ios 7
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Apple release iOS 7.0.2, fixes lock screen bypass bugs
Apple released iOS 7.0.2 and fixed the two lock screen bugs that made headlines earlier this week. One affected Control Center and the other took advantage of an exploit in the emergency dialer. These hacks allowed unauthorized users to access photos, contacts and social-sharing features without entering a passcode. Besides these pretty big bug fixes, the update also brought back the Greek keyboard for passcode entry. Folks running iOS 7 can download the update over the air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. You can also manually install it by connecting your iPhone or iPad to your computer and launching iTunes.
Apple addresses lockscreen bypass bug with iOS 7.0.2 rollout
Apple confirmed and assured everyone that it was working on a fix to the iOS 7 lockscreen bypass bug last week that let sneaky individuals mess with users' email and social network accounts. And now, exactly seven days later, said update is hitting handsets in the form of iOS 7.0.2. Directly to the point, the update is said to "fi[x] bugs that could allow someone to bypass the lock screen passcode." And hey, there's also a Greek keyboard option for passcodes thrown into the update for good measure.
iOS 7 video tip: Organizing Notification Center
iOS 7's Notification Center can be a great way to see notifications at a glance, but when every app on your device suddenly decides to join the party, things can get a little hectic. In today's iOS 7 video tip, we'll show you how to turn off notifications from specific apps or delete them from your Today screen. The video, as always, can be expanded to full-screen for clarity.
Set up a 3rd-gen Apple TV with a tap from your iOS 7 device
Have a third-gen Apple TV and an iDevice running iOS 7? If you've yet to set up Cupertino's set-top box, you can do so now by simply touching your iPhone or iPad to the Apple TV. Okay, Apple's take on Bump requires a few more steps than that; you'll first need to enable Bluetooth on your iOS 7 device, then connect to the WiFi network you'll use with the Apple TV. (Your machine also needs Apple TV software 6.0 or later.) Still, it sure beats the labor-intensive process of selecting letters on-screen with the included remote. Once you've tapped your iPhone to the set-top box, prompts should appear on both the phone and the TV screen, and you're good to go. Give it a whirl for yourself -- Apple's directions are available via the first source link below.
Third-generation Apple TV setup now as easy as touching an iOS 7 device to it
TUAW reader Aaron G pointed out an interesting Apple knowledge base article to us this morning. According to the post, a third-generation Apple TV running Apple TV software 6.0 or later can be easily set up by using an iOS device running iOS 7. It's as easy as touching the device to the Apple TV. Once the Apple TV is connected to your TV and showing the setup screen, you just unlock the iOS 7 device, making sure that Bluetooth is enabled and you're connected to the WiFi network that you want the Apple TV to be connected to. You then touch the iOS device to the Apple TV, after which prompts appear on both the iOS device and Apple TV. After entering your Apple ID and password on the iOS device and answering two simple questions, the configuration of the Apple TV takes place. It's connected to your WiFi network, activated and is set up with your iTunes Store account. It's a fast and easy way to set up the current Apple TV and hopefully any new devices that may be released by Apple in the future.
Daily Update for September 25, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Instagram gets the iOS 7 treatment
Next in the long line of popular iOS apps revamping their looks for Apple's newest mobile OS is Instagram, which just rolled out a new version of its photo-sharing app. Version 4.2.0 adds larger images and a more straightforward interface as well as flatter textures -- all of which help it fit in much better with the ultra-modern iOS 7 design aesthetic. The download is currently available through the App Store. [via Engadget]
iOS 7 beats up on Android, Windows Phone in user experience comparison
A new report by technology consultants Pfeiffer Consulting has found that iOS significantly outranks Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry phones in user experience satisfaction. Pfeiffer didn't want user "fan" bias entering into the equation, so the company only looked at "aspects that have a direct impact on the day-to-day user experience of an average, non-technical user." The results show that Apple's iOS 6 and iOS 7 best the other operating systems in all four main categories: cognitive load, efficiency, customization and user experience friction. The results, according to Pfeiffer: The combined results of the four different benchmarks and evaluations give iOS 7 a clear advantage in terms of overall user experience, taking into account the context defined for these benchmarks: day-to-day user experience of an average, non-technical user. If you're interested in studies such as this, the entire report is worth a read. It also demonstrates more good news for Apple and its newest iOS version.
