Changes ahead: more details on how iOS 7 will look

As the calendar ticks down to Apple’s first public event since October 2012, more details are starting to emerge regarding what the company will present. It’s fairly clear WWDC 2013 will primarily be about software, for both iOS and Mac OS X. And a new report contains some hints about the coming visual overhaul to iOS.

9to5Mac, which earlier reported that iOS 7 would get a new look with “very, very flat design” and see some default iOS apps get a refresh, has a report with far more detail about the coming changes. The sources are anonymous and obviously final decisions are still yet to be made. Still, the report is a good indication that we’re not going to get the same old iOS this year.

It’s a long piece filled with many details, but a few of the more interesting slated changes include:

User interface functions, like the slide-to-unlock bar, the textured background of the drop-down Notifications menu, and the tappable app icons will all be subtly upgraded visually.
Basic Apple apps, like Calendar, Notes, GameCenter, Mail will get a unified black and white look and be differentiated mostly by a third color.
The Weather app is getting an upgrade with more features.
Over-the-top real-world animations, like the shredder that animates when a Passbook ticket is deleted, will go away.

In all, it’s about what we’ve been expecting. Nothing too drastic, but a thorough refresh that will be the first major visual upgrade to the operating system in its six years of existence.

It’s also been reported that in order to do this, the iOS team has been scrambling to finish the project and has pulled members of the OS X software team over to help it meet its deadline. It’s not clear what effect that may have on the timely release of the desktop OS, which is expected to be released later this summer or fall.