I remember watching WWDC back in 2013. Tim Cook and the team took the stage as usual and, to everyone’s surprise, announced iOS 7. Okay, the announcement itself wasn’t surprising — everyone knew iOS 7 was coming — but instead of Tim Cook showing it off, the company played a four-minute-long video of Jony Ive introducing and explaining the thought process behind the radical design change.

With iOS 7, Apple was saying goodbye to skeuomorphism, the design language it had used since the iPhone launched back in 2007. Jony Ive, Apple’s Chief Design Officer, had previously taken over the design of both hardware and software at the company, taking the reins from Scott Forstall, previous software design lead, who had been ousted. 

Ive’s design philosophy has always been minimalistic, and iOS certainly... wasn’t that before he got control over it. However, with iOS 7, the designer was able to bring a minimalistic approach to the iPhone’s software for the first time, a huge change from the organized but ornamented approach that the company had taken beforehand. 

I remember sitting there, watching Ive unveil the new direction, and thinking, “This is incredible. And this is also going to piss a lot of people off.”

It’s how we got to where we’re at

Before I dive into why I think the iPhone, and the industry, has been better off moving away from skeuomorphism, let’s take a quick history lesson on what exactly skeuomorphism is. There’s no need to try to explain this myself, so here’s what Dictionary.com says it is:

“An ornament or design on an object that mimics the form of the object when made from another material or by other techniques, usually one that reflects a previously functional element, as an imitation metal rivet mark found on handles of prehistoric pottery.”

In iOS, skeuomorphic design was used to make digital things appear as close to their real-world counterparts as much as possible. It’s a simple idea — if the digital thing looks like the physical thing you already know, you’ll know how to use the digital thing. That’s why the Notes app looked like a physical notepad with yellow ruled paper and your notes would live on the lines of that paper, same as you’d physically write into a notepad. 

The Newsstand app, which is where magazines used to live before Apple News, would feature magazines on shelves like you would find in a bookstore. The Game Center app featured a heck of a lot of felt, something you would recognize from a lot of games like... pool? Well, that’s about all I can think of for that case. But everyone can recognize felt as being associated with a pool table, so you can see Apple's train of thought at least.

While I’m about to talk about all of the ways I prefer skeuomorphism falling to the wayside in favor of a more minimalistic approach to design, I do need to give a ton of credit to the design language carrying all of us through the iPhone’s formative years. I don’t think the transition into smartphones would have been nearly as smooth as it was if the iPhone didn’t use a skeuomorphic approach to design first.

Imagine getting an iPhone for the first time and not only having to figure out the fact that it doesn’t have a physical keyboard and one gigantic Home button that is used for multiple functions, but seeing a ton of minimalist icons that mean nothing to you. Skuemorphic design certainly made learning this whole new approach to phones easier for everyone to learn, so we have to be thankful for skeuomorphism for easing that transition — but as we became more accustomed to digital variations on everyday tasks, so too was a new style, fitting the new medium, required.

I’m glad it’s dead

Going too hard in the direction of skeuomorphism comes at the cost of aesthetics. When you look at iOS 6 and iOS 7, iOS 6 looks like trash in comparison. It looks older, less clean, and more cluttered than the next generation of software that succeeded it. However, with that satisfying, more minimalistic design, you can always create issues with usability. As Ive said, iOS 7 was about “bringing order to complexity,” and I think they did that really well.

While iOS 7 became more minimalistic, it didn’t crawl too far up its own ass and make the software unrecognizable from what came before it. While the Photos app dropped the flower, the design still looked like a flower with multiple colored petals. While the Notes app didn’t look like a physical notepad anymore, it retained the general colors and lined design of the original. The Camera app actually looked even more like a camera, opting for the outline of a camera instead of just a lens.

I personally loved iOS 7 and the entire direction that iOS has gone since then. Even though Apple has moved away from the software being totally flat like iOS 7 was, the shading has still kept the design minimalist enough to feel incredibly clean and enjoyable to use.

iOS shifting away from skeuomorphic design also dragged the rest of the industry along with it. If you’ve seen Google’s Material You design language, which is making its way through all of the company’s products, there isn’t a shred of skeuomorphism in there. Even the clock widget can be turned into an amorphous blob with a couple of arrows. 

Think about it. Are there pieces of software with what you’d consider good design that feature skeuomorphism? At this point, such design language would make a piece of software feel incredibly old and tired. I wouldn’t want to use it. I think I would actually be compelled to switch to a different piece of software if one looked like that in 2023.

Where we go next

I can’t help but wonder where Apple’s design language goes next. The last big change came with macOS Big Sur back in 2020 when the company finally brought a lot of the benefits of iOS to the Mac’s software without losing the essence of what made the Mac great. We all love iOS and iPadOS but we also never want macOS to become iPad-with-keyboard-and-trackpad-and-no-touchscreen-OS.

The real interesting move in design language when it comes to software is going to be when Apple finally unveils its mixed reality headset, which the company is expected to do so at WWDC in June. With the Apple VR headset, Apple will also need to showcase realityOS, the operating system that will power the headset. If skeuomorphic design was ever going to make a comeback, a VR/AR experience is definitely the place to do it.

While Apple would never go back to the felt-packed design as it was back with old-school iOS, I can see the company bringing together its design philosophies across its entire history to make the experience as easy to adapt to for users. For anyone who has worn a Meta Quest headset, or specifically anyone who has put a Meta Quest headset on a parent, you know the importance of familiarity when it comes to user experience.

I’ll be curious to see if skeuomorphism makes a temporary comeback, but I doubt it. While Apple may use design elements from the philosophy, the mixed reality headset is about the future, and its software design will likely reflect that. 

So, goodbye forever skeuomorphism! Thank you for your sacrifice.

If you frequently pair your iPhone with your car in order to play music over the speakers, you probably have controls on your dash or steering wheel that let you pause, play, and skip tracks without having to actually pick up your iPhone. Unfortunately some iPhone users have reported issues with these functions under iOS 7. Either skipping, pausing, and playing don't work with car controls or there is a serious lag. Regardless what issue you're experiencing, the good news is that there's an easy fix!

How to fix iOS 7 Bluetooth issues when pairing your iPhone to your car

1. Launch the Settings app on the iPhone (or iPad) that you're having issues with in your car.
2. Tap on Bluetooth.
3. Tap on the info button next to the device that shows up as your car. This may vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. For example, since I have a Honda, the Bluetooth device shows up as HandsFreeLink.
4. Tap on Forget this Device.
5. Tap on Forget Device one more time in the popup menu to confirm.
6. Re-pair your iPhone with your car the way you did the first time you set it up.

Once you re-pair your iPhone with your car again, you shouldn't have a delay or issue skipping, playing, and pausing tracks. I had this issue with my iPhone after updating to iOS 7.1 and simply pairing my iPhone like brand new resolved the issue. Every once in a while I seem to experience the lag or delay again and I have to repeat the process yet again. Hopefully Apple comes up with a fix soon but until then, hopefully this does the trick for you.

If you're having a Bluetooth issue in your car, try the steps above and then let me know in the comments if this fix worked for you. If you found another trick that works, be sure to let me know that in the comments too!

Last week Apple released iOS 7.1.2, a maintenance update to iOS with some iBeacon, data transfer and Mail improvements. Most iPhone, iPod touch and iPad owners have been able to update with no issues. Some, however, have run into big problems with the update — enough to brick their device. If you haven't upgraded yet, follow these instructions before you do to help avoid problems.

The same day the update was released, some users experienced a freezing problem. That was fairly easy to recover from by rebooting the device.

I work for an Apple retailer on the weekends, and this past weekend a cluster of customers came in with iPhones and iPads that were in Recovery Mode — their screens displayed a globe icon and an image of a sync cable. All of them had one thing in common: they had tried to upgrade to iOS 7.1.2 and something had gone very wrong along the way.

Fortunately, we were able to get their devices working again. Unfortunately, a few of them didn't have backups, and those customers lost the data on their device.

I submitted the question to my Twitter followers. Many of you were able to update with no problem, including some in IT who were able to update large numbers of devices without issue. Others ran into serious problems that necessitated recovering the device.

Here's a handy primer on Recovery Mode and how to deal with it:

• How to put your iPhone or iPad into Recovery Mode

So if you haven't already updated your iOS device to iOS 7.1.2, I strongly recommend you back it up before you do. That way, if anything goes wrong, at least you won't lose any data. Even if you're using iCloud to back up your device.

It's really a good idea just in general to trigger a manual backup through iTunes before attempting any sort of operating system upgrade. Why take the risk? This is your important data — you don't want to deal with the hassle of losing stuff if you're not properly prepared.

• The importance of multiple backups for iPhone, iPod, and iPad

Take this with a grain of salt, but most of the people I've spoken with who have had their phones and iPads drop into Recovery Mode have had the problem doing an Over The Air (OTA) backup — that is, they saw the update was available on their phone, waited until they got on Wi-Fi, then began the update.

Another way to do it is a little more old-fashioned: Use iTunes on your Mac or PC as the conduit to manage the update. Tether your device to your Mac using a sync cable and handle the update through iTunes instead of doing it like some crazy magician, using nothing but the air and invisible radio waves.

It's a thought. Your mileage may vary.

Bottom line: If something goes wrong with your iOS 7.1.2 update — or any system update, have a recent backup to recover from. If a problem happens during the update, having that recent backup readily available changes the situation from a crisis to a minor inconvenience. And really, it's always better to be safe than sorry.

Apple released the iOS 7.1.2 update earlier today and it seems for some people trying to install via Settings > General > Software Update, things are freezing before they finish. Over-the-air (OTA), on-device updates are typically the easiest, fastest way to update, but freezes are the absolute exception to that rule. So, how can you fix?

The answer seems to be a hard reboot. Just hold down the Home button and Sleep/Wake button, just like you would to take a screenshot, only don't let go. Keep holding them down until the screen turns off and then comes back on again with the Apple logo.

When it's done, go to Settings > General > About and make sure you're on iOS 7.1.2. If not, repeat the update process.

If your iOS 7.1.2 update is frozen, if you're progress bar isn't showing any progress, give the hard reboot a try and let me know if it works for you. And if you come across a better solution, let me know about that too!

A new iOS 7.1.1 iPhone Lock screen bypass has been discovered. Lock screen bypasses in and of themselves aren't new — trying to protect a phone while also allowing access to convenient features results is an incredible tension — but this one can provide access to an app, which makes it one of the most serious to date. It does require physical access to your iPhone, but if you do lose possession, here's how the bypass works and, more importantly, how you can protect yourself from it.

Note: iMore tested the exploit and its scope before reporting on it. We were able to duplicate it but also get a sense of its ramifications and limitations.

First, in order to get around the passcode lock, this bypass requires that the iPhone be placed into Airplane mode, and that a missed phone call notification be present. When those conditions are met, tapping or swiping the missed call notification will cause a Settings popup to appear on top of whatever app was last active (in the foreground) on the iPhone prior to it being locked. Dismiss the popup and you have access to the app. Just that one app, mind you. Clicking the Home button will take you back to the Lock screen and the passcode, not the Home screen, so the exposure is limited. Based on the last app, however, your privacy and security can be compromised.

Apple will no doubt patch this exploit as soon as they can. In the meantime, how can you protect against it?

• Disable Control Center from the Lock screen. (I keep this disabled permanently, I never want someone to be able to put my phone in Airplane mode without the Passcode or Touch ID.)

What if, for some reason, you don't want to disable Control Center?

• Disable Notification Center from the Lock screen

Or, more specifically:

• Disable Phone.app notifications on the Lock screen

If even that is too much for you:

• Make sure you never leave your iPhone in Airplane mode and always go to Home screen before locking your iPhone.

If the Home screen (SpringBoard) is the last thing in the foreground, the exploit simply doesn't work.

Usually Lock screen bypasses are limited to system apps whose contents are left unlocked to support certain convenience-based features from the lock screen. i.e. - it makes sense that lock screen bypasses in the past gave an attacker access to Contacts, because you can receive calls while on the lock screen, and caller information is shown. In this case it's unclear why the contents of the last foregrounded app are unencrypted.

Again, Apple's security team is top notch and they're usually quick to patch exploits, so until they do make sure you take steps to protect yourself and your data, and if you have any questions, ask away!

Nick Arnott contributed to this article

Source: YouTube via 9to5Mac

As we head towards WWDC 2014 we thought it would be fun to look back at Apple World Wide Developer Conferences past, what they introduced, and what impact they made. Today let's take a look at WWDC 2013, where Apple introduced iOS 7, OS X Mavericks, new MacBook Airs, new Time Machines and the stunning new Mac Pro...

WWDC 2013 took place from June 10 to 14 at the Moscone West convention center in San Francisco. Tickets went on sale in late April and sold out about 70 seconds later, prompting Apple in 2014 to offer WWDC tickets to registered developers for the first time in a lottery.

WWDC 2013 was a crucial year for iOS. Apple had reinvented iOS in the biggest single update since the iPhone was introduced in 2007 when it unveiled iOS 7, featuring a radical visual departure from previous releases. iOS 7 — the first version to be spearheaded by Apple's design chief Jony Ive — focused on clarity by removing unessential interface elements, shifting buttons to tinted text and simply getting out of the way of contents and apps. The entire interface was cloaked in a physics and particle engine that shifted as you moved the device, building a parallax engine into the home screen.

Other new features of iOS 7 included Control Center, to make it easy to access commonly-used apps and features, an enhanced Notification Center, multitasking, AirDrop and more.

By comparison, OS X Mavericks didn't have the visual pizzazz of iOS 7, but sported a lot of under-the-hood changes aimed at improving performance and efficiency, especially for laptop users. Losing the big cat moniker for the first time, OS X Mavericks is named for an infamous surf break not too far away from Apple's Cupertino headquarters.

With timer coalescing, App Nap, memory compression and other features, Mavericks makes the Mac operate more efficiently with less power and better performance. But there are some interface changes, too, like tabbed Finder windows and better document tagging. Multiple display support was enhanced, and Maps and iBooks applications have been added. Notification Center was dramatically improved with Mavericks, as well.

Cloud services got some important updates at WWDC, too. Apple introduced iWork apps for iCloud, making it possible for iCloud users to work on their Pages, Keynote and Numbers documents without needing a Mac or iOS device at all. And with pressure mounting from streaming music services like Pandora and Spotify, Apple introduced iTunes Radio.

Apple also introduced new MacBook Air laptops, the first Macs to feature Intel's Haswell CPUs, which enable heretofore unimaginable battery life for MacBook Airs - up to 12 hours of continuous use between charges for the 13 inch model. The upgrade also gave Apple a chance to incorporate 802.11ac Wi-Fi networking, with an overall speed boost of up to 3x provided you're using an 802.11ac base station. That's why Apple introduced new AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule devices at the same time.

Apple also took the wraps off a machine that wouldn't ship until late December, but one that got Mac hardware fans excited: the radically different Mac Pro, a machine presumed dead after Apple discontinued the earlier model, which languished for years.

One-eighth the volume of its predecessor and turbine-shaped to speed the removal of warm air from its unified core, the Mac Pro is a parallel processing powerhouse, featuring a Xeon processor with up to 12 cores and twin AMD FirePro workstation-class GPUs. SATA hard drive bays are gone, in their place went PCIe-based flash storage, and RAM with twice the bandwidth of the old Mac Pro.

Give it the keynote a watch and let me know — what do you think of WWDC 2013 and what, if anything, does it make you hope for at WWDC 2014?

A bug has been discovered in iOS 7 that causes email attachments to not be encrypted. Before anyone panics, however, in order for an attacker to exploit the bug they'd need to a) steal your device and, b) brute force or jailbreak-bypass the passcode or password, which c) currently means there's no risk to iPhone 4s and later devices running iOS 7.1 or later software. When reached for comment about the bug, Apple provided us with the following statement:

"We're aware of the issue," an Apple spokeswoman told iMore, "and are working on a fix which we will deliver in a future software update."

The bug was first reported by Andreas Kurtz:

Kurtz claims he successfully duplicated the tests on an iPhone 5s and an iPad 2 running iOS 7.0.4, though he makes no claim of testing them successfully or unsuccessfully on iOS 7.1.1. Given the requirements, anyone running an iPhone 4s or later (Apple A5* chipset or later) and iOS 7.1.x or later should not be vulnerable to this bug.

That means the only current, updated hardware affected is the iPhone 4, and an attacker would still need prolonged access to your device to perform this attack, which also means preventing Find my iPhone from wiping it. They'd also need to get around the passcode or password. (If you don't have a Passcode set they could just launch Mail.app and see all your attachments, and everything else on your device, anyway.)