iOS 7 video tip: Deleting Messages
Did you know that in the Messages app in iOS 7 you can delete single or multiple texts from a conversation with a friend? The same gesture that enables this editing capability can also be used to forward a message to someone else. To see how it's done, check out the short video tip below and remember that you can watch it in full-screen mode for more detail.
Some amazing slow-mo videos shot with the iPhone 5s
The camera software in iOS 7 coupled with the iPhone 5s hardware really goes a long ways toward making even the most amateur photographer / videographer seem like a pro. The slo-mo video feature available with the iPhone 5s is a perfect representation of this. CNET today put together a list of some of the best iPhone 5s slow-motion videos to hit the web. I've since augmented that list with some YouTube searching of my own and it's clear that people are going to be having a whole lot of fun with this feature. So without further ado, below are some of the more interesting, cute and funny iPhone 5s slo-mo clips to surface thus far. Now THIS is how you make a slow-mo video. Jumping on a trampoline has never seemed so easy. Here's a cool shot of a plane flying in for a landing. And some cool BMX trickery, similar to what Apple showed off during its iPhone media event. And some people? Well, some people just have skills. You can't get skills, however, without a whole lot of practice. This squirrel seems to be living the good life. And finally, this cat is the Dikembe Mutombo and Michael Jordan of the animal world all rolled up into one. If there are any slo-mo videos that we missed, please drop 'em in the comments below.
How to create nested folders on iOS 7
Nested folders (or, folders within folders) are one of the most useful features of iOS 7. Unfortunately, it's more of a glitch than anything Apple intended to include, so there's no official guide from Apple on how to do it. But don't worry; we're here to help. Placing folders within folders is a fantastic way to clean up your home screen, and it can be a godsend if you want to send unwanted, undeletable apps into a dark, unseen corner. Here's how to pull it off: We'll start with these four apps, but you can use absolutely whatever apps you want. 1. First, we combine two apps to create a folder, and then combine the remaining two apps to create a second folder. 2. Now, hold a finger on one of the folders so that it becomes grayed out. 3. As soon as it does this, press the Home button twice to bring up the multitasking menu. This trick will not work if the apps begin to wiggle (when they enter the organization mode) before you hit the home button. You have about a half a second to get this right. 4. From the multitasking menu, click on the home screen. You should see the folder icon remains enlarged and grayed out, and also that the folders are now wiggling. 5. Now, click the destination folder (the one you want to add the first folder to). You should see the icon of the first folder hovering above. 6. Now, click the home button once. Ta-da! You now have a folder within a folder. The best part is that these folders work flawlessly, and you can navigate through them, launch apps from within them and remove apps just as you would otherwise. You can use this trick to further nest additional folders, and I've been able to create five folder levels before eventually stopping, though I'm pretty sure you can just keep going until you get bored. This glitch was first noticed during the iOS 7 beta, and though I'm sure Apple is aware of it, they haven't taken any steps to correct it, and as of the current iOS 7.0.1, it still works perfectly. In fact, during the beta phase, any nested folders you had created would reset to the home screen after a device restart, but that's been changed, leaving all nested folders in place when the phone is power cycled. That said, the company could squash this at any time, so if you really fall in love with nested folders (as I have) take care before updating. Update: How to add apps to already nested folders You can add apps to already nested folders very simply, though it's slightly more complicated than just dragging the app to the folder. First, highlight the app you wish to move by holding your finger on it and then immediately double-tapping the home button, just as you did in Step 3 above. Now, from the multitasking menu, click on the home screen. Then, click on the first folder (the one holding the nested folder you want to move the app to), and then click on the nested folder. Once inside the nested folder, click the home button once and the app will relocate itself. Easy!
