Category Archives: iOS 7

Yesterday Apple released iOS 7.0.4 – the latest update to the iPad’s iOS operating system. The update is available via the Software Update (under General) section of the Settings app.

This update is a minor one with mostly unspecified bug fixes and improvements, and a fix for a FaceTime issue with failed calls experienced by some users.

The update applies to iPad 2 and above models, iPhone 4 and above, and 4th and 5th gen iPod touch models.

I’ve never had any FaceTime call issues so I can’t verify whether that particular fix looks good on my iPad.

iOS 7

iOS 7.0.3 Update Released: iCloud Keychain, Better Reduced Motion Setting, Security & Bug Fixes

October 23, 2013 Patrick Jordan

Last night Apple capped off a very busy day and released iOS 7.0.3 for iPad and other iOS devices.

This latest iOS update brings the new iCloud Keychain feature and better password management in Safari, along with numerous bug fixes – including some related to issues with iMessage and Siri.

An update to Settings brings more relief for those users that have been troubled by the motion effects in iOS 7, as MacStories’ Federico Viticci reports:

A subset of users asked Apple to reduce the motion of the OS as it was causing motion sickness for them; a setting that the company had included in the Settings app wasn’t enough, as it disabled the parallax effect of iOS, but not the new animations.

Apple has listened, and iOS 7.0.3 the Reduce Motion setting (available in General → Accessibility) now truly reduces animations: switching to apps and back to Home screen, unlocking the device, and moving between folders is now a cross-fade that is much faster than Apple’s animations with Reduce Motion turned off.

There are also bug fixes for some some well-known security issues and patching of vulnerable areas.

iOS 7

Possibly iOS 7’s Greatest Feature: Yes, You Can Put Newsstand in a Folder

October 10, 2013 Patrick Jordan 1 Comment

True multitasking, AirDrop, Control Center, new Notification Center, iTunes Radio – all impressive new features in iOS 7. But perhaps none of those would win a public poll for Most Popular New iOS 7 Feature.

I’d wager that this one would be at the very least a good dark horse bet:

You can now put Newsstand in a folder.

Yup, you can send Newsstand into exile with prejudice; chuck it in a folder, call it whatever you like, and never have to lay eyes on it again.

As with any built-in iOS app, you can’t delete Newstand – but at least now you can banish it to a folder, something that a whole lot of users have been wanting ever since Newsstand first appeared on iPad and iPhone home screens.

Personally, I don’t mind Newsstand too much and have a few titles I subscribe to that make it worth having around – but I know that many of you have already sent it away or will soon after you read this.

Have you banished Newsstand yet?

iOS 7

iOS 7 – See Cellular Data Use by App

September 27, 2013 Patrick Jordan 2 Comments

Here’s another neat little feature that iOS 7 has added for those of us who use an iPad with cellular data capability. You can now see cellular data usage for all your individual apps in the Settings app.

This was possible before with a few 3rd party apps, but it’s handy to have this information available right within the Settings app.

You can find it in Settings > Cellular Data, in the new ‘Use Cellular Data For’ section. Apps are listed alphabetically an each shows its data usage in the current month. You can also use the button next to each app’s name to turn on or off its ability to make use of cellular data.

I spotted this via Mac OS X Hints.

iOS 7

More Notable iPad App Updates for iOS 7

September 25, 2013 Patrick Jordan

The iPad App updates for iOS 7 are still coming thick and fast – and a lot of big name and notable sort of iPad apps have released their iOS 7 updates over recent days. These include:

Facebook: is sporting a new look and feel that’s in tune with iOS 7 design themes.

Pocket: the excellent read-it-later app has refreshed its UI while keeping it elegant and clean and not going overboard with the new iOS 7 look. It has also added impressive background sync.

Evernote: the powerhouse note and ‘second brain’ app has also had a major design overhaul for iOS 7.

Byword: the superb text editor app has a UI refresh, a new iOS & enabled method of highlighting Markdown syntax, and support for AirDrop file sharing.

MLB At Bat: is now iOS 7 compatible and updated for the playoffs and postseason.

Some other notable apps for iPad with iOS 7 updates over the last several days are Launch+, Fitbit, Documents by Readdle, Drafts for iPad, AP Mobile, Khan Academy, Chrome, and many more. Oh, and my favorite iPad / Apple forum, everythingiCafe, updated their app for iOS 7 too.

I hope you all are seeing the majority of your favorite iPad apps updated for iOS 7.

iOS 7

App Store Featuring ‘Designed for iOS 7’ Apps

September 20, 2013 Patrick Jordan 1 Comment

If you’re looking for iOS 7 ready iPad apps, the App Store is doing its best to have you covered this week. For starters, there’s a new app collection titled ‘Designed for iOS 7’.

This section features over 30 apps, from a broad range of categories, that are highlighted as being designed for the shiny, new version of iOS. Some of the notable apps in the collection include NYTimes for iPad, TED, OpenTable, Clear, Reeder 2, Twitterrific 5, Zite, Pocket, and Evernote.

Interestingly, the Best New Apps section for this week gives a repeat mention to many of the apps included in the ‘Designed for iOS 7’ section.

