Inside iOS 11: Cover Sheet mimics lock screen, foretells swipe up to unlock for iPhone X

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in iPhone
The launch of iOS 11 brings about a convergence of the iPhone's Notification Center and Lock Screen for a new feature called Cover Sheet. Presenting a user's notifications and other events, the feature also offers a glimpse at how the new home-button-free iPhone X will work when it debuts in November.




There are two types of downward swipes in iOS. A swipe from the middle of the screen brings up the integrated search menu, and Siri App suggestions window. Swiping down from the top of the screen induces the redesigned Cover Sheet.

Left - swipe from center of iPhone SE screen, Right - swipe from top of screen
Left - swipe from center of iPhone SE screen, Right - swipe from top of screen


The new Cover Sheet looks exactly like the Lock Screen complete with your wallpaper, with all of your recent notifications from all sources. As with the Lock Screen, notifications are grouped by date.




Tapping a notification generally opens it up in the relevant app -- in this case, a notification from AppleInsider about the iOS 11 release. Other notifications expand the preview in a relevant app, or may give the option to reply to a message-sender.

And, like with the iPhone X, to dismiss the notifications and return to the home page, you swipe the Cover Sheet up.

Notifications can be a useful, condensed source of information at a glance. But, too many Notifications can confuse the matter, and prevent you from seeing what you want, when you want.

Dealing with the flood

Apps generally ask permission to send the user notifications. If a device is used by multiple people, such as the family iPad Pro that we're using as an example, the variety of notifications can get oppressive, limiting the use of not only the Cover Sheet, but notifications as a whole.

To cut these back, tap on the Notifications settings item. Inside are all of the installed apps on a device, and options.




The follow-on screen gives all manners of configuration options for each type of notification, all the way from not allowing them, down to where they are shown and how they are displayed.


Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    cbrownx88cbrownx88 Posts: 6member
    Lets make notifications and the lock screen look identical, cuz thats not a security issue. BRILLIANTLY stupid.
  • Reply 2 of 10
    mwhitemwhite Posts: 287member
    cbrownx88 said:
    Lets make notifications and the lock screen look identical, cuz thats not a security issue. BRILLIANTLY stupid.
    Was you looking in the mirror and talking to your self when you wrote this? Troll
    caliwatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 10
    cpsrocpsro Posts: 3,198member
    A key element of speed and convenience possibly missed in the article is that on pre-X iPhones, if one pushes a lock-screen notification to open it in the respective app, it's necessary to make a Touch ID gesture to unlock the phone. With the iPhone X, I presume Face ID obviates the need for an extra gesture and the X will go straight to the app.
    caliStrangeDayscornchip
  • Reply 4 of 10
    peterhartpeterhart Posts: 157member
    What does "show history" mean in the notifications page for an app? Different from "show on lock screen," but does anyone know how?
  • Reply 5 of 10
    PabloTresUnoSeisPabloTresUnoSeis Posts: 114member
    Not a fan of this implementation. User-unfriendly. Very confusing. As confusing as when Bruce Jenner transitioned to Caitlyn. Wished they would just keep it simple and use a solid white or black color background.
    edited September 2017
  • Reply 6 of 10
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,861administrator
    cpsro said:
    A key element of speed and convenience possibly missed in the article is that on pre-X iPhones, if one pushes a lock-screen notification to open it in the respective app, it's necessary to make a Touch ID gesture to unlock the phone. With the iPhone X, I presume Face ID obviates the need for an extra gesture and the X will go straight to the app.
    Yeah, the actual lock screen behavior is beyond the scope of this piece, but we have talked about that.
  • Reply 7 of 10
    propodpropod Posts: 67member
    The “today view” has changed behavior, when you sweept down in iOS10 you got directly to “today view” if that was the last view you had. It was very handy to get to “today view” directly when swiping down, I constantly copied text from one program, swiped down and pasted it directly to iTranslate widget. Now you have to swipe down then right every time you go back and fourth between a program and “today view”
  • Reply 8 of 10
    larryalarrya Posts: 606member
    This “cover sheet” is almost unusable now on my iPad Air 2. I absolutely cannot scroll without activating the item I’m touching to perform the scroll. And it’s not as though there’s another choice for doing this. You have to touch them to scroll - you cannot use the margins.  Are others finding the same thing?
  • Reply 9 of 10
    cornchipcornchip Posts: 1,948member
    I didn’t mind the way the old system just blurred the background. I don’t hate the new way, but I’m not really sure why they did that. Will take a little getting used to.
  • Reply 10 of 10
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    cbrownx88 said:
    Lets make notifications and the lock screen look identical, cuz thats not a security issue. BRILLIANTLY stupid.
    Apple develops the most secure OSes in the world. Get outta here with your stupidity. 
    watto_cobra
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