iOS 7 video tip: See which apps use the most cellular data
Today's iOS 7 video tip comes by way of Macworld's Lex Friedman, who pointed out that the new mobile operating system includes a way of finding out just how much cellular data each app uses. This tip extends to system service data usage, and provides a way to disable specific apps from using cellular data. Here's our short video tip, which you can expand to full-screen for easier viewing:
iOS 7: How to get your WiFi working again
In addition to battery issues, many of the complaints I've heard about iOS 7 center around WiFi. After upgrading, many people are getting the dreaded "unable to connect" message. There is a solution that's been passed around on the Apple discussion forums that should work for most people. You'll need to spend a couple minutes with your phone and router. Put your phone into Airplane Mode. Then, go into Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings. Then, reboot your router if you have access and take your phone out of Airplane Mode. You'll be prompted to join your network again, and it should work this time. You can do this with Airplane Mode turned off, but several people on the forums say they've had better luck with Airplane Mode on. Did you have this issue? Did this work for you, or did another method help? Let us know in the comments.
No, iOS 7 does not make your phone magically waterproof
Ah, the merry pranksters of the interwebs: your gleeful enthusiasm for messing with people shall never fade. It seems some of the jokers on Reddit and other corners of the web have taken it upon themselves to convince other people -- perhaps slightly less technically savvy -- that among iOS 7's many new features is a resistance to immersion in water. No, really. See the impressive graphic above. That took some effort. As pointed out in a few places, the idea that a software update could magically bestow water resistance on hardware is a bit farfetched, but unfortunately that didn't stop some folks from going ahead and testing it out. Ouch. So that there's no confusion: this is false. It is fake. It is a hoax. iOS 7 does not make your phone water-resistant. Have a nice Monday! Thanks, Oscar! [Want to help your friends and family learn the real story about the new iPhone OS? Send them a link to our Don't Panic Guide to iOS 7. -- Ed.]
NYPD handing out flyers asking people to upgrade to iOS 7
If you're in New York City the next time a cop stops you, he may want you to...update your iPhone to iOS 7. According to a flurry of reports on Twitter, NYC police are handing out fliers (one pictured above from @jimrosenberg and another pictured below from @Hoffm) asking people to upgrade to iOS 7. From first glance, the fact that New York City's finest are handing out fliers promoting Apple's latest iOS might seem like a huge marketing win (and / or brainwashing initiative) by Apple. But because mobile phones are now the number one item stolen in large cities, taking a proactive approach to helping users know about the security advantages of the latest iOS is actually in the police's favor. As AllThingsD points out, iOS 7 features a new tool called Activation Lock that requires the phone's Apple ID and password to be entered before it can be erased or before Find My iPhone has been deactivated. So if you haven't upgraded to iOS 7, do it now -- police's orders.
iOS 7 use overtakes iOS 6 in just 72 hours, Apple says 200 million installs
Last year's iOS 6 release was marred by the negative reactions to Apple's Maps, yet the OS quickly went on to be the most downloaded and used iOS ever. This year, iOS 7 arguably had more of a potential hindrance: a completely revamped UI. Yet Apple seems to have pleased almost everyone, with the iOS garnering praise from users and technology critics alike. Still, to see the analytics data from Mixpanel over the weekend is no less shocking: within 72 hours of its release, iOS 7 overtook iOS 6 as the iOS installed on the majority of devices. Apple's press release today notes that "more than 200 million iOS devices are now running the completely redesigned iOS 7, making it the fastest software upgrade in history." Guess Apple isn't doomed after all. By 8 PM on Friday, September 20, iOS 7 was on 48.21 percent of iOS devices, compared to 47.58 percent for iOS 6. By today at 4 AM, that percentage had grown to 56.21 percent of devices. Those percentages are absolutely mind-blowing numbers for any OS adoption rate in such a short amount of time. They are particularly more impressive considering the massive changes iOS 7 has brought to iOS devices. No matter which way you slice it, it looks like Apple's software offerings this year have hit one out of the park.
