iOS 11– 5 Features you should be excited about
I was not really excited about WWDC this year where Apple was set to announce the new version of iOS, iOS 11. The day after the conference, I opened Youtube and as expected, my feed was filled with videos talking about all the tech/software that was released. Just to catch up with what had happened, I opened a video which talked about new iOS 11 features and after 5 minutes, I was convinced that iOS 11 might actually be the biggest update Apple has ever released. I was playing with iOS 11 for the past few days and here are five features that I think will change how you use your iPhone or iPad in the future.
Revamped Control Center:
The new and improved Control Center is something that I never knew I wanted. Kind of like Jobs’ first iPhone. Finally, I can now control how the brightness, volume, toggle On/Off WiFi, Bluetooth, control music and more directly from the Control Center. The cherry on the top is that the Control Center is mostly customisable. 3D touch integration in the Control Center are pretty convenient too.
Files app
Though still in beta, files is a welcome and long awaited addition to iOS 11. Files is a central place where you can access all the files on your device, iCloud and other third party stage services like Dropbox, OneDrive etc. Essentially, the addition of this app will change how you share, tag, and generally handle your data across different apps and different devices.
Drag and Drop
On the surface, the revamped Control Center and the Files app may look like the biggest additions to iOS 11. But under the hood, there is one more addition to iOS 11 that will change how you interact with the apps on your device. With the addition of Drag and Drop, you will now be able to share files across different services like never before. Developers can make anything draggable from a file to an In-game item. The possibilities are endless.
ARKit
Apple defines ARKit as “A new framework that allows you to easily create unparalleled augmented reality experiences for iPhone and iPad.” For the uninitiated, augmented reality is a technology which superimposes the real world with digital information and media, such as 3D models and videos, overlaying in real-time. Developers will now be able to build augmented reality applications for iOS. This technology coming to a mainstream device leaves the world with a lot of possibilities.
Imagine if you want to buy a couch for your living room online but you are not sure if the color matches the walls. If AR becomes mainstream, it should be technically possible for the manufacturer of the couch to include a 3D model which your iPhone can use to give you an idea of how it looks in your living room. Houzz is already doing that (and being successful at it). The future is exciting.
Screen recording
This is more of a personal favorite. It is not going to revolutionize the way you work but it will definitely make *MY* life a lot easier. With iOS 11, you will now be able to record the screen directly from your device. No need to connect it to your Mac and run QuickTime player on it. I personally appreciate this feature. Whenever we need a video to promote a new feature (or) send a small video to explain something to a user, I need to connect an iPhone to my Mac and record the video. Now, I just need to unlock the device.
According to me, these are the features that are going to change the way we use an iOS device. I haven’t upgraded to iOS 11 on an iPad yet. However, with the addition of a dedicated dock and more streamlined multi-tasking, I cannot wait to upgrade it to iOS 11.
Which iOS 11 feature is going to change the way you work? Let me know in the comments below.
