This is because both Apple and Google often release new versions of the mobile operating systems that are used in their respective iPhones and Android phones. In a short amount of time, the software that is responsible for the devices’ functionality will have design adjustments and new capabilities added to it; in other words, there will be new things to learn.
Apple introduced iOS 16, the next version of the operating system that powers the iPhone, on Monday. It will come with all new features such as a revamped lock screen as well as the capability to modify text messages. Google unveiled Android 13 at the end of the previous month. Among its new features is a simplified wallet app that can store credit cards as well as essential papers such as immunisation records. Both businesses said that they were working to enhance the capabilities of their respective applications to send and receive text messages.
Both Apple and Google often accompany these software changes with grandiose rhetoric and assurances of future improvements. Apple’s Chief Executive Officer Timothy D. Cook remarked in a video that was produced for the event that announced the new software that “today we’re going to push our platforms farther than ever.” Cook was speaking about the new software.
In point of fact, however, a good number of the changes, most notably the introduction of a function that enables users to make backdated edits to a text, are just incremental enhancements that give the impression that they should have been implemented a lot earlier. The following is a list of the most important new developments to watch out for.
In the past, the only aspect of the lock screen that users could customise was the wallpaper. With iOS 16, however, iPhone owners now have the ability to personalise the lock screen by selecting from a variety of typefaces and colours for the clock. On top of that, people will have the ability to pin “widgets,” which are effectively shortcuts to applications like the phone’s calendar and fitness data tracker, to the lock screen of their smartphones.
For instance, a lock screen that is specifically devoted to work may display a background of your office building and include a calendar widget that displays the next appointment you have for work. If you use a lock screen for your personal time, it may display a background of your dog along with a widget for tracking your activity. The concept behind this is that users will have the ability to switch between several lock screens to better suit their requirements at various points during the day.
The epidemic prompted many individuals to switch to contactless digital payments rather than handling cash, which led to an increase in the number of people making purchases using their mobile devices. People are able to make purchases with their credit cards and carry important documents like boarding passes and health data thanks to Apple’s Wallet software for iPhones, which has been around for more than five years. This software enables Apple to provide a robust offering for electronic payments.
Google, which has had difficulty marketing its mobile payments technology, took advantage of the chance last month to extend its involvement in payments by releasing Android 13 with the version number 13. Because so few Android users knew how to make use of the technology, Google Pay trailed behind Apple’s payment system for many years.
A new moniker, Google Wallet, was given to the software that Google developed for making digital payments one month ago. The business made the technology easier to use by including a shortcut to the wallet into the screen that locks an Android device. It also has ambitions to extend the functionality of the programme to incorporate things other than credit cards, such as plane permits, cinema tickets, and evidence of vaccination against Covid-19.
Google is attempting to build its own version of the blue bubble experience with the release of Android 13. Rich Communication Services is a technology that the firm is integrating into its messaging app right now. With this technology, users will be able to communicate high-resolution photographs as well as huge files. People will also be able to participate in group discussions, much as in the majority of current messaging applications.
In the meanwhile, Apple is developing modifications to iMessage so that iPhone users will be able to amend or recall texts after they have already been received. Retroactive message editing is a feature that people have needed for years. It would save us the shame of weird autocorrect typos or the unintentional pocket text, both of which are embarrassing for us to experience.
If it seems like many of these adjustments have been needed for a very long time, that’s because they have. In the same way that improvements to smartphone hardware have grown more and more subtle over time, improvements to the software are likewise growing incrementally better but are not very noteworthy.
Apple has long enabled iPhone customers to grant family members and love partners permanent access to their location data. The company recently announced that it will provide additional restrictions for such data sharing in the event that an intimate relationship were to go sour. By swiftly reviewing and revoking access to such data, users will be able to secure their information from those who would misuse it thanks to a new software tool called Safety Check developed by the company.
Google has indicated that it would provide users with more discretion over the data that is shared with third-party applications. People will also be able to grant applications access to only select photographs instead of their full camera roll in the next version of Android. This is a measure of security against harmful apps that masquerade themselves as photo-editing software and is included in the development of Android.
