6 drastic changes coming to your iPhone with iOS 11
The first time you use your phone after updating to iOS 11, these changes just might catch you off guard.
With iOS 11 now upon us, it's a good idea to know just what you're in for after you install the latest and greatest Apple has to offer to the iPhone . The new OS is full of small, subtle tweaks, but there are also some bigger changes that will undoubtedly take some getting used to.
Notification Center is no more
Well, that's not completely true. It's still there, it's just that it's now part of the Lock Screen.
Naturally, it still looks a lot like the standard iOS lock screen and works in the same manner too. Swipe in either direction on alerts to take action or clear them. Swipe from either edge of the display to launch the camera or view your Today panel.
Oh, and your notification feed will be broken up into Most Recent and Earlier Today (Yesterday, and so on) sections.
No more Force Touch for quick app switching
When Apple announced the iPhone 6 , complete with a pressure sensitive screen, the company also added a shortcut to quickly switch between apps by pressing on the left edge of the display.
With iOS 11, that gesture is gone. Go ahead, press as hard as you want. It's simply not going to work.
Time to go back to double-pressing the home button.
NFC is open for all
An example of the NFC prompt coming to the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus with the release of iOS 11.
Apple is finally giving developers access to the iPhone's NFC capabilities instead of keeping it locked to just Apple Pay .
As developers begin to release updates for apps, you will undoubtedly see the option to scan NFC tags to view more information about a product or connect to gym equipment, for example.
The feature will be limited to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus , and presumably the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X.
Control Center is brand new… again
When you swipe up from the bottom of the screen on your iPhone to view Control Center, you're in for a surprise: The three-panel approach of iOS 10 is gone.
Instead, Control Center is a continuous column of buttons. You can hard press on buttons for additional options, and add or remove items from Control Center through the Settings app.
App Store has a fresh coat of paint
A long overdue change to the App Store is coming. With a more visually appealing, interactive design, the App Store looks nothing like it used to.
The new design will highlight new apps and developers and looks a lot like Apple Music . Only instead of songs and artists, it's games and apps.
Speaking of which, Apple has finally separated the two categories into their own respective sections.
Screenshot tool is awesome
The process of taking a screenshot, editing and then sharing it is being streamlined.
With iOS 11 installed, when you take a screenshot a small preview thumbnail will show up in the bottom-left corner. Tap on it to markup, crop, edit, delete or share.
iPhone X, iPhone 8: Everything we know about Apple's new iPhones.
iOS 11: All the new features, plus all our tips and guides.