16 things you didn't know about iOS 7, Apple's new operating system

THE iPhone 5S and 5C finally hit the shelves in Australia, check out the awesome features you didn't know about the iOS 7 operating system.

THE big day is finally here.

After more than a year of rumour and speculation, the iPhone 5S and 5C have finally hit the shelves. At 8am AEST the Sydney Apple Store threw open its doors to iPhone fanatics. While not as lengthy as last year, the line at the George St store was still 500 strong and was already rolling around the corner at opening time. The line began forming around midday yesterday as Apple fans camped with hoodies, rugs and paper bags of McDonald's for sustenance. News.com.au spoke to Jimmy Gunawan, the first person in line , who said he queued to test his stamina. He told news.com.au he was buying the iPhone 5s because it was better than the 5C. His favourite feature? "The AirDrop ... because it lets you share images and video easily across my devices".       His decision to buy the 5S instead of the 5C was shared by many others in the line. News.com.au was met with jeers from the crowd when we asked them whether they wanted to purchase the 5C. "The iPhone 5C is just the 5 wrapped in plastic," said Bob, an IT contractor who skipped work to be here and lines up each year. "I'm meant to be in a meeting." Bob said he was buying the iPhone 5S for its "new technology". "I've got the 5 at the moment and I've always wanted to upgrade," he said. "I'm upgrading for the finger print scanner and the new (A6 chip). Two IT consultants, Aaron and Kieran, also said they planned to get the iPhone 5S. Their favourite feature was the fingerprint scanner. Kieren told news.com.au that buying the 5C was a "waste of time" but said he was impressed that app developers had already updated their programs in preparation for Apple's new operating system, iOS 7. Fellow IT worker Paul Payne queued since early in the morning and said he liked the multi-tasking features and speed of iOS 7. "It's fast, it's easy, my five-year-old can use it so that's great," he said. And then there's Bruce, who may just be the best dad in the world. Bruce queued up at the Apple store from 6am so that he could buy a 5S for his 16-year-old daughter for her birthday. "She's going overseas next week and instead of a camera she's going to be taking the iPhone 5S with her," he told news.com.au. The phone was meant to be a surprise but unfortunately she found out about it, Bruce said. Never mind, we still think you're tops Bruce. Kieran Egan is an avid Apple fan who was so keen he set up a developer account just so that he could get the new operating system iOS7 three months earlier than the rest of us. Not that he has actually created any apps yet. His favourite feature: the multitasking. "It's better because it lets you see which apps are actually running instead of just the wiggly apps down the bottom of the screen," he said. The iOS 7 upgrade caused excitement and some angst among users. This morning tech sites reported that Jose Rodriguez, 36, from Spain's Canary Islands, had found a way to break though the operating system's passcode feature. With a simple set of swipes he was able to bypass the lockscreen to gain access to the phone's control centre and to email, Twitter, and photos. He shared the video here:     While the demand for the operating system sent the tech giant's servers into meltdown , causing delays and download failures, news.com.au had a play, trying to discover all the hidden features that may not be immediately obvious to users. Here are 16 things you didn't know iOS 7 could do:   1. Regular time stamps One of the most frustrating features of Apple's old operating system was the infrequent time stamps featured in the messaging app. With iOS 7 you never need question what time you sent or received that message ever again. Every single text is delivered with a timestamp next to it.   2. Toggles for everyone Finally! Apple has fixed one of the most annoying issues with its operating system, cutting down the effort to access basic functions such as accessing wi-fi, bluetooth, aeroplane mode and music. Now instead of having to go into settings to change these features, or tap into music to change your playlist, just swipe up to access a new control panel. The new panel gives you instant access to buttons for aeroplane mode, wi-fi, camera, clock, calculator, bluetooth, music, do not disturb, a slider for brightness and media control. It also has a flashlight button. Nifty.   3. Someone annoying you? Block them Everybody has that person they just don't want to hear from. But until now there has been no way to block phone numbers on the iPhone. With iOS 7 Apple has finally introduced a way to block calls, texts and FaceTime-ing. To block calls go to settings > phone > blocked. To block text messages go to settings > messages > blocked. To block FaceTime calls go to settings > FaceTime > blocked. The downside is once you block someone from calling you, they also can't text or FaceTime you. Or if you block someone from FaceTime-ing you then they can't call or text you either. Choose carefully.   4. Siri searches for tweets On top of your standard web searches, and things such as movie times and restaurant reviews, Siri now searches tweets and displays them within the Siri interface. No more switching between Siri and your web browser of choice. Siri can now also display images from Google and Bing within its interface.   