iOS7 Release Date ,Features,Design,Functionality,Multitasking and Notifications

The iOS 7 release date is getting closer, but what does the update include and when will you get it on your iPad and iPhone?

The official release date for iOS 7 is fast approaching. In just under two weeks Apple will launch the iPhone 5S and begin the rollout of iOS 7 to millions of iPhones, iPods and iPads all over the world.

Make no mistake iOS 7 is a big deal, and not just for iPhone and iPad aficionados. It also looks to be a watershed moment for Apple, too. Tim Cook described iOS 7 at launch as ‘the biggest update to iOS since the introduction of the iPhone.’

And when you have millions-upon-millions of satisfied customers, switching a winning formula is always risky. The dramatic changes inside iOS 7 could alienate people by making the platform too complicated to use. And while this might sound overtly dramatic – some people really did love the old iOS.

Apple’s Senior VP of Industrial Design, Sir Jony Ive, was drafted in to oversee the development, design and evolution of Apple’s iOS 7 platform. But not everybody was impressed by what the Knighted designer brought to the table – big changes always create big reactions. 

KYM’s Paul Briden described it as a cross between The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Gasper Goe’s Enter The Void – and not in a good way either. The final build of iOS 7, however, will likely be quite a bit different from what we saw debuted at WWDC 2013 – it’s now been through six beta versions. 

Apple is set to begin the rollout of iOS 7 to its existing line of iOS-powered devices following the launch of the iPhone 5S (and, potentially, the iPhone 5C) on September 10. The new-look OS will also power Apple’s upcoming next-gen iPad and iPad Mini slates, too. 

We’ve been collating everything related to iOS 7 inside this hub since its launch at WWDC 2013. Below is pretty much everything you need to know about iOS 7 ahead of its September 10 release date, including guest op-ed pieces, an overview of all the new features, and a review of iOS 7 beta 1. 

iOS PUblicly Tells that to release on September 10

iOS 7 will start rolling out to devices on September 10, according to an email sent to developers.

Developer Owen Williams received an email from Apple saying the update would be arriving on consumer's iPad, iPhones and iPods on September 10, as previously rumoured.

iOS Design

Despite various Apple presenters highlighting the fragmentation and inferiority of Android, the new OS does share some similarities in terms of aesthetics with both the Google platform and that of its other (not so big) rival, Windows Phone. That means that gone are the leather and felt-like panels and a slicker, less 'busy' design is evident across the entire interface.

Elsewhere you'll find a new font in place on the lockscreen and a very HTC-inspired weather/time widget. Jony Ive commented in his video voice-over that the iOS redesign brings 'true simplicity' to proceedings and having seen the new 'cleaner' icons we can say that the new platform does embody this.

The whole 'flatness' thing that has been talked about so much in the build up is present and correct, but that's not to say that the OS is without any kind of pizzazz - transitions and effects are minmalist but stunning as a 3D effect prevails and images move through different planes.

Ive says that the new iOS 'adds news depths and layers' as well as 'the parallax' effect and the onscreen demo certainly illustrated this - the mail app and its offering of full-screen images being a particluar example of this added depth both in terms of aesthetics and functionality

iOS Functionality

Speaking of functionality, another Android-esque feature comes in the form of the new Notifications Centre which is now accessible from the lockscreen for the first time. In here you'll find all the standard communcations in a slightly refreshed interface. 

The big changes, however, come within Safari as there's now a unified search field as well as the introduction of Tabs. The latter means that an unlimited number of tabs can be opened and they'll be synced across all your iDevices, showcasing their resplendent design elements while they're at it. There's also the introduction of gesture controls, which allows one-tap access to all your serach fields. Parental controls and iCloud Keychain integration have also been bundled-in.

Google search suggestions and shared links from Twitter followers will also be served and Safari now facilitates continuous scrolling from article to article without coming back to the list within Tabs.

iOS Multitasking

Multitasking has also been subject to an overhaul and the whole shebang has now been made sleeker with a double-tap being all that is required to access all that is open and a few deft swipes deployed to navigate to what you're looking for. Again, very Android, but again, appropraited in a way that only Apple can.

When it comes to apps, they'll now also now automatically update in the background putting an end to the annoyance of seeing a small red circle with double figures in it each time you open the app drawer.

Whether this can be turned off in settings wasn't explicitly stated and we'd imagine that if the facility to opt-out isn't proffered, many could be perturbed by what could be viewed as yet more control-freakery from Apple.

iOS Notifications

We've already covered the new Notifications Centre but the streamlining doesn't stop there as Notification Sync means that users no longer have close down notifications across all their iDevices.