Review: Apple iOS 6

When iOS first arrived in 2007, Apple's fledgling mobile operating system had a whole lot of Google in it. Several of the iPhone's key features – maps, web search and a native YouTube app – were born of this corporate partnership. It was the dawn of a new mobile era, and things were rosy.

A few years in, the atmosphere between Apple and Google had become strained. And today, with Android having evolved into an industry powerhouse, relations between the two titans have grown positively icy.

With version 6 of iOS, released last week, Apple has finally gathered Google's belongings and deposited them on the curb. Gone are the Google-powered maps, replaced by an application of Apple's design. The YouTube player is history. And Apple has rolled out Passbook, its own system for storing tickets and loyalty cards that looks like it will eventually grow to compete directly with Google Wallet.

Even the general systemwide refinements in iOS 6 – and there are over 200 to savor – have the whiff of battle. Siri's voice-command system is improved, as expected with Google Now hot on its tail. iCloud integration across the OS is smoother, showing Apple intends to make cloud-based services as integral a part of its business as possible to compete with Android's seamless syncing abilities.

All these changes point to a stronger, fully home-grown iOS in the future – and importantly for Apple, one unencumbered by legacy apps from a former ally. But for now, the wounds of separation remain raw.

Also Read Our iPhone 5 Review
The greenest part in iOS 6: Maps. Apple's first stab at its own mapping app has some showy features, like turn-by-turn navigation and 3-D flyovers, which are particularly slick on the iPhone 5's speedy A6 processor. But the gloss is off Maps thanks to the sheer number of reported quirks, bugs, and inaccuracies in its location and directions.

Built on top of Tom Tom's less-robust mapping data, searches for one address or destination can take you somewhere else entirely. In my own tests, a search for a familiar street landed me three blocks over. Labels are sometimes off – since when does San Francisco have a French Quarter? Or a neighborhood just called "Bay Area?" Those realistic 3-D renderings in the app's "Flyover" mode, which were shown off to applause during Apple's public demos, sometimes fall flat. No, really: The Eiffel Tower literally lies flat across Paris.

3-D mode seems like a novelty, but it could come in handy for preparing you for what a destination looks like before you arrive (now that Google's street views are gone). However, the two-finger gestures for rotating and adjusting the angle of the 3-D renderings is tough to master.

Turn-by-turn navigation, something Android and Windows Phone have had for a while, is a big addition. It allows you to sit back and drive while Siri's robotic voice talks you through your journey, accompanied by visual cues on your lock screen. (Those with Apple devices lacking dual-core processors, like iPhone 4 and 3GS, don't get to enjoy the voice dictation feature or the 3-D maps.)

Aware of the possibility I'd wind up somewhere I didn't intended, I tested the turn-by-turn directions in San Francisco. They were accurate enough to get me around without getting lost. Other searches and directions queries in metro areas across the U.S. were mostly, if not entirely, accurate. With all the chatter in recent days about how horrible Apple's maps were, my experiences gave me some hope. And if you do find an inaccuracy, you can tap "Report a Problem" to give Apple feedback on your specific finding. Apple says it will be crowdsourcing these corrections to improve its Maps in the future.

There's a big sticking point, however – the new Maps does not provide public transit directions. Tap the bus icon at the top, and the app prompts you to download one of a number of "Routing Apps," like The Transit App or Embark, to fulfill those needs. Some would call this an elegant work-around, but as somebody who takes the bus a lot, I call it a pain in the ass.

There's one feature in Maps I really liked. For information about businesses and restaurants, it uses Yelp, showing the name, the rating, and the number of reviews a place has when you tap its placeholder on a map. (There are different icons for restaurants, coffee shops, gas stations, and medical facilities.) Up pops a card showing basic info, three reviews, and a subtly animated set of photographs. You can also check in with Yelp without leaving Maps. Places of interest, like San Francisco's Ferry Building, lack Yelp data, but the number of places that do have a useful amount of Yelp feedback makes the integration entirely worthwhile – except when the place information is out of date.