With iOS, Apple has made the iPhone and iPad amazingly strong crypto bricks but bugs like this need to be squashed and fast to keep them that way.

Nick Arnott contributed to this story.

Depending on who you are and how you feel, iOS 7 either took the training wheels off to fully embrace digital design, or it removed so much interface as to crush usability. Both are true. iOS is used by a wide range of people, from the digital and mobile immigrant — those who grew up reading newspapers or using PCs — to the digital and mobile native — those who were born to iPhone and iPad. One, single, static default choice can never properly meet the needs of everyone across that range. But what if iOS 8 could make affordance and accessibility dynamic?

Affordance — the characteristics of an interface element that help hint at the actions it can perform — is essential in human machine interaction. One of the design principles for iOS 7 was deference and in its service a lot of interface chrome — the bars, borders, and other structural or decorative elements — was stripped away in favor of making content more prominent. Most famously, the shapes around buttons were removed leaving only the naked text or glyphs/icons behind. Where previously the touch-target — the area that can trigger an action — of a button was visually apparent, now only its center-point remains.

It was cleaner but it offered far less affordance. Instead of seeing something that looked like a button, you had to know or figure out it was a button. So, responding to the complaints, Apple added an Accessibility toggle to restore button shapes to some iOS navigation elements.

But what if toggles weren't necessary, or at least were a secondary, manual option? What if iOS could determine when people were struggling to use an interface element and bump up affordance and accessibility automatically, and then eased back as/when people got more comfortable.

For example, if someone taps near a button over and over again in a short period of time, iOS could realize they're trying to hit it and are missing, and automatically turn on button shape hinting — perhaps fading it in — and even increase the tap target size temporarily so the next touch triggers it even if it's still a tiny bit off.

Likewise, iOS assumes taps higher up on the screen are coming in at a greater angle, which can sometimes frustrate people — and robots — holding their iPhone in less common ways and tapping from less common angles.

Apple's multitouch display technology, however, has the ability to detect capacitance some distance from the screen and use that information to figure out things like which finger on a hand is likely the one doing the tapping. Based on that electrical guess work, perhaps a the telemetry could also be guessed, and if people are tapping frequently and missing slightly, perhaps the tap target could again be dynamically adjusted to better suit their angle.

As gestures become increasingly common, gesture collisions become increasingly common as well. Swipe to favorite, swipe to reply, even horizontal scrolling are all great unless, while simply trying to go down a list or a page, the angle you're using keeps misfiring those horizontal gestures. It'd be great if iOS could detect when those gestures are aborted or reversed repeatedly and temporarily increase the angle or emphasis needed to trigger them.

Thanks to sensors, iOS devices know their positions is space, perhaps angles could be dynamically adjusted to account for how you're holding your device. Standing, walking, lying down, lounging, straight up, slightly or steeply angled, compensating could be tricky but could also be beneficial.

Hey, in some whacky future world perhaps an iPhone or iPad could use frequent pinch-to-zoom, proximity, or even PrimeSense-detected squinting to dynamically start increasing text size if people are having trouble reading.

And perhaps many of these methods, and others still, could be brought to bear to create a next-generation keyboard for iOS 8 that's as far ahead of current keyboard technologies as Apple's original iPhone keyboard was its virtual competition of 2007.

We talked a little bit about of dynamic affordance on a recent Iterate podcast and some really, really smart designers poked some really, really smart holes into idea and the realties of its implementation, but I still can't help but long for some form of smarts to enter into the iOS interface.

We're in the midst of a contextual awakening, and as much as that can make everything around us and our device better, here's hoping it can make what's on our devices, and how we use them, better as well.

Are there any accessibility or interface issues you'd like to see Apple automate in iOS 8, or would you rather keep all of that completely under your own, manual control?

Apple's gotten a lot of attention recently for iOS 7's multipeer networking frameworks. I covered them briefly in my enterprise and education overview back in September 2013 when iOS 7 first launched but they're worth a closer look. Multipeer networking makes use of Bluetooth, Infrastructure Wi-Fi (like a Wi-Fi Hotspot), and Peer-to-Peer Wi-Fi (also called Wi-Fi Direct) to create a peer-to-peer meshed network. Once the network has been established, people on that network can share content including messages (think IM), resources (think documents), or stream content. If you have used AirDrop to share pictures or other content with others, you have already used Multipeer Connectivity without knowing it. This is something risk managers in enterprise are going to love, and here's why!

How does multipeer connectivity work?

Multipeer Connectivity allows an app to create a network, and allow others to join it. Once they join the network, they can share content, stream content (like audio or video), and chat.

When iOS7 or later devices are connecting to the peer-to-peer meshed network, they make use of any of the available radios including Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. If there is no available Infrastructure Wi-Fi network (like a Wi-Fi Hotspot), the device will use Peer-to-Peer Wi-Fi (aka Wi-Fi Direct) to join the mesh network.

In fact, when developers create apps to take advantage of the Multipeer Connectivity Framework, they are abstracted from the entire networking processes itself. The framework takes care of automatically selecting the best radio to use (as long as the user has it enabled) and connecting to the network. This means that app developers do not need to be network experts, they just need to build great apps.

iOS7 or later devices can be members of more than one peer-to-peer network session, and iOS7 or later devices can bridge connectivity between members of the same peer-to-peer network session.

If we look at the image below we can see that the iPhone on the bottom right has its Wi-Fi radio enabled, but not its Bluetooth radio. The iPhone on the top has its Bluetooth radio enabled but not its Wi-Fi radio. The iPhone on the bottom left has both its Bluetooth and Wi-Fi radios enabled.

The iPhone on the bottom right can communicate with the iPhone on the bottom left using Wi-Fi. The iPhone on the top can communicate with the iPhone on the bottom left using Bluetooth. However the iPhone on the bottom right can also communicate with the iPhone on the top because the iPhone on the bottom right is acting as a bridge. All of this connectivity is taken care of automatically by the Multipeer Connectivity Framework of iOS7.

How is multipeer connectivity a meshed network?

Most of us are familiar with a hub-and-spoke network like a Wi-Fi Hotspot or our Wi-Fi network at home. In fact cellular networks are also hub-and-spoke networks. As the name implies, each device on the network connects to all other devices on the network via a central hub as you can see in the diagram below. With a hub-and-spoke network, if the hub does down, no devices can communicate. This is the single point of failure.

On a meshed network, all devices can communicate directly with each other, with no need for a central hub as we can see in the diagram below.

The benefit of a meshed network is that devices on that network do not need a central hub to direct traffic. There is no single point of failure that can stop communications and all devices can communicate with each other freely.

iOS7 Multipeer networks also theoretically have no range limit. Because all devices can communicate with all other devices, and with the added benefit that any device can bridge communications, as long as a device is in-range of at least one other device, communications can remain established.

Why will risk managers be happy?

Risk Managers, amongst other things, spend a lot of time figuring out how to keep a company or government agency working in a disaster. If there is a natural or man-made disaster that knocks out cell towers and Wi-Fi Hotspots, how do companies or government agencies keep communicating with their staff? If cell towers are down, nobody can make calls, but more importantly, nobody can communicate in any way.

With the Multipeer Connectivity Framework of iOS7, apps can be built that take advantage of the meshed network. These apps can provide Instant Messaging (IM), streaming content (probably audio), and updates to documents like evacuation plans, and other important documents.

Imagine employees being able to continue doing their job by remaining in-touch with co-workers and management via IM. Imagine companies or government agencies being able to stream important information via audio to all employees.

iOS7 Multipeer networks can also be encrypted so that information remains private within each network. In addition, authentication can be mandated so that each device must provide login information to become part of the network. These last two features are extremely important to companies and government agencies because while the idea of a meshed network is great, if you cannot secure it, it is useless.

The bottom line

In our hub-and-spoke cellular data and Wi-Fi Hotspot world, we have always been at the mercy of the hub. No hub, no communications. Meshed networks are not new and have been around for decades, however they have not been applied to mobile communications the way they have been in iOS7. Apple has provided a framework that does all of the heavy lifting for developers, allowing them to exploit the power of the meshed network without having to become network experts themselves.

Meshed networks are entirely possible on other platforms including BlackBerry, Android, and Windows Phone/Windows Surface RT, because all of those devices include Bluetooth and Wi-Fi radios, however the operating systems themselves do not have the frameworks in-place to make developing apps that utilize meshed networks easily. For app developers to achieve what can be done on iOS7, they would need to build their own meshed network framework, in addition to the app they wanted to build. This is not an impossible task, however it greatly complicates the process.

To see the possibilities of iOS7’s Multipeer Connectivity Framework, take a look at the FireChat app. It utilizes this technology to offer Instant Messaging even when there is no cellular or Wi-Fi coverage.

It's trite. It's cliché. But it's what a lot of people are going to say. iOS 7.1 is what iOS 7 should have been. Given that iOS 7 enjoyed less development time than any previous version — 10 months instead of the usual 12, or the 15 afforded iOS 5 — it's certainly understandable. Given that it's taken an additional 6 months — iOS 7.0 was released in September of 2013 — it's also been a long time coming. There are new features like CarPlay, and improvements like manual Siri control and auto HDR for the iPhone 5s. There are also some incredibly welcome bug fixes in iOS 7.1 including an end to the rampant Springboard crashes, the decaying Touch ID fingerprint recognition, and the performance on the iPhone 4. So, despite the long wait, is iOS 7.1 the update iPhone and iPad users have been waiting for?

iOS evolution

iOS 7 was first shown off in June of 2013 at Apple's annual developer conference, WWDC. The iOS 7.1 update became available in March of 2014. That's a long time. Previously new versions of iOS x.0 were launched in june with the new iPhones, and x.1 in September with the new iPod touches. iPhones now ship in September and x.1 whenever Apple gets around to it. They are no longer the quick updates they were. For comparison's sake, here are our reviews of past versions of iOS.

• iOS 7 for iPhone and iPad
• iOS 6 for iPhone and iPad
• iOS 5.1 for iPhone and iPad
• iOS 5 for iPhone and iPad
• iOS 4.3 for iPhone, iPad
• iOS 4.2 for iPhone | iOS 4.2 for iPad
• iOS 4.1 for iPhone
• iOS 4 for iPhone
• iOS 3.2 for iPad
• iOS 3.1 for iPhone
• iOS 3.0 for iPhone
• iPhone 2.2 for iPhone
• iPhone 2.1 for iPhone
• iPhone 2.0 for iPhone

Compatibility and updating

iOS 7.1 is a free update for anyone using an iPhone 4, iPhone 4s, iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPad 2, iPad 3, iPad 4, iPad mini, Retina iPad mini, iPad Air, and iPod touch 5. (As always, not all features are available on all devices.)

You can update over-the-air (OTA) on on-device or over USB using iTunes on Mac or Windows. OTA updates-in-place are typically the fastest, setting up as a new device is typically the best way to get the best performance.

• How to install iOS 7.1 over-the-air using Software Update
• How to install iOS 7.1 over USB using iTunes

iOS 7.1 and iPhone 4

iOS 71 on the iPhone 4 deserves special mention. iOS 7.0 performance on the iPhone 4 was bad enough that it had many people desperate to downgrade. That's nothing new, of course. The bottom end of the upgrade list is often excruciating on the x.0 but picks up on the x.1 or x.2. So it was with the iPhone 3G in its day, now it is with the iPhone 4.

I installed it iOS 7.1 on my circa January 2011 white GSM iPhone 4 and performance does indeed seem to be markedly improved. Where before it would stutter and stammer and otherwise force me to practice my deep breathing and dude-abiding skills, now it's noticeably better. It's not iPhone 5 fast, of course — that old Apple A4 chipset, it ain't what it used to be — but it's at least acceptable now.

If you have an iPhone 4, you'll want iOS 7.1.

iOS 7.1 design

iOS 7 was a design revolution. It scraped away the rich, skeuomorphic textures favored by the late Steve Jobs to expose a new focus on depth, deference, and clarity. From layers of transparency and blur to app bereft of chrome and cruft to new palettes and typography, the playfulness previously found in the interface was transferred to the interactivity. It's the iOS that former head of hardware design, now head of all design, Jony Ive always wanted. But the brutal deadline for iOS 7 meant we got only as much of it as his design team could sprint across the finish line by its September 2013 launch. It should come as no surprise, then, that iOS 7.1 contains more than the usual amount of finish and polish.

Transitions have been tightened and animations sped up. For example, what looked like app icons easing out of warp space to fill the Home screen on iOS 7 now looks like proper jump. The scaling from app to folder to full screen also seems better, the portals between worlds that used to saunter now seem to snap. The effects slowed down the perceptive speed of iOS 7. Now, whether the pixels get pushed or the bits launched faster or not, iOS 7.1 feels faster and that's what matters.

Some of the other changes are more subtle. The Lock screen "slide to unlock" feature, for example, has the same overall look but a brighter, more obvious animation. On the Home screen the green app icons, like Phone and Messages, have deeper gradients. And the "slide to power off" screen now has a blurred background and better looking, round interface elements. That includes a power icon on the slider. Here are the differences (iOS 7 on top, iOS 7.1 on the bottom):

Control Center has a tighter bounce animation now and the brightness and volume sliders have gained bounce animations all their own. Like the rubber banding on the original iPhone, it makes them feel better and more delightful.

The Weather app sees its icons move from outlines to solids. Generally in iOS 7 an outline is used to represent a normal state and a solid a selected state. However, with the animated backgrounds, the solid state of clouds, suns, etc. in the Weather app looks more balanced and are easier and faster to visually parse.

The Phone app has a much-improved call answer screen both for the locked and unlocked state, and better buttons in general. It extends the round theme found in iOS 7 avatars and toggles and makes everything look cleaner and clearer.

Another subtle yet potentially far more frustrating change in iOS 7.1 is how the state of the shift key is displayed. In iOS 6, the default shift key state (lowercase) had a dark background and light, outlined icon. When selected (uppercase), the icon became solid and gained a glow ffect. When double-tapped (caps lock), the background turned blue.

In iOS 7.0 the default was medium background with dark outline, dark fill for selected, and dark background with light fill for caps lock. Now, in iOS 7.1, it's medium background with light fill for default, light background with dark fill for selected, and light background with dark fill, underlined, for caps lock.

iOS 7.0 seemed to be consistent with the basic guidelines of the new interface in general. The new one isn't as consistent or obvious. It makes it difficult to determine the state the shift key is in, and counter-intuitive to the point that you find yourself uncertain and guessing wrong more often than not. Granted, it could be a lot worse — and was during one of the betas — but it could also be a lot better. Here are the changes (iOS 6 on top, iOS 7 in the middle, and iOS 7.1 on the bottom):

Arguably Apple could change the entire keyboard to reflect lower case vs. uppercase letters but that could add to the cognitive load — find "d", hit shift, lose "D", find "D" again. Either way, iOS 7 wasn't perfect but it was more intuitive than iOS 7.1.

Overall, however, the iOS 7 design is improved and solidified in iOS 7.1, with almost all of the changes being decidedly for the better. iOS 8 likely won't get anything close to the visual redesign iOS 7 got, so whatever quibbles remain iOS 7.1 provides a solid foundation for whatever comes next.

iOS 7.1 performance and battery life

Any time Apple updates iOS the same pattern emerges — for some people performance and battery life are markedly improved, for most it stays roughly the same, and for a few, it becomes truly terrible. The same appears to be the case with iOS 7.1. On my iPhone 5s battery life is exactly the same and performance is better (though that's mostly due to the tighter animations).

If you're experiencing problems, whether something went wrong in the update process or an old backup got restored with glitches, you'll want to take steps. iOS 7.1 shouldn't hit your phone any harder than iOS 7 did.

• How to trouble-shoot iOS 7.1 battery problems

iOS 7.1 and improved Touch ID fingerprint recognition

Touch ID is Apple's fingerprint identity scanner, currently exclusive to the iPhone 5s. When it senses something capacitive, like a finger, it takes a high resolution snapshot of it. The image is converted to a hash and sent to the secure enclave on the Apple A7 processor. If there's no match, a "no" token is released. If there is a match, a "yes" token.

Every time a finger is scanned successfully, Touch ID is supposed to improve its record and become more reliable. Yet for some people running iOS 7 the process would start off well but instead of getting better it would actually get worse over time. Whether errors were occurring that caused aberrations to grow in the record, or some form of decay was happening with the record itself, for some people it simply became unreliable to the point of unusable.

iOS 7.1 fixes that. According to Apple, Touch ID now has improved fingerprint recognition. So, while things like moisture can still throw off the sensor, the record itself should now work the way it's supposed to for everyone and all of the time.

