Apple's newest operating system, iOS 11, is seeing slower adoption rates than iOS 10 saw during the same adoption period last year, according to data collected by analytics company Mixpanel. As of 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time, 24 hours after iOS 11 was released, the OS is installed on 10.01 percent of devices.
24 hours after iOS 10 was released last year, it was installed on 14.45 percent of devices. iOS 9, after its release in 2015, was installed on 12.60 percent of devices 24 hours after launch, and iOS 8 saw similar adoption rates in 2014.
iOS 11 was not affected by installation issues or other problems like iOS 10 was, but past issues with new iOS releases may be keeping some users from upgrading right away. The iOS 11 update also disables all 32-bit apps, another factor that could be holding some users back.
Adoption rates often spike up a bit over the weekend when people have more free time to make major software updates to their devices, so iOS 11 could catch up to iOS 10 at that point.
As people begin adopting iOS 11, iOS 10 adoption is trending downward. iOS 10 is now installed on 84.55 percent of devices, while 5.44 percent of users continue to run an older version of iOS.
iOS 11 is a free download that's available for download on the iPhone 5s and later, iPad mini 2 and later, and the 6th generation iPod touch. There are dozens of new features in iOS 11 and several overhauled interface elements, so it's worth an upgrade if you haven't already. For full details on what's new iOS 11, make sure to check out our iOS 11 roundup.
Apple has confirmed that Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are not fully disabled when toggled off in Control Center on iOS 11.
Even when toggled off in Control Center on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS 11 and later, a new support document says Bluetooth and Wi-Fi will continue to be available for AirDrop, AirPlay, Apple Pencil, Apple Watch, Location Services, and Continuity features like Handoff and Instant Hotspot.
Toggling off Bluetooth or Wi-Fi in Control Center only disconnects accessories now, rather than disabling connectivity entirely.
If Bluetooth is turned off, the iOS device can't be connected to any Bluetooth accessories until one of these conditions is met:
You turn on Bluetooth in Control Center.
You connect to a Bluetooth accessory in Settings > Bluetooth.
It's 5 a.m. local time.
You restart your device.
While Wi-Fi is disabled, auto-join for any nearby Wi-Fi networks will also be disabled until one of these conditions is met:
You turn on Wi-Fi in Control Center.
You connect to a Wi-Fi network in Settings > Wi-Fi.
One new feature in iOS 11 lets you easily record the screen of your iPhone as you navigate around the user interface, which can be useful when trying to help someone remotely troubleshoot an iOS problem or when making videos to share online. Since iOS 11 officially launched to the public yesterday, many users on Twitter and other sites have begun to worry that people will be able to screen record their Snapchats and Instagram Direct messages without notifications warning them of such activities taking place.
While it appears that such is the case for Instagram Direct, Snapchat will still let you know when someone is screen recording your privately messaged snaps. Thanks to a tipster who emailed us this morning, we decided to test out sending both still images and videos through the two previously mentioned apps, and discovered that Snapchat treats iOS 11's screen recording feature just as it does for taking a screenshot.
After using screen recording, the sender (left) is shown in-app screenshot icons and the receiver (right) gets notified
If your iPhone is locked, you'll get a push notification saying someone "took a screenshot!" of either your photo or video, and if you're within the app then Snapchat will still display the double-crossed arrows and let you know that the receiver took a "screenshot just now." So, while Snapchat isn't able to directly tell you that it's a screen recording on iOS 11, you'll still know that your DMs are being saved. Stories, on the other hand, appear to be less abiding to the screen recording/screenshot notification system, at least for now.
Instagram Direct doesn't yet appear to have such a feature for iOS 11 screen recording warnings. Similar to Snapchat, Instagram Direct lets you send disappearing photos and videos to other users, and includes a screenshot notification whenever the recipient captures the content you sent privately.
In tests on iOS 11, neither photos nor videos captured via screen recording in Instagram Direct told the sender that such an action had taken place. If screen recording becomes a bigger issue for these private messaging apps, and others like them, it's likely that developers will begin to implement more direct warning systems for users to look out for.
