Apple releases iOS 7.1 with CarPlay support, performance improvements

PanARMENIAN.Net - Following a lengthy beta testing period, Apple rolled out iOS 7.1 to the public, marking the first major update to iOS 7 since its September release, MacRumors reports.

The update includes much-needed improvements to the Touch ID fingerprint recognition system built-in to the iPhone 5s, an update for a home screen crashing issue, and it brings CarPlay support, which was first unveiled by Apple last week.

Apple has launched a new website page that shows off some of the additions to iOS 7.1.

The update also includes multiple visual tweaks, such as revamped shift and caps locks keys on the keyboard, refined icons for the Phone, FaceTime, and Messages apps, and a redesign for several aspects of the Phone dialer and shutdown screen.

Accessibility has been improved with a new "Button Shapes" option that indicates where tappable areas are located, a "Darken Colors" option, and an enhancement to Contrast allowing users to reduce iOS 7’s white point.

A multitude of minor improvements to enhance the performance of the operating system have also been bundled into the update, such as new bounce animations in Control Center, more prominent buttons in the Music app, and a new event list view within the Calendar app, according to MacRumors.

iOS 7.1 can be downloaded via the software update tool in the settings menu on iOS devices. Users on devices upgrading from iOS 7.0.6 are seeing file sizes of approximately 268 MB, while those upgrading from a beta are seeing larger downloads of 1.3-1.4 GB. Users who are still on iOS 7.1 beta 5 should upgrade to the full version of iOS 7.1 as the betas do not include features like the SSL fix released in February and a finalized version of CarPlay.

Apple has also launched a new update for the Apple TV and Xcode 5.1, with bug fixes, improvements, and new Auto Layout constraint inspector, and Quick Look support in the debugger for custom object types.