Apple has also announced the new version of iOS 8 for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices. The overall look is same just like iOS 7 but there are many new features added to it. The existed features are also further tweaked to give a better experience to the users. Here is what’s new and changed in this version. We will discuss each of them in details later.
- Interactive notifications: Now you can reply and manage the notifications from within Notification Centre and even from the lockscreen.
- Quick Access to Key People in the switcher
- Tab view in Safari in iPad
- Yosemite like sidebar in iPad
- New mail gestures for marking and flagging
- New action in mail to swipe down the message and open inbox
- You can add events to calendar from mail
- Search more items in Spotlight which now works just like Siri but without Siri.
- Keyboard contains a new feature called QuickType.
- Keyboard shows predictive suggestions while typing.
- Group messaging is now introduced in the messaging app. You can rename the group, delete it, remove the members from it and even add new ones to it.
- Do not disturb feature at thread level.
- You can send audio/ video recording to recipients as well, WhatsApp feature?? hun?
- You can share your location with the group members.
- iCloud drive, just like OS X 10.10.
- VIP email threads
- iOS 8 also includes healthkit which centralizes the data related to your health.
- Family Sharing is also there. You can share your purchases, devices’ locations up to six family members. You’ll get a new notification in the Store app if your kid is trying to purchase an app using your credit card.
- Smart editing in the Photos app. Every photo is now synchronized with the iCloud which can store more photos than the local drive.
- You can even save the edits and check the edits in real time across the devices connected with the same iCloud account.
- There are new Siri updates. Siri now recognizes the songs using Shazam’s technology. It can purchase iTunes content, and supports 22 new dictation languages.
- Maps app is also greatly improved: vector based maps, turn by turn navigation, improved weather data, lunar calendar support and predictive input.
- New features in App Store: Explore Tab, Trending searches, related searches, continuous scrolling list, App bundles, App Previews in the form of Videos, beta test service for apps called TestFlight.
- Widgets: Now the developers can create widgets which go into Notification Centre.
- Developers can also develop the widgets for Safari, just like Chrome’s extension.
- Third-Party keyboards. Now you can install the third-party keyboards across the OS. Finally Swype keyboard is here.
- Apple opens the TouchID for developers.
- There are new Camera and Photokit APIs for developers.
- HomeKit: which lets develops to control your home appliances using the apps, like locks, cameras, switches, plugs, doors etc.
- CloudKit, Metal, SceneKit and SpriteKit for developers
iOS 8 Release Date:
iOS 8 beta is now available for developer from today. They can install it on their devices from the Dev Portal. If you are also registered with Apple’s OS Dev Program, head over to the site and get it for your device. The public build of iOS 8 will be released in Fall. The exact date is not mentioned, but I think it is coming along with new hardware, most probably with new iPhone 6.
We are adding more features and changes included in iOS 8 to this post. Keep coming back.
Special Note: The wait is finally over. Apple has just rolled out the public release for all idevices including iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus. You can either grab the downloadable links for iOS 8 or fire up the settings app to install the update through OTA updater.