Take a look at our guide for iOS 11 screen recording to learn more about the new feature, and then check out our complete iOS 11 Roundup for all of the major -- and minor -- additions that were introduced in the new software update.
iOS comes with a handy new Control Center function that allows you to record what you're doing on your screen. It's great if you want to capture gameplay, walk someone through a tutorial in an app, demonstrate a bug, and more, and it's available on both iPhones and iPads.
If you don't have the screen recording icon in Control Center, you can add it in the Settings app.
Open the Settings app.
Choose Control Center.
Select "Customize Controls."
Tap the + button next to "Screen Recording" to add it to the "Include" section.
How to Record Your Screen
Bring up the Control Center.
Tap the icon for screen recording. It's two nested circles.
Your iPhone or iPad will start recording video of your screen automatically following a three second countdown.
While screen recording is turned on, a red bar is plastered across the top of the display so it's clear when you're recording and when you're not.
Ending a Recording
To stop recording the screen, you can go back to Control Center and toggle the screen recording icon, or your can tap the red bar at the top of the screen and confirm you want to end the recording. The video you made is then saved to the Photos app.
Screen Recording Options
There are a few options that are available when making a screen recording, which can be accessed directly in the Control Center. To bring up these options, simply 3D Touch on the screen recording icon.
From this menu, you can start a screen recording and toggle microphone audio on or off. These are the only options that are available for the feature -- it's fairly basic.
Apple CEO Tim Cook attended Bloomberg's Global Business Forum today alongside former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. He discussed several topics, ranging from DACA and human rights to education and the environment.
Tim Cook at Steve Jobs Theater
Cook said "dreamers," or individuals who were brought to the United States at a young age when their parents or guardians illegally immigrated to the country," only know the United States as home and deeply love the country.
He added that "we all started somewhere" and "we are all descendants of immigrants."
DACA, which the Trump administration moved to end earlier this month, allowed many illegal immigrants who entered the United States at age 16 or under to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation, and eligibility for a work permit in the country.
Trump gave U.S. Congress a six-month window to try to "fix" and legalize the Obama-era policy before phasing it out. Nearly 800,000 undocumented individuals belong to the program, including over 250 Apple employees.
In a letter to employees, Cook said Apple will advocate for a legislative solution that provides permanent protections for all "dreamers" in the United States. He also said Apple would "provide them and their families the support they need, including the advice of immigration experts."
Cook added that "all companies should have values," since they are nothing more than "a collection of people."
As for education, Cook said Apple has been pushing for students to learn coding at all levels, ranging from K-12 schools to community colleges:
We started many years ago crafting a language that would be as easy to learn as Apple products are to use. We then designed a curriculum. We found an incredible number of K-12 institutions wanting and pulling the curriculum. We then took that to community colleges. […] These are huge systems with hundreds of thousands of people in them. I’m seeing an incredible desire to bring coding to the masses.
We're actually training teachers right now, and through every classroom we've been in, we’ve found willing teachers, administrators, and the kids are more engaged than ever before. Kids want to learn about the digital economy—they're growing up digital. It's not good for them to grow up digital, and then go to school in an analog world.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
With the upcoming launch of the iPhone X in November, Apple is preparing to debut an all-new biometric security feature called "Face ID." By using half a dozen front-facing sensors and an enhanced camera system, the iPhone X will be able to project more than 30,000 invisible dots onto your face, create a precise map of what it sees, and remember it so that all you have to do to unlock the iPhone X is look at it with your eyes open, and swipe up on the Lock Screen.
Although it's yet to be seen if this feature will be "well received" by users, a new report by Bloomberg today cites a few startups in the technology industry that have noticed Apple's influence already beginning to make waves in the face-scanning technology market. These startups -- which specialize in technology related to facial recognition systems -- say they have "already seen a pickup in demand" from certain companies interested in their technology, starting soon after iPhone X event day on September 12.
