iOS 13: all the best features (and the ones that Apple is still holding back)

iOS 13 landed earlier this week and is packed with helpful tweaks and new features (Image: APPLE)

iOS 13 is here. After a breathless keynote covering all the new features during Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference back in June, the new mobile operating system has started to roll-out to iPhone and iPod Touch owners worldwide.

Honestly, it’s probably worth updating your smartphone to the latest version of iOS for the performance upgrades alone.

Apple has overhauled the way it packages apps within its App Store, shrinking app packages by 50%. That means apps will now load twice as fast with the update to iOS 13. Better yet, Apple has made app updates from the Apple Store 60% smaller, too.

That means upgrading to the new mobile operating system should help you save some storage. If your iPhone is constantly pinging with warnings about low storage, this upgrade is an absolute no-brainer and should free-up some more room for photos, or Netflix downloads.

But what about the shiny new features? Well, here are some of our favourites in iOS 13…

Hello Dark Mode, My Old Friend

Dark Mode is easily iOS 13’s most striking change as it completely changes the look of everything on your iPhone. You can enable Dark Mode as the default during the initial set-up after iOS 13 has installed, or it can be accessed from the Control Centre panel.

Apple says Dark Mode delivers a better viewing experience in low-light environments.With all of the user interface elements that would usually be bright white transformed into black or dark grey.

From the off, Apple has updated all of its apps to support Dark Mode and third-party developers are racing to bring the feature to their applications, so you should have a fully Dark Mode phone in the coming weeks.

One extra bonus of that striking new look? If you have an iPhone with an OLED screen, it should help boost your battery life.

iOS 13 Best Features

iOS 13’s Dark Mode really changes the looks of your old iPhone (Image: APPLE)

MeMoji For All

Until now, MeMoji – the floating Pixar-like animated heads that you can use to talk to friends, or react to their iMessages – were reserved for iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro.

But with iOS 13, older iPhone users can now create their own MeMoji character to send in a number of preset sticker poses. Better yet, these aren’t only reserved for iMessage anymore and are compatible with WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and any other chat app you use.

Sending animated MeMoji clips with your voice is still only possible from an iPhone or iPad with Face ID though.