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New Notes Feature
Notes Collaboration
The Notes app on iOS 10 now allows users to collaborate on notes. You can set this up by creating a note and tapping on the collaboration icon, which I have circled in red in the photo above. After you tap on that icon, you can choose how you would like to send your Notes collaboration invitation whether it is through Messages, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.
New Mail Feature
Frequently Used Mailboxes
The Mail app has become smarter. If you have the “Move Message” option activated under Settings > Mail > Swipe Options, then you will notice that Mail will start making suggestions about which folder to move the messages automatically. For example, I tend to move work emails into a “Work” folder. And so this feature started suggesting emails from my work contacts to be placed into my “Work” folder.
New Phone/Voicemail Features
Spam Notifications
iOS 10 now allows you to download apps that warns users about incoming spam calls. For example, there is an app called Hiya that shows a “do not enter” shield when it determines that an incoming phone call is coming from a number that is known for being a scam or fraud.
Voicemail Transcriptions
Now when you miss a phone call and receive a voicemail in iOS 10, you will be able to read a transcription of the message. This feature is handy if you cannot answer your phone because you are stuck in a meeting.
Easily Save Your Voicemail Messages
When you tap on the share button on the top right of a voicemail, you can quickly and easily save the audio file through AirDrop, iMessage, iCloud Drive, Mail, Notes, etc.
New Camera/Photo Features
Memories
Built into the Photos app is a new feature called Memories. The Memories feature pulls together photos based on the locations and times to automatically generate video slideshows. This feature relies on the photos in your Camera Roll to generate the video slideshow. For example, one of the videos that was generated from my Camera Roll in the Memories tab was called “Best of Last 3 Months.”
Search For People, Places And Things In Photos
Within the albums section of the Photos app, you will notice that iOS 10 has created a People and Places folder by detecting the faces of people and locations in your photos. After you input the names of the people in your Photos, then you can easily search for photos of those people by name from your Camera Roll. And the search feature now also lets you search for things like a “beach,” a “football game” or a “puppy.”
Ability To Edit RAW Photos
In iOS 10, Apple has added a feature that is beneficial for photographers. iOS 10 has added the ability to edit RAW photo files in the DNG format. However, photographers will have to use third party apps like Obscura and RAW by 500px to edit the uncompressed photos.
Ability To Edit Live Photos
Apple iOS 10 now lets you edit Live Photos. Here is my attempt at editing a Live Photo of my puppy... [+]
iOS 10 has added the ability to edit your Live Photos. In the past, you would have to convert Live Photos to a regular photo to make adjustments like filters and brightness.
Ability To Use The Camera As A Magnifying Glass
Another handy feature in iOS 10 is the ability to use the Camera as a magnifying glass. This can be controlled by going to Settings > General > Accessibility > Magnifier. From there, you can activate the magnifier by triple tapping on the Home button.
Ability To Doodle On Your Photos
Apple iOS 10 now lets you markup photos like I did with the photo of my puppy taking a nap. /... [+]
iOS 10 makes it easier to draw doodles on your photos. You can do this by selecting the “…” icon after tapping on the photo adjustment slider icon. Then you can tap on “Markup” to add doodles and text to your photos. However, Markup turns off Live Photos if that is the type of photo that you are editing.
New Calendar App Features
Found Events
In iOS 10, Apple added a found events feature in the Calendar app. This means that the Calendar app will suggest events that have been found in the Mail and Messages app. If you want to disable this feature, you can turn it off by going to Settings > Calendar > Events Found in Apps.
Time To Leave
The Calendar app now uses Apple Maps to look up locations and will suggest times for you to leave based on traffic conditions and transit options. And you can control when to be alerted based on the travel time within the event alerts.
New Maps Features
Third Party Apps
Apple Maps has third party apps integration, including apps like Yelp and OpenTable. Now when you search for a location and select the digital card of that business from the Maps app, it will show the relevant content such as the reviews, the menu and reservation options.
Select Your Preferred Transportation Mode
If you live in a big city, then it seems likely that you commute mostly by walking and taking the train. Apple Maps lets you set your preferred transportation mode by going to Settings > Maps and then selecting Driving, Walking or Transit.
Quickly Share Locations With 3D Touch
Using 3D Touch on the iPhone, you can quickly share your location from the Maps app. How? Simply push down on the Maps icon and tap on “Send My Location” to do so.
New Music Features
Lyrics In The Music App
The Music app has been redesigned so that you can view the lyrics to songs while you are listening to them. To see the lyrics of a song while it is playing, scroll down the “Now Playing” section and you will see it below the audio controls.
Favorites Mix
In the “For You” section of Apple Music, you will notice a new playlist called “Favorites Mix.” The Favorites Mix is iOS 10’s way of automatically curating songs that you might be interested in. This playlist is updated every Friday and it helps you discover new music that you may want to consider adding to your library. I'm a big fan of this feature and it gives me another reason to look forward to Fridays.
