iOS 10 is finally here and while it might not seem like that big of an update, under the hood, Apple has actually added or changed lots of little things. And some of them, might be easy to miss.
So we’ve complied a list of hidden features and the not-so-hidden but the little changes to iOS 10 for your reading pleasure.
1. Delete Stock iOS Apps and Re Download Them
Finally, Finally it’s possible to get rid of the pesky Stocks app. When you tap and hold on the default icons, you’ll see a familiar “x” icon to delete the app. This only took us 10 years. Here are the apps you still can’t delete though: Activity, Find my iPhone, Health, News, Wallet.
But don’t worry, you can re download the app later as well. They’re all available from the App Store.
2. Big Beautiful Typography
It’s not exactly hidden but it’s amazing no one’s talking about this radical design change in iOS 10. Instead of the translucent effect you have this big bold black type as headings. In Music and News it just looks amazing.
3. Panes in Redesigned Control Center
Control Center looks different now, with tiles. Making me think they’re maybe editable. But what we do know right now that hiding behind those circles in the bottom are panels.
Yes, Control Center finally supports different panels, screens essentially. One app that we know that takes advantage of this feature is Home. There’s also a dedicated Music pane. But wouldn’t it be great if third parties could get in on the action?
4. Quick Action Shows Widgets
When you 3D Touch on some apps like Weather, you’ll actually see a little widget. I really hope this is not limited to Apple’s apps.
5. Hidden Messages in iMessage
We’re at meta level hidden now. There’s a not so obvious feature in the new Messages app that lets you hide an image that you send unless the user swipes/taps on it.
6. Widgets Replace Proactive Screen
I really love that one of my wishes that Proactive goes away came true. Now when you swipe to the left most screen you’ll see a lot of stuff there. Including widgets from the Today view.
When you pull down, you’ll only see Notifications. The widgets are now only available where the Proactive screen used to me. And so far, I don’t like this. Swiping down from the lockscreen to perform an action using a widget was one of my favorite things in iOS 9.
7. Control Your Home From Control Center
If you have HomeKit devices, you’ll be able to operate them without even unlocking your phone. Swipe up from the bottom to see the Control Center and swipe left to view all your HomeKit devices.
8. Categories Tab Is Back in The App Store
The Categories tab is making a comeback.
9. New Animations
There’s a new animation when you open and close apps.
10. New Folder View
The view when you open a folder has changed as well.
11. New Back Button
iOS 9 brought a back button. iOS 10 has changed it a bit. It now shows a little arrow next to the app name.
12. Lock Icon on Lockscreen Status Bar
When the lockscreen is locked, the status bar will now show a little lock icon. This should be helpful to determine where you are when you’re having a conversation in a Messages thread without even opening the app.
13. Notification Center Changes
Recent searches now show up in the Notification Center and there’s a search button there as well.
14. 3D Touch Works in Control Center
15. Optimize Storage in Music
You can now limit the Music app from using all of your internal memory. You can make it just use a couple of GBs to save space.
16. Wake Alarm
There’s a new bedtime tab in the new Clock app (with a gorgeous dark mode). Tap it and you’ll be tasked to setup some basic stuff so Apple knows about your sleep routine. Once enabled, iOS will now remind you when to go to bed, the best time to wake up and it will also do some basic sleep analysis.
17. Individual Read Receipts
in iOS 10, you can view read receipts either based on person or conversation.
18. New Keyboard Sound
Yup, the keyboard sounds a bit different now.
19. Skip Tolls in Apple Maps
In Apple Maps now shows you routes where you don’t have to pay tolls.
20. Cellular Data Added To Settings Quick Actions
This is something I sorely missed. Now, when you 3D Touch on the Settings icon, you can quickly jump into Cellular Data section to turn off mobile data or Personal Hotspot.
21. Take Photos Without Stopping The Music
This drove me mad. Whenever I’d open the Photos app to take a quick photo, the podcast I’d been listening to would stop. Well, no longer in iOS 10!
30+ new features coming in iOS 10, and we’ve listed them below.
- Read receipts by conversation in Messages
- Autocorrect improvements for Korean & Thai
- Definition dictionary in Danish
- Location suggestions in Calendar
- Discover in iBooks
- Bilingual dictionaries in Dutch & Italian
- Found in Messages
- Definition dictionary in Traditional Chinese
- Live Photos stabilization
- New iPad Camera UI
- Improved Auto Enhance in Photos
- Rest & Type iPad keyboard
- Brilliance adjustment slider in Photos
- Mail filters
- CarPlay on ultrawide screens
- Bedtime alarm
- Avoid tolls in Maps
- Mailbox column
- Mail suggested move folder
- Sort Favorites in News
- Faster FaceTime connectivity
- Markup in Messages
- Live Filters for Live Photos
- Faster attachment sending in Messages
- Siri for South Africa & Ireland
- Air quality in Maps for China
- iCloud Drive Documents folder
- Side-by-side Mail compose iPad
- Male and female Siri voices for Russia, Spain & Italy
- iCloud Drive Desktop folder
- Air Quality Index for China
- Faster Camera launch
- CarPlay app reordering