7 Reasons To Upgrade To iOS 7 (and 7 Reasons Not To)

With the release of iOS 7, many are left wondering, more so than with any previous release, whether, or why they should upgrade to iOS 7. In an effort to convince myself, I’ve created a list of seven reason why I would, and 7 reasons why I would not recommend downloading iOS 7 on to your iOS device.  Please give this a share, a like, a tweet, or a “+1” if you found this helpful, so that others can receive that same help.

7 Reasons Why You Should Upgrade To iOS 7

1. Greatly improved Multitasking: On the iPhone, and the iPad, multitasking has been made dramatically more efficient. For example, instead of viewing app icons when switching between apps, you can now view the full app, and slide through them, allowing fast switching from app to app.  A five finger gesture from any app on the iPad or iPad Mini allows for switching immediately between apps, and for getting to the home screen. These awesome gestures just about eliminate the need for the home button.

2. The New and improved Siri is faster and wittier. Her speech is now almost humanlike in fluidity, and her answers are far more accurate. Siri also has quite a new features, such as “lower the volume”, and “brighten the screen”, and “open CNN”. Siri can read tweets as well.

3. Control Center: I happen to adjust things like my screen brightness, and my orientation lock often. I’ve got habits, and prefered visibility, which I balance with battery, and other concerns. Control Center, a feature borrowed from Android, makes all of these activities much easier. Whether turning on and off airplane mode, lowering and raising brightness, or accessing the camera, flashlight, or stopwatch, Control center speeds up my day consistently, by putting these settings all in one place, available anywhere on my device with a single swipe.

   1. I’m including a “3.a” to highlight the newly improved notification center, available by swiping down from the top of the screen. It’s rather minor change, but apple has basically redesigned it to serve as a dashboard to your life, rather than your phone. You can instantly check messages, notifications, weather, and upcoming appointments, providing a perfect overview of your day. The notification center has changed from an occasional place to check, to a first-thing-to-check-in-the-morning HQ of your life.

4. Air Drop: Air Drop is another feature that I’ve been waiting for ages, and that you probably have too, without even knowing it. Air Drop allows device-to-device file transfer, meaning that you can easily transfer things like photos, documents, and videos right to your computer, or to another phone, and without Wifi or cellular internet. It seems like those technologies are rather ubiquitous, but in places like airports, and during times like week-long blackouts, this feature has been sorely missed in my life.

5. iTunes Radio: One of the most fantastic new features of iOS is the Pandora-like Itunes Radio. It’s got the same great Pandora experience, but it’s built right into Itunes, with better curating and saving features, and less intrusive ads. iTunes Radio is what Pandora should have been.

6. Improved Safari: Ever gotten stuck at the 8 tab maximum? I frequently max out my tabs in Safari, but the new Safari has no maximum. Tabs can finally be rearranged easily, and the new Safari experience is faster, and smoother.

7. Improved Photos and Camera apps: In the photos app, photos are now automatically sorted by date and location. New camera-editing features allow for easy filters, like instagram, and the new square photo mode makes for some interesting shots. Minor enhancements, but improvements nonetheless.

7 Reasons not to upgrade to iOS 7

You’ve heard the reasons why I recommend upgrading to iOS 7. iOS 7 isn’t for everyone though, and if these reasons worry you, or fit you, I would not recommend upgrading, at least just yet.

1. You’re very happy with iOS already. If iOS is already perfect for you, and you don’t feel like you need any of these new features, by all means, DON’T UPGRADE.

2. Your device is more than two years old. I wouldn’t recommend upgrading any iPhone older than an iPhone 4S, and any iPad older than an iPad 3 (although the iPad 2 would be probably be fine, if you really want it). The iPhone 4, for example, is missing a lot of the biggest features of iOS 7.

3. Your battery life isn’t good: New operating systems can often kill the battery of an older device, decreasing battery life often by as much as 20%.

4. Your phone is already slowing down: Because of the added stress on hardware of a new operating system, and increased use of RAM and processor, iPhones 4S and below will likely slow down on iOS 6 versus iOS 7. Because of the 5C’s similarity to the iPhone 5, neither phone will likely have any trouble with speed decreases.

5. You don’t like the new look. The infamous skeuomorphism of the past has been replaced with a minimalist, refined look. The colors are bright and solid, and the apps are designed to be as simple as possible. It’s a whole new experience, and it certainly takes adjusting.

6. You want everything to “just work”. Initially there will be bugs, as with any new operating system, and things may not always work as planned. If you’re not ready to handle that, wait a month or two before updating to iOS 7.

7. You’re jailbroken. For the jailbroken community of users out there, iOS 7 in its final release has not yet been cracked, or at least not well. If you want to stay jailbroken, you’re going to have to wait.

I’m Doing Both. Here’s my explanation.

I’m not leaning wholesale either way. After demoing iOS 7 on my iPhone 4 early, thanks to my developer account, I’ve decided that iOS 7 on the iPhone 4 just isn’t worth it. I’m also getting an iPhone 5S next week, so there’s no point in switching for just a week. My iPad mini, on the other hand, is more than capable of running iOS 7, and that was upgraded yesterday. I love iOS 7 on the mini, and I don’t on the iPhone 4.

What you do is up to you, but hopefully this guide was of help in making your decision. Please give this a share if you found this helpful, so that others can receive that same help.