New News Features
New “For You” Section
Apple has updated the “For You” section of the News app with topics, trends and feature stories. Essentially, the News app is more personalized based on your interests and the design seems much more aesthetic than before.
Apple News Notifications
Apple News now has notifications so you can quickly read stories from your favorite channels. You can also customize the notifications by going to the “Favorites” section of Apple News and tapping on the bell icon at the top left.
Apple News Subscriptions
Apple has added the ability for you to read content that is hidden behind paywalls for non-subscribers. For example, The Economist requires a subscription for many of its articles. Through Apple News you can sign up for a subscription to those paid publications.
New Safari Features
Side-By-Side Tabs In Safari For iPad
If you have an iPad, then you can view two websites in side-by-side tabs. According to Lifehacker, this can be set up by opening Safari and pressing and holding down the tab button at the top right corner. When you push down on the tab button, a pop-up will ask you to “Open Split View.” Then you can drag a tab to the left or the right. This feature works on the iPad Pro, the iPad Air 2 and the iPad mini 4.
Inline Video Support
In the mobile version of Safari, you can now watch videos directly within the website rather than having to full-screen. So if you are visiting a website like YouTube and a video starts playing in full-screen mode, you can tap on the resize button at the bottom right of the video to have it play in the smaller screen.
Apple Pay In Mobile Version Safari
Apple Pay in the mobile version of Safari / Screenshot Credit: BGR
BGR pointed out that there is now Apple Pay support in the mobile version of Safari. This makes it easier to buy products online securely without having to enter your credit card details over and over.
Delete Individual Website Data
When you visit websites, there is a good chance that you may be tracked by advertising cookies. In case you want to delete tracking cookies from specific websites, you can do that by going to Settings > Safari > Advanced > Website Data.
New Siri Features
Quickly Call An Uber/Lyft
Apple added the ability to quickly call an Uber or a Lyft ride through Siri. You can do this by simply telling Siri “Call an Uber” and then selecting the type of car that you want.
Make A WhatsApp Call With Siri
Apple added the ability to make a phone call using Siri through WhatsApp. However, you will need to add support for this feature through Settings > Siri > App Support > WhatsApp. After you change that setting, then you can make phone calls with WhatsApp by telling Siri “make a phone call with WhatsApp” and then saying who you would like to call.
Siri Can Take A Selfie
Siri now understands the command “take a selfie.” When you tell Siri to take a selfie, it will launch your front-facing camera. You will still need to press the shutter button to take a photo, but this is a quick way to launch the front-facing camera.
Siri Is Able To Say Who Is Calling While Using Headphones Or Bluetooth
Siri now has the ability to announce who is calling while you are walking around and listening to headphones or when your device is connected to your speaker system via Bluetooth. You can activate this feature by going to Settings > Phone > Announce Calls. The options are always announce calls, only announce calls when you have headphones on or you are in a car with Bluetooth connected, only announce calls when you have headphones on or never announce calls.
Siri Now Understands Corrections
Sometimes Siri misunderstands what you are saying and performs the wrong command. Now you can get Siri to understand what you are saying by tapping on the spoken phrase and select the alternative guesses.
For example, I asked Siri “what is hajmola made out of.” And it thought I said “what is hundred millimeter” and offered several alternative suggestions when I tapped on the query. Siri is notorious for wrongly predicting unique queries, but this is definitely a step in the right direction.
New Messages Features
iMessage App Store
One of the biggest iOS 10 announcements was the iMessage App Store. Now you can find apps created specifically for iMessage when you tap on the App Store icon within iMessage, tapping on the four circles at the bottom left and then tapping on “+” Store icon. Some of the popular apps located in the iMessage app store includes Fandango, ESPN, Square Cash, iTranslate, Words With Friends, iMoji, The Weather Channel and Poll.
Send A Photo Or A Selfie Without Leaving iMessage
Now you can take a selfie or a photo and send it out without having to leave iMessage because that function is inline. You can also easily scroll through your photos in the camera roll without leaving iMessage.
Bubble And Screen Effects
iMessage now has new bubble and screen effects. You can set these up by long pressing on the Send button. The “Bubble” effects are Slam, Loud, Send With Gentle and Invisible Ink. And there are screen effects like “Send With Balloons,” “Send With Confetti,” “Send With Lasers,” “Send With Fireworks” And “Send With Shooting Star.”
Tapback
Tapback is a feature that lets you react to a friend’s message with a heart, a thumbs up, a thumbs down, a “haha”, two exclamation points or a question mark. You can activate this feature by pushing down on a message.
Digital Touch On iMessage
The Digital Touch feature on iMessage allows you to send several types of effects to your friends. For example: when you touch the heart icon on iMessage, it activates Digital Touch and then you can send sketches, fireballs, kisses, heartbeats and heartbreak effects.
