iOS 13: Apple brings Dark Mode to iPhones and multitasking overhaul to iPads

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  Apple Senior VP Craig Federighi unveiling iOS 13's dark mode. [credit: Ron Amadeo ]

SAN JOSE, Calif.-Apple executives took the stage today at the San Jose Convention Center to walk onlooking members of the press and developers-not to mention thousands of livestream viewers-through iOS 13, its new major software update for iPhones, iPads, and iPods.

iOS 13 will introduce Dark Mode to those devices for the first time. Apple brought Dark Mode to Macs via macOS Mojave last year, to much fanfare. As was the case there, Dark Mode doesn't actually change anything about the interface-just the aesthetics. Apple showed Dark Mode running on the company's first-party apps for news, calendar, messages, and more. Dark Mode may also save battery life on devices with emissive OLED displays-savings like that were discovered in our own tests comparing Android devices with LCD and OLED displays. But we'll have to test the new OS to be sure.

Every iOS update brings changes to key apps made by Apple itself, and most of the apps included with a new installation of iOS have seen some changes. Mail now allows you to mute certain conversations. Maps has a new, easier way of accessing saved locations. The upgrade to Apple Maps will bring far more detail to the overhead view of roads and landmarks, with this rolling out to the entire United States by the end of 2019 and "select countries" next year.

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