George Brostoff, CEO of one such startup called Sensible Vision, told Bloomberg that Apple's Face ID/iPhone X announcement "makes companies like Motorola, like LG come knocking on the doors of companies like ours." Brostoff said that the company is now fielding calls from potential buyers, including talks with "virtually all of the world's phone manufacturers," with expectations set for the startup to be sold to one of these interested parties -- which excludes Apple -- within a year.
While not everyone will buy the $999 high-end iPhone, rival electronics makers are already trying to figure out how they can incorporate the technology in their offerings. Startups selling their own versions of facial recognition say they’ve already seen a pickup in demand since Sept. 12, when Apple announced the iPhone X, aka 10.
“We now have a leader like Apple acknowledging that this makes sense,” said George Brostoff, chief executive officer of SensibleVision Inc., a Cape Coral, Florida-based startup that makes software for tablets and smartphones. “This makes companies like Motorola, like LG come knocking on the doors of companies like ours.”
Looking forward, research firm Crone Consulting LLC reported that facial recognition will account for "more than half of all [device] log-ins" over the next three to five years, including users authorizing mobile banking apps and payments. In terms of earnings, researchers at MarketsandMarkets predicted that the market for Face ID-like biometric security systems will double from the $3.35 billion it made in 2016, to $6.84 billion in 2021.
Apple software engineering chief Craig Federighi has made the rounds since the September 12 keynote event, assuring users that Face ID is "incredibly reliable," "very fast," and it "just works." He's said that he understands user uncertainty over the new feature, but these concerns will "melt away" once they get the iPhone X in their hands. In terms of security, Apple has also said that your face is saved only to the iPhone X and not accessible by anyone who doesn't have access to the device.
According to Federighi, all of these behind-the-scenes Face ID features come together flawlessly: "You don't even think about it," he said.
Apple Watch Series 3 reviews are out, and the verdict is mixed about its new built-in cellular capabilities and the impact on battery life.
Apple Watch Series 3 via The Verge
The Verge editor Lauren Goode said her Apple Watch Series 3 largely "failed at the LTE part," particularly due to an issue where the watch would connect to an unknown Wi-Fi network instead of LTE.
You can't rest easy with the Apple Watch 3 yet, because that seamlessness, that so-called magic, isn't there. The stutters during the handoff from Bluetooth to Wi-Fi to LTE shouldn't happen. The music streaming? It isn't there yet. A built-in podcast streaming option? Also not there. A reliable Siri? Nope, not in my experience.
Apple acknowledged the issue and said it is investigating a fix that will be included in a future software update.
Goode said the one aspect "worth two thumbs up" is watchOS 4, especially for its improved heart rate tracking.
But the watchOS 4 updates to heart rate tracking are really the most noteworthy. Any Apple Watch with heart rate sensors will now record your resting heart rate, your average walking heart rate, your recovery heart rate, and, if you opt in, any spikes in heart rate that occur when the Watch thinks you’re not working out.
TechCrunch editor Brian Heater said the Apple Watch Series 3's cellular capabilities are "a bit liberating," but he didn't find many scenarios where having a standalone connection was particularly useful.
All nice functionality to have on the go, but in the days I’ve been wearing the watch, I’ve been straining to come up with many scenarios in my own life outside of running where untethering myself from my phone is necessary — or even particularly useful.
The Wall Street Journal columnist Joanna Stern said her Apple Watch Series 3's cellular connection was "unreliable" and "intermittent."
Most worryingly, my colleague Geoffrey Fowler and I experienced cellular connectivity issues on three separate pre-production models, in two different states, on two different 4G LTE carriers.
On the AT&T-connected models, the cellular connection dropped, calls were often choppy and Siri sometimes failed to connect. On the one that ran on T-Mobile, I experienced several dropped connections.
Stern added that "you're lucky if the battery allows you to roam on cellular for longer than half a day—especially if you're making calls."
The Sydney Morning Herald's Peter Wells didn't share that viewpoint, calling battery life on the Apple Watch Series 3 "excellent."