Handwrite Text Messages
When you tilt your device into landscape mode while using the Messages app, it will switch to a mode that allows you to handwrite text messages.
Turn Off Ability To Reply To Messages From The Lock Screen
In iOS 10, there is a way to turn off the ability to reply to text messages from the lock screen. You can set up this feature by going to Settings > Touch ID & Passcode and entering your Passcode. Then you can scroll down to where it says “Reply with Message” and set the toggle to Off. After that, you will no longer be able to reply to messages from the lock screen.
Control The iMessage Apps In Your App Drawer
Since iMessage now has its own app store, you can control which apps have access to you app drawer. This can be controlled by tapping on the app store icon next to the iMessage text box and then tapping on the four dots at the bottom left. Then tap on the “+” Store icon and then tap on the “Manage” tab. From there you can select an option to automatically add apps that work with iMessage. And you can control the apps that you want to use with iMessage from that menu.
New Emoji Features
100 New Emoji + Bigger Icons
There are now more than 100 new emoji to choose from in iOS 10, including new gender options like female athletes and professionals. And additional family emoji options have been added. Individual emoji sent in the Messages app in iOS 10 now appear 3 times bigger too.
Emoji Suggestions
Now when you type keywords in iMessage that have emoji associated with them, iOS 10 will suggest you to use those options. This feature will come in handy if you want to add some creativity to your messages.
New Miscellaneous Features
Raise To Wake
When I picked up my iPhone 6S Plus, it uses the "raise to wake" feature to show me the new lock... [+]
Since Touch ID is blazingly fast now, it made seeing notifications challenging for users. That is why Apple added a feature called “Raise to Wake.” This feature shows you the Lock Screen every time you pick up your iOS device.
However, the "Raise to wake" feature depends on the Apple M9 motion coprocessor so it is compatible with the iPhone SE, iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus, iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.
If you do not want use this feature, there is a way to turn it off. You can turn off the “Raise to wake” feature by going to Settings > Display & Brightness > Raise To Wake.
Ability To Disable The Spotlight Search
Siri Suggestions / Screenshot Credit: Amit Chowdhry
You may have noticed that the Spotlight search saves your previous keyword queries. The reason for this behavior is so that Siri can make suggestions based on your search history.
If you do not like this feature, then you can disable it by going to Settings > General > Siri Suggestions. Turning off the Siri suggestions will disable the keyword and app suggestions in Spotlight, but the app suggestions will continue to appear in the lock screen widget.
Tint The Display To A Different Color
In order to reduce bright colors, Apple added an accessibility feature for people with vision impairments that tints the whole display to a specific color. You can control this from Settings > Accessibility > Display Accommodations > Color Filters.
Continuity In The App Switcher
Sometimes you may be in a situation where you have to quickly leave your office, but you forgot to send yourself the last website you were looking at. Fortunately, iOS 10 has a new feature that lets you pull up the last website you were viewing at the bottom of the app switcher. This feature is tied to Apple’s Continuity platform.
The Continuity feature in the app switcher also works with other applications so if you were looking at Apple Pages on your computer before leaving work, then that will be the suggested option at the bottom of the app switcher instead of Safari.
Faster Settings Controls
When you push down on the Settings icon, you will notice that there is quick access for controlling the device battery, data, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
Stopwatch Redesign
Apple added a new stopwatch face in iOS 10 to make that app more interesting. This is a welcoming addition because the stopwatch has looked the same for the last few years. You can see the new stopwatch face by opening the Clock app and swiping to the left.
Wi-Fi Network Status
Wi-Fi Network Status / Photo Credit: iPhoneHacks
According to iPhoneHacks, the Wi-Fi settings menu in iOS 10 now shows you Wi-Fi warnings like “No Internet Connection.” And it makes security recommendations like “WPA is not considered secure. Configure your router to use WPA2 Personal (AES) security type for this network.” This feature comes in handy for recommending people to secure their networks if they have not done so.
Contextual Keyboard Suggestions
The keyboard in iOS 10 now makes smart suggestions based on the interactions you are having. For example, the keyboard will allow you to send your location when someone asks where you are. And you can quickly respond with answers to queries like "what is Dan's number?":
Turn Off Autofill On Safari
When you are typing in Safari, you will notice that the QuickType keyboard suggests Autofill for Contacts. There is a way to turn this off if you do not like the feature by going to Settings > Safari > AutoFill. From there, you can toggle on/off Contact Info, Names and Passwords and Credit Cards.
Keyboard Shortcuts on iPad
If you have a keyboard connected to Bluetooth or the Smart Connector on your iPad, then you can take advantage of a couple shortcuts. You can open Spotlight by tapping on Command + Space on the keyboard and open recently used apps by tapping on Command + Tab.
Were these list of iOS 10 features useful for you? What are your favorite iOS 10 features? Please leave a comment!
