iOS has evolved in amazing ways over the years, and I want to look back at the major end-user features that made a big difference in the ways we work and play. Of course, the App Store is arguably the 800-pound gorilla, so I want to cover the others, some of which we might take for granted these days.
Below is my list in no particular order, including suggestions from a few friends.
- Multitasking
- Copy and paste
- Accelerometer/gyroscope
- Notification Center and Today page
- Control Center
- Share Sheet (and it’s underlying system for moving data between apps)
- Split View/Slide Over
- AirPlay
- Folders
Additions
- Siri
- Touch ID for Authentication
- Push Notifications
- Apple Pay (both in apps and in the real world)
- iMessage
- Spotlight (iOS 3)
- Document Providers
- iCloud Photo Library
- App Sandboxing
- iCloud backup
- Replying inside a notification
- 3D Touch, Peek, Pop, especially for homescreen shortcuts
- Easy location sharing/Find My Friends
- Find My iPhone
- Family Sharing (Even though this hasn’t really taken off, I think “Find Someone Else’s iPhone” is a big deal)
- Safari View Controller and shared web credentials
- Smart App Banners. I was on the fence about this one. But now that iOS 9 supports the next feature listed here, they’re much more useful.
- Universal Links. With these, app banners can now take you from a web resource in Safari to that same resource in the site’s corresponding app
Runners-Up for Relieving Pain
Some features were big not because they Changed Everything™, but because they removed a bottleneck or significant source of pain. I’ll toast to these as well:
- Do Not Disturb
- clear multiple notifications
- Setup Assistant (cutting iTunes cable)
- Custom wallpaper, small change but huge impact
- Low power mode