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iOS 10.1 arrives with iPhone 7 Plus Portrait Mode and lots of fixes

An overview of iOS 10's first major update.

Apple has just posted the final version of iOS 10.1, the first major update to iOS 10 since it was released a month and a half ago. The update's biggest addition is exclusive to the iPhone 7 Plus—it unlocks the "Portrait Mode" feature, which uses data from the main lens and telephoto lens to simulate the depth-of-field effect you often see used in professional photography.

Unlike last week's iOS 10.0.3 release, iOS 10.1 is available for everything that runs iOS 10: the iPhone 5 and newer, the fourth-generation iPad and newer, the iPad Mini 2 and newer, both iPad Pros, and the sixth-generation iPod Touch. The build number, 14B72 on older iDevices and 14B72c on the 7 and 7 Plus, is identical to the beta build that was released last week, so if you're enrolled in Apple's public or developer beta programs, you already have the final version of the update.

There are plenty of other fixes and tweaks in iOS 10.1, and for your convenience we've included the full release notes below. We've also spent some time with Portrait Mode on the iPhone 7 Plus, and we've included some sample shots to show you the kinds of pictures that are possible with the new feature.

Hands-on with Portrait Mode

Portrait Mode is clearly labeled as a "beta," so Apple's algorithms for combining images from the 7 Plus' two cameras may change subtly as iOS is updated. But here's the kind of thing you can expect as you begin to take shots: first, you won't always be able to take Portrait Mode shots if conditions aren't ideal. iOS will warn you if you're too close to the thing you're trying to photograph, for instance, or if your light is too low.

Second, while these shots are quite a bit better than what we've seen in the past in other phones (HTC's One M8 is probably the most notable example), you are going to be able to find problems in many shots if you're zooming in and looking for them. It's not difficult to find small blurred bits in foreground objects or little patches of sharpness in what ought to be a blurred background. In particular, the camera has trouble with transparent or translucent objects, and the less light you have, the worse things are generally going to look.

All things considered, though, most of these shots look good enough for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any of the other social photo-sharing services where so many phone pictures end up. Especially when you’re shooting outdoors in the daylight, the pictures actually look pretty good.

All Portrait Mode shots are automatically taken with the “telephoto” lens, since the image from the standard non-telephoto lens is being used to distinguish between the foreground and background layers. When you take a Portrait Mode shot, your phone saves both the blurred and the standard telephoto image. So even if your Portrait Mode shot doesn’t come out looking great, you still have the original to work with. The iOS Photos app makes it clear when you’re looking at a Portrait Mode image by adding a “Depth Effect” stamp to them, similar to the stamp that tells you when a picture is using HDR.

You shouldn’t run out and buy an iPhone 7 Plus just for Portrait Mode, but as an added bonus on top of the telephoto lens, it’s not half bad. Just don’t go in expecting miracles or hoping to toss out your DSLR.

Notable tweaks and complete release notes

For convenience's sake, we've pasted the full release notes for iOS 10.1 below. Major fixes include improvements to Bluetooth connectivity for third-party accessories, Japanese public transit directions in Maps, and iCloud backup support for the names of people that you enter into the Photos app. Users with the "reduce motion" setting enabled can also see iMessage effects now (though they can still be disabled), and the UI for choosing stickers has been tweaked to look less busted for people with lots of sticker apps installed.

The full release notes are below:

Camera and Photos

  • Introduces Portrait Camera for iPhone 7 Plus that creates a depth effect that keeps your subject sharp while creating a beautifully blurred background (beta)
  • People names in the Photos app are saved in iCloud backups
  • Improved the display of wide color gamut photos in the grid views of the Photos app
  • Fixes an issue where opening the Camera app would show a blurred or flashing screen for some users
  • Fixes an issue that caused Photos to quit for some users when turning on iCloud Photo Library

Maps

  • Transit support for every major train, subway, ferry, and national bus line, as well as local bus systems for Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya
  • Sign-based transit navigation including layouts of all underground structures and walkways that connect large transit stations
  • Transit fare comparison when viewing alternative transit routes

Messages

  • New option to replay bubble and full screen effects
  • Messages effects can play with Reduce Motion enabled
  • Fixes an issue that could lead to contact names appearing incorrectly in Messages
  • Addresses an issue where Messages could open to a white screen
  • Addresses an issue that could prevent the report junk option from displaying with unknown senders
  • Fixes an issue where videos captured and sent in the Messages app could be missing audio

Apple Watch

  • Adds distance and average pace to workout summaries in the Activity app for outdoor wheelchair run pace and outdoor wheelchair walk pace
  • Fixes issues that may have prevented Music playlists from syncing to Apple Watch
  • Addresses an issue that was preventing invitations and data to appear in Activity Sharing
  • Fixes an issue that was allowing Activity Sharing to update over cellular when manually disabled
  • Resolves an issue that was causing some third-party apps to crash when inputting text

Other improvements and fixes

  • Improves Bluetooth connectivity with 3rd party accessories
  • Improves AirPlay Mirroring performance when waking a device from sleep
  • Fixes an issue where playback would not work for iTunes purchased content when the “Show iTunes Purchases” setting is turned off
  • Fixes an issue where certain selfie apps and face filters used with the FaceTime HD Camera on iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus did not display a live preview
  • Fixes an issue in Health where individual strokes are converted to separate characters when using the Chinese handwriting keyboard
  • Improves performance of sharing websites from Safari to Messages
  • Fixes an issue in Safari that caused web previews in tab view to not display correctly
  • Fixes an issue that caused certain Mail messages to be reformatted with very small text
  • Fixes an issue that caused some HTML email to be formatted incorrectly
  • Fixes an issue that in some cases caused the search field to disappear in Mail
  • Fixes an issue that could prevent Today View Widgets from updating when launched
  • Fixes an issue where Weather widget sometimes failed to load data
  • Fixes an issue on iPhone 7 where Home Button click settings would not appear in search results
  • Fixes an issue that prevented spam alert extensions from blocking calls
  • Resolves an issue that could prevent alarm sounds from going off
  • Fixes an issue where audio playback via Bluetooth would cause the Taptic engine to stop providing feedback for some users
  • Resolves an issue preventing some users from restoring from iCloud Backup

Listing image by Andrew Cunningham

Channel Ars Technica