Passbook is Apple's first play in the e-wallet space. It's billed as an app that gathers coupons, tickets, loyalty cards and other sorts of traditional physical "passes" in one unified place, almost like Newsstand does for subscription periodicals. By dropping it onto the iPhone, Apple shows its intentions to eventually replace all the other things in your pockets with its singular device. But out of the gate, implementation is sloppy.

First, it doesn't collect your passes and tickets automatically. The main screen of the app explains what you can use Passbook for, but has no directions about how to fill it up. In actuality, developers with Passbook-appropriate apps must first update their apps to be compatible with Passbook. Of course, if you don't have those apps already, you'll need to download them from the App Store. Upon first install of iOS 6, you get an error with the app that says "Cannot Connect to iTunes Store" that's remedied once you download some Passbook-ready apps – whose passes don't just appear automatically, as you'd expect. For the Walgreens app, for instance, you have to sign up for a rewards account before you get the option to add it to Passbook. For Fandango, nothing shows up until you've purchased a movie ticket.

How We Tested
Apple's new OS arrives on every new iPhone, and I used my personal iPhone 5 for the bulk of this review. We also installed iOS 6 on an iPhone 4S and a third-generation iPad, both of which have enough processing power to take advantage of all the features. We also tested on an iPhone 4 and a 3GS, neither of which have Siri, the Panorama photo feature, or 3-D maps.After some initial confusion, Passbook behaves as expected. It grabs your GPS position, and the appropriate passes pop up on your lock screen when you get near a store location. Once you've used a pass, it's virtually shredded in a nice touch of skeuomorphism.

Passbook doesn't handle touch-to-pay cash transfers yet, nor can it open physical locks – both limits imposed by Apple's delay in adopting any hardware-based near-field communication solution. But looking at Passbook, especially in comparison to Google Wallet, you can see that window is open.

With iOS 6, Siri is actually something worth talking about. Or, more appropriately, someone worth talking to. Her talents, once limited to the iPhone 4S and the latest iPad, are now available for the third-generation iPod, fifth-generation iPod touch, and the iPhone 5.

Holding an iPad comfortably, about an arm's length away, Siri was able to understand my commands and queries just as well as if I were holding an iPhone closer to my face. Words in her dictionary are easily understood, but things like uncommon names still cause trouble (and of course, sometimes her query results are a bit lacking, especially if she misunderstands you).

Siri is integrated more thoroughly at the system level, though. It's super efficient to just ask Siri to open Netflix, Facebook, or whatever other app you want to use. You can dictate tweets and Facebook messages to her, and post straight from her interface. Siri's ability to search Yelp for restaurant and business information (and then source OpenTable for reservation information) is exceedingly helpful. I just wish you didn't get thrown out of Siri and into OpenTable to actually complete a restaurant reservation.

Siri's knowledge of sports and movies, and the breadth of queries you can ask about each, is also impressive. And of course, the quirky responses continue: When I asked Siri "What's your favorite movie?" she responded, "I don't watch a lot of movies, Christina." So, not 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Aside from making Siri smarter, Apple added numerous other features that, taken together, noticeably streamline the mobile experience. In the end, it's these niceties that really separate iOS from competing mobile operating systems.

The "Do Not Disturb" feature is my favorite of these new enhancements. You can schedule specific times when you want calls, messages, and alerts silenced, but with the option to allow repeat calls (in the case of an emergency) or calls from specific contacts to go through. It's easy to configure, easy to switch on, and a useful tool for when you don't want to be interrupted.

"Can't Talk Right Now" gives you more options than just ignoring an inconveniently timed incoming call. It integrates with Messages and Reminders, letting you choose to send a canned reply like "I'll call you later." It can also set a reminder to call the person back in an hour, or when you leave your current location. This sort of app-to-app coordination is something that was lacking in past versions of iOS.