Battery life on the Series 3 is excellent. The Watch cleverly defaults to the most efficient connection available; when nearby your phone it'll use bluetooth, move away from the phone and it'll switch to any available known Wi-Fi networks, disconnect from those and LTE will take over. In my usual day, that meant by the time my Watch was back on a charger at night, it still had around 70 per cent battery left.
Daring Fireball's John Gruber was impressed with the Apple Watch's phone call audio quality and didn't mention any connectivity issues.
Audio quality for phone calls on the watch is very good. People I called via the watch said I sounded great, and I could hear them loud and clear. And all of my testing of phone calls on the watch took place mid-day on busy city streets — full of traffic and pedestrians — here in Philadelphia. People won’t know you're calling them from your watch if you don’t tell them.
The New York Times reporter Brian X. Chen said the Apple Watch Series 3 is the first smartwatch he can recommend people buy.
Although I think most people can skip buying the cellular model, the Apple Watch Series 3 is the first smart watch I can confidently recommend that people buy. While I don’t personally find it attractive enough to replace my wristwatch, the new Apple Watch is a well-designed, durable and easy-to-use fitness tracker for people who want analytics on their workouts and general health (R.I.P., Fitbit).
Wired writer David Pierce said the Apple Watch 3's performance "feels dramatically better than any previous Watch."
Your AirPods are equipped with accelerometers and other hardware that allow them to respond to a double tap, and though it isn't obvious, these gestures can be customized to your liking. Here's how:
Make sure your AirPods are connected to your iPhone or iPad, either when you're wearing them or with the case open and nearby your device.
Open up the Settings app.
Choose "Bluetooth."
Next to the AirPods in the Bluetooth menu, tap the little "i" button.
Select "Left" and "Right" to customize what your AirPods do when you double tap them. Each one can be set to a separate action.
Choices include "Siri," which activates Siri, "Play/Pause," which starts or stops a song, "Next Track," which moves to the next track of whatever's being played, and "Previous Track," which goes back to the track that was previously being played. "Off" turns off whatever's playing.
Once you have your settings in place, whenever you double tap on an AirPod, it will activate whatever action you chose. With Siri, for example, you can double tap to bring up Siri.
You can also use this AirPods setting menu to change the name of your AirPods, deactivate Automatic Ear Detection and set either the left or right AirPod to serve as a fixed microphone.
Note: "Next Track" and "Previous Track" are both options that were introduced with iOS 11, so you will need to have iOS 11 installed to see these two AirPods options. Without iOS 11, you can only choose "Siri," "Play/Pause," and "Off."
Apple is investigating a fix for an issue where an Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE may stay connected to unknown Wi-Fi networks with no connectivity, at times preventing the watch from using cellular, it has told The Verge.
"We have discovered that when Apple Watch Series 3 joins unauthenticated Wi-Fi networks without connectivity, it may at times prevent the watch from using cellular," an Apple spokesperson said in an emailed statement. "We are investigating a fix for a future software release."
In her Apple Watch Series 3 review, The Verge editor Lauren Goode said, on more than one occasion, the watch would connect to a single bar of an unknown Wi-Fi signal, and remain on that network rather than switching to LTE.
On more than one occasion, I detached myself from the phone, traveled blocks away from my home or office, and watched the Watch struggle to connect to LTE. It would appear to pick up a single bar of some random Wi-Fi signal, and hang on that, rather than switching to LTE.
Goode explains further in her review:
The way the LTE version of the Watch is supposed to work is that it will "hand off" from your smartphone's connectivity to whatever other type of connectivity is available. In some cases, like when you're in a place with a Wi-Fi network you've connected to before, this will be Wi-Fi. In other cases, like when you're out without your phone, and you're nowhere near a known Wi-Fi network, this will be LTE.
It's reasonable to expect it might take a minute for the Apple Watch to "find" LTE after you've walked away from your phone. It's not reasonable for this to take many minutes or not work at all. This almost makes me wish there was a way to actively turn off Wi-Fi on the Watch, so it would just default to LTE. But that’s also another step that I, the wearer, the person-who-is-not-wearing-it-wrong, would have to take.
