For those of you who own Apple products, especially and iPhone, you may have already downloaded and installed the latest update.

Generally, I wait until the bugs are worked out of any new release as there’s almost always bugs but I decided to take the plunge sooner rather than later primarily due to my having some issues. My hope was the update would fix these issues.

So, today I downloaded the updated IOS 13.1.1. I am learning about the many new features this update has.

I have already seen a few changes that I can tell I will like but also a few that have me a little puzzled as to why they were a part of the update. My hope is to learn a little more and share but also encourage you to leave comments on your experience and thoughts as well.

For those of you who prefer the swipe keyboard (you put your finger on the first letter then ‘swipe’ the word to type it out, you’ll be happy to know this is now native to this update. Personally, I’ve never latched on to this way as typing so, for me, won’t change anything.

I love to use emoji’s with my family and friends especially if I want to emphasize a feeling. Now you can use ‘Memojis’….cute little characters you can design to look like you or you can have fun with this feature and add all kinds of crazy things. This is a cool feature that is now native so you don’t have to purchase an app for that.

This update now offers what is referred to as a ‘dark’ mode. This lowers the brightness of your screen and apps. I tried it but only briefly. Just didn’t feel natural to me but you can set this to only turn on at night or other custom times that work for you. I’ll have to play around with this more before I make a firm decision.

One of the best things you can now do with your friends or significant other is connect not one but two pairs of AirPods. This can be extremely helpful while flying, working out at the gym or doing other things where sharing the same music, webinar or audible book just sounds better with two people sharing the experience. Don’t have AirPods? Powerbeats Pro headphones work too so you do have another choice.

One thing I have not tried is the sharing of my phone’s hotspot. I’ll have to share more on this in a future post.

These are just a few of the new things I’ve found in my research so far and know there are more out there such as the changes in how emails are handled, the ability to have your tasks stay on your main screen on your iPad and more. (I don’t see the tasks choice on the iPhone, most likely due to the smaller screen).

Bottom line? I’ve only had a short amount of time to discover all of the changes that came with this update but I hope these few help you navigate the new features just a little easier.

Please feel free to leave comments on your experience and if you are a fan or maybe not so much. I encourage you to share your discoveries as well. I know I continue to discover new things for some time after a new update is introduced. The main thing though is to just have fun!