Apple has finally released iOS 11, which was first introduced at WWDC 2017 & has been in beta ever since. Starting September 19, all supported devices including the iPhone 5S & iPad Mini 2 will start getting OTA updates.

To get the OTA update, simply go to the settings > General > software update.

iOS 11 brings tons of new features on the table like the new control center, lock screen & a revamped notification panel. The dock has also been modified a bit, which is now accessible from within applications.

The phone feels much faster after the update and it also brings new animation and swiping gestures to the device.

Here are some cool features of the iOS 11.

Home and UI

The UI of the iOS 11 doesn’t carry any major change besides the fact that your notification center has been merged into the lock screen.

Now swiping down from the home screen will take you to the lock screen and swiping up from the lock screen will show your recent messages and notifications.

The unlock animation is also changed. Now, unlocking the device will slide up the lock screen to take you to the home screen.
Icons on the UI looks mostly the same except for the new calculator and a couple of other apps. Of course, there are a few new wallpapers.

Also, the Dock below the home screen doesn’t display the names of folders and applications anymore.

Control Center

Control Center on the iOS 11 has been completely changed and now it is customizable. Unlike before, it takes the entire screen and comes with more floating tiles. Tiles have 3D touch support to give you an expanded view with more information and options.

Siri
People change over time so does the Siri. With the new UI, bigger texts, and a smarter male/female voice Siri is all set to help you through the day. It is now powered by deep learning which makes it more expressive and natural.

It also features cross-device end to end encrypted search which means now you can ask Siri from your iPhone and the answers will be available on your Mac as well as your iPad.

She can also translate for you in multiple languages like Chinese, German, French, Italian, and Spanish.

Do Not Disturb While Driving
DND while driving is another smart feature of iOS 11. It uses your phone’s Bluetooth if you are connected to CarPlay or any other vehicle’s music system or the motion sensor of your phone to figure out if you are driving, and automatically puts all notifications and calls from distracting you.

You can also customize it in the settings like assigning an automated reply to let others know that you are driving.

Live Photos
Now you have more editing tools with iOS 11 to edit your Live photos. You can create loops that replay over and over or you can create a “Bounce” effect which rewinds the Live Photo like Instagram’s Boomerang.

Storage Management
iOS 11 also brings with it simplified storage management system. Labelled as iPhone Storage in Settings menu.

Just for an example, if you have 500mb of messages taking up your iPhone space, you could offload them to iCloud and free up space from your iPhone. And, there’s also an option to bulk delete Message attachments (Phew!)

If an app remains unused for a longer period of time, your iPhone will automatically offload it to iCloud, without affecting your personal data.

It’ll also give you some smart recommendations like deleting old messages, iCloud photo library, reviewing large files, etc.

This featured is welcomed with open arms by those still running the 16GB variants of iPhone’s and iPad’s.