iOS 7.1 Beta 3 Tidbits: Revamped Keyboard, Darker Icons, New Phone Look, and More

Earlier today, Apple released the third beta of iOS 7.1 to developers, which included both bug fixes and a number of visual changes that give several aspects of iOS 7 an entirely new look and feel. For example, the Phone dialer has been revamped with new buttons and several icons have had their color toned down, making iOS 7 less neon.

We've rounded up all of the visual changes that have been found in the iOS 7.1 beta thus far, creating an overview of what iOS 7 might look like in just a few months if the revisions make it into the final public release.

Keyboard: The keyboard in iOS 7 has been slightly revamped, adding a slight boldness to the font and a new design to the delete and shift keys. It also incorporates a somewhat darker, less yellow gray tone. Overall, the keyboard changes have the effect of adding contrast and making the letters easier to see.

ios71keyboard

iOS 7 keyboard on the left, iOS 7.1 keyboard on the right

Icons: The green color in the Phone, Messages, and FaceTime apps has been toned down and is now darker, especially at the bottom of the icons. This introduces a less neon coloration to iOS 7, cutting down on some of the operating system's brightness.

newios7colors

Darker iOS 7.1 icons on the top, brighter iOS 7 icons on the bottom

Phone: The Phone app has seen the biggest changes, with a renewed focus on simple, circular buttons. The standard incoming call screen with rectangular buttons has been replaced with a black background and two round Accept and Decline icons.

incomingcall

New incoming call buttons

The "Call" and "End" buttons visible on the dialer have also been replaced with circular icons.

phonedialer

iOS 7 dialer on the left, iOS 7.1 dialer on the right

Wallpaper: When selecting a new wallpaper, users can now choose to turn the parallax effect on or off.

Control Center: Control Center's brightness and volume sliders now maintain momentum when they are flicked, a new feature that fits in well with a previous bounce animation added in iOS 7.1 beta 2.

Shut down: The power off screen when shutting down the phone has a new look that does away with the red "slide to power off" and cancel tabs first introduced with iOS 7. The new design includes a power button icon at the top and a cancel icon at the bottom.

slidetopoweroff

Slide to Power Off in iOS 7.1

Accessibility: A New option has been added in the Accessibility's Contrast menu, allowing users to reduce iOS 7's white point. This feature joins both the "Button Shapes" and Darken Colors options that were added in an older iOS 7.1 beta.

Music: The Music app has new shuffle and repeat buttons that are more prominent, and iTunes Radio has a revamped "New" button.

musicios71

iOS 7 buttons on the left, iOS 7.1 buttons on the right

According to a recent report from BGR, iOS 7.1 may not make it to consumers until March, indicating that the software will see a lengthy beta testing period. Beta 3’s release notes indicated a number of known issues that remain with iOS 7.1, suggesting that the update is not yet ready for the public.

Related Forum: iOS 7

Popular Stories

15 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

18 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.1

Monday October 21, 2024 1:44 am PDT by
Apple is expected to release iOS 18.1 on Monday, October 28, bringing the first set of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update marks the first significant step forward in Apple's AI integration, offering a new Siri contextually-aware experience and a range of additional capabilities powered by on-device machine learning and large language models. There are a ...
Tim Cook Vision Pro

Tim Cook Admits Truth About Vision Pro Following Lackluster Sales

Monday October 21, 2024 8:21 am PDT by
The Wall Street Journal's Ben Cohen this summer interviewed Apple CEO Tim Cook about the Vision Pro, innovation, Apple Intelligence, and more. Image Credit: Vanity Fair Cook admitted that the Vision Pro headset is not a mass-market product due to its high price. "At $3,500, it's not a mass-market product," said Cook. "Right now, it's an early-adopter product. People who want to have...
airpods pro 2 pink

Apple Releases New AirPods Pro, AirPods, and AirPods Max Firmware

Tuesday October 22, 2024 11:39 am PDT by
Apple today released a new firmware update for the original AirPods Pro, the AirPods 2, the AirPods 3, and the Lightning version of the AirPods Max headphones. The new firmware is version 6F21, up from the prior 6A326 firmware that these devices were previously running. There is no word on what's included in the firmware, but given that these are all older models, it is likely that the new...
apple vision pro orange