5. Teach Siri to speak properly, pedant Siri is a great little know-it-all but her ability to pronounce basic words that you take for granted is a little lacking. Now you can call Siri out on her elocution issues and train her to pronounce words correctly.   6. Tweets you may have missed Within the Safari bookmark menu is a little @ symbol which, if you click on it, will display tweets from your Twitter feed that contain links. It's a great way to catch up on tweets you may have missed while you were busy having a life. But why this feature is hidden within Safari's bookmarks and not somewhere more visually prevalent is a mystery.   7. Save your data, block apps from using 3G/4G Data consumption is one of the biggest issues facing iPhone users today. If you're worried one of your apps is chewing through your data you can block it from working over 3G or 4G, ensuring the only time it works is when it has wi-fi access. Simply go to settings > cellular and scroll down to view a list of apps which use the most data and select which ones you want to block.   8. Bubble compass If you find yourself lost in the bush and your saviour is Apple's Compass app, you'll be happy to know you can now also work out if you are on level ground. Swipe to the second page and the app contains a "bubble interface" which lets you measure whether a surface is level or not. Handy to architects and builders. Save your self $2. Never go looking in the app store for a spirit level app ever again.   9. FINALLY! Unlimited app folders! Apple's old operating system already let you group apps into folders but until now, each folder could hold a maximum of 16 apps. In iOS 7, Apple has lifted the cap on app folders, meaning you can chuck as many apps as you like within a folder. It's amazing it took this long really, but we're glad Apple came to its senses.   10. Spotlight search goes front and centre Previously if you wanted to use Apple's Spotlight search you had to swipe to the right from the home screen. Now the search function is available on every page. All you have to do to bring the search bar into view is swipe downwards.   11. Automatic app updates Until Apple released iOS 7, if you wanted to update your apps you had to click into the App Store and hit the update button. With iOS 7 you can set your phone to automatically update every app. Just go to the App Store settings and choose automatic updates. Worried about chewing through your data? Fear not. There is also a separate button to prevent your iPhone from updating your apps while you're using 3G or 4G.   12. Wish yourself happy birthday Tell your iPhone your birthday and it will send you a lovely message on the day, congratulating you on surviving another year of being alive. Also if you give Siri your address it will provide you with traffic updates tailored to your area in the notification centre's 'Today' screen. Giving Siri your address has additional benefits, like she can sense when you're home and remind you to do things as you step in the door. Yeah, Siri can be a bit of a nag.   13. Tell Big Brother to go away Last year Apple quietly introduced a feature that tracked your browsing activity in order to deliver targeted advertising to your phone. Naturally, this made folks a little paranoid and annoyed that Apple snuck this one through the back door without properly informing users. The option to disable this feature used to be hidden within the 'About' menu in the settings app. Apple has now moved this feature to the privacy category in settings. To prevent prying eyes from spying on your browsing history, go to settings > privacy > limit ad tracking and hit "on".   14. Closing apps gets a little tricky     It used to be that when you closed an app you either tapped the home button or held your finger over an app and waited for the little X icon to appear. That has all changed with iOS 7. To close an app, double tap the home button to bring up a carousel of side-scrolling apps which are running in the background, and swipe up on the screenshot of the app you want to close. Closing apps you're not using will help to preserve battery life so it's best you learn how to do this early on. This carousel also doubles as a multi-tasking menu that lets you switch between apps. Pretty handy.   15. New and improved photo gallery Until now the iPhone's photo gallery has been one long grid of photos you scroll through. Now the photo app organises your photos into 'Moments' and 'Collections' which show images by day and location. The photo app also contains a 'Years' view which, as the name implies, shows you every picture you took over an entire year. If you hold your thumb over the collection of images you can preview individual photos and then jump right to them.   16. Camera app has been blunged out Users can now take rapid shot photos by tapping the shutter button. The camera app also features a 'square' option which comes with built-in features so you can take photos already designed for Instagram. The app also features a HDR mode which you can toggle on and off. You can also take photos while you're recording video, a feature which is very similar to a feature on HTC's android phone. Watch this space. We sense a lawsuit coming.