IOS 10 – Siri

A near certainty for every iOS release is an update to Siri, Apple’s voice assistant. This is the first year Siri comes to the Mac, but it’s also the first time I’m marginally excited by its iOS presence.

Apple has finally opened up the Siri API to developers, so they’ll be able to build in Siri’s smarts into apps. You’ll be able to order an Uber by asking for it, for example – the possibilities are pretty exciting.

Developers will obviously have to jump on board for this to work, but judging by their willingness to adapt to features such as 3D Touch and larger screen sizes, I’m sure they won’t take too much convincing.

iOS 10 – Performance and Battery Life

Apple isn’t making huge claims about increased performance and battery life in iOS 10.

I’ve been using iOS 10 on a few devices, ranging from an iPad Mini 2 to an iPhone 6S and iPad Pro 9.7-inch. Things seem slightly faster overall on each of the devices, but this is most likely down to speedier animations. Battery life, too, is on par with iOS 9.

iOS 10 – Other Things to Consider

Minor iPad improvements: As always, the iPad seems left behind when it comes to specific improvements in iOS 10. You get all the benefits of the update of an iPhone, but nothing specifically built for the bigger screen of the tablet.

Split-view hasn’t had the revamp it needs, the homescreen still feels unintuitive on a big screen, and it lacks anything to simulate the 3D Touch features. You can have two tabs open next to each other in Safari, which is one bonus.

Apple Pay on the web: Apple Pay is comfortably the most efficient mobile payment solution I’ve used, and in iOS 10 it comes to the web. Supported sites will let you easily and securely pay with Apple Pay.

Updated keyboard: There’s a couple of neat tricks added to the pretty good iOS keyboard here. Type a word such as “fire” or “love” and the related emoji will pop up, while suggested passwords and log-in info will appear on relevant sites.

Slightly altered Mail apps: Apple’s Mail client isn’t the best, but there have been a couple of improvements here. Top of the pile is a new unsubscribe feature that pulls you off those annoying spam email lists with one-button press. There’s also some visual updates, with threaded messages now much easier to read.

Should I download iOS 10?

iOS 10 is great. It’s great because of the little things: the deeper 3D Touch integration, tweaks to the Control Center, modernised lockscreen and Raise to Wake functionality.

Apple has also finally brought some flair into its native apps, with Music and News dragged from useless space-fillers to usable apps. Hopefully, iOS 11 will see the updated design applied to all the other pre-installed apps.

Yet, iOS 10 isn’t going to convert anyone who hasn’t been an Apple fan before. It doesn’t rewrite the iOS formula, it doesn’t add greater customisation, and it doesn’t make it more open. What it does is to improve what’s already there.

This is the most exciting iOS update since the design overhaul that took place with iOS 7; I only wish that they’d been a bit more focus on the iPad.

Verdict

Simply put, this is the best iOS update in years.

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