By: CAYLEN PERRY
Apple released iOS 7.1 Monday, the first significant update to the mobile operating system it debuted on Sept. 18, offering some incremental feature improvements and fixing some bugs that annoyed iPhone and iPad users.
Apple’s iOS 7 was a major departure from previous versions of its mobile operating system, bringing a simpler and cleaner look to the software. The new update builds on some of the new designs concepts, while also allowing users to disable some of the new features that had drawn criticism such as the software’s parallax and zoom functions.
The update is available from today. Apple will be pushing it out to users over the next few days, but users can go get the new version by going to Settings > General > Software Update. Just be aware that although the update itself is only 268 megabytes, you’ll need 2.5 gigabytes of storage on your iPhone or iPad in order to install it.
The new update promises to be more stable, fixing some of the bugs that caused the iPhone and iPad to randomly crash and reboot—an annoyance dubbed the “white screen of death.” This was the biggest complaint of iOS 7 users.
The new look of iOS 7 reflects the sensibilities of Apple’s design head, Jonathan Ive, who oversaw the software’s revamp. In the update, there are more design changes. For example, the green and red icons for answering or declining a phone call are now round instead of square. There are also more colors and greater color contrast to help icons stand out more against the software’s translucent background.
Other improvements include making iOS 7 faster for iPhone 4 users, a new bold font option for the keyboard, a month-at-a-glance view in the calendar and new voices for Siri in British and Australian English, Mandarin and Japanese. Speaking of Siri, you can now talk to it like a walkie-talkie, pressing to hold, then releasing when you no longer want it to listen.
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