Should You Upgrade?
We recommend upgrading all supported devices. iOS 6 ships with every iPhone 5, so if you bought one, you've already got it. If you've got an iPhone 4S or a third-generation iPad, you can upgrade and have access to all the new features. If you've got an iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, an iPad 2, or a fourth- or fifth-generation iPod touch, you should upgrade, but you won't get Siri, panoramic photos or 3-D maps. The iPhone 3G, the original iPhone, the original iPad and older iPod touches can't upgrade to iOS 6.In addition to OS-wide Twitter integration, which was introduced in iOS 5, iOS 6 adds Facebook integration. You can now update either network straight from Notification Center. It's great for impromptu sharing. There are some systemwide changes that come with Facebook integration, either pros or cons depending on how you feel about the social network: Your Facebook contacts are now integrated with your phone contacts, and Facebook events are added to the Calendar. If people's names differ between your current contact list and what's on Facebook, you can end up with dupes.

Photo Stream, an iCloud-based feature that lets you share and comment on photos with friends, is a great way to quickly share pictures with someone. But, it would be far more handy if you could also share with Facebook friends as a sort of instantaneous photo album that exists both in iCloud and on Facebook.

iMessage, the data-based SMS alternative Apple introduced with iOS 5, sadly continues to have issues. Theoretically, all of your iMessages are sent simultaneously to your iCloud-enabled Apple devices, and although it does a decent job of that most of the time, the service continues to be buggy. Some messages were delayed by minutes or hours in my tests. On the iPhone, I received notifications for some messages, then opened up the Messages app and they were nowhere to be found. In other cases, messages were delivered in duplicate. And more often, messages reverted to SMS despite both parties being on iPhones in data-supported areas. Until you see your friend typing back, you're left wondering if your message really went through or not – something I could see causing some friction in friendships and relationships, where one recipient could feel they're being ignored by the other, when in fact a message wasn't really delivered.

With iOS 6, you can also now make FaceTime calls over your cellular network – as long as that network isn't AT&T, and you're not on an iPhone 4, 3GS, or iPad 2. Trying out this feature with staff writer Nathan Olivarez-Giles' iPhone 4S on Sprint's 3G network, the only difference between cellular-based FaceTime calls and Wi-Fi was that the cellular call showed marginally more artifacting.

The default camera app can now take seamless panorama shots. You just activate Panorama mode, press the shutter, sweep the camera from one side of the scene to the other, then press the "Done" button. The app shoots a series of stills as you sweep, then stitches them together. The finished 28-megapixel product is impressive, and it works vertically as well as horizontally.

Overall, iOS 6 is an iterative update that brings with it a whole lot of improvements (over 200, in fact). Since we all knew about the biggest changes going in, there are very few surprises after you install it. You will notice some sanding and grooming, though, like the many interface tweaks in native apps. The App Store and iTunes get a much-needed redesign, and the styling in the music player introduces some subtle detailing that make the experience feel pleasantly polished.

If you have a dual-core iDevice – an iPhone 4S, or a second- or third-generation iPad – upgrading to iOS 6 is recommended. The new mobile OS provides a ton more functionality, and the missteps (as glaring as they are) will likely be fixed in future updates. Maps is the big exception here – there's no telling exactly when it's going to get better, or how substantial the improvements will be. It's also unknown at this point whether Google Maps will be made available as a standalone app. For now, you can use Google Maps' web interface if you miss the experience. It's not the same, but it's close enough.

For iPhone 4 and 3GS owners, the upgrade could be a mixed bag, as you'll get a neutered version of the experience (still no Siri, no 3-D Maps, no Google Maps, no Panorama camera mode). But overall, the experience was actually less buggy and sluggish than the latest version of iOS 5 was, so I'd recommend updating.

WIRED More polished and slick all around. "Do Not Disturb" and "Can't Talk Right Now" let you decide when you want to deal with calls, messages, and notifications. Privacy controls are more straightforward. Enhancements to the default image processing software noticeably improves camera performance. Ability to tweet or post to Facebook from Siri or Notification Center.

TIRED iMessage is still buggy – I ended up turning it off on my iPad. Maps app filled with so many inaccuracies, it's comical. Some landmark features, like panorama photos and 3-D maps, unavailable to iPhone 4 and 3GS users.