Apple doesn’t generally miss a beat when it comes to making us aware of all the shiny new apps that are built for its latest generation of iOS – and the App Store this week is doing a fine job of that. Of course there are also plenty of other good iOS 7 ready apps that didn’t make the featured lists as well.

Do you have any big favorite iOS 7 iPad apps yet? If so, please share them in the comments.

iOS 7

Notable New Features & Changes in iOS 7 for iPad

September 19, 2013 Patrick Jordan 4 Comments

iOS 7 made its public debut yesterday and judging by the slamming that Apple’s activation servers took, it looks like there’s plenty of excitement about the newest version of iOS. Hopefully lots of you have already been able to get iOS 7 installed on your iPads.

So this seems like a fine time to talk about some of the most exciting new features and notable changes in iOS 7 on the iPad. Here’s a quick rundown that does just that:

Control Center: This is a new panel that’s full of useful controls – lead by the ability to quickly toggle key services on and off. With a single tap in Control Center you can toggle WiFi, Bluetooth, Airplane Mode, Sound, Do Not Disturb Mode, AirDrop, and AirPlay on or off. From here you can also adjust brightness, adjust volume and use basic music player controls, start up the Timer feature in the Clock app, and open the Camera app. To launch Control Center you just swipe up with one finger from the bottom of the iPad screen.

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iOS 7

Roll Your Own Parallax Wallpapers for iOS 7 with the Deko App

September 18, 2013 Patrick Jordan 2 Comments

iOS 7 will be released today, in less than 2 hours in fact if all goes as expected. Of course this means lots of cool new features on iPad and iPhone.

It also brings a revamped look and feel to iOS – with a ‘flatter’ look, new icons, and the much-talked-about parallax effects and wallpapers.

Now I’m sure all of you will be wrapped up in discovering new features and ways to use them to be more productive on your iPad today. But just in case you have a little bit of spare time to mess around with iPad wallpapers, I’ve got a suggestion for you.

Take a look at the freshly updated Deko app for unique wallpapers and patterns. The app lets you create your own wallpapers and is freshly updated for iOS 7 and offers ‘pixel-perfect parallax wallpapers for iOS 7’.

I’ve been playing with it a bit this morning (while waiting on a productive backup routine, cough, really I have, cough) and finding it good fun and finding some designs I like for my home screen.

Here’s an App Store link for Deko; it’s a free app.

iOS 7

iOS 7 Due Tomorrow – Getting Ready

September 17, 2013 Patrick Jordan 1 Comment

So iOS 7 is set for public release tomorrow, September 18. It will be the latest generation of iOS, bringing real, intelligent multitasking; elegant app switching, a new Control Center for fast access to service toggling and more, enhancements to Notification Center, and a major new overhaul to its look and feel.

It’s also a 64-bit operating system, which should deliver an exciting performance boost for the OS itself and for apps that are rewritten for it.

So there’s lots to look forward to with the release of iOS 7 and it might be worth taking a little bit of time to get your iPad ready to make a smooth transition to the latest version of iOS. The one big thing you can do in this area is to get a backup of your iPad done today, or tomorrow at some point before updating to iOS 7.

You can do a backup of your iPad via iTunes when connected to your Mac or Windows PC via USB cable or you can use iCloud Backup. I much prefer iCloud Backup and restore for a number of reasons. One is that I’m a lazy git and if I don’t have to fuss with cables and the not-so-speedy iTunes I’m happy. The main reason though is that iCloud Backup is brilliant and a pleasure to use.

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iOS 7

Seeing More iOS 7 iPad App Updates Today

September 16, 2013 Patrick Jordan 3 Comments

With iOS 7 due for its public release in just a couple of days, on September 18, I am starting to see a decent number of IPad apps issuing updates for the soon-to-be newest version of iOS.

Just today I’ve seen iOS 7 updates for apps like GoodReader, CNN, Photogene, Speedtest.net, GoComics, Quip, and Analytics for iPad. And of course I’m only seeing updates for the roughly 200 apps I’ve got installed on my iPad mini.

I’d say the pace of updates today is a good sign, and I expect this pace will only increase over the course of this week and the next few weeks.

Are you all starting to see a good flurry of iOS 7 updates for your iPads too?

iOS 7

Time for iOS 7 on My Everyday iPad

September 11, 2013 Patrick Jordan 1 Comment

Over recent months I’ve been running each of the successive iOS 7 betas on my iPad 3, and getting to know the soon-to-be new current generation of iOS. My iPad 3 is not my go-to daily driver iPad though. That role has been taken over by my iPad mini for a long while now.

Since we learned yesterday that the public release of iOS 7 is just a week away now (9/18), and yesterday the gold master version of iOS 7 was made available for developers, I figure it’s time to run iOS 7 on my iPad mini. I’ve installed the iOS 7 gold master today and my iPad mini has nearly finished restoring apps from an iCloud backup. I love iCloud backup for just this sort of scenario.

I’m keen to see how much smoother / more solid the GM build is on my iPad mini – and also to see how apps compatibility with iOS 7 is looking. I have over 200 apps installed on the iPad mini, so I should be able to get a good feeling for how quickly developers are moving and how fast the iOS 7 app updates are flowing. And of course I’ll share anything interesting that I learn in those areas.