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Apple iOS 7.1 update officially released with CarPlay support

iOS 7.1

Apple has finally released the final version of its iOS 7.1 update

Originally predicted to arrive in time for SXSW then later debunked, Apple has at last released the final version of its iOS 7.1 update for its mobile devices.

The update to iOS 7, which has been in development for months and in beta since November, brings a whole host of stability improvements, security fixes and UI tweaks to Apple’s iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Apple TV products. Although Apple hasn’t explicitly mentioned so, it is believed the update carries a fix for the TouchID Fade bug experienced by some iPhone 5s owners. It also fixes the reboot loop issue we originally reported in January.

Visual changes can be seen in the phone dialler app, which now has rounded UI elements to match other areas of iOS. The Music app now gives the shuffle and repeat buttons more prominence, and the shift and delete keyboard keys should be a little easier to use. Finally, it’s now more obvious how to disable wallpaper motion, for anyone that was getting motion sickness from the constantly moving background images.

iOS 7.1 also adds support for the recently announced CarPlay feature, which puts familiar iOS apps and services on your car dashboard. Despite the fact there are currently no cars on the market to support CarPlay, last week’s Geneva motor show saw several manufacturers including Volvo, Honda and Jaguar pledge to introduce CarPlay-enabled vehicles in 2014 and beyond.

If you own an iOS device and want to upgrade, you’ll need a whopping 1.9GB of free space in order to make room for the update. We’ll be trying it out on a range of devices overnight to see whether the new OS makes any major performance differences.

Did you have problems with reboot loops on iOS 7, and has iOS 7.1 fixed it? let us know on twitter

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