Developer insight: The lowdown on iOS 13

Apple’s thirteenth major iOS release doesn’t bring any of the sweeping wholesale changes that we saw with earlier versions. This is very much an iterative update with a few performance improvements – the Photos app has gained some new features and is now a bit slicker, the Messages app has been updated and the way Apple is packaging apps on its App Store has changed. Apps are now 40-60% smaller, meaning they will load faster and use up less space.

While there are no headline-grabbing changes, there are a few bigger features that might impact the gaming industry.

Going dark

In Apple’s time-honoured tradition of keeping up with Android, iOS 13 introduces Dark Mode, enabling users to choose dark backgrounds and light text in app screens and the operating system itself. Removing the glare caused by bright white backgrounds provides a more pleasant user experience and increases engagement, especially during night-time usage. At least 60% of users try dark mode when it’s made available to them so the main driver for Apple here is to give users the option and to help developers get that engagement increase.

Last month’s Android 10 release saw Dark Mode included in that update, but its implementation has been pretty poor. There’s still no Dark Mode option for Gmail which is obviously one of its major apps. They seem to be taking more of a piecemeal approach with Dark Mode while Apple has released it across its entire OS.

Swipe away

Swipe keyboard has been available on Android and across most manufacturers’ devices for quite some time while Apple has been pretty far behind the curve. iOS 13 finally sees Apple users being able to use Swipe keyboard, making it quicker to select individual keys by swiping across the screen instead of tapping. The lack of Swipe keyboard will have deterred Android users from switching to iOS and this will have been a big driver for Apple implementing this.

Users can now choose to sign-in to apps and services using their Apple ID rather than signing in through Google, Facebook or their email address. This will become mandatory (it should be already but Apple has allowed a short grace period), so any app in the App Store will have to give users the option to sign in with Apple ID. This should give users peace of mind as it’s superior to other social sign-ins when it comes to security features.

Android obviously operates from an open source code while Apple has been pushing to lock down its iOS ecosystem. This can of course be a detriment to developers, but the pay off is that peace of mind when it comes to security.  Apple Sign In also keeps users’ email addresses private using a private email relay server, adding an additional layer of security to the sign-in process.

13.1 has been iOS 13’s biggest surprise

The developer community will have been surprised to see that iOS 13.1 was released earlier this week. There’s usually a period of around six weeks between the initial update and any large follow-up releases and you would only expect to see incremental patches released at this point, so it’s clear there have been a few major issues already. Apple has had to urgently fix a security exploit that allowed third parties to access users contacts without a pin. It also had to fix issues around battery drain and wireless networks. This definitely feels like a drop in the level of quality we’ve come to expect from an Apple update.

It’s been a while since Apple has unveiled any ground-breaking changes with its latest update and looking at how things might evolve with iOS 14, it’s difficult to envision any major changes as we’re at a stage where iOS and Android have essentially reached feature parity. We are seeing significant performance increases on Apple’s new devices which could bring features from console games to mobile gaming such as more use of anti-aliasing as well as real-time shadows and reflections appearing in games. This won’t be anywhere near the quality of a PC or console game, but it would be an exciting development.

Arran Kirkup, head of client engagement, joined Indiespring in 2018. Brought in to head up the companies QA department, he has also designed, implemented and launched a new Mobile Assurance Program to give the business the ability to provide world class testing to its customers with mobile applications. He is now utilising his extensive background in account management to ensure customers have a chance to feedback on app performance.