iOS 13 introduces a dramatic new look for iPhone with Dark Mode, new ways to browse and edit photos, and a private new way to sign in to apps and websites with just a tap. iOS 13 is faster and more responsive with optimisations across the system that improve app launch, reduce app download sizes and make Face ID even faster.
This update introduces new features and improvements:
Dark Mode
A beautiful new dark colour scheme that delivers a great viewing experience especially in low-light environments
Can be scheduled to turn on automatically at sunset, at a certain time, or turned on from Control Centre
Four new system wallpapers that automatically switch appearances with Light and Dark Mode
Camera and Photos
An all-new Photos tab with a curated view of your library, making it easy to find, relive and share your photos and videos
Powerful new photo editing tools that make it easier to edit, adjust and review photos at a glance
Video editing with over 30 new tools, including Rotate, Crop and Enhance
The ability to increase or decrease Portrait Lighting intensity on iPhone XR, iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max
High-Key Light Mono, a new Portrait Lighting effect, for a monochromatic portrait with a white background on iPhone XR, iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max
Sign In with Apple
A private way to sign in to participating apps and websites with the Apple ID you already have
Simple account setup with only your name and email address
Hide My Email to share a unique email address that is automatically forwarded to you
Built-in two-factor authentication to protect your account
No tracking or profiling by Apple as you use your favourite apps
App Store with Arcade
Unlimited access to groundbreaking new games with one subscription — no ads or additional purchases
An all-new Arcade tab in the App Store to browse the latest games, personalised recommendations and exclusive editorial content
Available to play across iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Mac and Apple TV
Option to download large apps over your mobile data connection
Ability to view available app updates or delete apps from the Account page
Universal Purchase support enables the use of a singular purchase of a participating app across iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Mac and Apple TV
Recently played Arcade games appear in the Arcade tab so you can continue playing on iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Mac and Apple TV
List view for See All Games
Support for Arabic and Hebrew
Maps
An all-new map rolling out in the US featuring wider road coverage, improved address precision, better support for pedestrians and more detailed land cover
Look Around to explore cities in a high-resolution, interactive 3D experience
Collections for the lists of places you love you can easily share with friends and family
Favourites for quick and easy navigation to the places you visit daily
Real-time public transport, real-time flight updates and more natural spoken turn-by-turn directions
Share ETA to send your estimated time of arrival while your route is in progress
Reminders
All-new design with more powerful and intelligent ways to create and organise reminders
Quick toolbar to add dates, locations, flags, attachments and more to reminders
New smart lists — Today, Scheduled, Flagged and All — to easily keep track of upcoming reminders
Subtasks and grouped lists to organise your reminders
Siri
Personalised Siri Suggestions in Apple Podcasts, Safari and Maps
Over 100,000 live radio stations from around the world available with Siri
Shortcuts app now built-in
Privacy settings to control whether or not to help improve Siri and Dictation by allowing Apple to store audio of your Siri and Dictation interactions
Option to delete your Siri and Dictation history from Siri Settings
Memoji and Messages
New Memoji customisation options including new hairstyles, headgear, makeup and piercings
Memoji sticker packs in Messages, Mail and third‑party apps available on all iPhone models
Your name and photo, or even Memoji, now optionally shared with your friends
Search enhancements to easily find messages with intelligent suggestions and categorisation of results
Emoji
Over 70 new or updated emoji, including animals, food, activities, new accessibility emoji, gender-neutral emoji, and skin tones selection for couples emoji
CarPlay
All-new CarPlay Dashboard with your tunes, turns and smart Siri suggestions on one screen
All-new Calendar app with a view of your day, option to drive to or dial in to meetings, and contact meeting organisers
Apple Maps redesign with Favourites, Collections and Junction View for China
Apple Music album art to easily find your favourite song
Do Not Disturb While Driving now available in CarPlay
Augmented Reality
People Occlusion for apps to place virtual objects naturally in front of or behind people using iPhone XR, iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max
