I always find it helpful to sum up what’s new in a release, and I can never remember where to find such documents once a release has happened.
So here it is, Apple’s “biggest and best ever release”, iOS 11.
General changes
iOS 11 requires Xcode 9+ to develop your apps. It is the first major release to drop support for 32 bit binaries. The following devices are supported in iOS 11:
- iPhone 5s and above
- iPad Air and above
- iPhone 5, 5c and lower are no longer supported
- iPad 4 and below are no longer supported
This release also drops native support for integrated services such as Vimeo, Flickr, Facebook and Twitter.
The iCloud Drive app is removed and replaced with the new Files app.
New frameworks we can tinker with are:
- ARKit for Augmented Reality (requires devices with A9 chip and above)
- Core ML for Machine Learning (identifying shapes in images, or words in sentences)
- Depth API to access the dual cameras on iPhone 7, 8 and X
- Core NFC for (limited) access to the NFC chip in most devices