7 Features Coming to iOS 13 I Wish Where Present on Android

Last month, Apple held its annual World Wide Developer Conference, the Apple WWDC 19. To its usual habits, it was the occasion for the tech giant to present to the world what is coming next to its software, in this case, iOS, MacOS, and the newly announced iPadOS. I watched the conference live, and despite Apple’s staff presenting the different new features as “never-seen-before” with all their possible eloquence, I find myself hardly impressed. Indeed most of these new features presented where “deja-vu”, in my opinion. However, I won’t say the conference was overall boring. Though most of the announcements made weren't “innovative”, Apple was still able to surprise me by pulling out some features I wish were also present on Android which I will discuss in today’s post.


1.Sign in With Apple

At times you wish to test new services, but don’t want to go through the burden of typing your names, email address and retyping passwords and other mandatory fields. So you just sign in with your Google account or Facebook, but at the same time, you don’t want these services to bombard you with promotional emails later on. This is where Sign in with Apple comes into play. It offers the same convenience as Sign in with Google/Facebook but is taking it a step further, reaffirming its stance on users’ privacy. Indeed Sign in with Apple does not share your email address with these platforms. Every platform gets a custom generated email address, so no two platforms will be able to track your usage across them. You can eventually opt out of this option. Also, you can use Touch ID or Face ID to authenticate yourself, so your email address doesn't get entered anywhere. This feature is so handy, but I, unfortunately, doubt Google or Facebook will ever consider this possibility as it will mean sacrificing precious email addresses. If you know you know.



2. Find My

Present on Android for as long as I can remember, but with a serious limitation which Apple is answering by making use of the numerous Apple devices out there. In emerging markets, for example, data can be very expensive, and you don’t always have the luxury to let it activated 24h/24 when you are out. Not only can you run out of data, but you can also run out of battery pretty fast. Hence if you are not like me, chances are you deactivate your mobile data when not in use. But what if you lose your phone? You can’t use find my device because your device was offline. Luckily for iPhone users, now Find My Device works with Bluetooth, to create an entire network of nearby Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, MacBook, iPod). Each device acts as a beacon, relaying its location, in an encrypted and anonymous manner, to other nearby Apple devices. This will piggy-back across the entire network and eventually reach you. This feature can even be more powerful on Android with the millions of Android phones out there. Google, you know what to do.


3.Optimized Battery Charging

Image credit: Apple Summit

According to some scientists, or most of them, charging your phone to 100% is bad for your battery, and is most of the time responsible for batteries’ depreciation. Now on iOS 13 and iPadOS, from the switch of a toggle, you can prevent your battery from charging up 100%. Your device will learn from your past behaviors and be charged up to 80% while filling the remaining 20% just before you unplugged it. This can be a nice feature to have.



4. Auto-Close Idle Tabs in Safari
Do you ever leave tabs open promising yourself you will come back and read their contents, but one year later, these tabs are still unopened and unread? Well, this happens to me very often, and I will like Chrome to close these tabs for me because eventually, I will never do it. Especially that the more the open tabs, the more RAM consumed by Chrome, and Chrome consumes A LOT. Now on iOS 13 and iPadOS, you can make Safari close idle tabs after one day, one week, or after one month.



5. Full-Page Screenshots

Now, iPhones, iPods, and iPads will support full-page screenshots with the upcoming iOS 13 and iPad OS. This feature was already offered on Android by some OEMs like Samsung notably, but are not natively proposed by Android. Despite users requests and complaints, Google initially assured it won’t come to Android any time soon because it was not feasible according to them. How is that even possible? Google never offered clear explanations about that. However according to some sources from the Google I/O 19, the feature may roll out on Android R, the successor of Android Q, hence we won’t have full-page screenshots natively on Android any time soon. A win for Apple.



6.Non-Destructive and Extensive Video Editing

Google Photo is probably one of the best photo app out there that lets you edit pictures, save it, but still go back to the original version whenever you want. Apple learned from Google and applies these same possibilities, but with videos. Now on iOS and iPadOS, you can rotate, flip, and apply all kinds of filters and effects, and there are many options for cropping vertically or horizontally your videos to any ratio you want. Finally, a simple reset button takes you back to the original video, even if you had already saved your progress. The Play Store is filled with apps that let you do all these, but having it natively supported by your phone saves you the burden of loading your phone with an app you’ll probably use once.



7.Share Audio with Another Person
Surely the most interesting feature announced at the WWDC19, and the one that will have every non-Apple users envious is the ability to share your music. No pairing needed, just bring a second set of AirPods close to the device, and your music will seamlessly be shared with your bestie.

In a similar fashion, you can now hand off music, podcasts, and phone calls from your iPhone to the HomePod by just getting it close when you arrive home or enter a certain room. Likewise, you can take your audio with you when you leave the same way. I don’t own a Google Home but if I ever owned one, this will be a feature I will love to have.



8. Mac Pro

Okay, I said 7, but this is very interesting and I couldn’t ignore this. The new Mac Pro is a literal stainless steel beast that weighs 18kg but that looks more of a cheese-grater. Under the hood, you will find an 8-core Intel Xeon 3.5GHz processor, with 32GB RAM (up to 1.5TB), 256GB SSD, and Radeon Pro 580X graphics card. Eventually, you can have similar configurations with Window PCs, but at a much more expensive price. Apple made the calculation, and it will cost you $8253, against $5999 for the Mac Pro. The choice is therefore rapidly made. Interesting to see Apple is aiming at cutting down the price of its new desktop computer, as historically it hasn’t been the case. Thumbs up to Apple!


That’s it for the 8 things announced at the WWDC19 I wish were present on Android/Microsoft. Despite not be impressed overall by the various announcements, Apple still managed to present some really interesting and nice features its competitors have been lagging to introduce on their platforms wonder why. Apple, therefore, was still able to make its platforms relevant and competitive, so as to retain its current user base and attract new users.

iOS 13 and iPad OS are presently available as beta which you can download for free (but beware, don’t download it on your main devices). The full versions will be available this fall, around the month of September.

iOS 13 will be available on the following devices:
-iPhone XS

-iPhone XS Max

-iPhone XR 

-iPhone X

-iPhone 8 and 

-iPhone 8 Plus

-iPhone 7 and 7 Plus

-iPhone SE 

-iPhone 6s and 6s Plus 

-iPod touch (7th-generation)

iPadOS will be available on the following:

-All iPad Pros

-iPad (6th generation)

-iPad (5th generation) 

-iPad mini (5th generation) 

-iPad mini 4 

-iPad Air (3rd generation)

-iPad Air 2

The iPhone X 64GB is actually on sale at Jumia for 465,000XAF, and the iPhone XS 512GB at 740,000XAF.

Apple WWDC19: What is Deja-Vue?

Apple’s WWDC19 event came to an end last week on Monday. It was the usual occasion for the giant to update the software for its range of products with its latest innovations...well, if we can still call these innovations....