There’s a lot to be excited about after Monday's announcement of iOS 7. Flashy new design! Panels! Automatic app updates! Voice calls over FaceTime! Such system-wide changes aside, some of the
biggest changes to iOS are found in Apple’s own mobile apps. Several of the stock Apple apps
for iOS are being revamped, gaining new features and deeper integration
with the Apple ecosystem.
But a more full-featured mobile platform wasn’t music to everyone’s
ears this week: As details of iOS 7 unfolded, the only thing some
third-party app developers could hear was a sad news,
That's because many of the features their apps provide will now be
built into iOS 7 or its apps. Here are some of the apps that could be
made redundant when iOS 7 arrives.
Streaming radio apps
iTunes radio, is Apple’s first dive into a streaming music service for iOS. Users can
listen to stations inspired by a particular track, artist, or genre,
and specify songs they like and songs they never want to hear again.
Apple has also created 200 featured stations, including Songs Trending
on Twitter, Summer Songs, and Artists on Tour. Now there's a concept
we’ve never seen before!
Oh, wait. Yes, we have. It’s called Pandora.
iTunes Radio certainly
won’t kill off Pandora, but it will offer some enticing perks to those
who already use iTunes. The service will be available on mobile devices,
desktops, and Apple TV. It’ll be built right into Apple’s Music app on
iOS 7 and into a future version of iTunes. Every streamed song will
include a purchase link, making it easy to add that track to your
personal iTunes account. Plus, it’ll be a key feature of iTunes, which
means it’ll be free, and Apple made no mention of a daily or monthly
streaming cap.
Unfortunately, iTunes Radio includes audio ads, but so does Pandora.
But if you’re an iTunes Match subscriber, you'll be able to listen to
iTunes Radio ad-free.
Flashlight apps
iOS 7 will feature a new utility in its toolbox: A flashlight app
that makes use of the iPhone’s built-in camera flash. An App Store
search for flashlight yields 1273 results; that’s 1273 apps
that will basically perform the same function as something that will
now come standard with iOS. Most of these flashlight apps are free, but
some range in price from $1 to $3. Your days are numbered, Flashlight, Flashlight+ and Flashlight!!.
Whether the weather is cold…
Apple’s Weather app does what it’s supposed to: it tells you the
current and projected weather forecast for locations around the world.
But it does so without much pizzazz. Its city profiles and weather info
are a little lackluster, with the daily or hourly forecast providing
only basic temperatures and conditions.
Other weather apps, such as the Weather channel and Forecast io,
have long overshadowed Apple’s Weather. They have neat animations, more
detailed forecast info (things like wind speed and humidity levels),
and a more enticing design overall.
That will change with iOS 7, because the stock Weather app is getting
a dramatic facelift. Weather details will appear over a large graphic
of current weather conditions, which sometimes feature animation. (Apple
senior vice president Craig Federeghi demoed the app with a stormy sky
complete with flashing bolts of lightning.) Users can still save city
profiles, which are displayed as stacked tiles with an overview of
current conditions in each city. The new design looks sleek and elegant,
with more detailed information to boot.
One weather app that is sure to suffer is Yahoo Weather. Apple still
pulls weather information from Yahoo, and the new Weather app's design
looks oddly similar to the standalone Yahoo Weather app for iOS . (Is it any coincidence that Apple just gave that Yahoo app an Apple design Award?)
Although it still isn’t quite as detailed as other offerings, Apple’s
built-in app should provide users with a better weather experience than
before.
Photo filters
Even though Instagram
is the undisputed king of filters, the App Store still has plenty of
other photo apps designed to provide these retro special effects.
They're probably most attractive to users who want the fun filters, but
don’t want to play by Facebook’s rules and iffy privacy standards.
But with iOS 7, iPhoneographers won’t need to rely on another camera
app just for filters, because Apple’s Camera will include a pack of
built-in filters that can be applied to your photos. You can choose a
filter before or after a photo is taken, and if you don’t like the
outcome, you can remove the filter or try a different one. Camera even
includes a square-shaped shooting format, which eliminates the need to
manually crop a photo in Instagram if you do want to share it there
later.
The new version of Camera will come with only nine filters to start—a
modest collection when compared to those dedicated utilities—but they
can be used with Camera’s other settings and shooting styles. Photo
enthusiasts will want to hold on to more professional photo apps, such
as Camera+ or Camera awesome,
which include a bevy of camera settings and shooting modes that Camera
doesn’t offer. However, casual photographers will likely find Camera to
be a joy to use. Lesser-known filter apps, such as Pixlr-o-matic, Camera Bag, and PhotoToaster, face some tough times ahead.
Password management
OS X Mavericks, The next installment of Apple's non-mobile operating system,
will include a new feature called iCloud Keychain, Apple’s solution to
multiple password management. iCloud Keychain will remember website
logins, credit card information (but not your security code), and Wi-Fi
logins, and will integrate with Safari on your Mac. Safari will remember
your password for you, or autosuggest a new password, and then sync it
to your unique Keychain. iCloud Keychain syncs all of this information
across all of your devices—including those running iOS—encrypted and
securely.
This could create some steep competition for third-party password management software developers.
Until now, Mac users have largely had to rely on password managers—like 1Password—to
store and sync our passwords, but now we'll have an alternative that
doesn't cost anything extra. (1Password, on the other hand, costs $50
for a single Mac license and $18 for iOS.) Though third-party password
managers offer additional features—they work with multiple browsers, for
example, and provide different ways to create secure passwords—many
standard Mac and iOS users will probably find that iCloud Keychain suits
their needs just fine.
Innovation is key
Users who already have these third-party apps installed might be
inclined to keep them around, but also might find that they don't use
those apps as often once iOS 7 comes along. My guess is that these types
of apps will see fewer App Store downloads after the launch of iOS 7
later this year—if their developers stand still and make no dramatic
changes to their apps. But by the same token, these new standard Apple
features could also inspire those same third-party developers to
innovate and make their existing apps better to remain competitive.
editors note-Updated on June 13 00:50 a.m. PT to add correct price information for 1Password. Prices
listed above reflect the full price, but 1Password is currently being
sold at a 50 percent discount..