iOS (formerly known as iPhoneOS) is a proprietary mobile operating system developed by Apple for its mobile devices. It provides an operating interface for many of the company's mobile devices. Supported devices include iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

iPhoneOS has been renamed iOS since iOS4. It is the second most popular mobile operating system in the world after Android. Its market share has risen to about 20.4%, but it is still far lower than Android. 76.8%·.

iOS was originally launched with the iPhone in 2007 and expanded to support other Apple devices, such as the iPod touch (September 2007) and iPad (January 2010). As of January 2017, Apple's AppStore offers more than 2.2 million iOS applications, of which 1 million are native applications for iPad. These mobile apps have been downloaded a total of more than 130 billion times.

The user interface of iOS uses multi-touch for direct operation. Interface control elements include sliders, switches and buttons. Controls on the operating interface include sliding, clicking, pinching and reverse pinching.

All of these are specifically defined in the iOS operating system and its multi-touch interface. The built-in speed sensor can be used by some apps to respond when the device is shaken (a common result is a restore command), or rotated in three dimensions (commonly used to switch screen modes between portrait and landscape). Apple is greatly appreciated for integrating accessibility features into iOS, allowing users with visual or hearing impairments to properly use its products in an accessible environment.

Major versions of iOS are usually released once a year. The current version is iOS12 released on September 17, 2018. It works on all iPhone 5s and later models with 64-bit processors, iPad (5th generation), iPad Air and later models, all iPad Pro models, iPad mini2 and later models, and iPod touch (6th generation)? iOS equipment.

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Market

After Android, iOS is the second most popular mobile operating system in the world. iPad sales have also lagged behind Android in recent years, although via web use (which is what all agents use), iPads using iOS are still the most popular.

As of the end of 2011, iOS accounted for 60% of the smartphone and tablet market. In mid-2012, 410 million devices were activated. At WWDC 2014, Tim Cook claimed that 800 million devices had been sold in June 2014. As of the end of 2014, iOS accounted for 14.8% of the smartphone market, and 27.6% of the tablet and 2-in-1 market.

In January 2015, during Apple's quarterly earnings call, the company announced that it had sold more than 1 billion iOS devices since 2007.

In February 2015, website traffic analysis tool StatCounter reported that 23.18% of smartphones and 66.25% of tablets worldwide used iOS, as measured by Internet usage (non-sales).

In the third quarter of 2015, according to research from Strategy Analytics, the iOS adoption rate in the global smartphone market hit a record low of 12.1%, which was attributed to lackluster performance in China and Africa. Android accounts for 87.5% of the market, while the remainder is taken by Windows Phone and BlackBerry.

Software updates

Apple provides major updates to the iOS operating system through iTunes every year. Starting from iOS5 and higher, they can be downloaded through OntheAir. The first iOS version was released at the 2007 Developer Conference (WWDC) and was officially launched on June 29 of the same year. Initially, Apple did not give the operating system released with the iPhone an independent name. It was not officially named iPhoneOS until 2008, and was renamed iOS in June 2010.

iOS must be verified by Apple servers before it can be updated in iTunes (iOS5 and above versions can also be verified through iCloud), and can be used after automatic synchronization.

At WWDC in 2013, Apple released iOS7. This version completely changed the user interface, transforming the original graphical style into a flat style.

Initially, iPod Touch owners had to pay for system software updates due to accounting rules that prevented the device from being a "subscription device" like the iPhone or Apple TV, requiring payment for major updates to the device. However, requiring payment for upgrades keeps iPod Touch users away from updates.

In September 2009, Apple temporarily approved changes in accounting rules, which had a significant impact on Apple's earnings and stock price, and allowed iPod Touch to receive free updates.

The latest version is iOS12 released on September 17, 2018. It applies to all iPhone 5s and later models with 64-bit processors, iPad Air and later models, iPad Pro, iPad mini 2 and later models, and iPod touch (sixth generation).