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Inside iOS 10: Apple's Data Detectors offer quick details on music, movies, actors

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Finding local movie showtimes or viewing an artist's complete discography is as simple as striking up a conversation in Messages, thanks to expanded content-driven Data Detectors included in Apple's iOS 10.

Data Detectors are not new — the concept was one of the principal features introduced in Apple's Mac OS 8 back in 1997. They have also been a major part of iOS for years, automatically creating quick links out of items like phone numbers, dates, addresses and more.

Starting with iOS 10, Data Detectors have also been expanded to include content. For example, if you send a friend an iMessage about a movie you want to see, iOS 10 turns the title of the movie into a link that provides relevant details, including showtimes or the ability to rent or purchase on iTunes.

Data Detectors in iOS 10 are designed intelligently, apparently based on current releases or popularity. Currently, tapping the words "Star Trek" in a text will return results for the current film in theaters, "Star Trek Beyond," despite the fact that there are numerous "Star Trek" films and television shows.

Notably, Data Detector links for such content only appear in certain situations. For example, a text that simply reads "Star Trek" does not turn into a tappable link, while a sentence asking "Do you want to see Star Trek at 7?" creates a link.

iOS 10 Data Detectors also work with other types of iTunes content, such as artists and actors. When the operating system detects the name of an artist or performer it knows, it is displayed as a link, which can be tapped for quick links to the iTunes Store, Wikipedia, and suggested websites.

These features also work with the pressure sensing 3D Touch screen on the iPhone 7 and iPhone 6s series, allowing users to "peek" at content with a firm press. Swiping up while peeking offers links to search the web or to copy the content, making it easier to share.

As with 3D Touch elsewhere in iOS, pressing harder while peeking will "pop" the content out, making it display permanently on the screen so users can interact with it.

iOS 10 Data Detectors do not appear to work with TV shows, apps, books or other types of content.

Editor's note: This article was originally published in August following Apple's announcement of iOS 10 at WWDC 2016. It has been updated and republished to coincide with the mobile operating system's public release. For more on iOS 10, see AppleInsider's ongoing Inside iOS 10.

Comments (20)

shk718

said about 5 years ago

I'd like to see Apple expand the functionality of their data detectors from an active to a passive event: such as auto flight tracking and package delivery. they can detect these but not auto update and notify you as events change (flight delays, package delivery status). They also don't seem to be able to data detect calendar events on Travelocity emails which I find odd - all the information is there. I'd also like to see them link events. For example - you have a package scheduled to be delivered on a particular day - if you schedule an appointment that day they should give you a warning about the package so you don't miss the delivery. "Package XXX is scheduled to be delivered that day - you may want to make other arrangements". That to me is a true personal assistant.

cali

said about 5 years ago

I feel like I'm the only one who notices that every release of iOS and OS X, I mean macOS, shoots down another pillar of Giggles empire.

Simple solutions like force touch trackpads that open Wikipedia and an iPhone text like "Star Trek tonight?" that show you movie times instantly, give users less reason to take an extra step to do an Internet search with clutter and ads.

This is apart from apps that are already hurting the Giggle empire. Now if Siri would stop being so stupid, users would have even less reason to search online on outdated websites.

slurpy

said about 5 years ago

cali said:

I feel like I'm the only one who notices that every release of iOS and OS X, I mean macOS, shoots down another pillar of Giggles empire.

Simple solutions like force touch trackpads that open Wikipedia and an iPhone text like "Star Trek tonight?" that show you movie times instantly, give users less reason to take an extra step to do an Internet search with clutter and ads.

This is apart from apps that are already hurting the Giggle empire. Now if Siri would stop being so stupid, users would have even less reason to search online on outdated websites.

Nope, you're not the only one. I've been witnessing a very deliberate, systematic, intelligent, and effective approach by Apple to make searches obsolete and irrelevant in a ton of common situations. Its brilliant, and these are strengthened with every iOS/OSX release.

cali

said about 5 years ago

slurpy said:

cali said:

I feel like I'm the only one who notices that every release of iOS and OS X, I mean macOS, shoots down another pillar of Giggles empire.

Simple solutions like force touch trackpads that open Wikipedia and an iPhone text like "Star Trek tonight?" that show you movie times instantly, give users less reason to take an extra step to do an Internet search with clutter and ads.

This is apart from apps that are already hurting the Giggle empire. Now if Siri would stop being so stupid, users would have even less reason to search online on outdated websites.

Nope, you're not the only one. I've been witnessing a very deliberate, systematic, intelligent, and effective approach by Apple to make searches obsolete and irrelevant in a ton of common situations. Its brilliant, and these are strengthened with every iOS/OSX release.

Glad I'm not the only one. When Apple showed off Force Touch Wikipedia info in OS X I chuckled. (WWDC 2015?)

Later I posted about it and everyone was like "wtf you talking about? It's for convenience only". But this convenience cuts down the steps of opening up Safari, going to google.com, searching for "Star Trek theatre times", scrolling over ads etc. Yes a huge population of people STILL go through all these steps. Heck, some people type in "yelp.com" in Google. SMH.

Seriously, Internet search engines are so 1996.