particular message, whilst mentions send direct
messages to a specific person; those who have
a group chat muted will be alerted when they
are mentioned in a conversation, similar to
other messaging apps. This is great for families
who have a joint iMessage group chat and for
business users who are looking to migrate away
from Facebook-owned WhatsApp.
Memoji has also been given some love, with new
hairstyles, headwear, and a mask option for the
first time. Memoji stickers have been expanded,
with hug, fist bump, and blush emoji added and
revamped facial and muscle structure means
Memoji are now more expressive.
MAKING SIRI MORE INTELLIGENT
It seems like Apple has a go at making Siri more
advanced every couple of years, but fails to truly
live up to the power of Alexa and Google. This
year, however, Apple has redesigned its smart
assistant, and now it will no longer take over the
whole screen. Instead, Siri will appear as a small
logo at the bottom of the iPhone, so content
can still be interacted with.
Siri can also now answer a broader range of
questions, and audio messages can be sent from
iPhones to CarPlay devices. For the first time, Siri
also offers cycling directions, and the assistant
has been handed a more natural-sounding voice
in English, covering Australia, India, Ireland,
South Africa, and the UK, and a more natural-
sounding voice in French, German, Spanish,
Chinese, and Japanese, too. Siri can now
translate words and phrases into 65 languages,
and a dedicated Translate app will make
foreign travel easier than ever.