iOS 7 is here. The latest update to Apple’s mobile operating system is incredibly wide-ranging, and while apps don’t always act differently, they absolutely always look different. The new version of iOS famously dumps the textures and buttons of previous versions in favor of a cleaner, “flatter” design more in tune with the current design zeitgeist.

You can read all about the new look and the new features in our massive iOS 7 review, but sometimes showing is better than telling. Below we’ve included around two dozen sets of pictures comparing the new, redesigned iOS 7 and its apps to their old, skeuomorphic iOS 6 predecessors. Whether you like the new design or not, one thing is clear: these are some of the biggest changes Apple has made to the look and feel of iOS since it was launched back in 2007.

The lock screen shows off iOS 7’s love of thinner fonts, clean lines, and transparency.
Andrew Cunningham
The lock screen shows off iOS 7’s love of thinner fonts, clean lines, and transparency. Andrew Cunningham
The new Home screen shows off the new, flatter icons and the lack of drop shadows.
Andrew Cunningham
The new Home screen shows off the new, flatter icons and the lack of drop shadows. Andrew Cunningham
Spotlight and the new keyboard (which works pretty much like the old keyboard).
Andrew Cunningham
Spotlight and the new keyboard (which works pretty much like the old keyboard). Andrew Cunningham
The Settings menu. Again, it’s all flat lines, bright colors, and lack-of-pinstripes.
Andrew Cunningham
Buttons throughout the OS lose texture and gradients in favor of something a little more abstract.
Andrew Cunningham
If you use your iPhone as, well, a phone, things in the Phone app look different but work the same way.
Andrew Cunningham
No more glassy iMessage bubbles.
Andrew Cunningham
The new Mail comes with several useful sorting options, plus a few more hidden behind that Edit button.
Andrew Cunningham
The Calendar in monthly view. The iOS 7 Calendar also includes yearly and weekly/daily views.
Andrew Cunningham
The new Safari’s top and bottom bars can shrink and disappear (respectively), leaving more room for the page you’re looking at.
Andrew Cunningham
You can’t tell from this shot, but the Weather app is actually animated now. If it’s raining, it will be raining in the app, and so on.
Andrew Cunningham
Notes becomes much simpler, but skeuomorphism isn’t completely gone: its white texture still looks a bit like a sheet of paper.
Andrew Cunningham
The Calculator app in particular is very Windows Phone.
Andrew Cunningham
The Clock app, like so many others, gets flattened and simplified.
Andrew Cunningham
The Camera app loses some buttons and picks up some gesture-based controls.
Andrew Cunningham
Passbook’s corners get less rounded and the passes have less texture, but really things look pretty similar here. The app also has a new feature that lets you scan in cards with your device’s camera.
Andrew Cunningham
That’s one serious new Compass. The iOS 7 compass also has a second screen that allows the phone to function as a spirit level of sorts.
Andrew Cunningham
Voice Memos. “But if there’s no microphone, how will people know what the app is for?”
Andrew Cunningham
Newsstand loses that faux-bookshelf look and can be nested in another folder, but oddly enough you can no longer see thumbnails of your icons without actually opening Newsstand up.
Andrew Cunningham
The Stocks app. One effect of the Great Flattening is that contrast is often much greater in iOS 7 than it was previously.
Andrew Cunningham
The iTunes store changes not one whit, aside from the redesigned buttons.
Andrew Cunningham
And then there was much rejoicing, for the green Game Center felt was no more.
Andrew Cunningham
The way the app works is still very similar, though.
Andrew Cunningham