iOS 10
iOS 10 is the tenth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc., being the successor to iOS 9. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 13, 2016, and was released on September 13, that year. It was succeeded by iOS 11 on September 19, 2017.[2]
Developer
Closed, with open-source components
September 13, 2016
10.3.4 (14G61)[1] / July 22, 2019
Proprietary software with open-source components
iOS 10 – Apple at the Wayback Machine (archived September 12, 2017)
More personal. More powerful. More playful.
iOS 10 incorporates changes to 3D Touch and the lock screen. There are new features to some apps: Messages has additional emojis and third-party apps can extend functionality in iMessage, Maps has a redesigned interface and additional third-party functions, the Home app manages "HomeKit"-enabled accessories, Photos has algorithmic search and categorization of media known as "Memories", and Siri is compatible with third-party app-specific requests, such as starting workouts apps, sending IMs, using Lyft or Uber or to use payment functions. In iOS 10.3, Apple introduced its new file system, APFS.
Reviews of iOS 10 were positive. Reviewers highlighted the significant updates to iMessage, Siri, Photos, 3D Touch, and the lock screen as welcome changes. The third-party extension support to iMessage meant it was "becoming a platform," although the user interface was criticized for being difficult to understand. Third-party integration in Siri was "great," although the voice assistant was criticized for not having become smarter than before. Reviewers were impressed with the image recognition technology in Photos, although noting it was still a "work in progress" with a higher error rate than the competition. 3D Touch "finally feels useful" and "works in almost every part of the OS." The lock screen was "far more customizable than before," and reviewers enjoyed that notification bubbles could be expanded to see more information without needing to unlock the phone.
A month after release, iOS 10 was installed on 54% of iOS devices, a "slightly slower migration" than for the release of iOS 9, speculated as being caused by an early release issue that may have "put some users off downloading the update." User adoption of iOS 10 steadily increased in the following months, eventually totaling 89% of active devices in September 2017.
iOS 10 is the final version of iOS that supports 32-bit devices, including the iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, and the fourth-generation iPad, as its successor, iOS 11, drops support for those models. iOS 10 is also the final iOS version to support 32-bit applications.
Overview[edit]
iOS 10 was introduced at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference keynote address on June 13, 2016.[3] The first beta release was made available to registered developers following the keynote.[4] Apple released the first public beta release on July 7, 2016.[5]
iOS 10 was officially released on September 13, 2016.[6] The initial release was problematic, with reports of people having their devices in recovery mode after updating.[7]
System features[edit]
The Control Center was redesigned and split into three pages: one for general settings, such as quick toggles for airplane mode and orientation lock, one for audio controls and one for controlling HomeKit (internet of things) appliances, if used.[8] 3D Touch capabilities were added to several toggles.[9] Apps showed a widget when their home-screen icon was accessed with 3D Touch.[10] 3D Touch also allows users to prioritize certain app downloads.[11][12]
Most default apps included with iOS devices could be hidden from the home screen and 're-downloaded' from the App Store. Upon doing this, the sandbox of the respective app would be removed, which contains user data, settings and caches. The app was also hidden from other places, such as the "Today" view, the Settings app and "Share Sheets", through which the user could interact with the app from within another app.[9][13][14] This feature was first hinted at during an interview in September 2015, in which Apple CEO Tim Cook stated that Apple was "looking at" allowing customers to remove unused stock apps.[15]
The update added QuickType virtual keyboards, which, by word-completion capabilities, could predict likely responses to questions and suggest relevant information based on location, calendar availability or contacts.[16] The "Define" feature in previous iOS versions was replaced by "Look Up," and was expanded in utility from just providing definitions to retrieving information from locations, web browsing history, downloaded apps, suggested websites, and more.[17][18][19] The QuickType keyboard allowed the user to type in multiple languages, while the ability to change keyboard settings specifically for physical keyboards (such as autocorrect and auto-capitalization) was also added.[20][21][22]