Talkcast 10pm ET: iOS 7, phone launch, touching the iVoid, and more
All-new dial-in experience! See below -- do not call into Talkshoe, we won't be there. Be sure to set up Fuze Meeting before the show if you want to join in live. It's Sunday, and it's time for the TUAW talkcast! If only we had anything to talk about this week... nah, just kidding. It's an iPhone launch to remember, and an iOS 7 introduction to boot. We've seen a frantic few days, with long lines and frazzled activations, not to mention an Apple TV update that had to be rolled back suddenly. Equally concerning, the German hacker group Chaos Computer Club claimed on Sunday that they were able to spoof a fingerprint to unlock the iPhone 5s via the Touch ID sensor. The process of capturing and manufacturing the fake print was somewhat involved, and of course once the spy print was made the hacker would still need to get access to your phone -- if phone and print were stolen simultaneously, you might have the hour or two of time before the fake print was ready to wipe your phone remotely. Gizmodo's Jesus Diaz suggested the real risk is that a jealous spouse might use this approach to spy on an iPhone 5s, which is an intriguing domestic drama in the making. Google's Tim Bray suggests that such a vulnerability is situational; in some cases, Touch ID is superior to a PIN, in other cases the converse. We'll discuss this development, plus more news, tips and tricks, and also wish two of our own a very happy birthday! (Steve and Victor.) Join us at 10pm ET, won't you? Reminder on new-style talkcasting: With some help from the fine folks at Fuze, we're using a new system to record the show. This should let everyone listen in live -- and, if you want, raise your hand as you would in the Talkshoe room to get unmuted and chime in. You can join the call in progress (meeting # is 20099010) at 10 pm ET from any computer via this link; if you download the Mac or Windows Fuze clients ahead of time, you'll get better audio and a slicker experience. Just click the phone icon to join the audio once you're in. Using an iPhone or iPad? Grab the native clients from the App Store and get busy. (Even Android users can join the party.) Still feel like using the conventional phone dial-in? Just call 775-996-3562 and enter the meeting number 20099010, then press #. While the Fuze web and native clients have a chat channel, we'd like to reserve that for host participants, requests to talk and other real-time alerts... so the full-on chat for the show will appear in this very post at 10 pm tonight. You'll need Twitter, Facebook or Chatroll credentials to participate in the chat. We'll remind everyone to check back in at that time. Your patience and forbearance with our new tech is appreciated in advance. For the time being, the podcast feed of the show will continue to originate from Talkshoe and should be there within 24-36 hours. See you tonight!
TUAW's complete guide to iOS 7: How-tos, first impressions and more
If you've loaded up iOS 7 on your iOS device this week and still feel a bit lost about all the new features, check out TUAW's guides to Apple's new operating system. If you have a request for us to explore a certain feature or any questions, feel free to ask in the comments: iOS 7 Guides Getting started iOS 7: Get your iPhone and iPad ready for the update iOS 7 Quick Guide: 5 must-know iOS 7 features TUAW's Don't Panic Guide to iOS 7 New and improved features iOS 7 AirDrop: Information sharing without a bump iOS 7 Control Center and Notification Center: Information and settings on the fly iOS 7: Siri starts to shine iOS 7: Phone call changes iOS 7: Multitasking has a brand-new look iOS 7: The Calendar app re-imagined iOS 7: Weather app is easy on the eyes, still lacking features iOS 7: Camera changes make it better, but it still loves to crash iOS 7's rebooted Photos app is its unsung gem iOS 7 iBeacons: An unsung feature with immense promise iOS 7: Activation Lock secures your device in case of theft Tips to make iOS 7 better for you How to stop iOS 7 from destroying your iPhone's battery life iOS 7: The little things iOS 7: Searching for apps and info with Spotlight (video tutorials) iOS 7 video tip: How to view list mode in Calendar TUAW Tip: iTunes Radio uncensored (video tutorial) How to use multiple Apple IDs in iOS 7 iOS 7 video tip: How to shut down running apps iOS 7 lock screen vulnerability reported, and here's how to fix it (Updated) iOS 7 video tip: Making text more readable How to block phone numbers in iOS 7 iOS 7: Benefits to business and enterprise iOS 7: See the timestamp on every Messages bubble iOS 7 video tip: How to reduce motion effects iOS 7 First Impressions My first five minutes with iOS 7 An hour or so with iOS 7 iOS 7 after a couple of days iOS 7 on an iPad mini: First impressions iOS 7 on an iPad 2: First impressions
