all games
will support this or if it’ll be limited to Apple
Arcade, but whatever the case may be, we’re
happy to be able to put our PS4 controller to
use everywhere we roam.SILENCE UNKNOWN CALLS
Nuisance SPAM calls drive us crazy every day,
and iOS 13 wants to fix the issue with the help
of Siri, which scans your Contacts, Mail and
Messages to see if you’ve previously been in
contact with the caller.
Silence Unknown Calls sounds fairly smart,
if you’re not expecting business numbers
cold-calling you for work. Those that do call
you and aren’t on your personal ‘VIP list’ will
go straight to voicemail.MORE IOS 13 FEATURES TO COME IN
SEPTEMBER
We’re testing out the iOS 13 public test, but
there may be more to this update that we
haven’t seen. Apple typically holds features
until the next iPhone launches.
We’ll continue to update the iOS 13 news
here, with our guide to what you need to know
about its features and how it’ll change your
iPhone. There might be a separate iPadOS now,
but iOS 13 is still mighty important to millions
of people.APPLE IS TAKING ON
FACEBOOK CONNECT, GOOGLE
AND OTHER PLATFORMS THAT
ALLOW YOU TO
CONVENIENTLY SIGN IN TO
THIRD-PARTY ACCOUNTS.
SIGN-IN WITH APPLE IS POISED
TO PROTECT YOUR PRIVACY
MORE THAN FACEBOOK AND
GOOGLE DO.