What does iOS7 mean to our mobile app?

iOS7 is here and it is surprising how many apps are still not following the iOS7 paradigms.

In this post, we will delve into details about what iOS7 may mean to your app on the App Store. And we will make you (the Product Manager) ask the right questions from your Engineering and Design teams to ensure you can correctly prioritize the requirements for this important launch.

UI Guidelines

The major rule is "Content is King" (similar to Cash in King on Wall Street ;); translucency, whitespace, colored interactive elements, borderless buttons, and system fonts support the "Content is King" philosophy; layers help show more content relevant to the content in focus; transitions while zooming in/out of content uses depth and layers.

Multitasking

Multitasking introduced in iOS7 will allow a user to easily switch to a recently used app. 

There are many other features that you can read yourself in developer.apple.com.

iOS7 questions to ask your Engineering & Design Teams

1. Does our app use standard UI elements that are part of the UIKit? If not, this is the opportunity to make these standard, unless the app is a game or requires custom UI for some reason.
2. With multi-tasking introduced, 
• Does our app handle more frequent interruptions? Note: If you have audio in the app, pay specific attention here
• Does our app behave "responsibly" when not in the foreground? 
• Can our app handle double high status bar?
3. With the new notification center,
• Are there actions our app should use local notifications for? Note: most likely, you are already doing this if this is applicable to you.
• Are there actions our app should use push notifications for? Note: most likely, you are already doing this if this is applicable to you.
4. Choose the appropriate Status Bar color scheme for our app. Also, consider actions when users can use the full screen and avoid the Status Bar.