Motion Capture for apps to understand the body position and movement of a person so you can animate a character or interact with virtual objects using iPhone XR, iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max
Multiple face tracking for AR content on up to 3 faces at a time so you can have fun with your friends using iPhone XR, iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max
AR Quick Look supports audio playback, interfacing with multiple AR objects simultaneously, and completing purchases via Apple Pay when in AR
Mail
Block sender to move all email messages from a blocked sender directly to the Bin
Mute thread to stop notifications from an overly active email thread
Format bar with easy access to rich text formatting tools and attachments of all kinds
Font support for all system fonts, as well as new fonts you download from the App Store
Responses to encrypted emails are automatically encrypted when you have configured S/MIME
Notes
Gallery view with your notes as visual thumbnails to help you find the note you need
Shared folders to collaborate with others, giving them access to entire folders of notes
More powerful search for visual recognition of images inside your notes and text in items you’ve scanned
New checklist options to easily reorder checklist items, indent them or move ticked items to the bottom of the list automatically
Safari
Updated start page with favourites, frequently visited and most recently visited websites, and Siri suggestions
View options in the Smart Search field for quick access to text size controls, Reader view and per‑site settings
Per‑site settings to choose Reader view, and enable content blockers, camera, microphone and location access for individual websites
Download manager
QuickPath
Slide to type on the keyboard for easier one-handed typing when you’re on the go
Slide or tap to type interchangeably, even mid‑sentence
Alternative word options in the predictive bar
Text Editing
Scrollbar scrubbing to directly drag the scrollbar for quickly navigating long documents, web pages and email conversations
Faster and more precise cursor navigation — just pick it up and move it to where you want
Text selection improvements for easier selection by just tapping and swiping on the text
Fonts
Custom fonts are available from the App Store for use in your favourite apps
Font management in Settings
Files
External drives supported in Files to access and manage files on a USB drive, SD card or hard drive
SMB support to connect to a server at work or a home PC
Local storage for creating folders on the local drive and adding your favourite files
Zip and Unzip support for creating and expanding Zip files
iCloud Drive folder sharing from the Files app
Controls to limit access only to people you explicitly invite or grant access to anyone with the folder link
Permissions to choose who can make changes and upload files and who can only view and download files
Health
New Summary view of personalised data, including alerts, favourites, and relevant highlights from frequently used apps and devices
Highlights of health data from frequently used apps and devices showing trends over time in helpful charts and graphs
Cycle Tracking feature to log information about your menstrual cycle including flow level, symptoms and fertility metrics
Hearing health data types for environmental audio levels from the Noise app on Apple Watch, headphone audio levels, and audiograms from hearing tests
Apple Music
Time-synced lyrics make listening more fun with perfectly timed lyrics
Over 100,000 live radio stations from around the world
Home App
HomeKit Secure Video enables you to privately capture, store and view encrypted video from your security cameras, and features people, animal and vehicle detection
HomeKit-enabled routers put you in control of what your HomeKit accessories communicate with over the internet or in your home
Home app redesigned controls for HomeKit accessories with a combined view for ones with multiple services
Screen Time
30-day usage data to compare Screen Time numbers over the previous weeks
Combined limits to include multiple app categories, specific apps or websites in one limit
“One more minute” option to quickly save your work or log out of a game when a Screen Time limit is met
AirDrop
Ability to select who you want to AirDrop to by pointing from one iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro or iPhone 11 Pro Max to another using the new U1 chip with Ultra Wideband technology for spatial awareness
Privacy and Security
Allow Once location permission with the option to share your locations with apps only once
Background tracking alerts now notify you when an app is using your location in the background
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enhancements help prevent apps from accessing your location without your consent
Location sharing controls give you the option to easily omit location data when sharing photos
