IOS 13 Beta 1 review: the big release that brought the dark theme

Earlier this week, Apple held one of the most intense summer presentations in years. And the Kupertivnovs surprised not so much the number of announcements, as a large number of innovations.

Apple decided to take a bold step and released a separate branch of iOS for iPad, abandoned iTunes in macOS, finally showed a radically updated Mac Pro and its own next-generation monitor cost about 5,000 dollars. Users have been discussing all these announcements for several days.

However, iOS 13 is of the greatest interest. Last year’s major update to Apple’s mobile operating system brought with it not too many changes. Most of the Coopertinos focused on fixing deficiencies and improving productivity. This year, however, Apple decided to “win back.” The new version of iOS is not only the long-awaited innovations. The Cupertins also tried to significantly improve their mobile operating system, eliminating old flaws and reworking the standard applications.

However, it is worth considering that many innovations iOS 13 will not work outside the U. S. At least at this stage. This, for example, applies to the radically updated Maps and improved Siri. But even without this, the new apple operating system looks interesting enough.

Surprisingly, it is a dark theme for many is a kind of “visit card” and the main innovation of iOS 13. In fact, users had hoped and asked Apple to add a new color scheme to the mobile operating system for a long time. However, only this year the Coopertinos finally made up their minds.

The dark theme changes the look of the entire system: it applies to all standard apps and menus. Third-party utilities do not yet support this option for the most part. However, it is safe to say that by the time the final version of iOS 13 is released, the situation will change. Apple has already provided third-party developers with all the tools they need.

Judging by the available settings, the Coopertinos conceived a dark theme rather as a solution that will make the process of using the iPhone and iPad at night more comfortable. In screen settings, users can choose the schedule by which the color scheme of the interface will change.

In contrast to Apple, many users see the dark theme as a “breath of fresh air.” Thanks to this innovation, apple device owners can finally change the already familiar iOS interface. In addition, activating a dark theme can slightly reduce energy consumption. However, the latest feature is “available” only to iPhone owners with OLED screens.

Apple has refreshed the design of its Photo app. In iOS 13, the Coopertinos not only changed the way photos are sorted (All photos, Days, Months and Years), but also added software filters to the app. Machine learning is used to work the latter and they automatically “clean” the gallery from takes, bad photos and screenshots. Such images are not deleted – they are just hidden.

The built-in editor has also changed. In the case of the photo editor, Apple has added a number of tools that allow you to change sharpness, clarity, color temperature, reduce noise, work with shadows, etc. most of the tools, so that the photo editor’s functionality has grown.

However, the changes in the photo editor do not compare with the changes that have occurred with the video editor. In fact, Apple has added a number of video editing features to the Photo app. Now, users without the help of third-party utilities can trim, flip and reflect videos, apply different filters to the videos and improve. And everything happens almost instantly.

The music app not only received some interesting chips, but also changed a few things. However, in order to try out the new interface will have to activate the dark theme.

However, the main innovation in the application “Music” is a kind of karaoke mode. Now users can not only listen to tracks, but also read lyrics. Such an innovation has long been in third-party music services. For example, in Shazam. However, Apple was able to implement everything as conveniently and beautifully as possible – the lyrics of the song are not just displayed on the screen. The lines of the text gradually “crawl out” on the screen exactly in tact with the song. At the same time, users can move between lines, thereby rewinding the track.

In iOS 13, Apple has modified or reworked many standard apps to varying degrees. In some cases, as with the Calendar, there are very few changes. Apple simply allowed users to add different attachments to events. However, there are also applications in which there are quite a lot of innovations.

Apple has almost completely reworked the Reminders app. The program has new categories of reminders, as well as advanced to-do lists, an updated toolbar, a feature that allows you to add different attachments to your notes, etc. It is possible that after the update, some iPhone owners will decide to abandon third-party solutions and switch to the standard “reminder” of iOS.

Last year, the Coopertinos had already made some changes to the Notes app. In particular, they have slightly expanded the palette available in color drawing mode. In iOS 13, Apple decided to continue working on this app and added a few more innovations.

Thus, in “Notes” there was a new mode of viewing records in the format of the gallery, the ability to organize notes on folders, the search was improved.

The “native” iOS browser also received its own batch of innovations. Safari finally has a full-fledged download manager. This allows all downloaded files to be stored in the browser and can be viewed there.

In addition, some changes have occurred with the browser’s homepage. It can now display sites from favorites, frequented and the last sites visited.

In iOS 13, Apple has modified the Files app. Now users can use it to view downloaded files from Safari and work with data from external drives (sticks, SD cards, etc. – the main thing is to have an adapter). In addition, the app allows you to archive files and unpack archives.

Support for third-party keyboards has been in Apple’s mobile operating system for a long time. However, in iOS 13, the Coopertinos have slightly modified the standard keyboard, adding a new mode called zuickPath. It allows you to type in text without taking your finger off the screen.

The innovation itself works quite well. However, it has one serious drawback. In the first beta, iOS 13, zuickPath only supports a few languages. Among them: English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese and simplified Chinese. Support for the Russian language will only appear in the future. It is not known when exactly.

Traditionally, Apple has focused on protecting user data. In iOS 13, The Coopertinos have added an option that allows individual apps to be banned or allowed to access the device’s location.

In addition, Apple promises that soon owners of Apple devices will be able to log on to different sites with the help of Apple ID. However, it is not known when exactly such an option will be available. It is possible that third-party developers have yet to adapt their resources to this innovation. In this case, the “Sign in with Apple” button will appear on popular sites only after the release of the final version of iOS 13.

Last year, during the announcement of iOS 12, Coopertinoov paid a lot of attention to the increase in the speed of the system and the elimination of various flaws and bugs. WWDC 2019 did not directly mention the speed of iOS. The Cupertins promised to reduce the size of the applications a little and increase the speed of their opening. In the first beta of iOS 13, such changes are not noticeable. At least on the eye.

However, in addition to the changes related to the applications, the Coopertinos also promised to speed up Face ID. In this regard, Apple has kept its promise and the changes are already noticeable. The face scanner started working even faster.

At this stage, iOS 13 doesn’t look like a “pass-through” update. Apple has done an impressive job. And in addition to quite large innovations, such as the dark theme and improvements in standard applications, the new system brought with it a huge number of small innovations. For example, iOS 13 has redesigned the volume slider, there is support for gamepads from PlayStation and Xbox One, the limit on the amount of apps downloaded on the cellular network, etc.

However, if we talk about the impressions of the first test build iOS 13, they are not too rosy. Yes the system works fast. But at the same time there are departures of standard applications, there are shortcomings in localization, and the process of installing iOS 13 beta 1 is not easy.

Joshua

About: Joshua

Hello. I'm a tech writer,geek and Apple fan have been blogging and writing in these niches since 2010. Hope we'll become friends.