iOS 11 – Available Now For iPhones and iPads…

iOS 11 – Available Now For iPhones and iPads…

Are you lucky enough to be the proud owner of an apple iPhone or iPad? Then you probably have been receiving messages about a new operating system. It’s called iOS 11 and it’s free to download if you have an iPhone 5S or an iPad mini 2, Pro or Air or newer. This month we will look at some of the advantages of this new system but also some of the things you should check before you decide to press the upgrade button.

The first and most important thing to know is what your Apple ID and unlock codes are. The latter is probably pretty easy as you use it everytime you unlock your device. The former is probably where you might struggle – none of us like remembering usernames and passwords do we? The reason that you need to make sure you have it is because you will be asked for it after the new system is installed. To check it you can go to www.icloud.com and try to login – remember this is the email address and password that you use to install new apps on your phone or tablet. Do not attempt to do the upgrade until you are sure what your Apple ID details are.

So what’s new in this years upgrade? Well you can see a complete list at www.apple.com/uk/ios/ios-11/ but there are not as many radical changes as there have been in previous years (that will please some people that struggle with change). On the iPad there is a new ‘dock’, that allows you to store more apps at the bottom of the screen for quick access. also on both devices Siri has been given a bit more intelligence. So for example, try saying “Hey Siri, set an alarm for 7.30 tomorrow morning” or “Hey Siri, set a timer for 30 minutes” and see what happens. They have also introduced a handy “Do Not Disturb” function, it stops notifications when you are driving and if someone contacts you whilst you’re driving it will send them a message saying that you can’t respond. Apple think that ‘augmented reality’ will be the next big thing – this is the idea of overlaying virtual things on top of the reality that you see when you have your phone in camera mode. So they have created a software developers toolkit to make it easier for app makers to create augmented reality apps, they really are quite amazing – if you’ve never seen one before have a look at www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQZIzbuymrw&feature=youtu.be where the Ikea app is demonstrated. You can choose items from their catalogue and actually see them in place in your home using the app and your camera, the products are placed over the top of the camera view and you can move them around to see how they would look in situ.

If you’d like to install the update then tap on settings > general > software update and if your iPhone or iPad is eligible you will have an option to download and install it, just make sure you have your Apple ID and you leave the device plugged in and connected to a decent WiFi connection while its working as it will take some time.