The "slide to unlock" mechanism on the lock screen was removed in favor of pressing the home button.[23] Similar to the feature on the Apple Watch, the "Raise to Wake" function, which requires a device with an M9 motion coprocessor or newer, wakes up the device when the user lifts it.[24][25] The "Today" view of Notification Center was replaced by widgets, made accessible by swiping from left to right.[9] On the iPad, widgets could be displayed in a two-column layout.[21]
The Notification Center's "Today" view was removed.[26] Notifications, now larger,[27] could expand to display more information; all unread notifications could be cleared at once using 3D Touch.[28] Apps that need to be updated frequently were able to have notifications that update live.[29][30] A Spotlight search bar was added to the notification center.[31]
A new Magnifier setting was added which allowed users to triple-click the home button to launch the Camera app with magnification enabled.[32][33][34][35] There were also new "Color Filters" settings to compensate for a user's color blindness.[36] Color Filters options included grayscale, red/green filter for protanopia, green/red filter for deuteranopia, and blue/yellow filter for tritanopia.[37]
Users could turn on Low Quality Image mode in the "messages" application, which saves "your poor iPhone from stuffing itself full of images" based on new animated stickers and GIFs that can be sent in iMessage.[22] The Wi-Fi menu in Settings showed warnings about the security of a network and whether a network lacked Internet connectivity. This was shown to the user as small subtext under the Wi-Fi's network's name.[38]
In iOS 10.2, a "Preserve Settings" feature allowed users to set the Camera app to launch with certain settings by default. Options included launching with the Video or Square mode rather than the Photo mode, preserving the last-used filter, and preserving the capture settings for Live Photos.[39] Music added to Apple Music on one device could now be automatically downloaded to other devices using the "Automatic Downloads" setting.[40] The Settings allowed the user the option to have routes in the Maps app avoid toll roads[41] and/or highways.[42] In iOS 10.3, Settings was updated to feature information relating to a user's Apple ID account in the main menu,[43][44] and featured a section that allows users to see which old, unmaintained apps won't work in future versions of iOS.[45] Additionally, users could now see a breakdown of their iCloud storage.[46][47] The user could enable a setting to have Siri announce incoming callers, with options for "Always," "Headphones & Car," "Headphones Only," and "Never".[48]
iOS 10 allowed users to rearrange and remove apps from their CarPlay display, through Settings.[49][50] In iOS 10.3, Maps on CarPlay added electric vehicle charging stations.[51]
As part of the overall Continuity features introduced in iOS 8, a new Universal Clipboard feature allowed users of Mac personal computers running macOS Sierra and iOS devices running iOS 10 to easily copy material to and from different devices through iCloud.[52][53] As part of Continuity, a new "Continuity Keyboard" feature allowed users to type text on an iPhone and have the text appear on an Apple TV running tvOS 10, avoiding the Siri Remote for text input.[54]
iOS 10 featured new sound effects for locking the device and for keyboard clicks.[34][55] In the event that a device detects liquid in the Lightning port, a notice warned the user to disconnect the Lightning cable and allow the port to dry.[56][57] iOS 10 also allowed TTY calls to be made without any additional hardware.[58] It allows users to find their Apple Watch using Find My iPhone.[59] Spotlight could search the contents of the user's iCloud Drive.[60]
iOS 10 gives third-party developers access to APIs to three major iOS system apps and services: Siri, iMessage, and Maps. Developers can:
iOS 10 allows third-party camera apps to capture RAW image format pictures.[137][138] Support for shooting photos in Adobe's DNG RAW format is limited to devices with at least a 12MP camera and a third-party app that supports it, as Apple did not enable the feature in the native Camera app.[139][140]
iOS 10 allows VoIP apps to have the same functionality and interface as the Phone and FaceTime apps have, through the use of a CallKit API.[141][142]
Removed functionality[edit]
Native support for the VPN protocol PPTP was removed. Apple recommends alternatives which it considers to be more secure.[143][144]
The options to group notifications by app in Notification Center and customize the order of notifications were removed.[34]
The Game Center app has been removed, as is the case on macOS Sierra. The service was not discontinued, and remained accessible through games.
"Slide to unlock" was removed. It was replaced with "Press Home to unlock".
