Get iOS 7 features on your Android device now [How-To]

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Published 19 Jun 2013

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Last week, Apple unveiled iOS 7, the next generation mobile operating system for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch – with a completely revamped UI and features such as an enhanced Notification center and Control center. None of the new features are truly innovative, and quite a few of them have been available in Android devices since quite sometime.

Thanks to Android’s openness, it is possible to get most, if not all, the features of iOS 7 on your Android device right away. Here’s how to get some of the iOS 7 features on your Android device.

1. Parallax Wallpaper

One of the most talked about iOS 7 feature is the 3D Parallax effect on the Home screen. The Parallax effect makes the “position or direction of an object appear different when viewed from different angles”.

From what I know, no Android device comes with a wallpaper that provides a similar effect. However, there are quite a few live wallpapers that can help you achieve this effect. Live wallpapers like 3D Image Live Wallpaper and 3D-effect Live wallpaper provides parallax effect on any image of your choice that you want to use as a Wallpaper.

Keep in mind that these live wallpapers use the Gyroscope to provide the parallax effect, so they will have an impact (minimal) on the battery life of your device. There will also be a slight performance hit, especially if you have a low-end Android device.

If you want the exact same wallpaper that Apple demoed in the iOS 7 keynote, you can download it from here. You can then achieve the parallax effect by using any of the apps I mentioned above.

2. Control Center

Control center can be accessed in iOS 7 by swiping up from the bottom of the screen. It gives quick access to a bunch of toggles and other frequently required apps like Wi-Fi, Torch, Music Player, AirPlay and Camera.

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The ability to quickly access a Wi-Fi or any other important toggle from the notification bar has been present in Android since the Galaxy S days. Google even introduced something similar dubbed Quick Settings with Android 4.2. However, if you want even more toggles or if your device does not feature any kind of quick toggles, you can use applications like Power Toggles from the Play Store to achieve the same result.

These app will allow you to put quick toggles of the frequently used settings or applications right on your notification bar. If your device is running Android 4.2, you will need to use some kind of mods available for your device to customize Quick Settings.

3. Icons

The stock icons introduced by Apple are horrible to say the least. They have got quite a lot of criticism, and I doubt anyone would be interested in them. Personally, I would not recommend anyone to use such horrible icons, instead of the plethora of beautiful icon packs available on the Play Store like Minimal UI and Tarsus.

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To use icon packs on your Android devices, you will need to use a third party launcher like Nova or Apex. You can read our round-up of the top 6 launchers available on the Play Store to help make your decision easier.

If you are still hell bent on using iOS 7 icons, head over to this link and download the icons. Since the icons are not in an APK, you will need to assign them manually to each app, which is going to be cumbersome. Again, you will need to use a third party launcher for this, since stock launchers don’t have this ability.

4. Full screen mode in Browser and Tab-Switcher

Apart from the under-the-hood changes, the new version of Safari also brings a full-screen mode, and a new tab switcher. Both of these features are already available on Chrome for Android. The latter also packs in other useful features such as browsing data sync and tab synchronization across devices.

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So, if you have an Android device that is running Ice Cream Sandwich or higher, just head over to the Play Store to install the latest version of Chrome for Android.

Conclusion

If the above applications do not satisfy your need, and you need an exact replica of the iOS 7 home screen, head over to this post on MyColorScreenshmogt has done an incredible job of explaining how your Android devices an iOS 7 makeover using apps like UCCW and Simple Calendar Widget.