Apple said it will address the issue in a future watchOS software update, but it didn't specify how long that will take.
Update: According to iMore's Serenity Caldwell, the issue is a watchOS 4 bug that allows the Apple Watch to attempt to connect to Wi-Fi networks with interstitial captive screens such as those that require you to accept terms and conditions. The Apple Watch has no way to acknowledge these interstitials, leaving the device in a state of limbo where it's connected to the Wi-Fi network but can't access the internet and refuses to switch to cellular.
We've previously covered rumors that Google has been working on a "mini" version of its $129 Google Home smart speaker, which is expected to be unveiled at the company's Pixel 2 smartphone event scheduled for October 4. But it looks as if details and images of the "Home Mini" have already been leaked, courtesy of DroidLife.
According to the tech site, Google Home Mini is the official name of the new smart speaker, which will cost $49 and come in Chalk, Charcoal, and Coral colors.
The Google Home Mini is said to be able to help users with their schedule, set reminders, catch up on news headlines, and other Home-related inquiries, thanks to integrated Google Assistant.
The pictures show lights on top of each unit, which will likely indicate interaction with Google Assistant. But unlike the original Google Home, the images suggest owners won't be able to change the color of the bases on the Mini versions.
Alongside the new smart speaker, Google is expected to launch a rebranded Chromebook or "Google Pixelbook" at its Pixel 2 smartphone event. DroidLife has also managed to unearth pictures of the new notebook, which will reportedly come in silver, offer stylus support, and have three different storage tiers – 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB, costing $1,199, $1,399, and $1,749, respectively.
Apple says it is working closely with Microsoft to fix an issue that prevents Outlook.com, Office 365, and Exchange 2016 account holders from sending or replying to emails using Apple's native Mail app in iOS 11.
Apple published a support document on Tuesday, September 19 – the official launch date of iOS 11 – to acknowledge the issue affecting users of Microsoft email servers.
If you can‘t send an email with iOS 11 and an Outlook.com or Exchange mail account
You might see an error message that says "Cannot Send Mail. The message was rejected by the server."
If your email account is hosted by Microsoft on Outlook.com or Office 365, or an Exchange Server 2016 running on Windows Server 2016, you might see this error message when you try to send an email with iOS 11: "Cannot Send Mail. The message was rejected by the server."
On Tuesday, Microsoft also published a support note, which states that Apple's Mail app in iOS 11 "is not compatible with Outlook.com, Office 365, or Exchange Server 2016 running on Windows Server 2016".
Both companies' statements suggest they were caught off guard by the Mail app problem in iOS 11, however MacRumors is aware of several users who installed beta builds of the mobile operating system and flagged the issue with Apple as far back as July.
1/2 I've sent bug reports to @Apple during #iOS11 testing that mail cant be sent through native email app using exchange-same on #iOS11GM
— Lt. Andy Norris (@LtAndyNorris) September 12, 2017
2/2- Have you heard any reports of not being able to send mail using exchange on native email app? It works on Outlook app just fine. #iOS11
— Lt. Andy Norris (@LtAndyNorris) September 12, 2017
Despite apparently being aware of the problems for some time, both Apple and Microsoft said they are still working together to resolve the issue. Apple added that it would release a fix soon in an upcoming software update, while Microsoft offered the following workaround in the meantime.
To work around this issue, download the free Outlook for iOS client from the App Store. The Outlook for iOS client fully supports various email services, including Outlook.com, Office 365, and Exchange Server 2016.
If you use the Mail app to sync data from Exchange Server 2016 that is running on Windows Server 2016, you can ask the system administrator to disable HTTP/2 in Windows Server 2016 as a workaround. The instructions on disabling HTTP/2 can be found in the Workaround section of KB 4032720: How to deploy custom cipher suite ordering in Windows Server 2016.
