It’s new iPhone week! With new iPhones new updates to iOS come just before. This year is no different. iOS 13 will be made available to the public just the day before the new iPhones come out.
While it comes a little later, I’ve been testing iPadOS all summer long. Once Apple actually put out the version of iOS 13 that will be released to everyon
Here are the most significant changes that you might need to know to get around iOS 13 when you update later this week.
Updating Apps on iOS 13
The most significant change I think will throw most people for a loop centers around updating Apps.
Since the App Store launched with the iPhone 3G, there has always been a tab at the bottom of the App Store for seeing all your apps that need updating.
Apple is set to launch its new gaming service, Apple Arcade this week. To give Apple Arcade more prominence, iOS 13 has replaced the update tab with a Arcade Tab.
So how will you update your apps now?
In iOS 13, I have noticed that if you have automatic app updates turned on (you can check this in settings under the iTunes and App Store category) that apps are updating on their own more frequently. However, if you’d like to control what gets updated, start by pushing on your Apple ID picture in the top right of the apps store.
This page will show you what you’ve purchased, the subscriptions you have through Apple, deal with gift cards, and at the bottom of the page, you’ll see the list of apps that have updates.
If you pull down on the page, it will refresh just like all other pages, and there will be an Update All button at the top.
While this isn’t the easiest way to update your apps, Apple did finally add a feature that I’ve been waiting for forever. If an app is on the list to update, and you have no more need of it, simply swipe from right to left and you’ll be offered a delete button.
Rearranging Apps
Apple also change the way you rearrange apps on the home screen. Up to iOS 12, simply holding your finger on top of any app would make all the apps start to jiggle. Then you could move the app where you wanted or create a folder.
Now, holding your finger on an app will bring up a contextual menu. On prior phones you could get to this menu using Force Touch. Now that Force Touch is going away, this will be the way you access this menu.
But how do you rearrange apps now?
There are two ways, and both are simple. Once you get to this contextual menu, chose Rearrange Apps. This option will be on any app that you do this on, even if there isn’t anything else in the contextual menu.
Once you hit Rearrange Apps, all the apps will begin to jiggle and the X to delete them will appear.
The other way to get the apps to jiggle is to place your finger on an app, and just before the contextual menu shows up, move the app. This movement will cause all the apps to enter the Rearranging mode.
Previously, Apple divided the Share Sheet into three sections. The topmost section was for AirDrop. Anyone you could wirelessly send information to would appear in that row. Frustratingly, it would often take a while for your friends to pop up there.
The next row contained Apps that you could use to share the content. Apps like Twitter and Facebook lived here. The final row contained all the other things you could do with the content like save it to Files or Dropbox.
With the update to iOS 13, Apple has rethought the Share sheet.
Now, the top row of the share sheet has some of your greatest hits. Now, iPhone will intelligently predict who and how you want to send whatever it is that you are trying to send. This selection is based on your usage. You can see options from AirDrop, Messages, and more here.
The second row is still similar to how it was before. It’s a row of apps that you can use to share the content. If you scroll the bar all the way to the right, you’ll see a ”More” button where you can find all your apps that can share, and you can edit what icons show up in that row. It is still just like it was in iOS 12.
Below that row, you now have a list of actions that you can take with that content. You can save it to your Files or other Cloud Storage or even run some actions that you’ve created in Shortcuts. Apple does a pretty good job of grouping the actions as well.
Just like the other changes, this could take some getting used to, but I think it will be better in the long run.
AirDrop
If you notice on the list of apps, AirDrop is now an option you can choose. Instead of just populating the top row, it now has a section dedicated to it. Apple has included a new U1 chip in the new iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pros that allows distance tracking and more. The only thing that Apple has announced for the chip is AirDrop. If you try to AirDrop from an iPhone 11 to another iPhone 11, the list in the AirDrop will be arrange by proximity.
Find My
One of the last changes you might notice when you update to iOS 13 is the new app Find My. Apple combined Find My Phone and Find My Friends into one app.
This makes sense since the apps do nearly the same thing. If you are looking for one after the update though, it might be hard to find.
The app works the same as the other two. Inside the app you’ll have the option to track people or your devices. Rumors have it that Apple will release a tracker as well. The tracker is rumored to use the same U1 chip that will allow you to get precise location on your tracker inside your house.
My Thoughts
So far, I think iOS 13 will be an improvement over iOS 12. I’ve been worried throughout the summer about how buggy the software has been on my iPad. On this last release of iOS 13 that should be shipping to users on September 19, I think Apple has made it pretty solid.
It is curious to me how splintered the rollout of iOS 13 appears though. There’s iOS 13 this week, iPadOS and iOS 13.1 coming in two weeks. WatchOS 6 is coming for some phones this week as well, but not the Series 1 or 2.
I’ll have a more detailed review of iOS 13, iPadOS, and WatchOS in the coming weeks. For now though, I wanted users to be prepared for some of the biggest changes to iOS in years.
What are you most excited for in iOS 13? Let me know in the comments