iOS 6 is the sixth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc, being the successor to iOS 5. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 11, 2012, and was released on September 19, 2012. It was succeeded by iOS 7 on September 18, 2013.
iOS 6 added a new Apple Maps app, replacing Google Maps as the default mapping service for the operating system; a dedicated Podcasts app, as a central location for podcasts; and a Passbook app, for managing different types of tickets, boarding passes, coupons, and loyalty cards.
The App Store received a visual overhaul, bringing a card-based app layout as well as tweaks to search algorithms. Facebook was integrated into the operating system, incorporating status messages, like buttons, and contact and event synchronization to several of Apple's apps.
New privacy controls allow users more fine-grained app permissions, as well as an option to prevent targeted advertising. Siri was added to more devices, and updated with more functionality, including the ability to make restaurant reservations, launch apps, retrieve movie reviews and sports statistics, and read items from the Notification Center.
Reception of iOS 6 was positive. Critics noted that the operating system did not offer any significant speed improvements or major redesigned elements, but instead focused on refinements, with a general consensus that Apple "isn't overhauling things for the sake of it." iOS 6 didn't "completely change the way you use your device," but "each of the tweaks will make many daily smartphone actions easier across the board," and critics noted that refinement of "something that already works extremely well" is "something other companies would do well to emulate."
The release of Apple Maps, however, attracted significant criticism, due to inaccurate or incomplete data. The issues prompted an open letter of apology from Apple CEO Tim Cook, and played a contributing role in the dismissal of Scott Forstall from the company, who had supervised iOS development since its inception.