Touch ID worked well enough for me in iOS 7 but it's worked flawlessly for over a month with iOS 7.1 (including the betas). What's more, if you had problems, it should just start working better. Better still, if you have to or want to reset or redo your Touch ID fingerprint registration, Apple has also moved the Touch ID — and Passcode — Settings out of the General basement and onto the top level, making them easier to access.

iOS 7.1 accessibility, reduced motion, and increased contrast

iOS 7.1 offers several additions to the Accessibility settings, though in this case they all involve altering what are defining characteristics of iOS 7. The first is an expansion of the Bold Font option, which now also enhances the weight of the keyboard, of the Calculator app, and of many of the standard glyphs (icons) like the share button and trash can. Unfortunately, due to the way iOS works, your iPhone or iPad still has to reboot for the Bold Font option to take effect. If you do make the switch, however, here's how the difference looks (standard on top, Bold below):

Reduce Motion now disables the bounce physics in iMessage, switches the scaling in the multitasking interface to a cross-fade, and freezes the animations and scrolling in the Weather app. You can also turn off Perspective Zoom on any wallpaper you set for the Lock screen or Home screen. Here's how it looks (iOS 7.0 on the left, iOS 7.1 toggles in the middle and on the right):

With iOS 7, Apple stripped out a lot of the "chrome" (heavy interface elements) including the embossed button shapes of iOS 6 and previous versions. That left them "naked" — text or icons with nothing around them. The shapes, however, helped with affordance (something that hints at how an interface element should be used). They made buttons look like buttons and their outline showed their touch-targets (the exact area you could tap to activate them). With iOS 7.1, Apple given us the ability to bring them back.

Toggling Button Shapes on fills in the background around a naked text and glyph buttons with a darker color outlining its shape and also underlines naked text buttons on dialogs to make them look more like web links. The result of the former doesn't look exactly right but it will be more usable for anyone who really missed traditional button elements. Here's how it looks (iOS 6 on the left, iOS 7 in the middle, and Button Shapes turned on in iOS 7.1 on the right):

There are also several options to Increase Contrast in iOS 7.1. You can Reduce Transparency to make things like folders and Control Center opaque. You can Darken Colors to make things like the naked text buttons slightly less bright, and you can Reduce White Point to tone the backgrounds down to a step to light gray. Here's what the differences look like (default on top, Increased Contrast below)

That Apple felt the need to add these settings is interesting. It appears to acknowledge that some people had serious usability issues with iOS 7. Rather than walking anything back for everyone, however, Apple simply added options for those who need or want them. My guess is that Jony Ive and team still firmly believe in the direction they took iOS 7, they just feel it's taking the rest of us a little longer to adjust to it than they'd hoped. So, the new settings are a middle ground. Something that's there for those who find iOS 7 challenging or distressing to use.

I still like the overall design of iOS 7, including the default typography, animations, and contrasts. The naked buttons haven't hurt usability for me but do still seem unfinished, design-wise. Either way, I've not enabled any of the new settings above. However, if iOS 7 was hard for you to read, if it made you motion sick, or if was in any way difficult or uncomfortable for you to use, these news settings will provide some welcome relief.

iOS 7.1 and CarPlay

CarPlay beams select iOS apps from your iPhone to the display in your car. It's not dissimilar to AirPlay and your television but works in a bi-drectional manner and, because there's no external box in between like the Apple TV, it requires car manufacturers to build support for it directly into their information and entertainment systems. Because it also requires a Lightning connector, CarPlay is only available on iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, and iPhone 5.

It might seem odd to have a physical cable connection to the car rather than a wireless one like AirPlay in the living room. However Wi-Fi is not yet a standard feature on cars and while losing a connection to your TV is annoying, losing one to your car could be dangerous. Built-in cellular connectivity is also rare, making a physical tether to your iPhone's LTE radio a more realistic option at present.

Apple's been uncharacteristically flexible when it comes to the types of displays and controls that work with CarPlay. That's likely more a reflection of the state of the automotive industry than the experience Apple really wants to provide. Whatever the case, and depending on what's available, CarPlay will work with Siri, capacitive touch screen, resistive touch screen, and even with knobs, dials, and buttons.

Since Siri doesn't have an always-listening option, activating Apple's personal digital assistant requires the push of a button on the steering wheel. Capacitive touch screens, the kind found on iOS devices, are more responsive but can't be used if you're wearing gloves. Resistive touch screens, the kind found on devices from the stone-ages before iOS, are more sluggish but won't force you to remove your racing leather. The knobs, dials, and buttons allow CarPlay to work with the controls already in your car, the ones you're already familiar with.

Because of the variety of controls, and the unique demands of an in-car interface, iOS apps need unique interfaces for CarPlay. Apple calls them "re-imagined". While still in the style of iOS 7, they're bigger, bolder, more glance-able, and hopefully less distracting than their originators on the phone.

If you're worried, however, or would simply prefer to use the built-in system even when your iPhone is plugged in, iOS 7.1 provides a way to toggle CarPlay on or off in Settings.

Built-in iOS apps currently supported by CarPlay are Phone, Music, Maps, and Messages. Apple is also providing support for an extremely limited selection of App Store apps including their own Podcasts app as well as iHeartRadio, Beats Music, Spotify, and Stitcher. Like the Apple TV, getting onto CarPlay requires a special partnership with Apple. Additional apps should certainly be possible in the future but Apple will likely keep the type of apps restricted. No one needs to flap birds, crush candy, net flicks, or edit their iWork while driving after all.

Ferrari, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes Benz, and Volvo have already announced and/or shown off vehicles with CarPlay support. Apple says BMW, Chevrolet, Ford, Jaguar, Kia, Land Rover, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Opel, Peugot, Subaru, Sazuki, and Toyota will be building CarPlay compatible cars in the future as well. (No word yet on Tesla, Lamborghini, and other manufacturers — they may simply require more time to build compatibility into their on-board systems, or they may not (yet) have reached CarPlay partnership agreements with Apple.)

CarPlay has only just been shown off and I've yet to try it in person. When I do have the chance I'll update this review to reflect not only my opinions of the choices Apple made but how well the implementation works in the real-world as well.

iOS 7.1 and Siri hold-to-talk

iOS 7.1 brings new, better voices to Apple's personal digital assistant, Siri for Mandarin Chinese, U.K. English, Australian English, and Japanese. It also adds the ability to manually control how long Siri listens. The concept is remarkably similar to the old push-to-talk systems. Hold down the Home button and Siri listens, let go of the Home button and Siri stops listening and goes to work. Apple stresses both those things: that we can control when Siri listens and Siri knows when to stop listening.

It highlights the difference between Apple's Siri, which requires specific user action to listen, and both Google's Moto X and Microsoft's Xbox One. With those devices, whether you're touching them or you're across the room, you can simply say "Okay, Google Now" or "Xbox", tell it what you want, and it'll do it. No button press or physical contact required. To do this, however, they have to be listening to every word you say so it'll know when you say "Okay, Google Now" or "Xbox". (The Moto X even has natural language and contextual coprocessors to make doing so more energy efficient.) For some of us the convenience far, far outweighs the privacy concerns since we like Google or Microsoft and love gadgets and, hey, it feels like something out of Star Trek.

With the iPhone and the new Siri option you absolutely have to press and hold down a big, clicky, physical button and hold it down for as long as you're talking. Say "Okay, Siri" and you know what you get? Nothing. You get nothing and more nothing unless and until you're hold down the button. Don't hold it down and Siri won't be listening. For some of us the loss of convenience is more than made up for by increase in control. Siri isn't always listening but we're damn sure it isn't listening when we don't want it to.

If your hands are busy or full or messy, always-listening can seem like a life saver. If you're in the middle of confidential, personal, or sensitive moment, push-to-talk can seem like a blessing.

The best of both worlds might be the ability to tell Siri to enter an always-listening hands-free mode. It could persist for a short period of time or until you tell Siri to stop listening. That way you have the privacy and security of push-to-talk most of the time, but the convenience of always-listening when you're driving, cooking, or otherwise have your hands and attention elsewhere.

It would have the advantage of Apple's business model not being dependent on aggregating our personal data, at least so far, but it wouldn't have all the depth and breadth of Google's services. Some might find that reassuring, others frustrating.

Likewise the on-board voice parsing — no need to go to the network to set alarms or perform other local tasks — and the whole "prescience" thing — preemptively serving up what it feels is relevant information. Google Now has done both for a while now. Siri, however, still goes to the network for everything and still only speaks when spoken to...

iOS 7.1 and Calendar combo-view

When iOS 7 launched the Calendar app got a facelift but it tucked away list view under search and the combination month/list view was nowhere to be found. iOS 7.1 fixes that. There's now a new button on the menu bar that will toggle you between regular month view and combo month/list view

iOS 7.1 and auto HDR

iOS 4.1 brought high dynamic range (HDR photography) to the iPhone 4. Now, iOS 7.1 has made HDR automatic for the iPhone 5s. Where previously you had to toggle a setting to put the iPhone into HDR mode, now you can simply leave it set to Auto and, when the Camera app detects an image that would benefit from separate light and shadow exposure, it'll just take them.

Since the iPhone 5s and its Apple A7 chipset are fast enough that saving HDR is almost instantaneous most people would be best served by simply leaving the camera set to auto all the time.

It's just one more welcome step in Apple's long history of making "every day photos" turn out as well as possible is as many different situations as possible.

iOS 7.1 iTunes Match & iTunes Radio

With iOS 7.1 Apple has added a few extra conveniences to both iTunes Match and iTunes Radio.

First, if you're not already subscribed to Apple's $25 music locker service, you can now subscribe directly on your iPhone or iPad. Second, they've added a search field to their streaming music service above the featured stations section to let you more easily create stations based on your favorites. Lastly, they've added a buy button to iTunes Radio so, if you love a song enough to want to own it, you can quickly move over to the iTunes Store and complete the purchase.

Unfortunately, while iTunes Radio has recently expanded from the U.S. to Australia, it still hasn't expanded to most of the rest of the world, which makes those features accessible to only a small fraction of iPhone and iPad users.

iOS 7.1 and bug fixes

iOS 7 was subject to numerous Home screen crashes (re-springs). Every version of iOS has these occasionally. For iOS 7, however, some people had them several times a day, every day. It was not only annoying it made Apple's software look bad. And Apple didn't fix it for 6 months. iOS 7.0.1, 7.0.2, 7.0.3, 7.0.4, 7.0.5, and 7.0.6 came and went without addressing the re-springs. iOS 7.1 beta, however, addressed them months ago. I can't begin to imagine how complex a problem it was or what repercussions had to be handled to properly fix it. But 6 months. Regardless of the difficulty, it should have been fixed faster.

Apple also fixed a glitch with FaceTime notification badges not syncing properly between devices. I'd turned mine off to avoid having to deal with the glitch, so the fix is most welcome.

If you have more than 10,000 unread messages in Mail, iOS 7.1 will display that badge properly now as well. (Though I'd suggest that if you have over 10,000 unread messages you don't really need a badge — you need an intervention...)

Rotating the iPad Lock screen no longer results in the shade layer rotating separately a second later. My brain thanks Apple for this.

iCloud Keychain is now supported in additional countries, but like OS X 10.9.2, Apple has removed the ability to force auto-fill on websites that try to prevent.

Apple has also fixed several security issues, a complete list of which can be found on Apple's knowledge base

And, of course, iOS 7.1 also provided the previously mentioned iPhone 4 performance improvements and Touch ID reliability fixes.

Again, Apple didn't fix all of this as fast as they should have, and some of it shouldn't have been a problem in the first place, but with iOS 7.1, at least its fixed now and fixed well.

iOS 7.1: The bottom line

So is iOS 7.1 what iOS 7 was meant to me? No. That's trite. That's cliché. iOS 7.1 is what iOS 7 has become thanks to an additional 6 months of development and design time, experience and realization. The screws were tightened, the rough edges were smoothed, the surfaces were polished.

Yes, in the case of the re-springs the fix was too long coming and in the case of the shift key the improvement is anything but. However, for everything from the animation speed to the interface tweaks to what could very well be the beginning of iOS everywhere — CarPlay — the update is good. It's very good.

Apple is front-loading new iOS features in the x.0 releases these days, and that doesn't leave much for the x.1. That's what happens when an operating system matures, when obvious holes have been filled, and when competition intensifies. And that also means more substantial updates and improvements likely won't be seen before WWDC 2014, likely this June, when Apple gives us our first peek at iOS 8.

In that regard iOS 7.1 does exactly what it needs to. It takes something that was audacious and impressive, if flawed and unreliable in places, and makes it more than solid — it makes it downright enjoyable.

iOS 7 brought with it a new, unified palette for everything from icons to interface elements, including the tint colors give to the new "naked" style text buttons. Unfortunately for some people those tint colors are just a little bit too bright to be read comfortably, especially on the primarily white backgrounds. Luckily, iOS 7.1 gives you the ability to darken those colors and hopefully make them much more legible. Best of all, it's easy to do!

How to increase font and menu visibility with the darken colors option in iOS 7.1

1. Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad running iOS 7.1 or higher.
2. Tap on General.
3. Now choose Accessibility.
4. On the next menu, tap on Increase Contrast.
5. Turn On the option for Darken Colors.

To see the difference in color, quickly toggle the setting on and off and watch the Accessibility back-button in the top left corner of the Settings navigations bar. It'll switch from bight to dark blue and back. It's the most noticeable in apps such as Safari and the Calendar.

Give it a try and let me know what you think! Do the darker colors make it easier to pick out menu items or read smaller colored fonts?

One of iOS 7's signature features is "depth" and by that Apple means transparent layers with gaussian blur filters beneath them. While that might look fancy it can also be distracting for some people and, for those with visual impairment, it can be downright confusing and hard to use. Luckily, iOS 7.1 has added the ability to reduce transparency and render everything from the Dock to the keyboard to Control Center and Notification Center nice and opaque.

How to reduce transparency in iOS 7.1 for better visibility in menus, keyboards, and more

1. Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad running iOS 7.1 or higher.
2. Tap on General.
3. In the next menu tap on Accessibility.
4. Now tap on Increase Contrast.
5. Turn On the option for Reduce Transparency.

Once you've tried it out, let me know what you think. Do you prefer the transparency in iOS 7 or does turning it off make the experience less distracting?

iOS 7.1 goes a long way towards "fixing" the usability problems some people experienced with the original version of iOS 7 — not by taking a step back but by taking a step diagonally. Apple has always led the industry when it comes to accessibility. With iOS 7, however, the added improvements were counter-balanced by some added problems. Fantastic new features like switches let you control your iPhone based only on the movement of your head, but other features like the physics and particle engine gave some people vertigo, thinner typography made it harder for some people to read, and "naked" buttons made navigation more difficult for some people to use. So what's the iOS 7.1 middle-ground Apple's found? In short, Accessibility Settings.

The first is an expansion of the Bold Font option, which now also enhances the weight of the keyboard, of the Calculator app, and of many of the standard glyphs (icons) like the share button and trash can. Unfortunately, due to the way iOS works, your iPhone or iPad still has to reboot for the Bold Font option to take effect. If you do make the switch, however, here's how the difference looks (standard on top, Bold below):

iOS 7.1 also expands Reduce Motion, now disabling the physics in iMessage, switching the scaling in the multitasking interface to a cross-fade, and freezing the animations and scrolling in the Weather app.

There are also several options to Increase Contrast in iOS 7.1. You can Reduce Transparency to make things like folders and Control Center opaque. You can Darken Colors to make things like the navigation words and glyphs slightly less bright, and you can Reduce White Point to make tone the backgrounds down to a step to light gray. Here's what the differences look like (default on top, Increased Contrast below)

Finally, you can enable Button Shapes. With iOS 7, Apple stripped out a lot of the "chrome" (heavy interface elements) including the embossed button shapes of iOS 6 and previous versions. That left them "naked" — text or icons with nothing around them. The shapes, however, helped with affordance (something that hints at how an interface element should be used). They made buttons look like buttons and their outline showed their touch-targets (the exact area you could tap to activate them). So, with iOS 7.1, Apple given us the ability to bring them back. Toggling Button Shapes on fills in the background around a naked text and glyph buttons with a darker color outlining its shape and also underlines naked text buttons on dialogs to make them look more like web links. The result of the former doesn't look exactly right but it will be more usable for anyone who really missed traditional button elements. Here's how it looks (iOS 6 on the left, iOS 7 in the middle, and Button Shapes turned on in iOS 7.1 on the right):

That Apple felt the need to add these settings is interesting. It appears to acknowledge that some people had serious usability issues with iOS 7. Rather than walking anything back by changing the defaults for everyone, however, Apple simply added options for those who need or want thm. My guess is that Jony Ive and team still firmly believe in the direction they took iOS 7, they just feel it's taking the rest of us a little longer to adjust to it than they'd hoped. So, the settings are indeed a middle ground. Something that's there for those who find iOS 7 challenging or distressing to use.

