Starting with iOS 10, you can delete Apple’s own apps from your iOS device — but there are some things you need to know.
Gone are the days of creating a junk folder and tucking it away on your last home screen, full of Apple apps you never use. The Apple app graveyard is in the cloud now; no really, it is.
After installing iOS 10, you can delete 23 of the apps Apple preinstalls on every iOS device. Here’s the complete list:
Calculator
iCloud Drive
Reminders
Calendar
iTunes Store
Stocks
Compass
Mail
Tips
Contacts
Maps
Videos
FaceTime
Music
Voice Memos
Find My Friends
News
Watch app
Home
Notes
Weather
iBooks
Podcasts
As you can see, some of those apps offer core functionality to your iOS device. Naturally, that means deleting app like Mail or Calendar could lead to some lost functionality and issues. More on that in a minute, but first let’s go over how you can rid yourself of some of the more annoying apps.
Delete an app
If we want to get technical about it, you aren’t truly deleting Apple apps from your iOS device. You’re actually hiding the icon and deleting all personal information and settings for the app you delete. According to Apple, all of its apps combined only use up 150 MB of storage on your device, so there’s no need to fret about freeing up space by deleting Apple apps.
Deleting an app is the same process as any other app: Long-press on the app icon, wait for it to start jiggling, then tap on the X.
Side effects
Right now, Apple doesn’t provide a means to set a third-party app as the default app. Meaning, if you were to delete Mail you can’t tell iOS 10 to use Outlook or Gmail in its place. That translates into lost functionality when using Siri (e.g., “Siri, send an email” will now prompt you to install Mail). A similar message will show up when you tap on an email address.
However, there are some areas of iOS that will work with third-party apps. After deleting the Calendar app, you can still use Siri to add appointments to your calendar and view entries in apps like Fantastical 2. Despite Siri working, you will still lose out on the ability to tap on a date in an email or text message and view your calendar for possible scheduling conflicts.
Removing an Apple app will naturally remove any associated widgets and Apple Watch apps. Furthermore, removing apps like Podcasts and Music will also remove the app from a car via CarPlay.
Reinstalling an Apple app
To bring a deleted Apple app back to life, open the App Store and search for it. Tap on the download button, then marvel at how quickly the app is restored. Since the app was never truly deleted from your device, tapping the download button simply reactivates it. You will need to go back into the Settings app and adjust the apps’ settings to work as you expect. Reinstalling Mail, for example, reset my viewing preferences and signature.
Apple is changing how you can use notifications, here’s what you need to know.
At first glance, notifications on iOS 10 will look like they always have. But, as the saying goes, things aren’t always as they appear. The ways you view, clear and interact with notifications work a lot differently.
Just how you interact with a notification depends on the type of device you’re using, and whether it’s equipped with 3D Touch. At the end of the day, however, the same experience is possible across all iOS devices.
Here are the two stand-out changes.
No need to unlock your iPhone
When a notification shows up on your lock screen, you can swipe to the left across it to reveal more options. Devices equipped with 3D Touch will have a single Clear option, where non-3D Touch devices will have two options: View and Clear.
If you press on a notification or tap on View will open the alert, leaving you on the lock screen. Once opened, you can interact with its content. For Messages, that means you can view the last few messages including photos, videos and GIFs.
During the iOS 10 announcement in June, Apple showed an Uber notification with a live map that shows you where your driver was just as if you were using the app.
Swipe down to view more
Instead of using 3D Touch or swiping left and selecting view, you only need to swipe down on a notification to open it. (You can still use 3D Touch on an alert if you’d prefer.) The alert will open, but you’ll never leave the app you’re already in.
Notification Center is another place where you can open a notification via 3D Touch or with a swipe to the left and a tap on “view.”
Once Apple releases iOS 10 later this fall, developers will begin updating applications with these new notification features. We will update this post with more tips and tricks for rich notifications as needed.
Alongside a long list of new features on iOS 10 comes a redesigned Music app. Here’s what you need to know.
Last year, Apple Music launched alongside a redesigned Music app on iOS and, let’s just be honest, the app was horrible. It was difficult to navigate, confusing and lacked key features (Shuffle All, anyone?). Apple has improved the app here and there throughout the year, but with iOS 10 the Music app has been completely redone.
It’s going to take some getting used to, but a couple months into using iOS 10 and I think this version of the Music app more intuitive and far better than last year’s version.