Stay tuned to MacRumors to find out as soon as Apple releases a fix for the ongoing Microsoft server issues in iOS 11.
Amazon is actively developing a pair of smart glasses with Alexa virtual assistant built in, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
Designed like a regular pair of spectacles, the device will enable Alexa to be invoked by the wearer at any time and at all places, the report said, citing people familiar with Amazon's plans.
The founder of Google Glass is said to be working on Amazon's Alexa smart glasses
The company is reportedly including a bone-conduction audio system in the specs so that the wearer can hear Alexa's voice without inserting headphones.
The founder of Google Glass, Babak Parviz, is said to have been working on the Alexa product since he was hired by Amazon in 2014. Earlier this year, Google re-introduced its Google Glass wearable headset after discontinuing production in 2016.
In addition, The Financial Times reports that Amazon is also working on a more conventional home security camera, and that one or both of these products may appear before the end of this year.
Previous reports have claimed that Amazon is working on a successor to its popular Echo connected smart speaker and plans to bring the device to market this year in time to compete with Apple's HomePod, which is set to launch this December.
According to rumors that first surfaced in 2016, Apple is also working on several different kinds of smart glasses, with the main application of bringing augmented reality experiences to the wearer.
Reports this year suggest Apple's glasses will connect wirelessly to the iPhone, much like the Apple Watch, and will display "images and other information to the wearer".
After months of negotiations, Toshiba has decided to sell its memory chip unit to a global consortium that includes Bain Capital, SK Hynix, Dell, and Apple, reports Reuters.
No official announcement has been made by Toshiba as of yet, but the company is expected to announce the sale on Wednesday. As of Tuesday, Toshiba was said to be leaning towards a group backed by Western Digital, but Western Digital is said to have failed to agree to some of Toshiba's terms regarding limits on WD's future stake in the business.
Western Digital may still attempt to block the sale and is said to be prepared to seek a court injunction to stop it. Western Digital previously invested in Toshiba's semiconductor plant and claims its consent is required for the sale.
Toshiba first announced plans to sell its NAND flash memory unit in January of 2017 to raise funds to cover losses associated with its U.S. nuclear subsidiary, Westinghouse. Many companies, including TSMC, Foxconn, Amazon, Google, Broadcom, and a range of private equity firms entered bids in an effort to get a piece of the memory chip unit.
The consortium, led by Bain Capital, was selected as the preferred bidder in June, and in September, entered a higher bid amid fierce competition. Apple, SK Hynix, Dell, and Bain Capital are said to have offered a combined 2.4 trillion yen, equivalent to $22 billion, along with an additional 200 billion yen for infrastructure.
As of early September, Bain and SK Hynix were said to be providing a total of 567.5 billion yen, while Apple was reported to be offering 335 billion yen, equivalent to $3 billion. That sum is in line with reports suggesting Apple was prepared to spend several billion dollars for a "substantial stake" in the memory business.
Bain, Apple, Dell, and SK Hynix will own a combined 49.9 percent stake in the chip unit, with Toshiba keeping 40 percent and Japanese firms controlling the other 10.1 percent should the sale go through.
Apple already uses Toshiba's flash memory in its products. The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus include memory sourced from both Toshiba and SK Hynix.
Promise Technology's recently released Apollo Cloud 2 Duo storage device is able to interface with the iOS 11 Files app thanks to a new update that was introduced to the accompanying Apollo Cloud iOS app today.
The Apollo Cloud 2 Duo is a personal cloud storage solution designed to give families and small businesses the cloud's ease of use with the security of local storage. The network-attached storage device offers 8TB of storage space and is accessed through a home Wi-Fi setup.
Mac and iOS apps allow users to interface with the Apollo Cloud 2 Duo from Macs and iOS devices, and when used with an iPhone or iPad, files stored on the Apollo Cloud 2 Duo can be easily transferred to and from the new Files app available in iOS 11. On an iPad, Drag and Drop is also supported, so managing files from an iOS device is easier than ever.
