Upcoming New Features To Expect On The iOS 11

In this article, we will highlight some of the rumored features of the upcoming new Apple mobile OS to help you update your business app accordingly before its big public release in the fall alongside the new iPhones.
When it comes to tech events, Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference is one of the biggest and eagerly anticipated, as the company unveils software updates and hints regarding their next lineup of devices. The California-based tech giant has finally sent out official invitations for the 2017 WWDC keynote event, confirming June 5-9 as the most important dates for iOS app developers.
For this software-focused event, developers will be keen to find out about the iOS 11, its upgraded features, and how they will be able to leverage them for their new apps.

P2P via Apple Pay

The most intriguing tidbit claims that iOS 11 will enable Apple users to make peer-to-peer (P2P) payments through Apple Pay. The company is said to be working on a money-transfer service, which experts have dubbed ‘Apple Cash,’ to compete with services like Venmo. It will allow iPhone and iPad owners to send money digitally.
In an interview by Recode with multiple sources familiar with the talks, the tech giant has reportedly been having talks with banks for over two years and has also recently held discussions about creating its own prepaid cards with Visa. Industry experts are much more excited about the service’s future inside of websites and apps as it eliminates the need to enter in information (i.e. card number, shipping address) that can be a cumbersome task on the small screens of smartphones.
It has been reported that Apple won’t charge consumers to use the P2P service, unlike with Apple Pay credit card transactions that charge banks with 0.15%. Currently, the reports suggest that they only way Apple will make money from this service is if consumers use the Apple-Visa debit card tied to it. However, the idea may not sit well with some banks, as the latter also sell their own prepaid cards.

Default FaceTime Audio

An interesting upcoming new feature on the iOS 11 is the possibility of FaceTime Audio to be the “default calling method for iPhone users.” Apple’s proprietary calling service is known for its incredibly crisp audio output that delivers far superior calling experience than your standard cell connection.
The downside of this new functionality is that it eats up significant portions of your mobile internet data during each use. Users can expect a little less than 1MB of data for every minute on the phone. Presumably, Apple will add a setting where users can turn off FaceTime Audio to cater to those with more limited data plans.

Human-like Siri

One of the functionalities that experts predict to see massive improvements is the company’s virtual assistant. Technobuffalo reported that Siri will have new features on the iOS 11: iMessage integration, user behavior learning, and iCloud synching. Israel-based tech blog, The Verifier made the initial claims that Apple will update Siri with said features based on the patents acquired by the company. However, it is still a bit sketchy considering that no one has verified the blog’s credibility.
If Apple don’t make the improvements on Siri, then Samsung may benefit from the lack of progress. The competitor has gained sales on Apple in Q1 of 2017 in terms of their new handsets with the launch of Bixby, enough to cover the revenue mishap on their Note 7. In the post featuring the handset, tech resource O2 cited that the mobile AI works as a personal assistant and information service for Galaxy S8 users which “makes it easy to do what you want, when you want.” With a smarter Bixby, Apple will be forced to make improvements on Siri, especially after Samsung acquired Siri-developers Viv Labs.

Group videochat on FaceTime

For business users, there are more reasons to love Apple devices if the company will include group videochat on FaceTime. Rumored reports claimed that the multi-user messaging feature will have a support for up to five participants in a single chatbox.
This is great news for all users as it has been a long-standing iPhone and iPad feature request. In fact, this will make Apple more competitive as it has been a common feature on other communications apps, such as Skype and Google Hangouts. FaceTime has been limited to one-to-one communication since its debut in 2010 – it’s about time Apple made this improvement too.
With the WWDC right around the corner, we can only imagine that an influx of iOS 11 rumored features will start coming sooner rather than later. We hope this article has provided you insights on how to update your business apps accordingly that maximize the new functionalities of the iOS 11.