Prepared By Toseef Khilji

iOS ( iPhone Operating System) is Apple's mobile operating system. Originally developed for the iPhone, it has since been extended to support other Apple devices such as the iPod touch, iPad and Apple TV. iOS is the operating system that runs on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad devices. This operating system manages the device hardware and provides the technologies required to implement native applications.

The operating system also ships with various system applications, such as Phone, Mail, and Safari , that provide standard system services to the user.
iOS is the operating system at the heart of iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad devices. iOS is derived from Mac OS X.

The operating system was unveiled with the iPhone at the Macworld Conference & Expo on January 9, 2007, and released in June of 2007. At first, Apple marketing literature did not specify a separate name for the operating system, stating simply that the "iPhone runs OS X". Initially, third-party applications were not supported. As per Steve Jobs idea , On March 6, 2008, Apple released the first beta, along with a new name for the operating system: "iPhone OS".

In June 2010, Apple rebranded iPhone OS as "iOS". The trademark "IOS" had been used by Cisco for over a decade for its operating system, IOS, used on its routers. To avoid any potential lawsuit, Apple licensed the "IOS" trademark from Cisco.

Symbian Android Blackberry Windows Mobile iOS(iPhone OS) Samsung Bada

Company / developer Programmed in OS family

Apple C, C++, Objective-C Mac OS X/BSD/Unix-like

Working state
Initial release Supported platforms Kernel type Default user interface Official Website

Current
June 29, 2007 ARM (iPhone, iPod touch, iPod, and 2nd gen Apple TV) Hybrid (XNU) Cocoa Touch (Multi-touch, GUI) apple.com/ios

Version 3.1.3

Supported devices iPhone and iPod touch (1st generation)

4.2.1
4.2.10 4.3 4.3.5

iPhone 3G and iPod touch (2nd generation) CDMA iPhone 4

Apple TV (2nd generation) iPhone 3GS, GSM iPhone 4, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPad and iPad 2 Apple TV (2nd generation), iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 (GSM and CDMA), iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPad and iPad 2

5.0

The kernel in iOS is based on a variant of the same basic Mach kernel that is found in Mac OS X. On top of this kernel are the layers of services that are used to implement applications on the platform.

Cocoa Touch Layer

In the Cocoa Touch layer, most of the technologies

use Objective-C. The frameworks at these layers provide the fundamental infrastructure used by your application.

Media Layer
the Media layer contains the fundamental

technologies used to support 2D and 3D drawing, audio, and video. This layer includes the C-based technologies OpenGL ES, Quartz, and Core Audio.

Core OS and Core Services Layer

The Core OS and Core Services layers contain the

fundamental interfaces for iOS, including those used for accessing files, low-level data types, Bonjour services, network sockets, and so on. These interfaces are mostly C-based and include technologies such as Core Foundation, CFNetwork, SQLite, and access to POSIX threads and UNIX sockets among others.

Homescreen
The home screen displays application icons and a dock at

the bottom of the screen where users can pin their most frequently used apps. The home screen appears whenever the user switches on the device or presses the "Home" button .

Included applications
The iOS home screen contains these default "apps". Some

of these applications are hidden by default and accessed by the user through the Settings app or another method for instance. Phone Mail Safari iPod

Multitasking
Apple worried that running multiple third-party

applications simultaneously would drain batteries too quickly. Starting with iOS 4, on 3rd-generation and newer iOS devices, multitasking is supported through seven background API.
Background audio Voice over IP Background location Push notifications Local notifications Task finishing Fast app switching

Switching applications
Double-pressing the home button activates the

application switcher. A scrollable dock-like interface appears from the bottom, moving the contents of the screen up. Choosing an icon switches to an application. To the far left are icons which function as music controls, and a rotation lock. Holding the icons briefly makes them wiggle (similarly to the homescreen) and allows the user to quit the applications.

The iOS architecture is similar to the basic architecture found in Mac OS X. At the highest level, iOS acts as an intermediary between the underlying hardware and the applications that appear on the screen, as shown in following Figure.

The applications you create rarely talk to the underlying hardware directly. Instead, applications communicate with the hardware through a set of well-defined system interfaces that protect your application from hardware changes. This abstraction makes it easy to write applications that work consistently on devices with different hardware capabilities.

iOS is the worlds most advanced mobile platform, redefining what can be done with a mobile device. The iOS SDK combined with Xcode tools make it easy to create apps that perform feats never before attempted. The iOS Software Development Kit (SDK) provides everything you need to get started creating iOS applications.

The iOS SDK comes with all of the interfaces, tools, and resources needed to develop iOS applications from your Intel-based Macintosh computer.

The iOS SDK contains the tools needed to design, create, debug, and optimize software for iOS. It also contains header files, sample code, and documentation for the platforms technologies. The iOS SDK contains the tools and interfaces needed to develop, install, run, and test native applications. Native applications are built using the iOS system frameworks and Objective-C language and run directly on iOS.

 Xcode an integrated development environment

that manages your application projects and lets you edit, compile, run, and debug your code. Xcode integrates with many other tools and is the main application you use during development.

Interface Buildera tool you use to assemble your user interface visually. The interface objects you create are saved to a special type of resource file and loaded into your application at runtime. Instrumentsa runtime performance analysis and debugging tool. You can use Instruments to gather information about your applications runtime behavior and identify potential problems.

 iOS Simulatora Mac OS X application that simulates the iOS technology stack, allowing you to test iOS applications locally on your Intel-based Macintosh computer.

iOS Developer Librarythe reference and conceptual documentation that teaches you all about iOS technologies and the application-development process.

iOS supports the development of two types of applications:

Native applications Web applications