By Gavin Lawlor

iOS 10 gets its official release today. It’s been available for a few months as a beta release and has a number of exciting new features. Here’s just some of the changes to look forward to:

Write it yourself.

Send a message in your own handwriting. Your friends will see it animate, just as ink flows on paper.

Let’s celebrate.

Say things like “Happy Birthday!” or “Congratulations!” with animations that take over the entire screen.

Stickers.

Slap them on top of bubbles, dress up a photo, or even put one on another sticker. Available in the new App Store for iMessage.

Home smart home.

The new Home app lets you turn on lights, unlock doors and even raise your window blinds — all at once if you like.

Your past, beautifully presented.

The Photos app can help you rediscover cherished memories — like a weekend hike or your baby’s first birthday — and even create beautiful films out of them.

Raise to wake.

Simply pick up your iPhone to wake it up. Your notifications will be there waiting for you.

So it looks like Apple are really going for a lot of visual upgrades and a few others that most users will be wanting to try out as soon as possible. But owners of older iPhones really should consider going without the upgrade. Devices like the iPhone 5 and older will certainly struggle to run the new features which is designed with far more powerful iPhones in mind. The 5S may be better than the lesser 5 models but iOS 10 might still slow your device down. Another factor which most likely will come into play is battery life with the new software usually resulting in a higher demand for power meaning your phone will be slower and need to be charged more often.

The best thing to do with these new releases is usually to give it a few days until the reports start to come in. Wait and see how it is affecting other users with the same model iPhone or iPad and then decide if it’s worth the effort. Don’t forget it’s a lot more difficult to change back to the iOS 9 or whatever other software you were previously running and there’s nothing more annoying than a slow poorly performing smart phone when you’re trying to perform important tasks.

So just remember that it’s not the end of the world if you don’t have the latest iPhone and can’t try out the new features. If you do have a suitable phone like the iPhone 7 or a newer model iPad and decide to jump right in then let us know what you think and if you’re enjoying the experience.