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Before and After iOS 7: What's Different?

Jill Duffy
 & Jill Duffy Contributor

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Before and After iOS 7: What

iOS 7, the seventh version of Apple's mobile operating system—the brain of every iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch—will be rolling out to the public this month. The free update should be available soon, but I got my hands on the early developer beta release in order to bring you these "before and after" shots that show off the new OS.

You may recall that two iterations ago iOS 5 brought significant new features, such as Siri, the first pull-down notification center for iOS, and a locked screen that had quick access to the camera. Then iOS 6 came along and made a few unexpected changes that didn't all go over well, like ditching Google Maps for a new (and supremely unreliable) Apple Maps app. iOS 6 also got rid of the iPod app in favor of dedicated apps for Music, Podcasts, and iTunes.

So what's new this time around?

iOS 7 looks stunningly different. I'll admit it took me a few days to warm up to the so-called "flat" design, but many of core features and functionality have been upgraded so significantly that I eventually started to associate the new design with the improved experience. As you'll see in the images, iOS 7 looks flat in the sense that it does not look three-dimensional, and is non-skeuomorphic. The images in the following slideshow pinpoint some of the most significant changes, showing them back-to-back with how they appeared in iOS 6. Take a look, and let us know what you think in the comments. Do you dig the new design? What about the new functionality?

For more on iOS 7, see 6 overlooked features of iOS 7, a must-read for early adopters, as you'll want to know about some of the new privacy settings and other less-touted changes.

Before: iOS 6 Design

The design of iOS 6, and really all versions of iOS prior to version 7, had icons that looked like buttons. As some design experts have pointed out, there's even an imaginary outside source of light that shines down on the app icons. It's been said that this design evokes the feeling of physicality. Buttons look like they are what they represent, rather than just images on a screen.

After: iOS 7 Design

iOS 7 is said to have a "flat" design, and by that people mean that most of the 3D elements referenced in early versions—icons that look like "buttons," an external source of light casting shadows, and so forth—are gone. The design iOS 7 evokes computers and a true digital experience that has little to do with real-world physicality.

Before: iOS 6 App Design

Zooming in on the icons themselves, you can better see how the top edge of these apps is lighter than the bottom. All that shading and illusion of shadows was key to the look of iOS 6 and earlier versions. On the next slide, you'll see just what makes the new design "flat."

After: iOS 7 App Design

Look how much less three-dimensional these iOS 7 app icons appear. The Calendar app is the best example. Its background is solid white with no shading or shadow. The Settings, App Store, and iTunes Store apps have some color change from top to bottom, but it's subtle and not meant to look like it's coming from an external light source. Rather, the color gradation seems to be coming from the app itself, almost like it has a soft glow.

Before: iOS 6 Control Center

Double-tap the iPhone or iPad's home button when the device is locked, and you'll find these handy iOS 6 controls, primarily designed to help you pause, or skip forward or backward while listening to music or podcasts. As you'll see in the next slide, iOS 7 puts many more controls within quick reach of your fingertips—and not just when the screen is locked.

After: iOS 7 Control Center

I love the new control center in iOS 7, not only because it's available at any time by swiping up from the bottom of the screen, but also in the number of things I can control from it, including screen brightness and whether Bluetooth and WiFi are enabled. The Flight mode button is also in the new control center in iOS 7, which will make frequent flyers happy.

Before: iOS 6 Folders

With iOS 6, you could organize app icons into folders, with a strict limit on the number of apps you could put into any one folder (12). iOS 7 folders hold a lot more icons, and it's easier to see and move them around, too, as you'll see on the next slide.

After: iOS 7 Folders

iOS 7's app folders make much better use of screen real estate, enlarging significantly when you tap to open them—even though there are fewer apps visible at first. Look closely, though. Notice also the two dots on the bottom of the folder, which indicate there's a second screen's worth of folder content. While the first folder screen holds only nine apps (as opposed to the 12 supported in iOS 6), you can now have pages of apps within a folder. I was curious whether there would be a limit to how many apps I could put into a folder: I got up to 45 apps and stopped, though it felt like I could have gone on forever.

