Last week, Apple launched its newest operating system, iOS 10, and the reviews are now pouring in. The consensus among most technology followers: iOS 10 includes a lot of new features and improvements that should make users happy.
Take Forbes for starters. In a report on Monday (Sept. 19), it pointed to the slew of changes in the Notes, Mail, Phone, Camera, Photos, Calendar, Maps, Music, News, Safari and Messages apps. According to the report, many of the features are subtle, but there is enough to require customers to adapt to the new iOS 10. Some of the ones featured in the report include the ability to collaborate in Notes, a smarter Mail app, which will make suggestions as to where a message should be moved to if users have the Move Message option selected, and spam notifications, which warn users if they are getting a spam call. The Messages app also got some extras, including animated stickers, fireworks and other effects. It also has a built-in image search and a dedicated iMessages app store. Apple also updated the Photos app to, according to another report, exploit advanced computer vision to analyze and organize images without human intervention. Users can even ask Siri to find pictures they took on the beach as a search mechanism.
On the Apple Pay front, the launch of iOS 10 means users have the option to use Apple Pay within Safari on their mobile devices. That means, when a customer checks out online with Apple Pay, all they have to do is touch the home button to complete the transaction. That makes shopping really easy online. What’s more, it’s expected to push adoption by merchants online because it’s much easier for retailers to support. According to a CNET report, Apple Pay is immediately available at greater than 70 retailers, including the websites of Target, Sephora, Nike, Hotels.com and Kickstarter. If the option is listed at checkout, it means it supports Apple Pay. The ability to use Apple Pay in Safari on a Mac is coming Sept. 20.
While iOS 10 is very new, it is driving interest from owners of Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices. Last week, Mixpanel, an analytics company, said Apple’s iOS 10 is running on 19.9 percent of all iOS devices. Mixpanel said it has generated the findings based on more than 183 billion records on devices around the globe. IOS 9, which Apple unveiled last year, had been installed on more than 90 percent of iOS devices but is now on 75 percent of the Apple products that are currently being used.