6 tips and tricks for iOS 7

iOS 7 launched publicly yesterday, and we’ve been testing it heavily here at ExtremeTech. We have a wide variety of iOS devices, and we’ve seen performance vary widely between the different models. New devices certainly benefit the most from the new update, but if you look a little deeper, you’ll find that even older devices like the iPad 2 get a nice update as well. Only the last generation of iOS devices (iPhone 5, 5S, 5C, iPad 4, and fifth-gen iPod Touch) can use features like AirDrop, but even non-Retina iPads will receive a noticeable improvement going forward. To get you started with the new iOS, here are six tips and tricks that will make your experience more enjoyable.

 

AirDrop

AirDrop, now built into iOS 7, allows you to quickly send media to other devices using WiFi or Bluetooth. If you want to share a picture or video, just tap the “share” button, and AirDrop will appear in the share sheet. Unfortunately, you’ll need at least an iPhone 5, fifth-gen iPod Touch, fourth-gen iPad, or an iPad Mini to take advantage of this ad-hoc sharing system.


 

Privacy in Safari

Privacy settings in Safari have significantly expanded in iOS 7. You can still block cookies and detect phishing sites, but now iOS also allows you to enable the Do Not Track flag. While this relies on websites respecting the setting, it does offer extended privacy for your mobile browsing. Keep in mind, this is off by default. To enable it, you’ll need to go to the Safari settings page.


 

Unified search

Just like Safari on the desktop, mobile Safari has dropped the dedicated search field. Now, Apple is pushing the “smart search” field that combines the URL bar with the search box — much like Chrome‘s Omnibox. It’s implemented well, and you can configure its behavior. In the Safari settings menu, you can toggle on and off the search engine suggestions and auto-population of the best result.

Toggling background updating

Multitasking has improved dramatically, and now some applications can automatically refresh their content in the background. The unfortunate ramification of this new feature is that it can negatively impact battery life. Thankfully, Apple had the good sense to include a toggle for background refreshing. You can turn it off completely, or you can go through a list, and only allow specific apps to update in the background.

 

Configuring Spotlight

This isn’t unique to iOS 7, but it’s still incredibly useful. In the Settings app, you can quickly configure what kind of content you want Spotlight to search on your device. Tired of email clogging up your search results? Turn it off! Also worth noting is that the less indexing that Spotlight has to do, the less of a drain it will be on your battery.

iOS 7 launched publicly yesterday, and we’ve been testing it heavily here at ExtremeTech. We have a wide variety of iOS devices, and we’ve seen performance vary widely between the different models. New devices certainly benefit the most from the new update, but if you look a little deeper, you’ll find that even older devices like the iPad 2 get a nice update as well. Only the last generation of iOS devices (iPhone 5, 5S, 5C, iPad 4, and fifth-gen iPod Touch) can use features like AirDrop, but even non-Retina iPads will receive a noticeable improvement going forward. To get you started with the new iOS, here are six tips and tricks that will make your experience more enjoyable.

AirDrop

AirDrop, now built into iOS 7, allows you to quickly send media to other devices using WiFi or Bluetooth. If you want to share a picture or video, just tap the “share” button, and AirDrop will appear in the share sheet. Unfortunately, you’ll need at least an iPhone 5, fifth-gen iPod Touch, fourth-gen iPad, or an iPad Mini to take advantage of this ad-hoc sharing system.

Privacy in Safari

Privacy settings in Safari have significantly expanded in iOS 7. You can still block cookies and detect phishing sites, but now iOS also allows you to enable the Do Not Track flag. While this relies on websites respecting the setting, it does offer extended privacy for your mobile browsing. Keep in mind, this is off by default. To enable it, you’ll need to go to the Safari settings page.

Unified search

Just like Safari on the desktop, mobile Safari has dropped the dedicated search field. Now, Apple is pushing the “smart search” field that combines the URL bar with the search box — much like Chrome‘s Omnibox. It’s implemented well, and you can configure its behavior. In the Safari settings menu, you can toggle on and off the search engine suggestions and auto-population of the best result.

 

Toggling background updating

Multitasking has improved dramatically, and now some applications can automatically refresh their content in the background. The unfortunate ramification of this new feature is that it can negatively impact battery life. Thankfully, Apple had the good sense to include a toggle for background refreshing. You can turn it off completely, or you can go through a list, and only allow specific apps to update in the background.

 

Configuring SpotlightThis isn’t unique to iOS 7, but it’s still incredibly useful. In the Settings app, you can quickly configure what kind of content you want Spotlight to search on your device. Tired of email clogging up your search results? Turn it off! Also worth noting is that the less indexing that Spotlight has to do, the less of a drain it will be on your battery.