With the arrival of the 10th anniversary iPhone last month, a lot of attention has been focused on Apple’s cutting edge hardware. However, the underlying software has also benefitted from some major tweaks. If you have an Apple smartphone or tablet that is compatible with the all-new iOS 11 software, these tips and tricks will help you make the most of the update.
Camera capabilities
Sure, the iPhone X has a camera so advanced that it makes its predecessors seem a bit archaic, but with iOS 11, there are some useful new photography features that can make all models feel a bit more modern. For example, there is now no need to rely upon a separate application to scan QR codes. Instead, you can just launch the standard camera app and the software will automatically detect any codes it can see, giving you a quicker way of accessing digital content and associated websites.
Another imaging improvement comes to the Portrait shooting mode, which now works properly with the optical image stabilisation offered on the iPhone 7 Plus and other similarly equipped models in the range. This makes taking pictures of people much easier, especially if you are not a photography expert and have trouble getting good shots.
Finally, the ability to scan documents and create tables within the Notes app using the camera has been introduced, meaning that you can capture everything from WiFi passwords to entire spreadsheets and even your iPhone insurance policy details quickly and easily without having to enter all of the information manually.
Device management
A lot of the changes made with iOS 11 are a little obtuse unless you really dig into the settings and actively seek them out. For example, did you know that you can now alter the icons that are available within the Control Centre, allowing you to set up the shortcuts that you need and get rid of things that are not relevant on a regular basis? This is great if you spend more time playing music or connecting to Bluetooth accessories than you do adjusting the brightness of your screen, for example.
Some changes to Siri have also been implemented for people who want to use the personal assistant but do not want to control the system using their voice. The discrete ‘Type To Siri’ setting lets you use the Home Button to launch it as usual, but rather than having to make a request out loud you can instead enter a query using the onscreen keyboard. This is excellent when in a public place where broadcasting your web searches to everyone else might cause embarrassment.
If your iPhone is getting full and storage space is limited, the new management tools added in iOS 11 will be a boon. For example, Apple has updated its video capture formats so that they take up less space, so new clips you capture will retain their quality while being less of a burden on the internal memory. Entire apps can be offloaded, meaning that they are effectively uninstalled, but still retain key settings for later, so if you need them again, you can dive straight back in without having to start from scratch. This will be useful for people who need cheap phone insurance and want to have a backup in the event that their Apple device is lost or stolen. With in-depth iCloud integration and messaging backup, getting a replacement handset with mobile phone insurance will make it seem as if nothing has gone wrong.