The streams crossed: Mixpanel shows iOS 7 adoption rate now surpasses iOS 6 (Updated)
There you have it: Mixpanel's data is showing that the number of iOS devices running iOS 7 just surpassed the number running iOS 6 after only three days. What do we have to say to the Android world at this juncture in history? This: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX7wtNOkuHo The rapid adoption of iOS 7 vividly demonstrates the advantages of having a "closed" ecosystem in which the hardware manufacturer also controls the operating system. Not only are Apple's devices uncluttered with bloatware from carriers and manufacturers, but everyone in the ecosystem can get an update at pretty much the same time, delays caused by overworked servers or having really old equipment notwithstanding. We're sure that there's going to be some debate about whether or not this is an accurate figure. Chitika delivered some updated numbers that showed the adoption rate to be more like 32 percent after just 48 hours -- still an amazingly fast uptake of a completely new version of a major mobile operating system. Just remember those figures for Android 4.3 Jelly Bean which, after 14 months, is only showing a paltry 45 percent share of the Android operating system world. Can you say "fragmentation"? Of course you can! Updated: Reader PKFC notes that the figures for all of Android "Jelly Bean" include versions 4.1, 4.2, and 4.3, with a total of 43.39 percent of the total Android operating system share. Previous versions include 4.0.x "Ice Cream Sandwich" (26.1 percent of the total), and 2.3.x "Gingerbread" (27.07 percent). And by the way, as of this update at 4:46 PM ET on 9/21/13, Mixpanel is now showing iOS 7 adoption at 52.35 percent compared to iOS 6 at 43.66 percent. Older devices running earlier versions will remain at about 3.98 percent. Boo-yah!
iOS 7 after a couple of days
Our brains are pattern-making machines. When our patterns are disrupted, it takes some time to build new pathways and embrace the future. So it is with iOS 7, Apple's first major overhaul of its iPhone operating system (now iOS) since the iPhone debuted in 2007. I wrote up some very quick impressions as I used iOS 7 in New York, but here's what it's like a few days in. Music Music and sound have always been a part of the Apple experience. After a couple of days of using iTunes Radio, it's possible I may not use my other music apps nearly as much anymore. That's not to say Pandora, Slacker, TuneIn, Spotify, Rdio or other services don't have value. They absolutely do, but the integration, polish and choice available on iTunes Radio is going to quickly gain mindshare in the market. Not to mention the audio quality is quite good and adding channels is easy. There are few commercials, and the ones played don't sound terrible. iTunes Radio is a hit. As for audio, the new alerts and ringtones in iOS 7 are interesting. They sound electronic, but with smoother edges than the older, more naturalistic sounds (which are still available under "Classic" if you're looking for them). Here again we see the older world of iOS, which attempted to mimic the real world, being swept away for an entirely new, artificial-but-comfortable experience. I like the tones, but getting up at 4am the other day was tough with a more subdued alarm. My only question is: who went nuts on the reverb for the lock sound? Phone The minimalist tendencies and fine lines of iOS 7 are a little too "less" for the phone app, except in the case of the phone functions. I prefer the larger buttons in some places and actually like the look of the keypad (which allows slivers of your wallpaper through). Still, as with so many of the default iOS interfaces, there's so much white. I even tried going into Accessibility and inverting colors, but that's no good if you are normally sighted as I am. No, I would much rather Apple give us some customization here. Some different phone faces would be neat as well, and surely that's not an engineering feat of any great magnitude. My favorite feature in the iOS 7 phone app is the pictures by contacts in my Favorites. Apple, more of this is what we need. Lists of tiny type on white backgrounds just reminds us of all the paperwork we thought would be digital by now and all the websites we have yet to read on our Reading List. Photos Years, Collections, Moments are all fantastic. Sharing, as I mentioned before, is beefed up with an easy way to send groups of