Navigating your library is now easier
When you first open the Music app, you’ll notice the “My Music” tab is no longer available. Instead, you will find your music collection in the Library tab, which consists of content stored on your device and in your Apple Music account (if you’re a subscriber).
You can quickly jump between categories and sections of your library by tapping on the large text buttons at the top of the screen, or scroll down to view music recently added to your account.
Tap on Edit in the top-right corner to add, remove, or rearrange music categories.
Perhaps most importantly, the option to view only the music stored on your device is no longer hidden through a series of menus; just tap on Downloaded Music.
For You is supposed to be smarter
The For You tab also has a new look, and what has thus far appeared to be better music recommendations based on my listening habits and the songs or artists I have liked within the app.
Along the top is where recently played items are, with playlists curated based on the day of the week just below that. As you continue to scroll through this section, you’ll see your heavy rotation albums, artists, radio stations or playlists, and further recommendations based on your music profile.
Last but not least, Apple’s Connect service where artists can posts updates, music and videos is now located towards the bottom of the For You section. You know, if you’re into that sort of thing.
New is now under Browse
Looking for this week’s latest albums? You’ll want to tap on the Browse tab.
Scroll through the thumbnail previews of albums at the top, or tap on one of the text buttons to view New Music, Curated Playlists, Top Charts and Genres.
Radio hasn’t changed all that much
You can still listen to Beats 1 radio on demand, or find older shows to listen to through the Radio tab. With the biggest change being you now need to tap on View All Stations to find featured stations outside of Beats 1, such as Classic Hip Hop or Dance.
A portable karaoke machine, of sorts
When playing music you can continue to browse through your library or Apple Music and control playback using controls just above the tabs at the bottom of the screen.
Tapping on the bar where the controls are located will open the Now Playing screen, where you can pause, skip, add a song to your library or scroll down and view what’s Up Next.
Tap on the three-dot button to do tasks like add an item to a playlist, create a station based off the song, love or dislike a tune.
Another neat feature you will notice is the option to view Lyrics for whatever is currently playing. You can do so by scrolling down to the Up Next section, or by tapping on the three-dot button > Lyrics.
Currently, lyrics seems to be hit or miss as far as what songs it’s available for, but one can hope Apple will continue adding lyrics throughout the beta process.
The only thing missing now is a bouncing ball to keep you on track as you belt out the summer’s hottest hits to your friends during a night out.
Don’t forget to check the Settings app
There are some key settings available in the Settings app surrounding Music. You can now choose whether or not the Music app will add a song to your library after adding a Playlist. For example, prior to iOS 10 you could find a playlist in Apple Music and add it to your account. Then, every song on that playlist was then added to your My Music tab automatically and without a giving you a choice. A good idea in theory, but in reality it did nothing more than clutter up your music library with random artists and songs that meant nothing outside of that playlist.
Furthermore, you can now have iOS 10 automatically download content you’ve added to your Library, even if you added it on another device. Meaning, using your iPad on iOS 10 you can add an album to your account, and not only will that album now show up in your Recently Added section on another device, but iOS 10 can download that album to your device(s) for offline playback without you having to do a thing.
And for those worried about such a feature taking up too much space on your device, you can now tell iOS 10 how much space you want downloaded music to take up. If you get close to that limit, iOS 10 will delete any music you haven’t listened to in a long time.
Apple revamped its messaging platform on iOS 10 with stickers, apps and other fun, if at times, gimmicky features. Here’s what you need to know.
In iOS 10, iMessage looks a lot more like Facebook Messenger. Apple added features like Stickers, “Tapbacks” and even apps that you install within iMessage.
Is it overkill? Maybe. Or maybe it’ll do exactly what Apple wants — make you choose iMessage over the increasing number of competing apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Google’s upcoming app, Allo.
While some of the features (like apps) won’t be completely ready until the fall release of iOS 10, here are the features we tested in the public beta.
Slam, Invisible Ink and other ways to say ‘I love you’
Now there’s more than one style for your messages. Bubble effects add a bit of personality and emotion to your iMessage conversations by letting you change the way they look to the recipient.
Four bubble effects are currently available:
Slam: Message body slams into the conversation, with a puff of dust rising off the screen where it landed.
Loud: Mimicking yelling at the person, the message body starts off huge, shakes a bit, then shrinks back to regular size.
Gentle: Message body starts off small, really small, then ever-so-slowly it grows to regular size.
