Everything you need to know about iOS 11

We’re expecting iOS 11 to be publically released around September alongside the new iPhones – if Apple decides to continue with its traditional announcement schedules.

Listed below are some of the new and exciting features we can expect to see with iOS 11!

Dark Mode

Soon there will be ‘Dark Mode’ which will make backgrounds black, meaning you no longer need to strain your eyes when looking at the screen at night or in other dark surroundings. We’re unsure whether Dark Mode will arrive before iOS 11 or as part of an update to iOS 10. Dark mode is different to Night Shift mode which reduces the amount of blue light instead of making the display darker.

Augmented reality

Integrating augmented reality into the iPhone camera will be a great step forward for Apple. We’ll supposedly be able to use object recognition which means pointing the phone at a real-world object and having that object identified.

Video sharing app

Apple is rumoured to be developing a video sharing app with features comparable to Snapchat and Instagram, including filters and the ability to draw on videos which you can then share with your contacts on social media. Snapchat and Instagram’s popularity has come out on top amongst teens so it’ll be interesting to see Apple break into this area and the emphasis it’ll have on social networking.

Group FaceTime calls

FaceTime lovers will adore this new feature where you can make group calls via FaceTime video. There’s also talk of Apple adding filters which are fun for users to experiment with and if they go down half as well as the Snapchat filters they’ll be a success!

Customised Control Centre

The Control Centre is a great shortcut feature we all take advantage of when we need to quickly access the camera or torch for instance. Not all of us use the toggles within Control Centre but think how great it would be if you could personalise this to anything you want such as access to social network sites like Facebook.

Improved Siri

When Siri first came out in 2011 it was a bit of fun for everyone and we were testing her to the limit throwing lots of questions and requests her way. Apple’s keen to make Siri sound more human and ‘natural’ so it’ll be interesting to see the revamp. There’s also hope that Siri has become more smart as she was in need of some attention struggling with accents. iOS 11 may also include support for Siri voice commands with apps like Twitter and Instagram so you may be able to get Siri to publish a tweet for you!

Voicemail transcription

Apple released voicemail transcriptions as a beta feature in iOS 10. The great advantage with this feature is if someone leaves you a voicemail you can read what it says to calculate the urgency of calling them back. Additionally if a voicemail says to call back on a certain phone number you no longer need to hunt down a pen and paper to take note of the number, you can effortlessly return the call as that part of the transcription as it creates a clickable link for you to press.

New Contacts features

Apple may incorporate some social features in the contacts app by adding options to see social media interactions, texts and emails you had with your contacts within one window. Apple might also apply a contact availability feature to determine if someone is available based on their status.