The new look, featuring flatter icons, a new slide-to-unlock function, and new animations, was described by Ive as "profound and enduring beauty in simplicity."

The new design language was criticized, with critics noting the implementation of design changes rather than actual productivity improvements, and citing examples such as animations delaying access, lack of icon consistency, and buttons being hidden as negative aspects of the user experience.

With "sharper, flatter icons, slimmer fonts, a new slide-to-unlock function, and a new control panel that slides up from the bottom of the screen for frequently accessed settings," the operating system also significantly redesigned the standard pre-installed apps from Apple.

[4] Jony Ive, Apple's head of design, commented that "There is a profound and enduring beauty in simplicity, in clarity, in efficiency.

While speaking, visual vocal waves appear, that form into a spinning circle as the device communicates with Apple's servers.

The assistant can alternatively send the user directly to the settings menu if their query cannot be controlled by voice, or otherwise, displays an error if the request can't be processed.

[18] iOS 7 also allows the user to change Siri's gender, with new options for male and female voices.

[22] In Settings, users have the option to make custom vibrations for certain types of notifications,[23] turn off the parallax wallpaper animation effect using a Reduce Motion setting,[24] and block callers, with the block applying across multiple devices and apps, including Phone, Messages, and FaceTime.

[30] It also became possible to download older versions of apps, in case new iOS versions left older devices incompatible for system updates, allowing users to maintain a working copy of the last supported update of each app.

Three tabs on the bottom, "Photos," "Shared," and "Albums," each open to different app sections featuring galleries.

Alongside existing options for sharing pictures, the app was updated with support for the new AirDrop functionality.

Tapping inside the viewfinder adjusts the focus and exposure to that area in the camera's field of view.

In order to hold (lock) the current focus and exposure state, the desired location inside of the viewfinder can be tapped and held down for half a second.

The option to enter a Private tab was built into the app itself rather than in Settings menus, and a new "Do Not Track" button allows the user to further manage their privacy levels.

[41] The design of Maps was updated to feature a full-screen view, where interface elements such as the search bar disappear from view, alongside new translucent search and lower toolbars, and a Night Mode that automatically activates when users drive at night.

[47] Joshua Topolsky of The Verge also criticized the design, noting lack of icon consistency in different parts of the OS, as well as writing that "instead of correcting issues with the notification panel and alerts, Apple has simply given them a fresh coat of paint and several layers of sub-navigation [...] doing nothing to actually speed up your productivity on the device.

"[49] David Pogue of The New York Times, however, liked the minimalist design of iOS 7, writing that "The longer you spend with the new OS, the more you're grateful for the fixing and de-annoyifying on display," and that "you can swipe upward from the bottom of the screen to open the Control Center: a compact, visual palette of controls for the settings and functions you're most likely to need."

"[50] Darrell Etherington of TechCrunch focused on many of the new features introduced, praising the Control Center as being "incredibly useful", AirDrop as being "great" (although noting the lack of interoperability between iOS and Mac at the time), Siri as being "more generally useful", and the new multitasking features as "smarter", with the multitasking screen being "much better".

[52] Sascha Segan of PC Magazine stated that "Apple's brilliance is in putting the pieces together and marketing them.

[54] Within five days, iOS 7 was installed on more than 200 million devices, which Apple claimed was "the fastest software upgrade in history.

[56] In September 2013, Pranav Dixit of Fast Company reported about user complaints shared on Apple's support forums that the new design of iOS 7, including "many zoom animations while multitasking and opening and closing apps, in addition to a slight parallax effect" were causing users to feel sick.

[57] Dr. George Kikano, "division chief of family medicine at UH Case Medical Center in Ohio," told Fox News that "There's some validity to this, for people who are susceptible."

Fox News wrote that Dr. Kikano said "It's a new "parallax" function that causes the background of the phone to subtly move back and forth, a feature that leads to an effect not unlike car sickness.

"[58] Adrian Kingsley-Hughes of ZDNet wrote in March 2014 that iPhone and iPad users reported battery drain with the iOS 7.1 update.

[60] Dom Esposito of 9to5Mac reported in June 2014 that a new lock screen bypass method had been discovered in iOS 7, allowing access to the phone in "5 seconds under certain circumstances".