Things are definitely starting to shape up with iOS 10. After three developer betas of the upcoming operating system, Apple has begun rolling out the developer beta 4 release for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, which focuses mostly on refining some of the cool new features.
If you haven’t tried iOS 10 yet, you can install the latest iOS 10 public beta after registering your device with Apple. Just note that new public betas come out a few days after the developer ones, so don’t panic if you don’t see the iOS 10 public beta 3 (public betas are numbered one behind) in your update settings just yet.
Otherwise, if you just want to see what’s new, I’ll cover the bigger changes below.
1. There’s About 100 New Emoji
Google’s suggestions for more gender equality among emoji were recently approved by the Unicode Technical Committee, so the global standard for emoticons now includes male and female versions of several common occupations. These changes just happened last month, but Apple has already jumped on board by including the new emoji in iOS 10 developer beta 4.
The gun emoji has now been replaced by a toy gun, too. Considering recent events, this is probably the best move. And there’s a new rainbow flag, which is nowhere near the “flag” emoji section, FYI (it’s in “objects” instead).
2. There’s a Control Center Introduction Screen
In iOS 10, the Control Center now has multiple pages, so you can swipe over to control your music from any screen. To make this feature more discoverable (or less confusing coming from iOS 9), Apple has included an introductory screen when you first open the Control Center on iOS 10 developer beta 4.
3. The Date Is Back in Widgets View
Widgets made their way into the Notification Center back in iOS 8, and iOS 10 has improved and expanded this functionality immensely. However, you couldn’t see the current date when you were viewing widgets from the Notification Center in previous iOS 10 betas, but iOS 10 developer beta 4 has finally addressed this issue.
4. And There’s Some Smaller Changes…
That about does it for the headlining features, but there are some additional changes in the new beta version that are worth mentioning. For starters, keyboard sounds have been tweaked, and space and backspace now have separate sounds to distinguish them from other buttons. Additionally, some of the older wallpapers have been removed to tidy things up a bit (which you may or may not like).
Then, finally, your iPhone should buzz a little less than it used to. In iOS 10 developer beta 3, Apple added haptic feedback when locking the screen using the power button. This was short-lived, however, because the haptic feedback has been removed in iOS 10 developer beta 4.
Just updated your iPhone? You’ll find new emoji, enhanced security, podcast transcripts, Apple Cash virtual numbers, and other useful features. There are even new additions hidden within Safari. Find out what’s new and changed on your iPhone with the iOS 17.4 update.
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