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  1. What Is
March 27, 2017

What is iOS?

There are numerous versions of it, running on over one billion devices around the world - but what exactly is iOS and what does it stand for?

By James Nunns

iOS is Apple’s operating system.

First released in 2007, iOS is written in multiple language and only runs on the company’s products such as iPhones, iPads, and iPods.

After Android, iOS is the most used mobile OS on Earth, available in 40 different languages. It is written in C, C++, Objective-C and Swift. The OS is closed source instead of open source and it is based on the Macintosh OS X.

The first iOS was released in June 2007, when the first generation iPhone was also released by Steve Jobs. In fact, iOS stands for iPhone Operating System.

Before launching the iOS, Apple had to contact Cisco who was the owner of the brand. Cisco’s iPhone was a VoIP-based product launched in 1998.

Cisco rebranded the device’s named to Linksys in 2006, just before Apple announced the iPhone. The dispute between the two companies was only resolved four months before Apple’s launch in June 2007.

Further versions of the OS have been released in July 2008, June 2009, June 2010, December 2011, September 2012, December 2013 and September 2014.

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What does Siri stand for?

There have been numerous versions of iOS, with updates of the software usually detected by the device automatically. The user usually just needs to follow the on-screen instructions to update the device’s OS.

iOS includes different features such as gesture recognition, Apple’s Safari web browser, integrated search, integrated camera and video as well as a media player. All sorts of apps are also available through the Apple App Store.

One of the major features of the system is the Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface, also known as Siri.mnhvhgfcjbh

The artificial intelligence personal assistant was launched in 2011 and uses natural language user interface to answer questions posed by the user.

It also makes recommendations and can perform tasks explicitly set by the ‘human’, such as playing a specific music track or running the web browser with a specific search term dictated by the user.

Since the introduction of the iOS, Apple has also launched the watchOS, for its smart watches range and the tvOS for AppleTV. Siri is available on all of them.

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