iOS 11 Said to Add FLAC Support, Bring More Controls for AirPods

Apple introduced the latest iteration of its mobile operating system yesterday and while iOS 11 will be widely rolling out to the users in fall, developers have already got their hands on the preview version of the platform. As you might expect, they have now uncovered some of the new features that went unannounced in the tightly packed keynote at WWDC 2017. Among the new additions, developers have found out that iOS 11 brings native support for FLAC files as well as new controls for company's AirPods.

While there were third-party applications already available on iOS that allowed users to play FLAC files, with iOS 11, Apple has introduced full playback support for the file format if a Reddit user is to be believed, as pointed out in a report by The Next Web. The support for FLAC files was first spotted by the aforementioned Reddit user on an iPhone 6s Plus smartphone running iOS 11 Beta 1. The functionality is reportedly available as part of the file management app, Files, which was announced by the company in its keynote.

Separately, but still in the audio department, with iOS 11, Apple has added new controls to the AirPods as well as provided new functionality to the wireless earphones. While users could earlier only double-tap to either activate Siri or play/pause audio, with the new version of iOS, they will get controls including Next Track, Previous Track, and Off, reports 9To5Mac.

Further, Apple has now allowed users to assign particular functionality to individual earpieces of AirPods. This means that you can double-tap to play/pause from one piece and double-tap on another to change the track or switch it off.