iOS 10 Tidbits

32-bit apps may no longer work with future iOS versions

A beta of iOS 10.3 that was seeded to developers last week comes with an updated app compatibility warning which cautions users that 32-bit apps may no longer work with future iOS versions, suggesting iOS 11 will likely stop supporting non-64-bit apps. In June 2015, Apple warned developers that all apps and app updates submitted to App Store must include 64-bit support alongside 32-bit code.

When a user launches a 32-bit app, iOS 9 puts up a warning saying using 32-bit software on a 64-bit device may affect system performance. The wording of the prompt has changed in iOS 10.3 beta 1 and now specifically states that 32-bit apps may stop functioning on future iOS editions completely.

New low quality mode in iOS 10 Messages uses circa 100KB per sent image

As you know, iMessage overcomes many of the limitations of standard MMS. Every time you attach an image taken on your iPhone and iPad to an iMessage, it's delivered in its original size and resolution. Some downscaling may occur, but only for very high resolution images: those taken with an iOS device are always delivered in their original form without any resizing taking place.

And herein lies a problem for those of you who send a lot of images via a cellular data connection.

Knowing a typical photo taken on an iPhone 6s weighs in at between three to five megabytes (or even more), it does add up pretty quickly. If you're concerned about cellular data consumption (as you should be), pay attention as Messages on iOS 10 offers a brand new low quality mode.

We've determined it downscales images sent through iMessage to circa 100 kilobytes each. In other words, for the amount of data you'd normally spend to shoot someone a single photo via iMessage you get to send 30 to 50 images in low quality mode.

iOS 10 tidbit: deleting text faster with 3D Touch

Here's a time-saving enhancement discovered in the previous beta of iOS 10: deleting text faster—a lot faster—with 3D Touch. Although this very cool feature originally flew under our radar, we're letting you guys know about it so that you're kept in the loop. Owners of an iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus should be especially pleased with iOS 10's expanded use of 3D Touch gestures for things like clearing all notifications, sharing apps and renaming folders.

iOS 10 tidbit: sending fireballs via Digital Touch

The Digital Touch interface made its debut on the Apple Watch in April 2015. With iOS 10, Apple is bringing Digital Touch features to the Messages app and it does so much more than its wrist counterpart was capable of at launch.

With Digital Touch, you can doodle over live video, adorn your messages with animated kisses, digital taps and auto-dissapearing drawings and even send animated hearts and broken hearts to other people.

Today, we're taking a closer look at another nifty feature in iOS 10 Messages: the ability to express your angst or anger by shooting virtual fireballs at your recipient(s).

iOS 10 tidbit: auto-playing full-screen effects in Messages for texts like “Happy Birthday”

iOS 10's Messages app offers a number of new features and meaningful improvements, such as bubble effects, smarter emoji, full-screen animations and so forth. Moreover, iOS 10 turns Messages into a software platform of its own with support for third-party iMessage Apps, stickers and other downloadable items via the App Store.

We previously covered various Messages capabilities on iOS 10, like Spotlight Suggestions in chats, using Digital Touch to send animated kisses and broken hearts, managing read-receipts on a per-chat basis, to mention just a few. Today, we take a look at another cool Messages feature: the ability to automatically play appropriate full-screen effects based on certain messages.

iOS 10 tidbit: Spotlight Suggestions in Messages

On iOS 10, Spotlight Suggestions appear in more places than before. We recently told you about Spotlight Suggestions in the Look Up interface (formerly known as the Define feature). We also discussed iOS 10's expressive Messages app in depth and mentioned its super useful inline previews of URLs.

As it turns out, not only does Messages support inline previews of media URLs, but underlines specific terms in your chats—such as movie and app names—that Spotlight Suggestions can give you more info about.

iOS 10 tidbit: sending broken hearts via iMessage

iOS 10's much-enhanced Messages app includes the Digital Touch interface that first appeared on the Apple Watch. With Digital Touch, users can create iMessages that contain doodles, digital taps, video with effects and more.

We recently explained how Digital Touch can be taken advantage of to send nicely animated hearts to your recipients. Here's another iOS 10 tidbit: Messages on iOS 10 also lets you shoot animated broken hearts to someone for those times you wish to convey more specific feelings.

iOS 10 tidbit: warning message when launching apps that aren’t 64-bit compliant

In April 2015, Apple reminded developers that as of June 2015 all apps and app updates submitted to the App Store must include 64-bit support. After more than a year, some apps are still stuck on 32 bits and lack support for 64-bit devices. iOS 10 takes a naming and shaming approach by including a brand new warning message that appears when you open a 32-bit app on a 64-bit iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

iOS 10 tidbit: unlocking iPhone and iPad without launching Home screen

As we wrote before, iOS 10 changes the way unlocking your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch works. For starters, iOS 10 does away with the familiar slide-to-unlock gesture so instead of “Slide to Unlock”, which now takes you to a dedicated widgets screen, you get to see a new “Press Home to unlock” message on the Lock screen.

As a result, unlocking a Touch ID-outfitted iOS device now requires you to press the Home button rather than rest your finger on it, like in prior editions of the software. But as it turns out, iOS 10 gives users another, previously unavailable option for unlocking their device without automatically launching the Home screen.

iOS 10 tidbit: using Digital Touch in Messages to send kisses instead of hearts

Aside from a lot of other advances, iOS 10 turns the Messages app into a platform upon which developers can build downloadable stickers, full-screen animations and chat bubble effects. Messages in iOS 10 also supports Digital Touch, a feature that first debuted on the Apple Watch.

With the new Digital Touch interface in iOS 10 Messages, users can draw and sketch with their finger on photos and video, send hearts and create other digital effects on video. But as it turns out, users also have the option to send animated kisses instead of heart beats using a simple gesture.

iOS 10 tidbit: managing read receipts on a per-conversation basis

iOS 10 has a new hidden switch, called Emergency Bypass, which permits you to override your global Do Not Disturb setting on a per-contact basis. It's especially handy for those times when you wanna enable Messages notifications for a contact that isn't in your Favorites, even if Do Not Disturb is on.

A similar new feature in iOS 10's Messages app makes it easy to enable or disable read receipts, which tell the other person when you've read an incoming text, on a per-conversation basis.

iOS 10 tidbit: prioritizing App Store downloads with 3D Touch

In addition to using 3D Touch on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus to cancel or pause in-progress app downloads, iOS 10 lets you prioritize a single App Store download at the expense of the other ones with 3D Touch. Reddit user “nite_” stumbled upon this feature while restoring his iPhone running a beta of iOS 10 from an iCloud backup, allowing him to prioritize the bulk download of apps with 3D Touch.