Apple’s iOS 11 announcement is about to happen, and before the official WWDC unveiling, we explore potential features.
Apple’s iOS 11 update marks the tenth anniversary of the iPhone, and it’s poised to grace a completely redesigned iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus .
The iOS 11 release date therefore has tremendous hype surrounding it, and we should see the first iOS 11 features this summer in beta form.
Apple’s finished refining iOS 10 with the recent iOS 10.3.3 beta update, so we’re already looking forward to the iOS 11 Developer Preview at WWDC 2017 .
Here’s all the iOS 11 news and rumors that we’ve found, along with features that we hope are at the top of Apple’s priorities list.
The official iOS 11 release date is likely mid-September, along with an iPhone 8, according to Apple’s scheduling history.
Good news: you should be able to download iOS 11 beta as soon as next week, as it’s expected to be unveiled at WWDC on Monday, June 5,2017
Apple’s WWDC keynote is where Apple previews the first iOS 11 features. Just don’t expect iOS 11 to be completely finished by Monday morning.
With iOS 11 beta (including a public beta every July) , we’ll see several iterations over the course of three months until the public release.
Again, this is all based on past iOS releases rather than any news or rumors, but there’s no reason to think Apple will change its rock-solid schedule.
iOS 11 is expected to have Siri graduate from voice assistant to full-blown a AI bot thanks to a new version of Siri, according to multiple rumors .
The big iOS 11 change is due in part to the Apple Siri Speaker release date and news we expect at WWDC. Siri will finally rival Google Home and Amazon Echo.
Siri in 2017 is supposed to learn your habits and change how it treats you based on what you’ve done in the past. We may also be able to type to Siri in iOS 11. That’s great news for anyone who wants to turn to Siri in noisy environments.
Not only is Siri expected with answer your questions more quickly, it’s poised to anticipate how you’d act. It’s geared toward “What’s your next question?” and having that answer prepared, too.
We’re already anticipating a 10.5-inch iPad Pro announcement on Monday, and WWDC conference may give us new software too.
iOS 11 needs to help Apple put the ‘Pro’ in iPad Pro 2. To do that, we expect to see easier ways to switch apps and harness its multitasking potential.
iOS 10 didn’t bright enough iPad-specific changes, not next to iOS 9 did, so we’re due for software that bridges the gap between an iPhone and MacBook 2017 .
If iPads are the future of mobile computing, we need to see Apple create software that takes advantage of its Apple A10 Fusion processing power.
It’s time to break out of those 1: 1 video calls and, with iOS 11, invite the whole group to your FaceTime chat – or at least do a 3-way FaceTime call.
Apple is reportedly a Group FaceTime feature, something that’s long overdue, as already a part of Google Hangouts, Skype and Facebook Messenger.
It’s still an iOS 11 rumor, but we fully expect to see this logical feature launch in the post-WWDC 2017 beta or, more likely, in the final software this autumn.
Prepare to make more FaceTime Audio calls because that’s supposed to be the default of future iPhone-to-iPhone phone calls – like iMessages, but for calls.
FaceTime Audio will become the normal calling mode between Apple devices, according to a now-deleted post from Reddit user cyanhat.
Replacing cellular calls and saving your once-precious minutes would have been ideal ten years ago when unlimited data plans and limited minutes existed.
Now, data is more precious than minutes in most countries, so we’ll see if Apple makes with a Wi-Fi only change when iOS 11 is announced on June 5.
Apple could make quick use of its acquisition of Beddit, an app company that’s been described as the ‘Fitbit of Sleep tracking.’
iOS 11 could get an official sleep tracking app – though we don’t expect to see such an app launch right away in the iOS 11 beta.
Apple could save the feature for the Apple Watch 3, but there’s bound to be some sort of iOS 11 integration in order to display your sleep score and graph.
Apple Pay is already in 15 countries, including the US, UK, Australia and most recently, Taiwan. Italy will make the 16th soon.
The next big step for the iPhone’s contactless payment system may have Apple taking a direct shot at popular mobile payment iOS apps like Venmo.
Peer-to-peer Apple Pay payments will be a part of an Wallet app update, notes to the same Reddit post. It’s said to have a social feed and iMessage integration, too.
Apple was also rumored to be working on a new video sharing and editing app, similar to Snapchat. We got that with Apple Clips (so far, everything rings true) .
But we could see the filtered video app get a proper spotlight and new features with the iOS 11 launch, maybe right inside the default camera app.
Apple is also apparently working on enhanced social features, according to sources speaking to Bloomberg .
The company’s tipped to make sharing and connectivity with contacts a system-wide feature, and it may consolidate communications to a single optional menu.
This way, you’ll be able to see all your SMS messages, emails and social network interactions with a given person on a single screen.
Apple needs a small rethink on the great, but unrefined low-power mode. That could very well happen in the iOS 11 update.
Rumors point to a more intelligent low-power mode that will learn your habits battery conserving habits and try to create a schedule to automatically put itself into low-power mode, according to cyanhat.
It’s also said to be geographically adaptive, so if you want to be in low-power mode whenever away from your house, iOS will automatically make those changes for you.
The other change we’re hoping to see is bringing low-power mode out of its settings menu confines and into the Control Center. My, my, that giant Night Shift button is mighty big. Low-power mode could easily fit in half of Night Shift’s Control Center real estate.
One thing we’ re expecting to see soon from iOS is a Dark Mode, which would make backgrounds black, so you don’ t strain your eyes when using an iOS device at night or in other dim environments.
Resources for the feature have already been found within iOS 10, so it’s probably something that Apple plans to add imminently.
Of course, there’s already a Night Shift mode, but that’s a bit different, as it reduces the amount of blue light rather than making the display darker.
That can’t be everything from the iOS 11 update, so we’re diving into theories about other features ahead of next week’s WWDC announcement.
Here’s our wish list for addition iOS 11 features.
Control Center is a handy shortcut to a number of quick settings, but it’s not customizable, meaning that for certain options, such as music controls, you must swipe to the second tab – an annoying extra step for anyone who listens to a lot of music or podcasts on their device.
Worse, some actions, such as GPS, don’ t have Control Center toggles at all, so we’ d like to see the ability to customize both what options are displayed and which tab they appear on.
