Apple just launched iOS 7.1 with a number of changes, the most noteworthy of which are performance improvements and some slight tweaks to the user interface. In general, however, it includes a lot of new features, like CarPlay support, which was just launched week. Also, you can now manually control Siri by holding down the home button while you speak, and then lifting it up when you're finished talking. iTunes radio now supports the ability to purchase songs, there's also a new month view in the calendar, in addition to support for different holidays depending on the country you live in.
Apple made some accessibility tweaks, too. If you choose the bold font, you'll now find that the text inside of the calculator and keyboard are also now bold. Animations for multitasking, weather and messages can now be toned down with the reduce motion toggle switch. Inside the camera, there's an option to turn on HDR automatically, though that feature requires an iPhone 5s.
As expected, Apple also made tweaks to the Touch ID sensor, hopefully preventing an issue that was causing it to forget registered fingerprints over time. There are plenty of other changes, so here's the full changelog:
CarPlay
- iOS experience designed for the car
- Simply connect your iPhone to a CarPlay enabled vehicle
- Supports Phone, Music, Maps, Messages, and 3rd-party audio apps
- Control with Siri and the car's touchscreen, knobs, and buttons
Siri
- Manually control when Siri listens by holding down the home button while you speak and releasing it when you're done as an alternative to letting Siri automatically notice when you stop talking
- New, more natural sounding male and female voices for Mandarin Chinese, UK English, Australian English, and Japanese
iTunes Radio
- Search field above Featured Stations to easily create stations based on your favorite artist or song
- Buy albums with the tap of a button from Now Playing
- Subscribe to iTunes Match on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to enjoy iTunes Radio ad-free
Calendar
- Option to display events in month view
- Country specific holidays automatically added for many countries
Accessibility
- Bold font option now includes the keyboard, calculator, and many icon glyphs
- Reduce Motion option now includes Weather, Messages, and multitasking UI animations
- New options to display button shapes, darken app colors, and reduce white point
Other
- New Camera setting to automatically enable HDR for iPhone 5s
- iCloud Keychain support in additional countries
- FaceTime call notifications are automatically cleared when you answer a call on another device
- Fixes a bug that could occasionally cause a home screen crash
- Improves Touch ID fingerprint recognition
- Improved performance for iPhone 4
- Fixes display of Mail unread badge for numbers greater than 10,000
- Continued user interface refinements
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