pics through email, to Flickr or a half dozen other ways/places. AirDrop is also heavily featured, and it's lovely. I did love the integration of AirDrop but obviously we'll have to wait until more iOS devices can use it. My favorite feature in the Photos app is the ability to perform some basic edits on my images. I absolutely loathed opening iPhoto on iOS. If my thumb used a Fitbit, using iPhoto would have shown up as a marathon, I swear it. Having these key tasks right in front of you when you are browsing photos is so essential, I have to wonder why it didn't happen earlier. It can be a bit jarring, when you're comparing Apple apps to others, to see that the sharing methods used by Apple are often nicer than in other apps. Since the options are available, it's a little weird when a developer doesn't use the icons and buttons provided as part of the OS. For example, the Twitter app uses small rectangles with text in a series for sharing. The touch targets are smaller, there's no iconography to guide you, and you are more limited. It's not an Apple thing, it's just third-party developers rushing to flatten apps without fully utilizing what's new in iOS 7. Here's hoping Apple's examples make a difference with time. Apple's method above, Twitter below By the way, if you're looking for how to share a photo to Photo Stream, it's now the iCloud button. That pattern has changed as well, and it's better than before. Visual effects The more you use iOS 7, the more stuff like icons flying in makes sense. One of the problems I had in the past was remembering where apps were. Now that I'm zooming in and out of them, I'm retaining that better. Of course, now that Spotlight is even easier to get to (just swipe down on the main part of any home screen), that makes remembering where I put things less of a problem. With folders, you're basically getting the same experience, but Apple has chosen to show fewer apps in the window at a time. You can swipe within, but when you go to move stuff around and you're not in a folder, for some reason everything is shifted over, so you may see what appears to be an empty folder. Speaking of weirdness, I did notice a few very brief visual glitches once in a rare while. These didn't add up to much, and I feel like there aren't as many bugs in iOS 7.0 as some had led me to believe. Swiping among screens of apps doesn't hang up as much as it did on iOS 6. The blurs, the movement, even parallax in isolation don't mean much. When all of these are combined there's a magic there, as they add up to a very fluid experience. One where you feel more connected to where things are. For a pattern-based brain that tends to think in 3D, that's important. Voice Memos OK, why are people not dancing in the streets over this? Voice Memos is finally a decent app! There are live waveforms. The buttons are more logical. And someone had the brilliant idea to actually make you name a file before saving it -- it's as though this were a Lilliputian Mac app. I love it, but I am prone to recording thoughts at odd hours, which is why I suffered through the earlier version of Voice Memos. Notes and Reminders I'll admit I don't use these much. For making notes I tended to use Byword or Drafts. For reminders I set calendar appointments (with Fantastical) or used OmniFocus. While the design alone isn't winning me over (it's interesting that there are still some faint paper textures in these apps), I'm increasingly swayed by Apple's use of iCloud to sync data. Reminders could, in theory, simplify my life. Notes already do what they need, but I will say I am thankful there's a lot less yellow on my screen. Still, with Notes in particular it again points out how I'm starting to crave options in iOS 7. Look at Pocket or Instapaper's options: text sizes, colors are variable. Apple, give us something here. Not everyone can have a white screen burning a hole in their retinas all day -- the fact that this is immuatable in Ive's world almost typifies the Ivory Tower thinking that sometimes dominates Apple's decisions. At least I have Byword, with its pleasing white-on-black text and font options. Passbook I mentioned Passbook before but I forgot to mention that I absolutely hate this icon. It barely stands out on almost all of the Apple wallpapers, and the colors mock me when I use my Adventure Time wallpaper. I know a lot of people gripe about its usefulness, but making it Guy Incognito isn't helping. iTunes Store Apps popular near Atlanta's airport Apps Near Me? I thought it was a gimmick, but now I'm a believer. While I was in New York it found subway and other useful apps, and here in the backwoods it uncovered