System Experience
Wi‑Fi networks and Bluetooth accessories selection in Control Centre
A redesigned, unobtrusive volume control in the upper-left corner
Full-page screenshots for web pages, Mail messages, iWork documents and Maps
Redesigned share sheet with intelligent suggestions to share content with just a few taps
Dolby Atmos playback for a thrilling surround sound experience from content with Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital or Dolby Digital Plus soundtracks on iPhone XR, iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max
Language Support
Support for 38 new keyboard languages
Predictive typing support for Arabic (Modern Standard), Arabic (Najdi), Cantonese, Dutch, Hindi (Devanagari), Hindi (Latin), Swedish and Vietnamese keyboards
Separate emoji and globe keys make it easier to quickly switch between languages and select emoji on iPhone X and later
Automatic language detection for dictation
Bilingual dictionary support in Thai and English and Vietnamese and English
China
A dedicated QR code mode in Camera, accessible from the Control Centre, for improved QR code performance, a torch option and enhanced privacy
Junction View in Maps for drivers in China to more easily navigate complex roadways
Adjustable handwriting area on the Chinese keyboard
Cantonese predictions on the Cangjie, Sucheng, Stroke and Handwriting keyboards
India
All‑new Indian English male and female Siri voices
Support for all 22 official Indian languages with the addition of 15 new keyboard languages
Bilingual keyboard for Hindi (Latin) and English keyboard, including typing predictions
Typing predictions on the Hindi (Devanagari) keyboard
New Indian language system fonts for Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Kannada and Odia for greater clarity and ease when reading in apps
30 new document fonts for Assamese, Bangla, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu
Contacts with hundreds of new relationship labels to help more accurately label your contacts
AirPods Support
Announce Messages with Siri to read your incoming messages aloud to your AirPods Pro and AirPods (2nd generation)
AirPods Pro support
Battery Health
Optimised battery charging to slow the rate of battery ageing by reducing the time your iPhone spends fully charged
Performance management feature for iPhone XR, iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max to prevent the device unexpectedly shutting down, including the option to disable this feature if an unexpected shutdown occurs
Notifications for when Battery Health is unable to verify if a new, genuine Apple battery is in iPhone XR, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and later
Performance
Up to 2x faster app launch*
Up to 30 per cent faster Face ID unlocking on iPhone X, iPhone XR, iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max**
60 per cent smaller app updates on average*
Up to 50 per cent smaller apps from the App Store*
Other Features and Improvements
Silence unknown callers to get calls from known numbers in Contacts, Mail and Messages, while sending all other calls to voicemail
Low Data Mode to reduce your data usage over your mobile network or specific Wi-Fi networks you select
PlayStation 4 and Xbox Wireless Controller support
Find My iPhone and Find My Friends combined into a single app with the ability to locate a missing device even if it can't connect to a Wi-Fi or mobile network
Apple Books reading goals help make reading a daily habit
New layout for Apple News+ stories from The Wall Street Journal and other leading newspapers
Apple News+ business stories in the Stocks app for subscribers
Business stories in Stocks include links to related stories or more stories from the same publication
Calendar supports adding attachments to events
Family sharing hotspot for your family's devices to automatically connect to your nearby iPhone personal hotspot
Status bar indicator to display when VPN has disconnected on iPhone models with all-screen displays
*Testing conducted by Apple in May 2019 using iPhone XS supporting normal peak performance, and iPad Pro 11‑inch (1st generation) with iOS 12.3 and pre-release iPadOS and iOS 13, using third‑party apps repackaged in a pre-production App Store server environment; smaller app update download size based on averages from a collection of the most frequently updated apps. Performance varies based on specific configuration, content, battery health, usage, software versions and other factors.
**Testing conducted by Apple in May 2019 using iPhone X and iPhone XS Max supporting normal peak performance, and iPad Pro 11‑inch (1st generation) with iOS 12.3 and pre-release iPadOS and iOS 13, using the side or top button to wake the device. Performance varies based on specific configuration, content, battery health, usage and other factors.
Some features may not be available in all regions or on all Apple devices.
