iOS 11 is almost upon us, and here are my favourite changes and features.

Apple Music is becoming a little more like Spotify with added features

Whilst I use Apple Music exclusively now, one thing I miss is being able to see what my friends were listening to (only on desktop), but now, Apple have added in this functionality which is a god send.

2. You can finally customise Control Centre

Every time a WWDC conference rolls around, I hope and wait for the ability to customise the Control Centre, and this year, it came. It’s also been completely redesigned too, and whilst the design didn’t sit well with me, I’ve got used to it and don’t mind it too much now. It relies heavily on 3D Touch, and each little “platter” pops open to reveal more settings and controls for each icon in it. Neat.

3. The iPad finally doesn’t just feel like a massive iPhone

The iPad has grown up a lot this year, and Apple have finally given it a bit of love (especially needed with the new Pro’s that were released). It has a new dock, multitasking capabilities, and a redesigned app switcher (pictured above). I can’t wait to try this out and put it to it’s limits.

4. The App Store is a sign of things to come …

Apple redesigned the App Store this year, and it look’s great. It focuses on curated apps, and includes tutorials and tips and tricks for your favourite apps, from experts. And finally, it separates games from the rest of the apps. Hopefully we see this new bold, bubbly and round design being incorporated everywhere over iOS — at the moment it feels like it’s randomly dotted around — compare the App Store to the iTunes Store.

5. Live Photos are more personal than ever

Live Photos for me has always been a way to relive a moment and it’s such a cool thing to show to people. Up until iOS 11, there’s not much you can do with them, except watch them but with iOS 11, you can do so much more with them. Now, you can have them in four different modes — normal, so your bog standard Live Photo, “Loop”, a replaying Live Photo, Bounce, similar to Instagram’s Boomerang, it rebounds right to the start after it’s finished, and Long Exposure, creates a stunning Long Exposure of the elements in the photo.

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