Report: Apple May Stop Producing Vision Pro by the End of 2024

Wednesday October 23, 2024 6:11 am PDT by
Apple has abruptly reduced production of the Vision Pro headset and could stop making the current version of the device completely by the end of 2024, The Information reports. Citing multiple people "directly involved" in making components for the headset, the report says that the scaling back of production began in the early summer. This indicates that Apple now has a sufficient number of...
M4 Mac mini Silver Perspective

5 Reasons to Get Excited About the New Mac Mini

Wednesday October 23, 2024 6:55 am PDT by
Apple's Mac mini has long been a powerhouse in a compact form, offering impressive performance in a small package. With rumors swirling about a completely overhauled new model that is likely just days away from being announced, anticipation is building for what Apple has in store. From enhanced connectivity to major hardware upgrades, the upcoming Mac mini promises to bring significant...
M4 Mac mini Ortho Black Cooler

Gurman: 'M4 Mac Launch' is 'Next Week'

Tuesday October 22, 2024 10:29 am PDT by
Just a few hours after claiming that the first Macs with M4 chips are launching "very soon," Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has followed up with a slightly more specific timeframe. In his latest social media post today, he said an "M4 Mac launch" is on Apple's schedule for next week, but he did not mention a specific day. A concept of a smaller Mac mini with front-facing USB-C ports "Busy week for...
m3 mbp space black

Gurman: New MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac Mini Models With M4 Chips Launching 'Very Soon'

Tuesday October 22, 2024 7:11 am PDT by
Apple is planning to launch its first Macs with the M4 series of chips "very soon," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In a social media post today, Gurman said these Macs will include new MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac mini models specifically. He continues to expect the next Mac mini to feature a "revamped" design, in line with his previous reporting that said the new model will be nearly...
mac magic keyboard

Apple Working on New Magic Mouse 2, Magic Trackpad 2 and Magic Keyboard

Monday October 21, 2024 10:59 am PDT by
Apple may soon release new versions of the Magic Mouse, Magic Keyboard, and Magic Trackpad, according to code found in the iOS 18.1 release candidate by MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. There are references to a new Magic Mouse 2, Magic Trackpad 2, and several Magic Keyboards, which would include versions with Touch ID and number pads, as well as models without. While there is no...
airpods pro 2 hearing aids

Apple Confirms AirPods Pro 2 Hearing Features Launching in iOS 18.1 Next Week

Monday October 21, 2024 5:32 am PDT by
Apple will release iOS 18.1 next week, introducing a suite of advanced hearing health capabilities to the AirPods Pro 2 and the first Apple Intelligence features. The timing of the update was confirmed by reviewers who were given early access to the AirPods Pro 2's new hearing health features, which are now known to be included in the update. The update will include three core features:...
Whatsapp Feature

WhatsApp for iOS Gets New Home Screen Widget for Chats, Camera Updates

Monday October 21, 2024 2:37 pm PDT by
Popular messaging app WhatsApp was today updated to add a new Home Screen widget that's specific to chats. The widget is available on the iPhone after updating to version 24.21.81, which came out this afternoon. After updating the widget can be added to the Home Screen using the Edit interface. Users can choose from Recents, Favorites, Pinned, or Frequently Contacted to get quick access to...

Top Rated Comments

NYR99 Avatar
141 months ago
Not really digging the smaller 'call' button...

Everything else is ok though.
Score: 57 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Polaroid Avatar
141 months ago
REALLY hate that shut off screen, very horrible to look at, looks like a cheap/rushed theme.
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kwikdeth Avatar
141 months ago
get back to me when there's some news on stability and usability. seriously? a slightly different hue of green? unreal.
Score: 32 Votes (Like | Disagree)
teejaysyke Avatar
141 months ago
Ew at everything.
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bushido Avatar
141 months ago
those random big circles on the dialer and call screen give me OCD. seem so out of place and remind me of that horrible facebook home launcher on android ^^
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Millah Avatar
141 months ago
wow !

and nobody thought apple could innovate! :D


seriously though these changes are so minor it's a joke.

Apple needs to take a cue from Google and push larger changes on a more frequent manner.
Redesigning the entire operating system apparently isn't "big" enough. While Google's been sitting on Android 4.X for years now.

Yep, you're so totally right. Not saying 4.1-4.4 haven't included some neat features, but they've slowed down substantially since releasing 4.0. Mainly because they found a good design and didn't want to fix something if it wasn't broken. You know, kinda like Apple did from iOS 1-6. And now that they HAVE done a substantial overhaul with an entirely new design personality as well as some substantial and incredibly powerful new APIs, you're saying Apple isn't "pushing larger changes"

Lol.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)