Invisible Ink: The message body is covered with a pixelated overlay, where in order to view what’s hidden underneath the recipient has to swipe his or her finger across the message.
To use a Bubble Effect, compose an iMessage and then force touch on the blue up arrow (if you’re on a non-3D Touch device, long press on the send button).
To preview and select a Bubble Effect, slide your finger across or tap on the circular button next to each effect. As you select each one, a preview will play. Once you find the effect you want, tap on the send button and away it goes. Effects can be used on text and photo messages.
When the recipient(s) open the message, the animation will play and continue to play each time the conversation thread is opened until another message is sent.
Throw confetti all over their screens
Screen Effects are messages that take over the entire screen with an animation and sound. For instance, if you’re congratulating someone, you can make confetti rain all over their screen.
Just write a message, then use Force Touch or long-press on the send button until the Bubble Effect screen is activated. Then, tap on the Screen button at the top of the screen.
There are five different Screen Effects (at least for now):
Balloons: A series of colorful balloons float across the screen.
Confetti: A blast of confetti falls from the top of the screen.
Lasers: Disco lasers scan up and down, emanating from behind the text bubble.
Fireworks: A series of colorful firework blasts take over the screen.
Shooting Star: The nighttime sky lights up as a single shooting star streaks across the screen.
Swipe across the screen to switch between effects, then when you land on one that works for your message, tap on the send button.
The effect will remain active until a new message is sent.
Sticker packs and apps
With the official launch of iOS 10 this fall, you’ll see new and familiar apps available right there, within iMessage. You’ll be able to do things like send money through Square Cash or book lunch reservations while you coordinate with friends. Extra goodies like stickers and emoji packs can be downloaded, too.
To get these apps, you won’t go to the App Store — there’s an iMessage app store built right into iMessage.
In an iMessage conversation, tap on the “>” button, then the App Store icon. The first view will be recently used stickers, with a swipe to the left scrolling through installed sticker packs and apps. Apple includes an images and Apple Music app by default. The images app searches Bing for GIFs and the Apple Music app lets you quickly share songs and albums with friends.
You can send a sticker in a standalone message, or (my favorite use) is to drag-and-drop a sticker over a photo or text box of a previously sent message. Doing so adds a bit of life to a photo, or can be used as a response to a message.
Tapping on the four app icons in the bottom-left corner will reveal the app icons for installed apps, along with a button that opens the iMessage App Store. In this view, you can rearrange the app icons or delete apps the same way you do on any iOS device: Long press until the icons begin to move, then drag and drop to rearrange or tap on the “X” to delete.
During the public beta, the iMessage App Store only contains sticker packs from Apple.
Words become emojis
Emojis are getting a lot of attention in iMessage. For starters, Apple tripled the size of emoji displayed in a conversation. But the coolest feature is one that instantly translates text into emoji.
For instance, “beer” turns into the beer emoji. “Basketball” turns into a basketball emoji. And so on.
After composing a message, tap on the emoji button on your keyboard. Your iOS device will analyze the text, highlighting words with matching emoji. Tap on the highlighted word to convert the word into an emoji, either instantly or picking for a few different options. Fun stuff, right?
Link previews in Messages
When you send links, they’ll (almost) instantly be replaced with thumbnail previews. If it’s a video from YouTube, for example, you can play the video directly in the conversation.
Or, you can tap on the link itself just below the preview to open the video or website in Safari.
Send a handwritten note
Turn your phone to landscape orientation while in Messages and you’ll see one of two things: Either the keyboard will remain open where you can keep typing away your next message, or a blank canvas will show up for you to write or draw a message on. If the keyboard shows up, never fear — there’s a button with a squiggly line on it. Tap on it to open the handwritten notes interface.
Here you can write or draw with your finger, or select from a few of Apple’s own designs. However, writing “Thank You” or “I love you” in your own handwriting will undoubtedly earn bonus points with your SO. Messages will save your notes, so you can reuse that shrug emoticon you’ve spent countless hours perfecting (oops, maybe that’s just me).
Once you hit “send” the recipient will see it play back, from scratch.
To edit or remove old drawings, long press on the preview cards and then tap on the “X” to delete them.
A lazy way to reply to messages
How many times in a day do you reply to a message with just “haha” or “OK”? With Tapbacks, you no longer have to write those words out. Instead, you can double-tap on a message, then select from a list replies.
