While Apple is expected to preview iOS 7, the next iteration of its mobile OS, at the upcoming WWDC event, more details about the operating system's new design have appeared.
According to 9To5Mac's
sources, iOS 7 will be "black, white, and flat all over." The site reports that Apple's been constantly revising the user interface of the OS internally before it's finally revealed at the WWDC in June, so there could be many changes.
The report also offers some additional details about the UI changes. It mentions that Apple is coming up with a new Lock Screen interface and is likely to replace the shiny, transparent time bar that we see on the Lock screen with a shine-free, black colour interface. It will also swap the square-grid prompt for entering the Lock Screen pin code with round, black buttons that feature white text and white borders.
The report cites sources to inform that Lock Screen notifications might come with support for new gestures.
It also adds that the Notifications drop down will include new panels including new widgets and a panel with toggles for Wi-Fi, Airplane Mode, and Bluetooth. New widgets and settings toggles are a few things that iOS users have been asking for since a long time and other platforms including Android and even Symbian offer these to make user experience less cumbersome. It also suggests that the drop down Notification Center will become dark grey/ black with white text instead of the current dark linen textured background.
While the Home Screen's design is expected to remain the same, iOS 7 is expected to bring support for panorama wallpapers which has been present in Android. Users can set one large image as a wallpaper panning across all home screens.
The Home screen app icons will not be shiny and will lose shadows and gloss, though the buttons will still be round, as per the report.
Apple is likely to redesign native app icons with flatter, less skeuomorphic textures and the Camera, Game Center and Photos apps will sport new 'flat' icons.
Apple will also make changes to navigation and tab bars removing gradient textures in iOS7. However, the keyboard would remain more or less the same but would sport a lighter shade of grey, as per the website's sources.
The report also indicates that Apple has redesigned its apps inline with the conservative white, black, and flat theme of iOS 7. Apple might include a more uniform design though each native app is likely to have its own theme. The Weather app, App Store, Newsstand, Game Center, Safari and Camera are some of the apps that are likely to see a major redesign. It also suggests that Apple could bring a separate FaceTime app for the iPhone.
In addition to design related changes, iOS 7 is also expected to bring updated developer-focused features according to the site.
It's possible that the new version of iOS would first release for the iPhone as Apple is prioritising it over iPad's software. iOS 7 is likely to release in fall with a new iPhone.