iOS 6

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<div style="font: bold 2em/1.2 -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'SF Pro Display', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: var(--wiki-color);">iOS 6</div>
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! class="ios-lab" | Developer
| class="ios-val" | [[Apple]]
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! class="ios-lab" | Announced
| class="ios-val" | June 11, 2012 (WWDC)
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! class="ios-lab" | Initial release
| class="ios-val" | September 19, 2012
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! class="ios-lab" | Final release
| class="ios-val" | 6.1.6 (February 21, 2014)
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! class="ios-lab" | Launch device
| class="ios-val" | [[iPhone 5]]
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! class="ios-lab" | Preceded by
| class="ios-val" | [[iOS 5]]
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! class="ios-lab" | Succeeded by
| class="ios-val" | [[iOS 7]]
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{{iOS Version Navbox}}

iOS 6 is the sixth major release of [[iOS]], released on September 19, 2012, two days before the [[iPhone 5]]. It is remembered for a swap that went wrong: Apple removed Google's mapping data and the built-in YouTube app, replacing Maps with its own service — whose melting bridges, misplaced towns, and unreliable directions became an instant public embarrassment, drew a formal apology from Tim Cook that recommended competitors' apps, and precipitated iOS chief Scott Forstall's departure from Apple.

Beneath the fiasco sat a solid release: turn-by-turn navigation and Flyover (where Maps worked), Passbook — the ticket-and-card wallet that later grew into Apple Wallet and the substrate for Apple Pay — Do Not Disturb, FaceTime over cellular, and Facebook system integration.

= Features =

Apple Maps with vector cartography, turn-by-turn, and 3D Flyover; Passbook; Do Not Disturb schedules; phone-call decline options (reply with message, remind me later); FaceTime over cellular; shared Photo Streams; Panorama capture; Safari iCloud Tabs and offline Reading List; a redesigned App Store; and Guided Access for accessibility. Siri expanded to sports, restaurants, movies, and app launching, and came to the iPad. The YouTube app left the system (Google shipped a replacement on the App Store within weeks).

= Supported devices =

[[iPhone 5]], [[iPhone 4s]], [[iPhone 4]], [[iPhone 3GS]], iPad 2 and later, and iPod touch 4th/5th generations — the original iPad's exclusion after just two years drew more protest than any phone cut. 6.1.6 in 2014 closed out the 3GS's four-and-a-half-year software run.

= Legacy =

The Maps launch became the tech industry's canonical case study in shipping infrastructure before it's ready — and in accountability: the Cook apology and Forstall exit reset Apple's executive culture and handed design authority to Jony Ive, which made iOS 6's glossy skeuomorphism the style's last stand before [[iOS 7]]. Passbook, the release's quiet passenger, became Wallet — arguably the most-used app Apple ships. And Apple Maps itself, rebuilt over a decade, outlived the joke.
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