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iPhone OS

2007 → today · Phones

The software of Apple's first iPhone, on sale from 29 June 2007. Apple said iPhone used OS X; the name later became iPhone OS, then iOS.2, 3, 4, 7

Info only Sources

On sale
29 June 2007, in the US2
iPhone price
$499 (4GB) or $599 (8GB)1
Screen
3.5-inch multi-touch display1
Names
OS X (2007), iPhone OS (2008), iOS (2010)3, 4, 7

Your fingers do the pointing

Apple introduced iPhone on 9 January 2007 as three products in one: a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod and an internet device. You controlled it with your fingers on a large multi-touch display. Steve Jobs said: "We are all born with the ultimate pointing device—our fingers." When you needed to type, a keyboard appeared on the screen and helped correct mistakes.1

A black phone screen. At the top, a status bar shows signal bars, a Wi-Fi symbol, the time 9:42 AM and a battery. Below are twelve rounded, colored app tiles in three rows of four, labeled Text, Calendar, Photos, Camera, YouTube, Stocks, Maps, Weather, Clock, Calculator, Notes and Settings. A gray dock at the bottom holds Phone, Mail, Safari and iPod. Every tile shows a simple white symbol.
Illustration · not a screenshot Our drawing of the first iPhone's home screen in 2007, after Apple's own picture of it. The symbols on the tiles are our own. See the real screen

Phone, iPod and internet

Sensors helped too. Turn iPhone sideways and the screen turned with it; lift it to your ear and the display switched off. Visual Voicemail let you choose which message to hear first. The Safari browser showed web pages the way they were designed, and you tapped to zoom in.1

Close-up of the lower left of the screen: tiles labeled YouTube, Stocks, Maps, Clock, Calculator and Notes, and below them, on the gray dock, Phone, Mail and Safari.
Illustration · not a screenshot Close-up of our drawing: Phone, Mail and Safari sit in the dock at the bottom. See the real screen

From OS X to iOS

In 2007, Apple said iPhone "uses OS X".3 In March 2008, Apple let anyone download a test version of its kit for making iPhone apps, and it called the software "iPhone OS".4 The App Store opened in July 2008 with more than 500 apps.5 In April 2010, Apple previewed "iPhone OS 4".8 In June 2010, just before its release, it was renamed iOS 4.6, 7

Close-up of the top right of the screen: the time 9:42 AM and a battery in the status bar, and below it three rows of tiles: Calendar, Photos, Camera, then Stocks, Maps, Weather, then Calculator, Notes, Settings.
Illustration · not a screenshot Close-up of our drawing: the status bar and nine of the apps. See the real screen

Key moments