apps from my local media outlets. Handy! Patterns old and new The old number selector was actually nice. You instantly understood it. I'm a little concerned that the newer, more subtle version is more confusing. I get it, but I get it because I'm familiar with the older version. Speaking of old and new, I am liking the Calendar less over time. I finally found out where list view went (tap the magnifying glass in the corner), but you can no longer add items from that view. Why? It's slightly less annoying to add something to the Calendar, but not by much. I feel like this is an area of neglect -- calendars are still just grids and boxes, but I think with Siri out of beta we won't get much innovation here. It's easy enough to add an event with Siri, so this is my old guy brain complaining. Safari As I said earlier, I like the new Safari overall. What I'm finding troublesome is bringing the UI chrome back (the upper text entry field and lower buttons). It took me a while to realize that you can tap the top of the screen to bring them back. Still, the buttons appear magically sometimes, so that's nice. Mail I tend to use a few email apps, depending on my situation (am I doing project work or clearing the decks, for example). I have never enjoyed Apple's mail applications, be they desktop or mobile. I have suffered through them, glorious tap after tap. While iOS 7 doesn't blow my email-hating mind, it's not a step backwards either. Apple's revamped email app is, in a word, serviceable. The nice touch here is that you can swipe a message and see "More" plus "Trash" (or "Archive" for Gmail) and more gives you the Forward, Flag, etc. options. Oh, and you can move the email to Junk! Or wherever, really. That's handy. Notification Center I didn't use this one much because one barfed-up list of notifications is generally noise for me. The new Today view is slightly more useful than info-barf, so there's some progress. I would still like customization here beyond a few toggles. Once upon a time Apple made Dashboard Widgets, and they were good. How I would love to see a similar tech implemented here. Think of them as mini-apps. Web clippings would be cool too, but I'm not holding my breath. One question: Where's the weather? This appeared for some in previous builds (I am told), and the notice at the bottom says "Weather and stocks provided by Yahoo" but there's no toggle and no weather in Notification Center. Even stranger is that some are seeing weather, but I'm not. Luckily I find Yahoo's weather app to be superior and it's on my home screen. No matter what I did, I couldn't get weather to appear, even though Apple's own Weather app works fine and looks better than before. [Update: Weather appeared, magically. Likely a server error on Yahoo's end or something wacky in location services. False alarm, I guess.] Fitting right in Speaking of my home screen, posted below, it's becoming painfully obvious which apps are falling into line and which aren't. Older icons begin to look gaudy by comparison, and that's saying something for as horrible as that Safari icon looks. Swiping up to get to Control Center was the easiest new pattern to create. I love it, and still say it's one of the best new features of iOS 7. But beyond the skin-deep app updates, I am sincerely looking forward to apps with more iOS 7-only frameworks built in. From M7 applications to apps taking advantage of Apple's new hardware, we are really just seeing the glimmer of dawn here. One more thing... Colors. They are flat, they are bold and they are everywhere in iOS 7 where there isn't a sea of whitespace. What's driving me a little crazy right now, however, after using iOS 7 for a couple of days, is that the colors are making me want an iPhone 5c. I don't need one. I can't afford one. But doggone it if 7's colors don't match the scheme of the 5c lineup so perfectly. I bought my daughter a 5c in pink (she loves it) and it's not a jealousy thing, I swear. It's the genius of Apple's hardware, software, design and engineering teams all working together. The 5c seems to be a harmonious blend of hardware and software. While the 5s feels like the elder of the tribe, the 5c is a playful pup, much like iOS 7. I feel like Apple could have been even more whimsical with iOS 7, but it showed restraint, and I'm glad. As we saw in early iterations of OS X, too much "effect" in an OS can be distracting. Sure, I'd like to have some options in iOS 7, maybe even turn off the zooming one day, but Apple could have made it worse. Instead, iOS 7 is better in almost every way. I don't see myself missing iOS 6 at all, and I'm going to install it on my iPad this weekend.