I still like the overall design of iOS 7, including the default typography, animations, and contrasts. The naked buttons haven't hurt usability for me but they still seem unfinished, design-wise. Either way, I've not enabled any of the walk-backs above. However, if iOS 7 was hard for you to read, if it made you motion sick, or if was in any way difficult or uncomfortable for you to use, these news settings will provide some welcome relief.

Have you turned on any of the new iOS 7.1 accessibility features? If so, which ones and how are they working for you?

iOS 7.1 brought many things for many people, but for us British folks Siri got a noticeable update. Until now, we've been given only one choice for how Siri sounds over here; the robotic sounding male. With iOS 7.1 a few regions, the UK included, got improvements to the quality of the voice feedback. Oh, and we also got a female voice for the first time ever!

It seems like a small thing, but the changes have made interacting with Siri should you be using UK English as your language more enjoyable. And I don't know, but I've always thought of Siri as a more female entity anyway, so it's good we get that choice now as well!

Check out the hot new British Siri in the video up top. The difference in male voice quality is subtle at first, but as you start to use it more and more it becomes more and more obvious. It's also softer and a little quieter than before – apologies for the low audio in the video on that! – and doesn't shout its answers at you quite as much anymore. So, what do you think to Siri's hot new British voices?

One of the more subtle yet potentially frustrating changes in iOS 7.1 is how the state of the shift key is displayed. Not only isn't it intuitively obvious which state the shift key is in — lowercase, Upper Case, or CAPS LOCK — but it can be downright counter-intuitive to the point that you find yourself uncertain and guessing wrong more often than not. Granted, it could be a lot worse but it could also be a lot better. If you've installed iOS 7.1 and you're having trouble figuring out the shift key on your iPhone or iPad, here's a quick reference. (Share it with your friends. All your friends.)

How to tell lower case, Upper Case, and CAPS LOCK mode on iOS 7.1

1. If the background is dark gray and the arrow is white, you're in lower case mode.
2. If the background is white and the arrow is black, you're in Upper case mode.
3. If the background is white and the arrow is dark, and there's a horizontal line beneath the arrow, you're in ALL CAPS mode.

I've been using iOS 7.1 since the first day of the first beta and while the implementation has changed considerably once and a while I still glance at it and can't remember immediately which state I'm in. Once you've had a chance to use iOS 7.1 a while let me know — how do you find the shift key?

Apple on Monday released iOS 7.1 . The new version is available immediately as an over the air (OTA) download. CarPlay, enhancements to Siri and iTunes Radio, and other changes have been made in the new release - including some performance improvement for long-suffering iPhone 4 users.

Apple officially unveiled CarPlay at the Geneva Motor Show last week. While the new technology won't be accessible until auto manufacturers roll out new models later this year, iOS 7.1 adds CarPlay support. CarPlay enables you to control Music, Maps, Messages, and select third-party apps using your car's center console display or through voice commands using Siri.

Also new in this release are changes to Siri - you can manually control when Siri listens by holding down the home button while you speak, rather than letting Siri automatically notice when you stop talking. More natural-sounding voices have been included for Mandarin Chinese, UK English, Australian English and Japanese.

iTunes Radio gets a search field to find new stations, along with other changes. Calendar will let you display events in month views, Accessibility gains new bold font options, offers a Reduce Motion option for Weather, Messages and multitasking UI animations, and more.

Here's the complete list of changes, according to Apple:

CarPlay

• iOS experience designed for the car
• Simply connect your iPhone to a CarPlay enabled vehicle
• Supports Phone, Music, Maps, Messages, and 3rd-party audio apps
• Control with Siri and the car's touchscreen, knobs, and buttons

Siri

• Manually control when Siri listens by holding down the home button while you speak and releasing it when you're done as an alternative to letting Siri automatically notice when you stop talking
• New, more natural sounding male and female voices for Mandarin Chinese, UK English, Australian English, and Japanese

iTunes Radio

• Search field above Featured Stations to easily create stations based on your favorite artist or song
• Buy albums with the tap of a button from Now Playing Subscribe to iTunes Match on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to enjoy iTunes Radio ad-free

Calendar

• Option to display events in month view
• Country specific holidays automatically added for many countries

Accessibility

• Bold font option now includes the keyboard, calculator, and many icon glyphs
• Reduce Motion option now includes Weather, Messages, and multitasking UI animations
• New options to display button shapes, darken app colors, and reduce white point

Other

• New Camera setting to automatically enable HDR for iPhone 5s
• iCloud Keychain support in additional countries
• FaceTime call notifications are automatically cleared when you answer a call on another device
• Fixes a bug that could occasionally cause a home screen crash
• Improves Touch ID fingerprint recognition
• Improved performance for iPhone 4
• Fixes display of Mail unread badge for numbers greater than 10,000
• Continued user interface refinements

Have you updated already? Are you excited about the changes? Any trouble? Let us know in the comments!

Boy, MFi game controller support on iOS 7 hasn't worked out the way I hoped it would. Right now, it's a mess.

When Apple announced MFi controller support in iOS 7 at WWDC last June, I got excited. The iPhone and iPad are tremendously powerful devices and there are lots of great games, but not every game is good with touch screen controls. The lack of tactile response, the obscuring of what's happening on screen, and the sometimes-awkward hold you have to make to grip the device all added up to frustration for me, over and over again.

MFi controller support seemed like a great compromise: gamers who wanted real game controls would be able to get devices that worked. And the fact that support was built in to the operating system meant broad support.

Or so I thought. Five months after iOS 7's release, there's still only a relative handful of games that make use of MFi game controllers. Not to mention a paucity of MFi controllers.

What's more, the controllers that are available are either ridiculously specialized like the MOGA Ace Power and Logitech PowerShell, both designed to turn an iPhone into a handheld game console a la the Sony PlayStation Vita or Nintendo DS. They're also quite expensive expect to spend $70-$100 on one — even more than the cost of a game controller for a "real" console like an Xbox or PlayStation.

I recently put SteelSeries' Stratus game controller through its paces, which I quite like — but I came away feeling that MFi game controller support in iOS 7 is a nice benefit but not a must have, partly because the experience is so disjointed and inconsistent, with it not at all clear as to which games have MFi controller support and which don't.

Apple has to shoulder a lot of the blame here. The company has done a horrendous job of promoting games that have MFi controller support. There's no way to differentiate them in the App Store outside of checking the release notes for individual games. (Kevin MacLeod at AfterPad has assembled a list of MFi controller compatible games to help fill in the blanks — make sure to bookmark it.)

I'm beginning to get the feeling that MFi game controller support is going to be one of those orphaned technologies that Apple just ignores until it withers and dies, sort of lie what the company did with iTunes Ping.

Meanwhile, over in the Android world, we've seen specialized game systems like the Nvidia Shield appear — devices that work with Android software, but transcend the standard smartphone experience all together.

We've seen no such innovation from Apple, which brought us the "funnest iPod ever," right?

I've been carrying the mantle of Apple gaming for decades — I started my first Mac-centric game site back in 1994, and have been watching the business grow, shrink, and change ever since. iOS devices came and soon after the App Store arrived, and at that point gaming exploded on the platform. Games still take up the largest single chunk of the App Store, and represent a huge market and a huge draw for iOS customers.

Why Apple has such half-assed game controller support in iOS 7 is completely beyond my understanding. Making gaming on iOS devices a richer, more compelling experience should be a top priority in Cupertino. Instead, the way it is right now, it feels like a joke.

Two weeks ago I wrote a ranty editorial on iMore in regards to the areas where I personally find the iPhone's features are lacking while I'm in bed catching zzzzz's. If you missed it, it's worth reading. It got a huge response and sparked an amazing community discussion. And I'm extremely glad I wrote post, as in the comments a suggestion was given by an iMore member that's proven to be a great band-aid fix for my biggest pet peeve.

Here's the quick recap:

While there was a lot of agreement with my peeve and I do think there is much room to improve this feature in a future iOS update, the following solution has worked well.

Here's the solution that iMore member Ewan Logan suggested:

There is a simple work-around for your do not disturb woes:

Not perfect, but at least you don't have to remember to turn it off in the morning.

Following Ewan's advice, I set my Do Not Disturb schedule from 1:00am to 5:45am. During the week, my alarm clock is set to go off at 5:45am. My biggest issue before was that when I manually turned on DND, I'd often forget to turn it off. This takes care of that.

As for going to sleep, I'm typically (during the week) in bed before 1:00am. And when I'm going to bed I don't forget to turn on DND, as it's part of my routine. Plug in phone to charge, swipe up on control center and tap the moon icon. And in the case I do forget to turn on DND, it will automatically kick in at 1am so the most important hours of my sleeping period go without disturbance.

That's all there is to it. Props to Ewan for the suggestion. That said, I still want Apple to fix their stuff.

Four months ago today many of us here at iMore were either waiting for our brand-new iPhone 5s to show up at our doors, or lining up to get our hands on it immediately. There was a gold rush, and the usual amount of online fuss. Most of us flat out loved the iPhone 5s, but over time it stopped being new and simply became our phone.

Then, last week, at #CESlive I went back to using an iPhone 5 on Verizon (to avoid roaming fees) and I immediately noticed the difference. First, yes, lack of Touch ID makes me feel like an animal. But the difference in low-light photography was startling. I ended up fishing out my iPhone 5s over and over again just to get the shots I'd come to take for granted. I also noticed how chipped and scratched my iPhone 5 had become, even though I'd barely used it. My iPhone 5s, however, which I've used all day, every day for the last four months is still in near-mint condition.

Battery life is okay. I want more, always, but I usually manage to last most of the day on a single charge. Once in a while my iPhone 5s will get hot and start to drain, at which point I curse the carriers, kill everything, and reboot, and that often fixes it. (Unless I'm in the U.S., of course...)

Kevin Michaluk, our fearless network leader and the guy who paid $1.5K for his gold iPhone 5s on launch day, however, has been complaining a lot about the 16GB limit he ended up with. (He likes to Instagram and video a lot.) I'm happy with my color and size choice, but obviously not everyone is.

At the same time, iOS 7, which launched the same day, hasn't really come as far and as fast as I hoped. I'm still getting way too many Sprinboard (and maybe Backboard?) crashes. iOS 7.1 is still in beta, and a host of small glitches and wacky behaviors remain to be fixed and features to be filled out.

So let me ask you this — four months later, how's your iPhone 5s (or iPhone 5c, if that's how you roll!) and iOS 7 holding up? What's making you happy, and what's making you crazy? What are your pain points, and what's pure pleasure?

Visual Voicemail and iOS 7 don't play nicely together, at least not on AT&T. Complaints about it are all over the internet, and I've been suffering with it since September. So, I decided to do some digging. After researching online and wasting time on the phone with AT&T, I've realized how much of a breakdown in communication there is between phone makers and the carriers.

The first problem, which started almost immediately after iOS 7 came out (but not so immediately that I could blame it as the sole culprit), left me unable to delete voicemail messages from Visual Voicemail. I tried several things to remedy the issue on my own, from resetting network settings to trying to trick Visual Voicemail by deleting the voicemails while in Airplane Mode. No matter what I did, eventually they all came back. So, I tried calling into AT&T's voicemail system and deleting the messages that way. Then I reset network settings again and rebooted my iPhone. The result? Still there. Every last one of them. Next, I popped my SIM card into another iPhone 5s that was restored to factory defaults. All the voicemails popped right up. I couldn't delete them from that iPhone either. I replaced it with another SIM and the issue disappeared on both phones. This ruled out the problem being device related and also proved that it happens on a case-by-case basis that is in no way tied to a specific iPhone, at least on AT&T.

I called AT&T in order to see if they could resolve the issue, or at least if they knew what was going on. That one call turned into many calls to AT&T. Fast forward through about three voicemail resets, deleting VVM altogether from the account, and about 10 iPhone reboots, and I was right back where I started. AT&T had no answers for me. They claimed none of the messages were actually on their server. Since I could still play them back, however, they had to be somewhere.

The second problem started a few weeks later. I stopped being able to record a greeting. The Phone app either crashed or would cut out mid-stream. It took almost an hour of frustration to get one to fully record, or so I thought. Little did I know it was still cutting the recording off. Apparently, according to callers, even though the full greeting played back for me, it was actually using a cut off earlier version that I never even saved.

So, I asked some Apple employees what was going on. Most of them seemed familiar with the issue and the general consensus was that AT&T is mishandling the communication to the Visual Voicemail service. Something broke with iOS 7 and AT&T has yet to submit a carrier update to Apple in order to fix it. I don't pretend to know how carrier updates work or who's in charge of those, but based on what I've experienced, this makes sense to me.

A quick internet search told me that AT&T alone activates well over five million iPhones each quarter (conservative count). We also know that iOS 7's adoption rate was at 78% at the end of the year. That makes it highly likely that there are a ton of AT&T iPhones on the market running iOS 7. And they're not getting proper support for a feature that launched in 2007 with iOS 1. (iPhone OS 1.0.)

The maddening thing is this: If Visual Voicemail really is jacked because of AT&T and iOS 7, we're just going to have to wait for AT&T to push out a carrier update to fix it. And if you're having the same problem on your carrier, guess what? You're going to have to wait for them to update as well. iOS 7 came out almost four months ago. Four. Months. Complaints have been constant since then. What possible excuse could they have for not pushing out an update already?

If you're having a problem with Visual Voicemail on iOS 7, know that you're not alone, and let me know all about it in the comments!

Have you had issues with Visual Voicemail and iOS 7 on your carrier? If so let us know what you've experienced and whether or not it ever got resolved by either Apple or your carrier.

evasi0n 7 has recently been updated with many fixes to both the jailbreak itself and to Cydia, which solve a lot of the concerns that kept us from recommending it until now. If you've been waiting patiently to jailbreak iOS 7.0.4, we can walk you through the entire process from start to finish. Here's everything you need to know!

The evasi0n 7 version 1.0.4 jailbreak is compatible with all iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch models running iOS 7.0 thru iOS 7.0.4 including the iPhone 5s, iPad mini with Retina display, iPhone 5, and any other device capable of running iOS 7.

As always, make sure you backup your iPhone or iPad before attempting to jailbreak. Also, make sure you have updated to iOS 7.0.4 via iTunes and not over-the-air. This is mainly because OTA updates have been known to cause issues with the jailbreak process itself, so be sure you restore or update via iTunes before continuing.

1. Back up your iPhone or iPad. Always do this before attempting to jailbreak.
2. Download the evasi0n jailbreak tool: Download for Mac, Download for PC
3. Plug your iPhone or iPad into your computer.
4. Launch evasi0n on your Mac or PC. If you're on a Mac running Mountain Lion or Mavericks, you may have to right click the evasi0n jailbreak tool and click Open and confirm you'd like to open it.
5. Click Jailbreak and then wait.
6. After a few seconds, you'll see a message asking you to unlock your iPhone or iPad and tap on the evasi0n7 icon. Do that now.
7. You may be asked to unlock your device one more time if you have a passcode.
8. evasi0n should now give you a message that your device was successfully jailbroken and the process is done. Just click Exit on your computer.
9. Your device may reboot a few more times in order to complete the process and that's it! You should now have Cydia on your iPhone or iPad once more.

Once the jailbreak is complete, you'll want to pop into Cydia in order to update it. the filesystem will automatically update on its own but there may be other updates you need to install. Other than that, you're good to go!

Have you jailbroken iOS 7 using evasi0n yet? Let us know what your favorite tweaks are in the comments as well as whether or not you've run into any issues so far!

An iOS 7 jailbreak has been released by the evasi0n team. What's more, it's untethered and will work on any iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad that can run iOS 7.0 through iOS 7.0.4. Unfortunately, that's where the good news ends and the uncertainty begins. There are lots of reasons, even post-iOS 7, that someone might want to jailbreak. However, there are even more important reasons, with this specific jailbreak, that everyone should hold off, at least for now...

The safety of your data

According to numerous reports, when using the new evasi0n jailbreak for iOS 7, if your iPhone is set to Chinese, it will install certain Chinese "app stores". Given the nature of those "app stores", that should ring huge alarm bells for anyone even considering the jailbreak. Worse, some are going as far to say that the tool spams Cydia repos.

