Apple has announced the date for June’s WWDC, where it will give the first public peek at improvements to its operating systems, so what changes is it expected to make in iOS 13?

What changes to expect in iOS 13

iOS 12 was widely seen as a maintenance release that prioritized backwards compatibility, stability and performance.

Apple’s decision to support devices back to iPhone 5S drew positive praise and means the OS is now installed on nearly every active iOS device in use anywhere on the planet – a platform advantage no one else enjoys.

The support window may change

With this in mind it is important to note claims Apple plans to severely constrict backward compatibility in iOS 13 to devices back to 2017 (iPhone 7 et al).

This means the iPhones 5S, 6, 6 Plus, iPad mini 2, 3, (possibly v.4) iPad Air, Air 2 and the still available iPod touch won’t support the operating system. Support for the 6S, 6S Plus and SE is “questionable”, the report said.

It feels harsh to open the support window one year and then drastically limit it the next. It does however lend a little substance to claims Apple will soon launch an iPod touch and replacement iPhone SE, and also puts a useful context around Apple’s recently updated iPad Air and iPad mini.

We’ll see if this claim turns out to be correct.

More and more iOS apps will run on Macs

Project Marzipan comes of age. This means developers will be presented with the tools they need to build an iOS app once and have it run on a Mac, and this means you’ll be able to access a wave of apps on both platforms.

The home screen may change

There are claims Apple is about to redesign the home screen. One of the most evident changes here may be its rumoured introduction of Dark mode.

Nicer volume controls

Do you get annoyed when the interactive volume or brightness controls appear and block out the rest of the screen? It looks like this will change and a more sublets control interface be introduced.

The Files app gets improved

New features in Files should make it an even ore effective way to manage your data and documents across all your devices. You can bet a dollar Apple will try to make you use up more storage space using those features, too.

Multitasking improvements

Apple is deadly serious around making the iPad and iPad Pro into effective PC replacements and will be adding to and enhancing the multitasking features inside iOS 13. These may include support for two instances of the same app in separate windows and tabs within apps. Which we need.

Safari: faster and more power efficient

Safari improvements mean faster performance, better battery life and support for new web standards.

The Photos app gets more domains

Photos is smart enough to create and recommend new image galleries based on what the AI on your devices figures out you actually like the most – places, people, animals and so on. iOS 13 is expected to increase the number of items it recognizes.

The Photos app will also see some interface enhancements and the introduction of new AI-driven features for imaging and image editing, including better image search.

Apple may make Live Photos longer

Up from three to six seconds of video contained in these little picture memories.

Health app enhancements

Anticipate new workouts, support for new devices and a broad face lift.

AI and Siri

A slightly more contextually-aware Siri will get smarter with more Shortcuts and additional search domains. Apple will also introduce more ways in which developers can exploit its edge-based CoreML for machine learning.

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Of course Apple will improve ARKit

Apple will inevitably improve ARKit, including addition of new features and APIs for use in apps it has acquired or developed in recent months.

And Privacy & Security

Apple will inevitably continue its battle against surveillance.

What about future networking standards? 

Apple will probably discuss its 5G plansand will be more likely to share information on its plans (or otherwise) to support Wi-Fi 6.

But maybe you just want emoji….

Not particularly an Apple features, the Unicode Consortiumhas finalized a bunch of new emoji’s which will be made available later in the year, potentially subsequent to iOS 13’s release.

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