Apple's Google Now Competitor 'Today' Features Traffic Information on Frequently Visited Locations

In iOS 7, Apple has included a new Notification Center feature called Today, which the company says is designed to provide users with the day's events at a glance, including information like birthdays, weather details, and traffic reports.

We've unearthed additional details about how Today works, including how Apple gathers information to provide traffic details on frequently traveled routes. In the location settings section of iOS 7, there’s a new feature called "Frequent Locations," which Apple says "suggests locations of interest based on historical location usage."

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Frequent Locations stores information about locations that have been visited multiple times and it appears to pair with another "Traffic" setting to provide commute details on locations a user visits on a regular basis, as seen in the screenshot below. It is unclear, however, if these traffic notifications appear based on the time of day. For example, they could appear only during a morning or evening commute to work.

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Users have found other interesting items in the 'Today' panel, including a suggestion of an early bedtime for an upcoming busy day.

gotobed
It appears that location settings in iOS 7 have a wide range of capabilities, which could see the Notification Center including even more detailed information as iOS 7 evolves. In a report earlier today, The Next Web estimated that iOS 7 would see a number of design changes before being released this fall. We have additional details on iOS 7, including major changes, small updates, and new APIs.

(Thanks Olivier and John!)

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Top Rated Comments

crossifixio Avatar
158 months ago
I found this amusing as well! My phone is telling me to go to bed!
Score: 45 Votes (Like | Disagree)
musika Avatar
158 months ago
This is the kind of stuff I like to see Apple adding to iOS. The today feature is great. It also tells you what time your alarm is set for, too.

Love it.
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gmanist1000 Avatar
158 months ago
This is direct competition to Google Now. I like it :)
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
_Refurbished_ Avatar
158 months ago
"Today, you can go on MacRumors to complain about iOS 7 icons."

- Scott Forstall's iPhone
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Analog Kid Avatar
158 months ago
You mean that it is a perfect rebrand of Google Now... right?

It seems from now onwards we don't need to guess any rumour for future updates... just list the most popular ones after each new version... and there you go, implemented in the next innovative, amazing, incredible, phenomenal, never seen before iOS
hopefully this "borrowing of idea" will finally end the ..."Google, Samsung, Android, etc, etc, copied/stole from Apple/iOS garbage...
so when everyone else does it is stealing, copying...etc - but when it is Apple we need to use "competitor"

I guess the dumbing down of Apple by iOS is almost complete.
Can we please put an end to this nonsense? I'm so tired of having to read through dozens of "who stole what from whom" posts. Apple innovates. Google innovates. Google Now was innovative. Today innovates on top of Now. You're not going to win this argument. Nobody is. Can we stop?

This argument doesn't even belong in this thread. If the thread was "Apple wins innovation award for Today feature", then you'd have a beef. It's not. This thread is about including traffic information in a feature that is similar to one provided by Google. Most people don't really care where the good ideas come from-- they just want to benefit from as many as possible. If you're carrying in a grudge from another thread, please just quote this article in that thread and continue your argument there.

If you're going to come into an Apple oriented forum and complain about a perceived bias in language, you're going to get laughed at for expecting anything different. If you're going to complain that an Apple marketing person keeps marketing Apple as innovative, you're going to get laughed at for expecting anything different. If you think you're going to change the behavior of Apple marketing by posting to a forum, you're going to get laughed at for trying. If you think you're going to make Apple fans change their language by shouting into the wind you're going to get laughed at for trying.

Please. Stop. Everyone.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DisMyMac Avatar
158 months ago
Great feature. Reminds me of this....

Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)