Privacy and security are the absolute most important concerns when it comes to allowing any tool to modify your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. Unless and until more is known about exactly which hooks are in this jailbreak, and why, it's impossible to determine how safe the jailbreak is.

For this reason alone, nobody should be using it right now.

Cydia, stability, and compatibility

According to his posts on Twitter, Jay Freeman, known as saurik, and the creator of Cydia, had no idea about the jailbreak ahead of time. That means he can't guarantee how any of the foundational jailbreak infrastructure, including mobile substrate, will function on iOS 7. So far saurik has gotten some core functions of Winterboard working but hasn't pushed the update yet.

That saurik, and other prominent jailbreak developers, didn't know about evasi0n is in and of itself alarming. Not only does it mean most popular jailbreak apps, tweaks, and themes won't be updated, but it means none of them can yet vouch for the safety and stability of the jailbreak.

Another huge, blinking, neon sign to stay away.

You'll have to jailbreak again anyway

Since the evad3rs team also didn't test a current build of substrate, and the bundled version of Cydia isn't official, another update to evasi0n will likely have to be pushed in order to fix the compatibility issues. That means you'll just as likely have to go through the jailbreak process again at a later date.

That might be fun for people who love to tinker, but not for people who just want to jailbreak and get on with their lives.

iOS 7.1

iOS 7.1 is currently in beta 2. Why the evad3rs team didn't wait until it was out to push the release button is uncertain. However, it means that Apple may just patch whatever exploit evasi0n is using before 7.1 is released to the public. That means anyone who wants both will have to go back to waiting on a jailbreak all over again.

Other things to think about

Since you normally need to restore via iTunes, not OTA, in order for a jailbreak to work, there's nothing wrong with backing up and restoring via iTunes on iOS 7.0.4 now. That way you're ensuring you'll be able to jailbreak if iOS 7.1 drops before issues are worked out and Apple stops signing 7.0.4.

As always, we'll update as we know more! But for now, we'd highly recommend staying away from the current evasi0n jailbreak.

Shared Links are new to iOS 7. With them, you can see a list of all the links shared by everyone you follow on Twitter, all in one convenient place inside Safari. Think of it as a Reading List populated by people you find interesting. It's a great place to go if you have time and are looking for something serendipitous to read, but you have to know where to look if you want to find it.

How to access and use Shared Links in iOS 7 Safari

1. Launch the Safari app from the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad running iOS 7.
2. Tap on the Bookmark icon in the bottom navigation of Safari.
3. Now tap on the @ icon in the top navigation bar.
4. Here are all the links being shared by your Twitter feed. Tap on any one of them to launch the link.

That's all there is to it. Shared Links is one easy to use place to manage all your links. Currently Twitter is the only kind of link supported but we'd imagine over time we may see Apple expand the service to others as well. You can also use Shared Links in Safari for OS X MavericksHow to use the Shared Links feature in Safari for OS X Mavericks"), so make sure you check that out as well!

Note: If you don't see anything under Shared Links, go into Settings > Twitter and make sure you're signed in.

How to get more help with iOS 7 Safari

If you have specific questions about Safari or iOS 7 in general, check out our iOS 7 help and discussion forum. For more on Safari in specific, check out our ultimate guide:

Apple has posted iOS 7.1 beta 2 (5B71f) to the Developer Center. It's under non-disclosure agreement (NDA), so we can't report on what, if any, changes are included. Given the turn-around time on iOS 7 in general, however, it's not hard to imagine more bug fixes and improvement enhancements are in order.

Source: Apple Developer Center

Although it might seem as though we've talked iOS 7 to death around here, there's still plenty of folks out there that are continuously discovering new features within Apple's latest and greatest. With over 200 new features, big and small, there's plenty to discover so that's entirely understandable. Previously, we asked what folks didn't like about iOS 7 but this time around we want to know what's you favorite feature in iOS?

​Apple headlined quite a bit of what is likely to be among a lot of people's favorites. The addition of Control Center which gives you quick access to the controls and apps is pretty fantastic and the updated Notification Center that lets you know about new mail, missed calls, reminders, and more is pretty stellar but what else?

There's the updated Multitasking that seems to be unanimously welcomed over what it was previously. iTunes Radio seems to be gaining popularity judging by the folks who say they're enjoying it in the iMore Forums but one of the more popular things that has risen to be a favorite is the expansion of gestures. iOS has had gestures for a while but they were once hidden behind the 'developer' walls and needed to be specifically enabled. 

The call out feature though for me? Call blocking. I've lost track of how many free cruises I've won over the phone and the number of bill collectors calling my phone asking for 'Shirley'. Before iOS 7, a phone conversation in my house was starting to sound like a reenactment of Airplane with me mocking the bill collectors by telling them to stop calling me Shirley.

So that's a bit of what folks in the iMore Forums think are some of the best features but what do you folks think? What's some of your favorite features? Jump into the forums and let us know or drop us a comment below telling us what you enjoy the most.

• Discuss more in the iMore Forums

Control Center makes it easier than ever to toggle Airplane mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Do Not Disturb, and Orientation Lock, to adjust brightness, to control media playback, to get to AirDrop, and AirPlay, and turn on flashlight, and to get to Timer, Calculator, and Camera. It sounds simple because it is, but there are still a few tricks and settings worth knowing about!

How to access and start using Control Center on iPhone and iPad

By default, Control Center is accessible from the Lock screen, Home screen, or from within any app you're running on iOS 7, at any time. However, full screen apps behave a little differently. And once you access Control Center, there are many different things you can do with it. Here's how to get to it, and what to do with it!

• How to access and start using Control Center on iPhone and iPad

How to use Control Center to AirPlay videos to your Apple TV

Ever wish you could take a video from your iPhone or iPad and watch it on your big screen TV? Well, with AirPlay and an Apple TV you can! Many apps have built-in AirPlay buttons but, sadly, they're often in different shapes, sizes, and places. Luckily, Control Center has an AirPlay button as well. That makes it easy to find and easy to use!

• How to use Control Center to AirPlay videos to your Apple TV

How to quickly access your iPhone or iPad camera from Control Center

If you need to quickly take a photo or shoot a video, and you're already using your iPhone, then Control Center is your best friend. Whether you're sending a message, to checking the weather, to crushing some candy, etc., thanks to Control Center you're only ever a swipe and a tab away from the Camera app and capturing the world around you!

• How to quickly access your iPhone or iPad camera from Control Center

How to quickly turn your iPhone into a flashlight with Control Center

Ever wish you could quickly and easily turn your iPhone's camera flash into a flashlight? Well, with iOS 7 and Control Center finding your way is only ever a swipe and a tap away!

• How to quickly turn your iPhone into a flashlight with Control Center

How to disable Control Center access from the Lock screen

By default, Control Center can be accessed from anywhere, including the Lock screen. While it doesn't share or access personal information, it does potentially let pranksters or even thieves disable services on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, and even put it into Airplane mode so you can't track it later. Having Control Center available is hugely convenient, but if security is more important to you, you can easily turn Lock screen access off.

• How to disable Control Center access from the Lock screen

How to disable Control Center access from within apps

Control Center gives you access to many system toggles and utilities on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad from virtually anywhere, including inside app. While, by default, iOS 7 requires a second swipe to bring up Control Center from inside full-screen apps like videos and games, even you still find yourself unintentionally triggering it - and interrupting your fun - you can turn off access from within apps entirely.

• How to disable Control Center access from within apps

How to get more help with Control Center

If you have additional questions, or need some more help with Control Center or iOS 7, check out the following resources!

Dropbox has been updated to version 3.0 and it brings with it an all-new, all iOS 7 look and feel. That includes a smoother, faster iPad experience with easy-to-toggle full screen mode. You can share more easily, including via AirDrop. There's also video saving, and enhanced PDF viewing.

It definitely scores highly on the deference and clarity scales. Clean, crisp, and consistent. If you like the core principles of iOS 7, you'll like this update.

If you're already using Dropbox, the update is ready and waiting for you. If not, check it out on the App Store now.

• Free - Download now

One of the things that's annoyed me most about iOS 7 is the way it handles wallpapers. iOS 7 only seems to want to position a background image one way, and no matter how hard you try, no matter how much you pinch or zoom, iOS 7 just snaps you wallpaper back in and, in some cases, makes it look ridiculous. So, I did some digging, and figured out why iOS 7 is messing up our wallpapers, and more importantly, how to fix it!

Why is iOS 7 stretching my wallpapers?

The issue seems to be more noticeable and prevalent on the iPad than it is the iPhone but the issue is definitely there on both. It seems as though iOS is now trying to find a happy medium between portrait and landscape mode. This means that iOS is automatically going to the resolution that it thinks is the best compromise resolution wise between portrait and landscape. This issue presents itself when you're attempting to use a photo that isn't exactly fit for the iPad or iPhone's native resolution. Since the iPad Lock screen and Home screen uses both orientations while the iPhone Home screen only uses portrait, that's why the problem is far more noticeable on iPad.

In previous versions of iOS, we could pinch and zoom as we'd like, even if it resulted in lower image quality. Apple has taken this option away in iOS 7, no matter how frustrating it is.

Aside from a happy compromise on resolution, iOS 7 automatically zooms images inwards is due to the parallax feature. Since tilting your iPhone or iPad re-adjusts the background in order to create the effect that the device moves with you, iOS has to take into account that the background has to have some padding on every side in order to do so.

This brings us to our first option to fix the problem...

Make sure your images are the right size

Since part of the reason iOS 7 is zooming in or out, particularly on the iPad, is due to creating a happy compromise, using the correct sized wallpaper should work just fine, especially if you've disabled the reduce motion effect like we explained above.

Here are the correct resolutions for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch:

• iPhone 5, iPhone 5s, iPod touch 5th gen - 1136 x 640
• iPad Air, iPad 4, iPad 3, iPad mini with Retina display - 2048 x 1536
• iPad 2, original iPad mini - 1028 x 768
• iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 - 960 x 640

There's an app for that

A sharp developer out there who was obviously irritated with the issue just as much as the rest of us has made an app called Wallax, which attempts to remedy the issue. To better illustrate how well Wallax works, have a look at the photos above. I really liked the image but it didn't center nicely on my iPad, go figure. I fired up Wallax and centered it how I wanted and then added a nice blur effect. The difference is pretty large as you can see above. I wouldn't have used the image at all if it weren't for Wallax.

Not only can Wallax instantly crop and save images to the correct resolution, it also comes with customizable gradient and textured wallpapers. Even more, you can add bokeh, blur, and focus effects to images. Once you've created exactly what you want, you can export the image to your Camera Roll to apply as the perfect wallpaper.

Wallax is compatible with both iPhone and iPad.

• $0.99 - Download Now

Use the Reduce Motion setting in iOS 7

Since the root of a lot of these problems is the iOS 7 parallax effect, if nothing else works, and your wallpaper is more important to you than the fake-3D look, you can simply turn it off. Here's a link to our guide on turning off the Reduce Motion feature in iOS 7.

• How to reduce motion and speed up transitions in iOS 7

This fix seems to work more for iPhone owners than iPad owners. If you're still having the issue, continue on.

Need more help?

If you're still running into issues, our iMore forums are a great place to ask for help and to find answers to common questions. We even have a wallpaper and ringtone forum where you can share your creations as well as view other member's.

Reduce motion is an Accessibility feature that settles down and smooths out the zooms, pans, shifts, parallax, and other dynamic elements on the iPhone and iPad. Although current versions of iOS are built on a physics and particle engine that help give make them look more alive, for people who suffer from vertigo or other versions of motion sickness, the movements results not in delight but in nausea. With reduce motion most of that goes away. Zooms become fades, parallax becomes static, and bounces settle themselves down.

1. Launch the Settings app from the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad.
2. Now tap on General.
3. Tap on Accessibility.
4. Choose the option for Reduce Motion and turn the option to On.

That's all there is to it. Not only does iOS not have movable backgrounds anymore, transitions are also sped up to simply fade in and out. This results in much snappier response times when jumping into apps and back out.

Give it a try and let us know how it works for you in the comments!

How to get more help with accessibility for iPhone and iPad

Find my iPhone, which also serves as Find my iPod touch and Find my iPad, has been update with an all new, all clean design optimized for iOS 7.

No other new features to bullet point, but it looks great, works better than ever - the new designed seems to improve the user experience considerably - and is free as always and available in the App Store now.

Since Find my iPhone/iPod touch/iPad will help you track down a lost or stolen iOS device, there's really no reason not to get it. So update away, and if you haven't downloaded it at all yet, get it now.

• Free - Download now

Apple has updated their Built-in-Apps page on Apple.com to show off the new icons, and new descriptions for their iLife - iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand - and iWork - Numbers, Pages, Keynote - suites of creativity and productivity apps ahead of the October 22 iPad and Mac event. It includes this line, suggesting GarageBand might join its 5 companions in going free, although in this case free-as-in-freemium:

Looks like some new features and new templates are also coming along for the ride. It's not clear exactly what it all means, but here's the copy:

iPhoto for iOS:

iMovie for iOS:

Keynote:

Numbers:

The icons are, as you'd expect, gradients with solid white glyphs, completely unlike their previous, richly rendered versions and now matching Apple's current slate of iOS 7 apps. The screenshots, however, look the same as before so either those haven't been updated on the web yet, or Apple's engineers and designers simply haven't had time to work on them, given how busy they've been with the core OS.

New icons aren't shown for iBooks, iTunes U, Podcasts, Trailers, Remote, or other Apple App Store Apps, though presumably those, especially iBooks, are in the works. There's also no indication of new OS X versions of the iWork or iLife apps for the Mac and Mavericks yet, but given they were last updated in 2009, they're long past due as well.

Whether or not the new icons and new descriptions were meant to be pushed into production today, or whether it was simply a glitch in advance of Tuesday's update is uncertain. The pages linked to from the new descriptions come back as not found, so the latter might be more likely than the former.

Via: MacRumors

iOS 7 launched a month ago, though in truth many of us have been using it for several months now, counting the beta. Some of the amazing new features have been transformative, and changed the way we use our iPhones and iPads every day. Others... have been buggy and frustrating. So, overall, how has iOS 7 been working for the writers and editors of iMore?

• iOS 7 review

Peter Cohen

Transitioning to iOS 7 was no big deal. Much has been made about the dramatic user interface changes to iOS in this new release, but it's pretty easy to get the hang of, and while icons and lettering look different, most apps fundamentally operate the same way they did before. On the whole, I like the look and feel of iOS 7, though I find some of the embellishments, like parallax-tilting desktop wallpaper and prolific use of zoom effects, to be more distracting than helpful.

Ally Kazmucha

I've actually had iOS 7 installed since the first beta. My impressions haven't changed much since then minus the irritation of bugs. Unlike a lot of people, I like the color schemes and design direction that Apple went with iOS 7. I didn't for the first few days just out of resistance to change (I think it's human nature).

The thing I'm most excited about are all the app updates coming through that inherit iOS 7's design cues and native APIs. It's like experiencing iOS all over again for the first time, and in my opinion, that's a great thing.

Chris Parsons

I've been using iOS 7 since the first beta. Overall, iOS 7 has grown on me but to say I loved it ‘out of the box’ would be a lie. Apple made some dramatic changes with the look and styling that were less than pleasing initially. They’ve made some changes within apps that have essentially forced me to start using 3rd-party solutions. I’m OK with that. Often times those 3rd party solutions are better than the old way anyhow. My biggest gripe with iOS 7 is that while it seems fine on the iPhone 5, it has turned my iPad Mini a steaming pile of lag with some terrible looking fonts wrapped in a beautiful package.

Joe Keller

My thoughts on iOS 7 haven't changed much in the month that I've been using it full-time. I'm still a big fan of the redesign overall, even with some minor qualifications like the width of some lines. It runs very smoothly on my 5s, as quick and responsive as you'd hope.

How developers have responded to iOS 7 has been the most exciting thing so far. The best-looking apps on iOS 7 don't weren't content to just be flatter, but more colorful as well. Apps like Evernote and Vert use color both to bring attention to content and establish a strong visual identity.

The other aspect I enjoy most about iOS 7 is that despite the visual changes, much remains unchanged from the user's perspective. There's really no re-learning that has to occur when moving from iOS 6 to iOS 7, it's just the visual overhaul that takes some getting used to. Most of the truly important changes in iOS 7 are under the hood.

Richard Devine

iOS 7 is a huge step forwards for Apple, a step towards a future we're only just beginning. A lot has been made of the design, and while I don't like some of the icons and color choices, overall I love it. I think it's the best thing to happen to app design on any mobile platform. If apps are updated and haven't been given the iOS 7 glamour treatment, it makes me sad.