Other Apollo Cloud 2 Duo features include a quick camera roll backup tool to save your photos from iOS devices, built-in albums with facial recognition for organizing those photos, Time Machine support for Mac backups, and selective sync, for syncing specific folders on your Mac right to the Apollo.
Because the Apollo Cloud 2 Duo connects to a home Wi-Fi network, there are no monthly storage fees.
Along with today's app update, the Apollo Cloud 2 Duo also became available for purchase in Apple retail stores. The Apollo Cloud 2 Duo is available for $449 from Apple or directly from Promise Technology.
T-Mobile today announced that its prioritization point is being increased from 32GB to 50GB, allowing customers to use more data before facing slower speeds during periods of high network congestion.
As the company explains, it uses a prioritization system to manage network traffic and prevent a small subset of its most active users from affecting other users. After a customer has used 50GB of data during a month, their data is de-prioritized when connected to a cellular tower that's experiencing congestion. In these situations, a customer who uses a lot of data will experience slower speeds than customers who have not hit that 50GB cap.
Even when the 50GB cap is reached, no de-prioritization takes place if the network is not congested.
All of the major carriers have a similar system in place for their unlimited data plans. Both AT&T and Verizon de-prioritize customers after 22GB of data usage, while Sprint does so after 23GB of data usage. At 50GB, T-Mobile offers more than twice the data before any network de-prioritization takes place.
According to T-Mobile, 50GB of data usage represents the top 1 percent of data users.
The new Files app in iOS 11 replaces iCloud Drive, offers a lot more functionality than its predecessor, and provides perhaps the best argument yet for using an iPad as your go-to mobile computer.
In Files, you have access not only to the files stored on your device and in iCloud, but also to those stored in third-party services that support integration with the app. Files also exploits all of the new multitasking gestures in iOS 11, making its file organization capabilities even more powerful.
The Files Interface
The Files app interface is very straightforward, although it varies from device to device and based on orientation, with various combinations using multiple columns, single columns with pages, or pop-overs. For the purposes of this overview, we'll look at using an iPad in landscape orientation, the most common setup for those doing productivity work.
Down the left side of the screen, in the Browse column, are links to your file sources, Favorites, and Tags to view files that are tagged with a particular color.
Over in the main window you'll see the files and folders in the selected location, which you can view by name, date, size, or tags. There's a button on the right of these options that you can tap to switch between list and icon view, while the button on the left lets you create a new folder.
At the bottom of the screen are two buttons to switch between the default Browse view and a Recents view, which is useful for returning to the files you were last working with.
In either view, you can open a file in the main window simply by tapping it, or you can perform a long press on a file or folder to access a range of options, including rename, share, tag, favorite, and more. However, the best thing about the Files app is that you can organize multiple files quickly and easily by utilizing the new drag-and-drop features exclusive to iOS 11.
Moving Files With Drag and Drop
Tap and hold a file you want to move, and it will expand slightly, ready to follow your finger around the screen.
To move additional files, tap them while holding the original file and they will stack up underneath your finger.
Keeping the same finger on the screen, use another finger – preferably one on your other hand – to browse the Files interface and locate a destination folder for the selected files.
With the destination folder open, simply lift your finger from the screen to drop the files inside.
There's nothing to stop you from using iOS 11 drag-and-drop gestures to take files out of the Files app and move them into other iOS apps, as long as the app in question supports the file type. You might drag an image file into the Photos app to add it to your Photos Library, for example.
Organizing Your Files Manually
If you're uncomfortable using drag-and-drop gestures, you can organize your files using more traditional touch controls. Here's how.
Navigate to the folder containing the files you want to work with, and tap the Select button at the top-right of the screen.
The Browse column will dim to put the focus on the currently selected folder. From here, you can tap one or more files to add a check mark against them indicating they've been selected for an action. A list of possible actions will appear along the bottom of the screen, including the option to duplicate or delete the file(s).
Tap "Share" to bring up the iOS Share sheet, where you can send the file(s) to other people or apps, as well as access copy, print, and other actions.