A small chat bubble containing your Tapback is then placed atop the specific message. Currently there are six different Tapbacks: a heart, thumbs up, thumbs down, haha, exclamation point and question mark.
Better read receipt controls
As covered in our list of hidden features in iOS 10, you can turn read receipts on or off for specific contacts. Previously, the read receipts setting was either on or off for everyone. Now, you can leave it off by default, then turn it on for individual conversations (or vice versa).
The default setting is still found in Settings > Messages > Send Read Receipts. To change the setting for a specific conversation, open the conversation thread then tap on “i” button > toggle Send Read Receipts. This setting automatically syncs across all Apple devices signed into your iMessage account, which is a nice touch.
Camera shortcuts
The way you choose and send photos is a lot different in iOS 10.
To send a photo, tap on the “>” button next to the text field, then tap on the camera icon. You will have a preview thumbnail of your camera, allowing you to snap a photo and send it with relative ease. Or you can scroll to the left to view recent photos and videos from your camera roll; tap on one to add it to your message.
If you want to record a video, or view a larger selection of photos from your photo library, swipe to the right and select the appropriate option.
Draw on photos!
Apple is adding its drawing tool, Markup, to more apps across iOS and that includes in Messages. After adding a photo to your message, but before hitting send, you can use the Markup tool to sketch on the image.
With a photo in the text field, tap on it to open the preview. Tap on the Markup button in the lower-left hand corner, then proceed to highlight, draw and write on the image. Keep in mind, anything you do here will not get saved to the image in your camera roll.
Send fake heartbeats. Because heartbeats?
First introduced with the Apple Watch, Digital Touch was originally intended to be a cute (if not gimmicky) way to quickly draw someone a picture, send your heartbeat or tap away on the screen and in turn, his or her wrist.
It works almost exactly the same in iOS 10.
The Digital Touch icon is sandwiched between the Camera and iMessage App Store icons, to the left of the text field. Selecting it opens the Digital Touch app in place of the keyboard.
The big black void in the middle of the screen is where you can tap, draw, or place two fingers on there to send a fake heartbeat. You can also send a kiss by tapping with two fingers, or a broken heart by placing two fingers on the canvas and dragging them down once the heart is displayed.
Digital Touch effects can also be added to pictures or videos. Go into full-screen mode for Digital Touch, select the video camera icon, then record a video or capture a photo. You can record and send 10-second clips, but you’ll need to apply any Digital Touch effects while you are recording.
It’s a tricky implementation, but one that’s hopefully ironed out during the public beta.
How does this all look on a non-iOS 10 device?
With so many new features in Messages for iOS 10, it only makes sense the experience is going to look differently on a non-iOS 10 device. For example, a Tapback on an iOS 9 device sends reads “Jason Liked/disliked/etc.” instead of adding the Tapback icon to the message.
Placing a sticker on a photo or message already in a conversation simply sends the sticker to non-iOS 10 devices, lacking context or exact placement
Apple is changing how you can use notifications, here’s what you need to know.
At first glance, notifications on iOS 10 will look like they always have. But, as the saying goes, things aren’t always as they appear. The ways you view, clear and interact with notifications work a lot differently.
Just how you interact with a notification depends on the type of device you’re using, and whether it’s equipped with 3D Touch. At the end of the day, however, the same experience is possible across all iOS devices.
Here are the two stand-out changes.
No need to unlock your iPhone
When a notification shows up on your lock screen, you can swipe to the left across it to reveal more options. Devices equipped with 3D Touch will have a single Clear option, where non-3D Touch devices will have two options: View and Clear.
If you press on a notification or tap on View will open the alert, leaving you on the lock screen. Once opened, you can interact with its content. For Messages, that means you can view the last few messages including photos, videos and GIFs.
During the iOS 10 announcement in June, Apple showed an Uber notification with a live map that shows you where your driver was just as if you were using the app.
Swipe down to view more
Swipe down on a notification when using your device to view and interact with it.
Instead of using 3D Touch or swiping left and selecting view, you only need to swipe down on a notification to open it. (You can still use 3D Touch on an alert if you’d prefer.) The alert will open, but you’ll never leave the app you’re already in.
Notification Center is another place where you can open a notification via 3D Touch or with a swipe to the left and a tap on “view.”
Once Apple releases iOS 10 later this fall, developers will begin updating applications with these new notification features. We will update this post with more tips and tricks for rich notifications as needed.
Tech Zone Connect 