Update: A lot of people are having trouble downloading the update.
The long-anticipated iOS 7 update comes to various iDevices today. The new operating system was first unveiled earlier this year at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, and the release date was made official at the iPhone 5s/5c unveiling earlier this month.
Starting today, the update will be available for free for iPhone 4 and later, iPad 2 and later, iPad mini and iPod touch (fifth generation). US English, French and German will be immediately available with additional languages to be added over time.
“iOS 7 is completely redesigned with an entirely new user interface and over 200 new features, so it’s like getting a brand new device, but one that will still be instantly familiar to our users,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “Next month we’ll be shipping our 700 millionth iOS device, and we’re excited about what our hundreds of thousands of iOS developers are doing to bring great new features to their apps.”
200 new features. That’s a lot to take in. You can learn about a bunch of them here, but here are the big ones Apple is highlighting:
- Control Center, which gives you quick access to the controls you want in one convenient place with just one swipe from the bottom of your screen;
- Notification Center, now available from the Lock screen so you can see all your notifications with a simple swipe, and the new Today feature gives you an at-a-glance view of your day with a summary of the important details such as weather, traffic, meetings and events;
- improved Multitasking that gives users the ability to switch between their apps in a more visual and intuitive way, and iOS 7 pays attention to which apps you use most and automatically keeps your content up to date in the background;
- AirDrop, an entirely new way to quickly and easily share content with people nearby;
- new Camera app filters so you can add real-time photo effects, a square camera option, and you can quickly and easily switch between your four cameras—video, photo, square and panorama—with just a swipe;
- a redesigned Photos app that introduces Moments, a new way to automatically organize your photos and videos based on time and location;
- full-screen browsing with Safari’s new redesigned user interface, the new smart search field helps simplify searching, and there’s a new view for your bookmarks and your Safari tabs;
Siri with new male and female voices,* Twitter search integration, Wikipedia integration and Bing web searching within the app; and - iTunes Radio, a free Internet radio service featuring over 200 stations and an incredible catalog of music from the iTunes Store®, combined with features only iTunes can deliver.
Note that not all features are supported on all devices. In the U.S., the release comes with iTunes Radio at launch.
Here’s what people are currently saying about iOS7:
The iPhone 5s and 5c will become available on Friday.
Image: Apple
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