One of the things I've been enjoying the most is Control Center. I still believe more can be done with it, but having access to music controls and the flashlight in particular with just a swipe is so convenient it's a joy to use.

Elsewhere, I'm so, so happy that Apple has brought access to iTunes cloud music with iOS 7. I don't subscribe to iTunes Match, and I bought a ton of music over the years that I couldn't stream from the cloud until iOS 7. All the hype was around iTunes Radio, but this is much more important to me.

Derek Kessler

My experience with iOS 7 has been largely positive. As a webOS refugee, it's not surprising how much more I use the double-click home button to jump to the multitasking apps view. The iOS 4-style tray was mostly worthless to me, but by adding the full-app previews and true background multitasking it's become one of my favorite features.

The little physics bits like the active backgrounds and the accordion rebound action in lists like Messages still bring me some delight, but not nearly as much sitting there playing with it happens now as before. There are two other options that have changed how I use the phone: pull down to search in the launcher and Control Center. The latter has allowed me to reprioritize where I put apps for quick access (I no longer need to have Calculator or Camera on a first-tier launcher page). The former has made it that much easier to jump into search. It's kind of like webOS, in that it's available on every launcher page, but it's also just easier to know that I can swipe down and be in search.

I was neutral to positive on the iOS 7 visual design, and while there are some parts that still aren't quite there, once iOS 7-compatible apps started landing in the App Store (and getting pushed automatically to my device, praise be to Cupertino), it all started to gel. Now when I have to go into an app styled in the old iOS style it really stands out.

Also, is anybody else seeing the same much-improved battery life that I am?

Georgia

I have not yet updated to iOS 7. I'll do it eventually, but iOS 6 still works for me and I haven't seen any feature that's made me want to rush into it.

Rene Ritchie

Over the last few months, I've used iOS 7 for hundreds of hours and written tens of thousands of words about it. Needless to say, it's grown on me. It's become my new normal. Going back to iOS 6 (I kept an iPad and iPod touch on it) is like stepping back through time. It's still beautiful, but relics now of an era long past. iOS 7 is the future.

The back gesture in everything from Messages to Notes to Mail to Settings to a bevy of App Store apps is consistent enough that I now notice when it's not implemented. That goes for the entire physicality of the iOS 7. It's beyond delightful.

Some other things have been less consistent. I still don't know when Next Location is going to pop up in Notification Center. Maybe it's my wacky schedule, but it'll be there for a while, then go away, even when I haven't changed locations. Likewise, auto-refresh seems to still be in the process of getting implemented into apps. Sometimes updates are there, sometimes not.

For the most part reboots and re-springs are a thing of the past. The release version has been solid, more solid, in fact, than several earlier versions of iOS. And this is the worst iOS 7 is ever going to be. We're on iOS 7.0.2 already and I'm guessing 7.1 will be here soon enough.

One month in, and I'm even happier with iOS 7 than I was at launch.

Your iOS 7: One month later review?

Whether you've been using iOS 7 since launch, or since the beta, we'd love to hear what your experience has been. How's iOS 7 working for you, one month later?

• iOS 7: Everything you need to know
• iOS 7: Help and discussion forum

The Pinterest app for both iPhone and iPad has just been updated to version 3.0. The only new feature is the ability to now swipe left and right between pins. The rest of the update concentrates on updating the look and feel of the app to match the design cues of iOS 7.

If you've become used to pinning items and interacting with all your Pinterest buddies, don't worry, the changes aren't so overwhelming that you'll need to relearn the app itself. Honestly, I don't see changes that are particularly noticeable with the design other than a flat navigation bar along the bottom. The gestures to swipe in and out of pins and menus are convenient though.

If you noticed anything I overlooked, let us know in the comments!

• Free - Download Now

Tweet7 is a new Twitter client by Halcyon Mobile, the makers of finance and budget app Dollarbird. With transparent menus, matching fonts, and a completely gesture driven interface, no space is wasted on menus and buttons.

The first thing you notice about Tweet7 is the face that it's clearly made for iOS 7. With opaque menus that show the layers underneath, you immediately know you're in a sub menu. To get back to your main timeline, just swipe back to the right.

The only menu bar in Tweet7 is a blue bar that runs along the right of the screen. You'll notice that it goes from dark blue to light blue. These three sections represent your mentions, direct messages, and profile. Swiping to the left in any one of these menus brings up the corresponding section. Just swipe right to return again to the main timeline view.

Tweet7 also features inline image views that are large and gorgeous. There's really no reason to even maximize images unless you really want to see the full version. Some people will love this feature while others may feel like it takes up a lot of space and results in more scrolling. I can see both arguments. Fortunately, if you fall in the latter group you can easily turn off inline images in the Settings menu which is accessible via your profile page.

Tapping on any tweet in your timeline gives you the normal options you'd expect to find from reply, retweet, favorite, and retweet with comment. You can view all your lists in Tweet7 as well through your profile page.

The good

• If you're a fan of iOS 7, you'll love the interface
• Complete gesture driven
• A great option for new Twitter users that don't need insanely advanced features and don't care for the official Twitter app
• Inline images are gorgeous, and if you don't like them, you can turn them off

The bad

• No native push notifications
• Sometimes auto-correct doesn't seem to work when composing tweets

The bottom line

If you want to see what a Twitter app made by Apple themselves would look like, look no further than Tweet7. It's simple, minimalistic, and will provide more than enough functionality for anyone but power users. The only thing I'd really like to see added in a future update is native push notifications.

• $2.99 - Download Now

The Messages app got a complete overhaul in iOS 7 and the changes weren't limited to just visual ones. One of the best new features of the Messages app is the ability to view all images you've received and sent in a thread in one easy to access place. Here's how:

1. Launch the Messages app from the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad.
2. Find the message thread that you'd like to view all the images in and tap on it to open it.
3. Scroll through the thread and tap on an image that you've either received or sent.
4. Now in the lower right hand corner, tap on the menu button to bring up a list of all images.

That's it. You can then tap into and view any image that you've sent or received from that person, or group of people.

As a side note, this view images screen only loads anything that's in the current loaded conversation. If you have lots of messages between you and that person, you can view even more images in that thread by performing these steps inside that message thread:

1. Tap on the time in the status bar at the top of your screen while inside the message thread.
2. Now tap on Load Earlier Messages.

Repeat the above process until you're either at the beginning of the conversation or until you feel the images you're trying to find would be contained in the loaded conversation. Then return to the view all images screen by tapping into any image and hitting the menu button again.

We've all undoubtedly been in a situation where we've had to take a call while there was lots of background noise going on around us. This can make it hard for the person on the other end to distinguish what we're saying. Luckily, iOS has some options that can help us improve call quality through noise cancellation as long as you're running iOS 7 or later. Here's how to enable the option:

Note: This may not be available for all models of iPhone. From what we're seeing and hearing, it appears to be available for the iPhone 5 and newer.

1. Launch the Settings app from the Home screen of your iPhone.
2. Now tap on General.
3. Tap on Accessibility.
4. Scroll down and under the Hearing section, enable the option for Phone Noise Cancellation.

That's it. While this isn't fool proof, it can help to reduce as much noise as possible when you're in a loud environment. This should help your caller be able to hear you better.

When Siri came around with the iPhone 4S, we were then able to give ourselves a nickname for her to call us. This nickname then got added to our contact card. If you shared that contact card with anyone, they'd then have your nickname attached to it. Ironically, if you have nicknames enabled in iOS 7, that's the name that will show up for them in message threads, their Contacts, and any other communication you have with that person. In some cases, nicknames can be quite silly and you may not want that displaying for a certain contact.

Luckily you can completely disable iOS from using nicknames. Here's how:

Keep in mind that Nicknames are different than Short Names, which we've already shown you how to editing settings for.

1. Launch the Settings app from the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad running iOS 7.
2. Scroll down and tap on Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
3. Under the Contacts section, tap on Short Name.
4. Scroll down to the bottom and turn the option for Prefer Nicknames to the Off position.

That's all there is to it. iOS will no longer use nicknames that you have set for contacts. You will instead see the proper names you've set for them in your Contacts.

iOS 7 includes even more gesture-based navigation shortcuts than ever, and that means, if you master them, you can navigate your apps, peek at information, and general get things done faster and more easily than ever before. Whether it's glancing or navigating back at your list in Mail or Messages, swiping up Control Center or down Notification Center, moving through your Safari history, or flinging away tabs or entire apps, with iOS 7 gestures, all the shortcuts you need are literally at your fingertips. Here's how to use them:

1. Calling Control Center and Notification Center

Notification Center has been accessible via a downward swipe from the top edge of the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad display for a while now. With iOS 7, the all new Control Center can be accessed via a swipe up from the bottom edge as well.

That works from anywhere in the system, though on full-screen apps you need to swipe twice - once to reveal the "handle" and a second time to activate the center itself. That's to stop you accidentally covering your game, movie, etc. If you really don't want to trigger Control Center accidentally, you can disable them from working inside apps, period. Also, if you're concerned about security, you can disable them from functioning on the lock screen - so no one can read your messages or take your device offline without authenticating first.

• How to access and start using Control Center in iOS 7
• How to disable access to Control Center from appearing within apps in iOS 7
• How to disable Control Center access on the iOS 7 Lock screen
• How to disable access to Siri and Passbook on the Lock screen

2. Peeking at, and navigating to, lists in Mail and Messages

Both Mail and iMessage include a new gesture that lets you either peek back at your messages list, or pull back to it entirely. From an individual message, simply touch the screen on the left edge and swipe right, and your full list of messages will appear. Pull back only slightly for a quick glimpse of the message list, or pull back all the way to switch to it entirely. You can also swipe from right to left on an individual message to access delete and other functions.

In the Mail app you can swipe back again to get your full list of mail accounts and folders, and in messages you can swipe right to glance at time stamps for individual messages.

• How to view timestamps for individual texts and iMessages in iOS 7

3. Swiping through history in Safari

With iOS 7, Safari gets gesture-based navigation all its own. Now, you can swipe from the left edge towards the right to go back to the previous page in your browser history, or from the right edge towards the left to go forward to the next page (if you've previously gone back). If you imagine following each link on a website adds another page to the stack, these gestures let you quickly move pages off of and onto the stack until you get to just exactly the one you need.

4. Tossing away cards and tabs

iOS 7 lets treat a lot more objects like objects, including and especially the new card interface for multitasking and the new rolodex interface for Safari. In both, when you trigger them, you can grab a screen and simply toss it away. From anywhere on the system, double click the Home button to bring up the new card interface for multitasking. Then just touch one app, two apps, or as many as three apps, and flick them up and off the screen. They'll quit and be one. In Safari, tap the bookmarks button, touch a tab, and flick it to the left to close it. Couldn't be simpler. You can even fling down passes in Passbook to get back to the wallet view.

• How to quit and kill (force quit) apps in iOS 7

5. Accessing Spotlight Search from any Home screen

While it might seem like iOS 7 banished Spotlight Search from the Home screen system, what it actually did was move it from its own screen off to the left, and integrate it into every screen. Now, instead of swiping the other way, you simply touch anywhere on the Home screen (except the top edge, that's reserved for Notification Center), and swipe down slightly. It works the same way search has worked inside apps for years. The screen drops down and the Spotlight field is revealed.

• How to find Spotlight search - and your apps! - in IOS 7

Bonus tip: iPad gesture navigation

The iPad and iPad mini also still include several, system-wide gesture shortcuts all their own. They make it incredibly quick and easy to move between apps, open the fast app switcher, and even return to the Home screen. To access the multitasking card interface, place four fingers on the screen and swipe up. To move between apps without having to click into the multitasking card first, place four fingers on the screen and swipe from right to left to go to the previous app, and from left to right to return to the next app. To return to the Home screen, place four fingers on the screen and pinch them in together.

You can also use the basic pinch to get back from a single photo to the new Moments view in the Photos, or back from single place view to multiplace list in the Weather app.

Your top iOS 7 tips?

Those are our top 5 secret shortcuts that make moving around the iOS 7 interface not only faster, but funner as well. If you've found other ways to save time, let us know how!

Yesterday I received an email from a reader who, despite wanting an iPhone 5s, decided she wasn't going to get it after seeing an article about Touch ID being "hacked" and deciding it wasn't safe. I heard from another reader who saw a similar article and so decided to turn off Touch ID. Not replace it with a strong password, mind you, but simply turn it off and go back to nothing. They were by no means the only people who've been confused, misinformed, and ultimately hurt by the nonsense that's passing for technology reporting when it comes to iOS 7 and the iPhone 5s. It's some of the dumbest I've ever seen, and it's in an area that's so important it demands the least amount of dumb journalistically possible. Here's the truth about iOS 7, the iPhone 5s, and Touch ID:

1. Convenience and security sit at opposite ends of the spectrum. The more convenient something is, the less secure, and vice versa. You can't have both.
2. iOS 7 contains a lot of new features to increase convenience or security. It's up to us, the users, to choose which one is more important to us at any given time.
3. Conveniences like Lock screen access for Siri and Control Center are easy to turn off.
4. Security in the form of long, pseudo random passwords are easy to turn on.

Here are some examples of the convenience vs. security spectrum:

1. Unlocked iPhone can be accesses by anyone, at any time, put in Airplane Mode, used to play Candy Crush, whatever.
2. iPhone with Siri and Control Center accessible from the Lock Screen but protected by Passcode can be put in Airplane Mode, but can only be accessed by someone with the time and inclination to spy or otherwise ferret out your 4 digit code.
3. iPhone with Siri and Control Center accessible from the Lock Screen but protected by Touch ID can be put in Airplane Mode, but can only be accessed by someone with the skill and determination to make a workable fake fingerprint.
4. iPhone with Siri and Control Center disabled from the Lock Screen and protected by Touch ID or a Passcode can't be put in Airplane Mode but can be accessed by anyone who can make a fake fingerprint or spy out the Passcode. (It can still be put into a radio-proof container or room, or simply shut off until it can be placed in one.)
5. iPhone with Siri and Control Center disabled from the Lock Screen and protected by a long, strong, pseudo-random password can't be put in Airplane Mode but can be accessed by anyone who can trick, intimidate, extort, or otherwise socially engineer the password.
6. Any of the above kept in a lock box, safe, vault, etc. would require the container be accessed before the device.

Since most people aren't high level threats, and since the iPhone is a consumer electronics device, Apple start off towards the convenience end of the spectrum. Siri and Control Center access from the Lock screen are turned on, and a 4-digit Passcode as default rather than a complex alphanumeric password. Anyone who wants more security can turn off that access and ramp up that password. It'll make their iPhone far less convenient, but it'll also make it far more secure.

• 5 simple ways to increase security and privacy on iOS 7 and iPhone 5s

But never forget this: If you have an iPhone, someone, somehow, can gain access to it if what's on it is valuable enough and they want that access badly enough. The only real way to protect something is not to have it.

If you're considering an iPhone 5s, don't let nonsense non-stories deter you. If you've already got one, don't get fooled into turning off features that, overall, provide a good balance of convenience and security. If you're concerned about security, get your phone, and enable the features that let you do what you need to do as securely as possible.

Then go back to the dumbass sites that mindlessly propagate this kind of stupid and demand better from them. Or just block them and hang out here on iMore.

Either way, they'll go where your clicks/taps are.

As with nearly all software updates from Apple, iOS 7 brought with it a large number of security updates for users. Ranging from entirely new features all the way down to minor tweaks and enhancements, there's a lot to discuss when it comes to iOS 7 security. iMore's editor-in-chief Rene Ritchie briefly touched on most of the changes in his iOS 7 review, but I thought it would be fun to take a closer look.

Activation Lock

Activation Lock has been one of the most highly anticipated, talked about, and scrutinized security features of iOS 7. Activation Lock is a theft deterrent that works by leveraging Find My iPhone to help ensure if your device falls into the wrong hands, that another person won't be able to use it. When Find My iPhone is enabled on an iOS 7 device, Activation Lock is enabled by default, and it means your Apple ID and password will be required to turn off Find My iPhone, erase your device, and to reactive your device. This means if your iPhone gets stolen, a thief will have a much harder time trying to sell it.

Activation Lock has come under attack for a few different reasons. The first is many people have argued that this won't prevent theft. Common criminals who may not know about Activation Lock won't realize the disincentive to steal it. Some criminals may know about it, but steal it anyway to sell it to an unsuspecting buyer or scrap it for parts. And if you're arguing "Activation Lock won't prevent all thefts", these are valid supporting arguments. It's also true that locks and alarm systems on your home or car don't prevent burglaries or theft. However, they make you a much less appealing target. Activation Lock will not prevent iPhone thefts, but it will make things more difficult on thieves which should result in the number of overall iPhone thefts dropping as more users move to iOS 7. Nothing will ever make iPhones 100% theft-proof, but the goal is to set up hurdles that make the effort required for criminals not worth the potential monetary gain.