Before: iOS 6 Multitasking Bar

You'd get to the multitasking bar in iOS 6 by double-tapping the home button any time your phone was unlocked; this let you jump quickly from one app to another. The problem? You couldn't actually see the app page. Plus, swiping once would move the set of apps in the multitasking bar over by four apps and then stop. Both of those problems have been addressed in iOS 7 (see the next slide).

After: iOS 7 Multitasking Bar

iOS 7's revamped multitasking bar shows a preview of all your apps—which reminds me a lot of a similar feature in Android—so you better know what to expect when you actually jump to the app. You can also swipe this multitasking bar left and right, and it will move much more fluidly, rather than showing the next set of apps that fits on the screen and then stopping, as it did in iOS 6.

Before: iOS 6 Notification Center

In iOS 6, a pull-down menu contained custom notifications, as well as quick access to Twitter and Facebook. The new notification center in iOS 7, on the other hand, is greatly expanded and now contains three separate tabs, as you'll see on the next slide.

Before: iOS 7 Notification Center

A new notification center in iOS 7 shows your daily summary: appointments and reminders for the current day, as well as a summary of what's happening tomorrow. That's only the first tab, though. The next two, called All and Missed, show custom notifications from whatever apps you want to include. All shows all your notifications and Missed highlights those that didn't catch your attention the first time around.

Before: iOS 6 Photo Album

iOs 6's photo albums let you save photos into sets, but didn't contain any easily viewable time and date stamps or other features that naturally organized them. iOS 7 does.

After: iOS 7 Photo Album

The Photos app looks incredibly different, and the way it now segments photos into sections based on date helps you navigate images tremendously. Unfortunately, Apple still has a long way to go in terms of how iOS handles image organization. You still can't name or tag images. When you group images into new albums, they don't move from the Camera Roll area.

Before: iOS 6 Sharing

Here's how the sharing button looked in iOS 6 (here, it's a photo being shared).

After: iOS 7 Sharing

The menu for sharing an image (and other content) now looks a lot more attractive and uses the screen space more effectively. Not shown in this image is yet another new feature: AirDrop. AirDrop lets you share photos, contacts, and other content wirelessly with another iOS user, and it works over both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. This may sound familiar to Android users, who've had a similar feature for quite some time.

About Our Expert

Jill Duffy

Jill Duffy

Contributor

My Experience

I'm an expert in software and work-related issues, and I have been contributing to PCMag since 2011. I launched the column Get Organized in 2012 and ran it through 2024, offering advice on how to manage all the devices, apps, digital photos, email, and other technology that can make you feel overwhelmed. That column turned into the book Get Organized: How to Clean Up Your Messy Digital Life. I was also the first product reviewer at PCMag to test fitness gadgets, including everything from early Fitbits to smart bras.

Currently, I'm passionate about the meaning of work and work culture, and I enjoy writing about how managers and employees can communicate better, with or without software. My most recent book is The Everything Guide to Remote Work. I also love a good workplace drama. 

In addition to writing about work, I cover online education, focusing on learning for personal enrichment and skills development. I have a soft spot for really good language-learning software. Although I grew up speaking only English, some twists and turns in life led me to learn Spanish, Romanian, and a bit of American Sign Language. I've studied at the university level, as well as at the Foreign Service Institute, where US diplomats and ambassadors learn languages.

My writing has also appeared in WIRED, the BBC, Gloria, Refinery29, and Popular Science, among other publications.

Follow me on Mastodon.

The Technology I Use

Squeezing every last bit of usage out of the devices I already own is the only way I can tolerate my personal consumption. In other words, I do not own the latest cutting-edge technology. I buy things that will last and try to take care of them.

My life is organized by Todoist, and my notes live in Joplin. Where would I be without Dashlane as my password manager? Probably locked out of all my many online accounts—I have more than 1,000 of them.

When I share my contact information, it's an excruciatingly long list of phone numbers, messaging apps, and email addresses, because it's essential to stay flexible while also remaining somewhat mysterious.

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