With no Home button, Apple has rethought the user interface on the iPhone X, and made improvements that
it believes ultimately result in a more intuitive usage experience.
Unlocking the iPhone X is done with a new Face ID facial recognition system, and to get to the Home screen, you simply swipe up from the bottom of the device. A swipe upwards to go back to the Home screen works from within any app, and Reachability can be enabled in Settings and accessed by swiping downwards on the bar at the bottom of the display.
Because of the Face ID feature, all text previews are hidden by default on the iPhone X until the device is picked up and unlocked with a facial ID scan, so your text messages remain private.
To get to the App Switcher, swipe upwards and then pause for a second. With the App Switcher, you can switch between apps. You can also swipe on the left and the right of the display to flip between open apps for quick back and forth actions.
At the top of the display, the status bar that displays time, cellular signal, and battery life is split and displayed on either side of the device notch. Swiping downwards from either side of the status bar opens up Control Center.
The notch at the top of the display is the most jarring change to the interface, as it is always visible needs to be accounted for in app designs. Apple is not allowing app developers to conceal the notch with black bars, and developers must design around a safe area on the display to avoid content clipping and interfering with navigation gestures.
In landscape mode, the display notch is visible on the left side of the device and is likely to be a distraction until users adjust to the new design. No content is obscured, with Apple using bars in situations like watching videos or viewing webpages in Safari. Photos, videos, and games can all be viewed full screen, though, with the notch cutting into some content in those situations.
Without a Home button, the side button on the iPhone X does a lot more. Holding down on the button activates Siri, while pressing the side button and the volume up button takes a screenshot. Apple Pay purchases are now confirmed with a double click on the side button.
To activate the display, you can use the side button, the Raise to Wake feature, or a new "Tap to Wake" feature that turns on the iPhone's screen when you tap it with a finger.
The iPhone X has its own "Reflection" default ringtone for incoming calls and notifications, which has a soft, mellow twinkling sound that's unique to the device.