The second argument I've seen against Activation Lock is that we're going to see a rash of iPhone users forgetting their Apple ID & password, locking themselves out of their own devices, and being left with an expensive paperweight. This could happen to a user, but Activation Lock is designed in such a way as to make this as unlikely and difficult as possible. As mentioned above, your Apple ID and password are required to reset your device. In addition to the added security, this makes it more difficult for users to erase their device, only to realize later that they don't know their password to reactivate it. Also, when you reset your device and are prompted for your Apple ID and password, this is in order to disable Activation Lock. Part of the reset process for iOS 7 includes disabling Activation Lock. This has the added benefit of helping to ensure that if you're buying somebody's old iPhone that Activation Lock is disabled before you get it.

Of course, it's still possible that maybe something happens to your device and you're forced to put it into DFU mode and do a factory restore. In this case, you will not be able to activate your iPhone and set it back up until you enter your Apple ID and password. But even in this case, you have the ability to reset your password through the Apple ID portal, the same as you would have had to do prior to Activation Lock if you forgot your password. So let's say worst case scenario, you managed to reset your device with Activation Lock on, you've forgotten your password, and you can't answer your own security questions to reset it. It's no guarantee, but there's a decent chance at this point you could go into an Apple Store or store for your carrier, prove your identity to them, and have Apple perform an unlock from their end.

As you can see, it's fairly difficult to wind up with a brick of an iPhone. And it's probably a safe bet the the number of iPhone thefts prevented by Activation Lock will far outweigh the number of people who skillfully lock themselves out of their own phone. This makes Activation Lock a huge net win for iOS 7 users. Only time will tell, but I think we can expect to see, and hope that we do, a drop in overall iPhone thefts in the coming years as a result of Activation Lock.

iPhone 5s Touch ID

Touch ID is a new fingerprint identity sensor that resides in the Home button on the iPhone 5s. The sensor scans your fingerprint to unlock your iPhone, removing the need to enter your passcode every time you unlock your phone. In my experience, it's about as fast as doing a swipe-to-unlock without a passcode. With more than half of all smartphone users not using a passcode to protect their devices, the hope with Touch ID is to make securing your iPhone easier so more users will be likely to set a passcode.

Of course with the introduction of Touch ID came the question "how long until it's hacked?" and the answer turned out to be not long at all. The day after the release of the iPhone 5s came a video from the Chaos Computer Club demonstrating Touch ID being fooled by a fake fingerprint. The relevance of this has been a point of controversy. On one side people are arguing that this renders Touch ID useless. On the other side you have people saying this doesn't negate the benefits of Touch ID for most 5s owners. The answer lies somewhere in the middle. Whether Touch ID is useful to you will depend in your situation and what you hope to get out of Touch ID. Before we look at some Touch ID scenarios, let's cover a few specifics of how Touch ID works.

The primary use of Touch ID for most is to unlock an iPhone (though it can also be used for iTunes and App Store purchases). Rather than enter your passcode to unlock your phone like you normally would, you place a registered finger tip on the Home button, iOS checks the print, and if a matching print is found, the device is unlocked. There are a few caveats to this though. The first time you unlock your phone after a restart, your passcode must be used. If you want to change any lock screen settings on the phone, your passcode will also be required. If you have no unlocked your device in 48 hours, your passcode will be required. Finally, after 5 failed attempts with a fingerprint, your passcode will be required. With these rules in mind, let's look at some of the scenarios for Touch ID.

The vast majority of iPhone users likely fall into two buckets: no passcode and simple passcode. For people who previously used no passcode at all, the convenience of Touch ID makes it much more likely that more people will set a passcode. As I said previously, using Touch ID is about as fast as using swipe-to-unlock on a device with no passcode set. Most users no longer have any good excuse for not setting a passcode if they have a 5s. Devices get lost and devices get stolen; it's a fact of life. Having a passcode on your device means not having to worry quite as much about some stranger poking around your device, looking at your personal photos, posting on Facebook, and generally meddling around in your stuff.

For users who were already using simple passcodes, consider using a more complex one. Instead of entering your passcode dozens, or even hundreds of times a day, it's now possible to go days without having to enter it at all. Consider using a numerical passcode more than 4 digits. If you use all numbers, iOS will present you with the quick-to-use number pad. If you're feeling particularly adventurous, try upgrading all the way to a complex, alphanumeric password. With Touch ID's convenience, you have a good opportunity to increase the security of your passcode.

As was mentioned, Touch ID can be fooled. The process isn't what you would call trivial, but it can definitely be reproduced, and has been. It's unlikely to be performed by a casual thief who grabs your phone or picks it up somewhere, but is perfectly suited for a targeted attack where an individual or group wants to acquire the contents of your phone. If you're worried about this sort of thing, then Touch ID may not be for you. Although it's also worth noting that in these situations, if you're entering your passcode dozens of times a day on your device, it's also feasible that somebody could monitor you until they are able to capture your passcode being entered.

Concern has also been raised about the fact that somebody such as a spouse or significant other could use your hand to unlock your phone while you're asleep. If you fall into the category of people worried about this, I guess don't use Touch ID, and maybe go to some couples counseling to address some issues.

The final scenario I want to specifically address is concerns over the Fifth Amendment. An opinion piece over on Wired.com raises the concern that a fingerprint may not be protected by the Fifth Amendment, while passcodes are. I encourage everyone to read the Wired article, but the gist is that while a password is something you know and can be considered testimonial, a fingerprint is not. A fingerprint is something you possess, like a key, which police could require you to turn over to them. Is this something most users need to worry about? Probably not. However, it's a very valid concern for anybody that may find themselves in such a predicament. If this is a concern for you, then Touch ID may not be a good idea. If this isn't a daily concern for you, but you find yourself in a situation dealing with law enforcement where it becomes a concern, consider powering your iPhone off. Remember that your passcode will need to be entered every time the phone is turned on.

Touch ID is not one size fits all. As a user you will need to evaluate your situation and the possible risks to decide if Touch ID is a good idea for you. Personally, I keep a passcode on my device to protect my data in the event that my device is lost or stolen. I ask my wife to unlock my phone and check something all the time when I'm driving or have my hands full, so she knows my passcode anyway. I unlock my phone a lot and Touch ID is a welcome reprieve from entering my passcode every time. For me, the convenience far outweighs my concerns of being targeted for an attack. And if I were to fall victim to such an attack, my hope is that I would notice my device missing and be able to wipe my device via Find My iPhone before somebody was able to unlock it.

Weak Personal Hotspot passwords

Back in June, some researchers discovered that iOS had a rather weak and predictable method for generating Personal Hotspot passwords. In iOS 6 and earlier, the password was created by choosing a four to six character word from a dictionary only including 1,842 words, then appending a four-digit number. This resulted in default passwords like "poems6235". With a relatively low number of possibilities, researchers were able to brute force Personal Hotspot passwords in less than 50 seconds. iOS 7 users rejoice.

iOS 7 generates seemingly pseudo-random, 12-character, alphanumeric passwords. This is a huge improvement and makes brute forcing the password impractical. Though for any users who updated from iOS 6 to iOS 7, the password stays the same as it was in iOS 6. This is presumably to maintain compatibility with any devices previously configured to connect to the Personal Hotspot. If you updated from iOS 6 and have been using a default Personal Hotspot password, be sure to set your own password to avoid brute forcing by anybody attacking iOS 6 default passwords.

No more juicejacking

At Black Hat earlier this year, researchers presented their findings on a malicious charging station dubbed Mactans. The attack, also called juicejacking, had the ability to surreptitiously install malicious software onto your phone while also grabbing a copy of your data if you unknowingly plugged your phone into one of the malicious chargers. This relied on the fact that prior to iOS 7, iOS devices did not require user authorization before establishing a trusted connection between a device and a computer; the device only need be unlocked.

As of iOS 7, a user must explicitly trust a computer the first time it is connected before a trust is established. When a device is plugged in to a computer for the first time, a prompt appears asking the user to Trust or Not Trust the computer. Obviously if you're at the airport trying to charge your phone from a wall outlet and you're prompted to trust a computer, you should tap Not Trust. Even better, trust is not required to charge a device. This means even if you want to charge your device on a friend or co-workers computer, you don't have to allow it to transfer any data. With that said, it's still probably best to not just go around plugging your iPhone into random USB ports.

Lock screen bypass

As you've probably heard, several lock screen bypasses have been found in iOS 7, including the latest version, iOS 7.0.2. These bugs make it possible for an attacker to access certain information on your phone, even if it is locked. Depending on the bypass trick used, different information might be available, but generally speaking these bugs can grant unauthorized access to your photos & contacts, and allow a person to post to Twitter or Facebook as you (if you have Twitter and Facebook accounts configured in Settings).

These are definitely security bugs, there's no denying that. The good(?) news is such bugs existed in iOS 6. At the very least, you're no more at risk by updating to iOS 7. There also haven't been many reports of this actually being exploited in the wild. The bugs seems to provide more novelty for people than actual usefulness in stealing a user's address book. Apple fixed a lock screen bypass bug that had been found in 7.0 when they released 7.0.2. They will surely release another update that includes fixes for the bypass bugs that have been found since then.

iOS has to be able to access your contacts while the device is locked in order to show caller info. Photos presumably can't be blocked entirely because you can use the camera from the lock screen and iOS has to be able to save those photos to the device. Most of iOS' filesystem is encrypted and completely inaccessible without providing your passcode or fingerprint. These special cases like Photos and Contacts need to stay accessible for certain lock screen functionality, and limiting a user's interaction with those areas requires proper sandboxing by Apple. Given the history of these bugs, we'll probably see more of them pop up after the current batch is fixed and the cycle will continue.

If you're concerned about being affected by Passcode exploits, you can decrease the surface area of possible bugs by disabling Siri and Control Center on the lock screen. In the case of Twitter and Facebook, you can prevent abuse there by not signing in to those accounts in iOS Settings and instead using 3rd party apps. Hopefully at some point Apple figures out a way to properly sandbox these apps and end this cat and mouse game for good.

Siri security flaw

You've been able to use Siri from the lock screen by default since her introduction in iOS 6. It's not a security flaw. Stop saying it is. Go change the setting if you're so worried about it; that's why it's there.

Changes to user permissions

Back in February, iMore raised the issue that apps did not have to get a user's permission in order to access a device's microphone or camera. iOS 7 brought some changes to user permissions. First let's look at the good.

Microphone has been added under the Privacy section of Settings and apps must now get a user's permission before accessing the microphone. This is good news for user privacy as it means apps won't be able to record audio from your device without your knowledge. In addition to the microphone, Motion Activity is another new addition to Privacy, though it only shows up on the 5s. The 5s' new M7 motion coprocessor tracks and records movement information about your device on a much more granular level than previous iPhone models. The potential sensitivity to such information combined with the fact that many apps will have no business accessing this information means that it makes sense for apps to have to request permission. M7 data doesn't pose the greatest of privacy threats, but it's a wise move on Apple's part to restrict access to it.

Now let's look at the bad. Apps still don't have to request access to use the still camera. Any apps that wish to record video have to ask for permission to access the microphone, but even if permission is denied, they can still record video, it just won't have any sound. The threat of not requiring user permission is that any app can access the camera. Any app can take photos without a user's knowledge or consent. Any app can record video without your knowledge. That's a concern. A malicious developer could create an app that takes photos at a set interval, or records video, while the app is running, then uploads those photos or video to their server. Camera access is certainly something that not all apps need, so why not require that apps get permission to do it? There may be a good reason that Apple doesn't want to put the camera under the Privacy umbrella, but I don't know what it is.

The other item I would like to see added under Privacy is iBeacon. Some of you may already be screaming "they are under Privacy you moron!" but hear me out. iBeacons are new to iOS 7 and they are Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy devices that can effectively act as micro-locators. They're already being adopted by Major League Baseball for placement in stadiums as a way to customize a user's experience with MLB's At the Ballpark app depending on where they are within a stadium. Instead of simply know that you're in the vicinity of the stadium, iBeacons through the ballpark can communicate with your phone to give it a much more granular idea of your location.

Technically speaking an app wanting to make use of iBeacons does have to get a user's permission first. The trouble is that permission is lumped in under Location Services. That's certainly a reasonable grouping to put iBeacons in, but the problem is iBeacons take location tracking to an entirely new level. Let's use the Target Store app as an example. The current app requests access to Location Services when you first run it. One of the purposes of this is to help me find a Target near me, which makes perfect sense. This is a permission that I would be inclined to grant for a use like that. Of course, I've now also given Target permission to use iBeacons as part of Location Services. This could conceivable be used to track my movements through the store. Perhaps Target will decide they want to see which sections a customer spends the most time in, and taylor the app's behavior to better accommodate that. They could display ads and products that they think would appeal to me based on which sections of the store I walked through. This usage also has its merits, but I want no part of it. And as a user, I should have the power to determine which apps can track me at such a fine level of granularity.

You can work around this by just disabling Bluetooth, but that's a hack and one that many average consumers may not even consider. The proper solution is to pull iBeacons out from the Location Services umbrella and assign them their own explicit permission. People have a right to know about the behavior of the apps that they use. Of course apps aren't a glass box that we can see all the inner-workings of, but privacy controls are one of the few mechanisms we have to exert some control over what the apps on our phones can and cannot do.

Overall, iOS 7 took a couple of steps forwards and a few steps back when it comes to user permissions. This is an area of iOS that seems to change with every major update. I hope that by the time iOS 8 rolls around, we'll have a few more additions to the Privacy section of Settings.

Block Contacts

Let's end this on a high note. iOS 7 brings with it one of the most requested features from iPhone users (in my not-at-all official poll of friends who have asked how to do this over the years); the ability to block phone numbers. Searching Google for answers on how to do it yields millions of sites where users have been asking and trying to figure out how. Rejoice, friends. The day is finally here.

iOS 7 allows you to block phone calls, text messages, and iMessages from any contact. Telemarketer interrupting your... well... anything at all, since not even the most mundane and boring tasks on Earth make you wish a telemarketer would call. Just got a new number and the previous owners' bill collectors are harassing you? By tapping the info button for any recent caller in the phone app, there is now a button near the bottom for "Block this Caller". The same option can be found in Messages by tapping on a message, tapping Contact, then tapping the info button.

While the option says "Block this Caller", it actually applies to texts and iMessage as well. If you block a caller, no calls or messages from that contact will come through on your iOS 7 device. In the case of iMessage, the sender will see "Delivered", but you'll never get the message (this could be problematic in some cases, but let's not look a gift horse in the mouth). If the person tries calling you, the call will go directly to voicemail and the voicemail will go into a "Blocked Messages" group that can be found at the bottom of your voicemail. Okay, so maybe we do need to look a gift horse in the mouth. This is wonderful for callers you truly never want to hear from; telemarketers, robocalls, crazy ex's, etc.

The downside is the way the blocked communications are handled could make it extremely difficult to figure out why you're not getting any messages from somebody if you accidentally block them. Your messages will get through to them, but any responses will disappear into the ether. Voicemails, while retrievable, will likely go unnoticed unless it occurs to you to check your Blocked Messages. The transparency of the block from the blocked contact's perspective seems ideal for a lot of scenarios. But for some situations it could be nice to make the block obvious to the contact. In fact, I would rather have spam callers get completely shut out than allow them to continue to leave voicemails. This would also make it much more apparent why you haven't heard from your old friend in a while if it turns out that you blocked them by mistake.

Nit picking aside, the ability to block contacts is a wonderful and welcome addition to iOS. It's been a long time coming and I'm thrilled to see users finally get the power to block the scummy texters and callers of the world.

Final thoughts

Overall I'm very happy with iOS 7, as a whole, but also specifically from a security and privacy standpoint. For the vast majority of users, iOS 7 offers some nice security and privacy enhancements over iOS 6. I'm eager to see the impact that Activation Lock has on thefts. I love Touch ID and can't imagine going back to a phone that doesn't have it. I get an almost worrisome amount of delight from blocking unwanted callers. There are definitely a few things I hope get added or changed in a future update, but I'm pleased with the direction Apple continues to head and look forward to what it brings in the future.