Reception[edit]
In his review, The Verge's Dieter Bohn wrote that the new features introduced in iOS 10 are "an evolution of some of the design and interaction ideas that Apple has been working on for a couple of years". He wrote that iMessage is "becoming a platform all its own", and although he liked that extensions mean access to information from apps without needing to open the respective apps, he wrote that new iMessage interface is difficult to understand and that the use of "third-party apps, stickers, crazy confetti effects, and emoji all over the place" is a "nightmare", although finishing with "Or maybe that's a wonderland, not a nightmare. Your call." Regarding third-party support in Siri, he called it "great", while noting the limited class of apps ("calls, messaging, payments, photos, ride-sharing apps, some CarPlay systems, and workouts"), and that sometimes a button press was required to complete the process. Beyond app integrations, he criticized Siri, writing "Siri doesn't seem to have gotten a whole lot smarter than you remember". Bohn enjoyed the new machine learning technology present in the Photos app, writing that he was "impressed" by Apple's image recognition technology, which he noted is done locally on the device, but did criticize the error rate, where he compares the technology to Google Photos as a step ahead. Bohn liked the new designs for the Music and Maps apps, saying both the redesigns were "for the better". Bohn particularly enjoyed the new lock screen, where he highlighted that notification bubbles can be 3D Touch-ed to access more information, all without needing to unlock the phone. Other small bits of new features he liked included "deletable" apps, upgraded "widgets" when 3D Touch-ing a home screen icon, and breaking news notifications in Apple News. Overall, Bohn referred to iOS 10 as "Still a walled garden, but with more doors".[145]
Engadget's Devindra Hardawar wrote that iOS 10 is Apple "basically polishing a pearl." Hardawar noted that the major changes in the release focus on features rather than the visual interface. He wrote that the lock screen is now "far more customizable than before." He praised the new features added to 3D Touch, writing that it "finally feels useful," where he likes that "3D Touch works in almost every part of the OS." In regard to iMessage, he wrote that it has new features that are "particularly useful", including "Invisible ink" that obscures text in a conversation when others might be looking, but criticized the user interface, writing that it "needs some work". The "Memories" feature in the new Photos app "usually turned out well", but wrote that "they're still clearly a work in progress." Hardawar praised the new Apple Music app, but added that "really, anything is better than the last iteration." He also liked lyrics support. He wrote that Siri's third-party support was "actually starting to get useful," but did run into accuracy issues. He finished by writing that although iOS 10 does add features seen in Google's Android operating system before, the mobile industry is "shamelessly getting "inspired" by the competition". His summary states that "iOS 10 is a collection of useful changes to an already solid OS".[146]
In October 2016, a month after its initial release, 54% of iOS devices were running iOS 10,[147] a "slightly slower migration" than for the release of iOS 9 in the preceding year, a result speculated by MacRumors's Tim Hardwick as being caused by an early release issue that disabled some devices and may have "put some [users] off downloading the update."[148] User adoption increased to 76% of active devices in January 2017,[149] 79% in February 2017,[150] 86% in June 2017,[151] 87% in July 2017,[152] and 89% in September 2017 before the release of iOS 11.[153]
Problems[edit]
Recovery mode issues[edit]
The initial public release of iOS 10 on September 13, 2016 saw many iPhones and iPads sent into recovery mode, by the over-the-air update, requiring devices to be connected to a Mac or PC with iTunes in order to retry the update or restore the device to factory settings. Apple very shortly after released iOS 10.0.1, and issued an apology.[154]
Local backup encryption issue[edit]
In September 2016, it was discovered that the encryption of local iOS backups made with iTunes is weaker for iOS 10 devices than for devices running iOS 9. Russian software firm ElcomSoft discovered that the iOS 10 backup process skips several security checks, making it "approximately 2,500 times" faster to try passwords, enabling 6 million password tries per second compared to the 2,400 password tries per second for the same process ElcomSoft has used on iOS 9. The firm stated that the impact is "severe".[155] Apple acknowledged the problem, said it planned to issue a security update, but also stated that iCloud backups were not affected.[156] The iOS 10.1 update subsequently fixed the issue.[157]
Battery shutdowns and throttling[edit]
Some iOS 10.1.1 users reported that their devices were prone to unexpectedly shutting down at or around 30% battery charge (with one user describing the battery percentage as dropping unexpectedly from 30% to 1% before doing so, but still registering as 30% when plugging it in to charge it).[158][159] Apple began the process of diagnosing this bug in iOS 10.2, and stated following the release of iOS 10.2.1 that it had reduced the occurrence of these shutdowns by "more than 80%" on iPhone 6S models and "over 70%" on iPhone 6 models. It also became possible to reboot the device after an unexpected shutdown without plugging it into power.[160][161]
In December 2017, speculation emerged that Apple had been intentionally throttling the performance of older iPhone models based on battery health, especially on the iPhone 6S (which, in a separate issue, also had isolated incidents of a battery manufacturing issue that was also causing system instability),[162][163] after a user benchmark showed a variance in performance after a battery replacement.[164] The developers of Geekbench confirmed that there had been sizable decreases on benchmark scores on iPhone 6 devices running iOS 10.2.1 and later, and iPhone 7 devices since iOS 11.2 and later. These led to concerns that Apple was instituting planned obsolescence policies in order to encourage sales of newer iPhone models, a controversy dubbed Batterygate.[165]
Later that month, Apple admitted that since iOS 10.2.1, it had been implementing performance management techniques on older iPhone models to preserve system stability, especially in situations where their batteries are "less capable of supplying peak current demands," such as cold weather, age, or low charge. Apple stated that these measures were intended to help "deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices."[166] The company announced that it would offer a discount on out-of-warranty battery replacements during 2018.[167]