Tap the "Move" option and the Files app will present you with a directory tree, allowing you to navigate to the desired location for the file or files you've selected.
Tagging Documents
Using tags in the new Files app will help you locate particular files more easily, and they work much the same as tags do in macOS. As you'd expect, tapping a colored tag in the Browse column shows you all the files you've assigned that particular tag. To tag a file or folder, simply tap and hold it, and then drag it onto a tag in the sidebar.
Linking Third-Party Storage Services
If you install a third-party storage app on your iOS device, it should automatically appear in the Files app under the Locations list. If the service doesn't appear, then it doesn't yet support Files integration. Services that do support Files app integration include Google Drive, Box, Dropbox, OneDrive, and Transmit, with more to come soon.
Following the release of iOS 11, IKEA's much-anticipated augmented reality app has been released on the App Store.
Called IKEA Place, the app lets you browse through a wide selection of IKEA products, all of which can be placed right in your home using the new augmented reality functionality built into iOS 11.
Chairs, tables, sofas, storage solutions, and more are available. IKEA has added more than 2,000 items from its catalog.
When you first download IKEA Place, you'll be instructed to scan the room with the camera so the app can get an idea of the layout. From there, you can browse through the furniture collection and see how items fit into a room.
Items can be rotated and moved around in a room so you can get an idea of the size of a piece of furniture relative to what's already in the room.
Multiple pieces of furniture can be added to the app at the same time, and there's an option to take a photograph that can be saved to the camera roll or shared.
The IKEA Place catalog includes product descriptions, organization by category, and information on pricing. There's also a link at the top of each item that directs you to the IKEA website so a purchase can be made.
IKEA Place can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
The Maps app in iOS 11 is outfitted with several new features that significantly improve the app's functionality. Indoor maps let you find restaurants, bathrooms, and other locations in airports and malls, while other new features like speed limits and lane guidance improve turn-by-turn directions.
Fun fact: In iOS 11, Apple has also updated the Maps icon. The new version is meant to show off a corner of Apple Park, Apple's new campus with its now-famous enormous ring-shaped main building.
Indoor Mapping
For the first time, Apple is introducing detailed indoor maps in iOS 11, finally making use of all those mapping companies that it's purchased over the course of the last few years.
iOS 11 includes indoor maps of select malls and airports around the world, displaying full layouts of each location with icons for restaurants, elevators, bathrooms, shops, and other notable indoor landmarks. In airports, you'll see a clear view of the different terminals and gates so you can find your way to your flight.
Right now, indoor mapping is limited to a handful of malls and airports, but Apple says support will be dramatically expanded over time.
Lane Guidance
If you've ever missed a turn because the Maps app didn't let you know what lane to be in, you're going to be happy with the changes made in iOS 11. With a new lane guidance feature, Maps will always let you know what lane you should be in so you'll never miss a sudden turn or an exit.
Lane guidance displays the number of lanes on the road and highlights the lane you're supposed to be in. It is currently available in the United States and China.
Speed Limits
Speed limits, initially launching in the United States and United Kingdom, is a small but highly useful change, and it's one of those features that makes you wonder why it wasn't in the Maps app all along. Speed limits displays the speed limit of the road you're on right on your iPhone's display when you're using turn-by-turn directions.
Light Guidance
For routes that you travel often, there's an option to enable "Light Guidance." Light Guidance, previously available to CarPlay users, cuts down on the directions you receive, since you likely know the route, and instead displays an overview of the trip and alternative routes.
Augmented Reality Flyover
When using the Flyover feature in iOS 11, you can explore cities by tilting and moving your device, mimicking the feel of actually being in the citing you're looking at. You can rotate the iPhone or iPad 360 degrees in the new Flyover mode for a much more immersive experience, and it will even move forward as you walk forward in real life.
Apple is investigating a fix for an issue where an Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE may stay connected to unknown Wi-Fi networks with no connectivity, at times preventing the watch from using cellular, it has told 