If you've upgraded your iPhone or iPad to iOS 7, you've probably already noticed that the Messages and Mail apps both default to only showing the first name of a contact in a conversation thread. For those of us that have more than one John in our contacts, it can get pretty confusing. Fortunately, there's a way to turn last names back on by default.

Here's how:

1. Launch the Settings app from the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad running iOS 7.
2. Scroll down and tap on Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
3. Under the Contacts section, tap on Short Name.
4. Turn the Short Name option to Off.

That's all there is to it. Your Messages and Mail apps should now show last names again if you've got them listed as such in your contacts. Any other native apps that use name shortening will also stop doing so.

We've seen a few readers complaining that after upgrading to iOS 7 the iTunes Store app on their iPhone or iPad won't launch and just crashes immediately after trying to open it. From what we've managed to dig up, you aren't alone in having the issue but fortunately, there are a few solutions that seem to be working for people.

Here they are:

Quit the iTunes Store app and try relaunching it

1. Double tap the Home button on your iPhone or iPad to bring up the multitasking section.
2. Find the iTunes Store app and swipe up in order to quit it.
3. Now relaunch the app and see if it still crashes.

If the app is still crashing, keep reading. If the iTunes Store app now works, that's it.

Enter iTunes through the Music app instead

1. Launch the Music app on your iPhone or iPad that's having the problem.
2. In the upper left hand corner, tap on Store.

You should be re-routed to the iTunes Store app. This time, it should load just fine. You should only have to do this one time and find that after loading it through the Music app, the iTunes Store app loads fine on its own. If it doesn't or it's still crashing, continue on.

Change your Cookie settings

1. Launch the Settings app from your iPhone or iPad.
2. Scroll down and tap on Safari.
3. Under the Privacy & Security section, tap on Block Cookies.
4. Make sure that From third parties and advertisers is selected.

People that have it set to Always seem to be the ones having trouble connecting to the iTunes Store app for some reason.

Still having issues?

If you've tried all the steps above and you still can't launch the iTunes Store app, you may have to fully restore your iPhone or iPad. If you've found another workaround or solution that worked for you, let us know in the comments!

iOS 7 by default shows photos of all the contacts you have under the Favorites tab in the Phone app. People who regularly save contact photos will most likely enjoy this feature. Those that don't may find it looks funny if only some of their contacts have photos, if any. Luckily, you can disable it if you'd like.

Here's how:

1. Launch the Settings app from the Home screen of your iPhone.
2. Scroll down and tap on Phone.
3. Turn Off the option for Contact Photos in Favorites.

That's all there is to it. The Favorites tab in the Phone app will no longer show contact photos. You can turn it back on any time you'd like by following the same steps above again.

Apple launched iTunes Radio for both iPhone and iPad as part of the Music app in iOS 7. iTunes Radio is Apple's attempt at giving us a streaming music service that's already bundled with the Music app we already know and use every day.

Considering iTunes is one of the largest music collections in the world, it makes perfect sense. Even better, for iTunes Match subscribers, the service is completely free with not one single ad. For those that don't subscribe to iTunes Match, it's still free, just ad supported. It's a compelling option either way but does it live up to the hype?

To preface this, I'll start by saying that I'm a subscriber to not just one streaming music service, but three. I regularly listen to Songza, Rdio and DI.fm, two of which made our list of best streaming music apps for iPhone. To me, all three of these serve different purposes. Rdio is my go to streaming service when I want to dictate what I listen to or if I want to listen to things offline. There's no limit on how much music I can store for offline use. As long as I have the storage space and I'm paying my subscription fee, it's mine to listen to. Songza is my choice when I don't want to take the time to find music and create playlists. If I want one curated for me to fit my mood or the type of activity I'm doing, Songza creates great ones every single time. I couldn't have been happier when CrackBerry Kevin recommended it to me. DI.fm has been my go-to service for electronic music for years and has one of the best collections in the world. If you love electronic, I don't need to tell you what DI.fm is.

As you can see from the above preface, I'm somewhat of a streaming addict. In order for iTunes Match to replace my current music flow, it's got to bring quite a bit to the table. But does it?

For starters, iTunes Radio is bundled with the default Music app we all know and love, or hate. Either way, if you want to use iTunes Radio, you're stuck with it. To get to iTunes Radio, just launch the Music app and it's the very first tab in the Music app by default, unless of course you've moved them around. On the top you've got featured stations that are curated by the iTunes staff. You can scroll sideways through these stations to view even more. Tapping on any one of them will start streaming.

Underneath the Featured Stations section you've got the My Stations section which is where you can create your own custom stations using iTunes Radio. Just tap on the "+" sign and search for something you'd like to create a station based on. This can be an artist, genre, or a specific song or album. You can edit your My Stations section as well and delete any you aren't using or re-order them so your favorites are towards the top of your list.

In my experience, iTunes has never been very organized to begin with so I was very skeptical as to how it was pulling music from its library into curated playlists. I've always had a large bone to pick with the electronic section of iTunes where many artists appear that really should not ever be listed there, not by a long shot. I know it's a harder genre to curate but come on Apple, you could hire someone that actually listens to that kind of music to curate it. As I expected, certain playlists, especially more obscure genres, pull in songs that really shouldn't be there. iTunes Radio gives you the option to dislike songs but it's somewhat of a double edged sword. Maybe I do like that song, I just don't want it to play in the current playlist I'm listening to because it doesn't fit. What do you do then?

Now I won't say that iTunes Radio is terrible at curating playlists because it isn't. More common genres are selected and served up just fine and for the folks who listen to that kind of thing, they'll be perfectly happy. You can also tune the stations in iTunes Radio with three different modes; Hits, Variety, and Discovery. Hits will only play things that are currently hot on the charts while Variety goes just a little outside of that. The Discovery mode is what I've been using and I've found it gives a much better overall blend of a genre. Basically, if you hate the radio because you get tired of hearing the same 10 songs, Discovery mode is something you want to enable on all your iTunes Radio stations.

When it comes to training iTunes Radio about your likes and dislikes, tapping the star icon next to any song that's currently playing lets you tell iTunes Radio to play more like it, never play that song again, or add it to your Wish List. From the main menu of iTunes Radio, you can tap the History button in the upper left hand corner in order to view things you've recently listened to as well as view your Wish List and purchase music from it.

iTunes Radio ties into iTunes to allow you to easily purchase music in pretty much one to two taps. If you find a song you want to actually purchase, just tap on the price and you end up on the iTunes Store page for that particular item. Buy what you'd like and you're done. If you're the type who purchases a lot of music, iTunes Radio is a wonderful way to discover new music all the time.

If you're a subscription model type, you may take issue with iTunes Radio. For people currently using services like Rdio or Spotify that have become accustomed to being able to store music for offline use, you can't do this with iTunes Radio. You need an active internet connection in order to use it so if that's a deal breaker for you, iTunes Radio won't become your one stop streaming service any time soon.

The good

• iTunes is one of the largest music collections in the world, there's plenty of music to listen to
• It's free as long as you're okay with ads
• iTunes Match subscribers get ad-free listening and for $24.99 a year, that's a deal that's hard to beat
• iTunes Radio is bundled with the default Music app which means less apps to install and manage

The bad

• From disappearing completely from the Music app to stopping mid-stream, I feel like iTunes Radio is still a beta, not the finished product I expected
• iTunes organization of genres has never been great, it carries through to iTunes Radio, especially in more obscure genres
• No offline listening
• Custom playlists are non-existent

The bottom line

For casual music listeners that either don't mind ads or already subscribe to iTunes Match and stream their collection, iTunes Radio is a decent offering that costs you not a penny more than what you're already paying. If your music listening needs extend past this, you're most likely going to take issue with the service. Custom built playlists are non-existent as is offline listening. If those are important to you, iTunes Radio just won't do.

Perhaps my biggest issue with iTunes Radio is that it still feels very beta. From it completely disappearing from the Music app to freezing while adding playlists, it's not a very consistent user experience. At least not right now. Hopefully these are issues Apple will address over time to make it a better option that people can actually rely on. Until then, I may use iTunes Radio occasionally but I don't plan on canceling any of the current music streaming services I've been relying on either.

Your thoughts?

If you've tried out iTunes Match already, what are your thoughts? Are you coming from another streaming music service? If so, do you plan on dropping it? Why or why not?

See also:

• iTunes Radio for Mac OS X and Windows review

One of the most amazing new features of iOS 7 is that it's built on top of a physics and particle engine, allowing almost any and every element to come alive with movement - shifting, colliding, bouncing, floating, and more. It looks and feels like a game space. And therein lies a problem for some people. It's reportedly making them motion sick.

I have a friend who can't play 3D games or watch 3D movies on big screens for more than a few minutes without feeling sick and having to stop. Another with Labyrinthitis that's, off-and-on, threatened his ability to get around and even stay standing. I myself can't read for long in a moving vehicle without getting nauseous and having to stop. None of us have had a problem with iOS 7 to date, but for those who do, it can be a show-stopper level problem. Craig Grannell has been tracking the issue closely, and has written about it on Revert to Saved:

You can keep up with his information campaign by following him on Twitter @CraigGrannell. You can also email accessibility@apple.com and go to Apple's feedback page and let them know exactly what causes you problems. (Heartfelt emails to Apple executives have been known to get responses, at the very least, in the past as well.)

For many people the iOS 7 parallax effect is cool, dynamic wallpapers amazing, the Messages bubbles fun, the folder and app zooming transportive, and so on and so on. For those for whom they trigger motion sickness, they're off-putting, nauseating, or simply impossible to use.

Parallax can be turned off in Settings > General > Accessibility > Reduce Motion. So can Dynamic wallpapers in Settings > Wallpapers & Brightness. Message bubble bouncing, folder and app zooming, not so much. Apple also provides UI Dynamics as an application programming interface (API) so developers can more easily add some of those effects to their own apps.Those often can't be turned off either. That some of the effects can be turned off means Apple probably foresaw at least part of the issue. That all can't means they probably didn't foresee enough of it.

If 3D games bother you, it sucks but you can avoid playing them. If reading in a car, train, bus, or plane bothers you, that sucks too but you can listen to or watch something else. If the entire operating system discombobulates you, you have far fewer options other than seeking out an alternate platform.

I don't know enough about either medicine or programming to know if higher frame rates, faster animations, or less fiddly movements would help, or if there's any practical way to add a big honking toggle in Settings that turns off all physics-based animations throughout the OS. All I know is that attention levels need raising.

If you've had any problems with iOS 7 and motion sickness, let me know in the poll, and give me the details (which particular elements are causing it) in the comments below.

Safari, Apple's web browser on both Mac and mobile, got a substantial update with iOS 7, including a new interface, new features, and for developers, new API. The latter brings with it some benefits, but apparently a bunch of bugs that need to be avoided, worked around, or otherwise dealt with. From Max Firtman on MobileXWeb:

And from Michael Mullany on Sencha:

This stuff is way above my brain grade, so if you're a developer working on HTML5 apps that depend on Safari, give the full articles a read and let me know what you think. Either way, iOS 7.1 is already being tested at Apple, let's hope a lot of fixes are already being tested with it.

Source: MobileXWeb, Sencha, thanks Dev!

German hacker collective the Chaos Computer Club (CCC) grabbed headlines after showing a method to fool the iPhone 5s's Touch ID fingerprint scanner, but it's nothing that ordinary people need to worry about too much, according to a security expert.

CCC hacker Starbug created a fake fingerprint by scanning a real one, printing it and ultimately creating a fake print by transferring it to latex rubber or wood glue. The group claims that this is proof that biometric security isn't effective and shouldn't be used. Starbug calls his method "very straightforward and trivial."

Security expert Marc Rogers - director of security operations at the DEF CON hacking conference and principal security researcher for mobile security software developer Lookout - posted an entry to the Lookout blog entitled Why I Hacked Apple’s TouchID, And Still Think It Is Awesome. Rogers explains:

He talks about some of the issues involved in acquiring an unsmudged print and transferring it. Contrary to Starbug's claims of triviality, Rogers says:

Rogers underscores that Touch ID is useful as a convenience factor, not as an improved method of security.

Rogers also says that Touch ID would be improved if it were a two-factor authentication system - something you have (in this case, your fingerprint) and something you know - a PIN number or passcode. You can't install Touch ID without putting a passcode on your iPhone 5s as well, so the parts are there, if Apple's willing and able.

Over the years a number of studies have been done on smartphone security. And while the number of smartphones in use, and the variety of operating systems in use has increased, the number of users who protect their devices with a lock code or passcode has stayed within a few digits of 50 percent.

As Rogers points out, the number one reason why smartphone users don't use a passcode is because they're inconvenient. Touch ID handily addresses the convenience problem. While biometric security isn't perfect, no security is perfect.

If Touch ID's lasting contribution will be to provide that other 50 percent with a viable method of locking and unlocking their phone, Apple will have made a really positive contribution to the smartphone market.

What do you think? Is Rogers understating the risk to Touch ID users? Has Chaos Computer Club overstated how easy Touch ID is to override? I want to hear from you, so share your thoughts in the comments.

Source: MacRumors

I don't know why iOS 7 transitional animations feel slower than those in previous versions of iOS. But they do. The zoom ins, the carousels, the spin-around, these were never instant things. Yet I never felt like I was waiting of iOS to catch up to me as often as I do now. Maybe the leaps forward in iOS 7 make it feel like a more physical place, and make me think I should be able to run, not just walk, through it. It makes me think I should be able to fly.

But I'm waiting. Not waiting for data to load or be processed, for apps to wake up or content to render - those things are unavoidable and those things are why we get better technologies like Apple A7 processors and LTE radios - but simply for animations to finish.

iOS 7 includes a lot of great, transitional animations, including all the Home screen icons coming out of warp space in staggered formation when you unlock. Same with the zooming in and out of the stacked planes of icons and folders and Home screens and apps. It's amazing, stunning even at times. It visually teaches you how you're moving through the interface space, never letting you get lost or disoriented.

But once you've learned, it insists on teaching you over and over again. Once you've watched, you've got to keep watching. And that pulls you out of the very experience it was initially implemented to provide.

It's like playing a great video game - you enjoy the cut scene the first time, but when you replay, all you want to do is skip it faster each time.

As currently implemented, a lot of iOS 7 transition animations are cut scenes you can't skip.

Mobile Safari nailed this in iOS 1 (iPhone OS 1.0) by keeping a page responsive, even if it meant rendering a checkerboard pattern, no matter how fast we moved around it. It waited on us to stop moving, then rendered. We never waited for it to stop rendering so we could move. That's what made it feel so fast. That's what made it magical.

Because they're short, because they make sense, there's no need for the transition animations in iOS 7 to be removed or made skippable. They just need to be made faster and responsive. I'm nowhere near the first to comment on this. During the beta period I, like many others, held out hope for an animation speed up prior to general availability. Unfortunately, none came. Hopefully, one will.

It doesn't have to be doors-in-Star-Wars-fast. Smash cuts can be disorienting. But at 2x or 4x, they'll still provide the same visual cueing as they do at their current speed, but far less interruption. If touching the screen automatically finishes them and takes the input, they'll still delight the viewer without frustrating them.

They'll once again make iOS feel as fast as we are.

Like much the internet, we're getting flooded with messages from people who're finding themselves repeatedly logged out of Mailbox, Snapchat (we don't judge!), and other apps following the iOS 7 update. Not only can that be tedious, but in some cases the apps demand the entire setup process be repeated, which can be a showstopper. A bug in Apple's new background update API could be the culprit, according to Ellis Hamburger at The Verge:

You can turn off background refresh in Settings > General > Background App Refresh, and on a app-by-app basis. That could help mitigate feature loss for apps that aren't experiencing the issue.

In the meantime, if that really is the cause, lets hope iOS 7.0.2 or iOS 7.1 fixes this and fast! Apple could get some anger over this, developers could lose customers.

Source: The Verge

Apple released iOS 7 on Wednesday of last week, and now more than 200 million devices are already running the new version of the operating system. The news came as part of a press release announcing the sale of 9 million new iPhone 5s and 5c models. That's quite an uptick from last year, when Apple announced - along with sales of 5 million iPhone 5 phones - that 100 million devices had been upgraded to iOS 6.

iOS 7 is the most ambitious update to iOS since its first release. In addition to a singificant overhaul to the user interface, getting rid of most of the skeuomorphic elements that were the hallmark of ousted Apple VP Scott Forstall, iOS 7 also makes many under-the-hood changes like improved multitasking, incorporating new features like AirDrop, Control Center, and more.

Are you using iOS 7? Or have you held off for now? Sound off in the comments, and check out these links for more info.

• Complete iOS 7 review
• More iOS 7 tips and how-tos
• iOS 7 help and discussion forums