What’s New in iOS 8
iOS 8 brings dozens of new features, but most are not immediately obvious. Here’s a list of nearly everything new in iOS 8, with links to relevant topics.
Extensibility
Apple is using Extensibility as an umbrella term for a number of new capabilities that developers can implement when creating apps:
- More extensions: No longer are you limited to sharing in-app content between a few apps from Apple and Apple partners like Facebook and Twitter. In iOS 8, any app can offer system-wide sharing capabilities or actions. For instance, in Safari, you can send an article to Instapaper or use 1Password to log in to Web sites. Read Managing Share Sheets in iOS 8.
- Custom widgets: Since iOS 7, the Today view of Notification Center has had widgets for Weather and Stocks, but now third-party developers can create their own. For example, the Strava widget lets you start and end rides from Notification Center. Read New! Today View Widgets.
- Third-party keyboards: Taking a cue from Android, iOS 8 allows you to install keyboards created by third-party developers ①. See New! Third-party Keyboards.
① Developers can offer custom keyboards in iOS 8. An example is Swype (shown here), which lets you type by drawing over the keyboard.
Continuity
Another umbrella term from Apple, Continuity makes working with multiple Apple devices more seamless (but see Continuity Requirements):
- Handoff: What if you could stop drafting an iWork document on your iPad and then instantly pick up on your Mac, exactly where you left off? You can, thanks to Handoff. Certain Apple apps like Safari, Messages, and Maps, as well as the iWork suite, support Handoff already, but third-party developers can build Handoff into their apps as well. Read About Handoff.
- Instant Hotspot: It’s now easier to share your device’s cellular data connection with a Mac, so long as your cellular provider supports tethering. To make the connection, just choose your iPhone from the Wi-Fi
status menu on the Mac’s menu bar. The connection automatically disconnects when not in use.
- AirDrop: AirDrop lets you transfer items not just between devices running the same operating system (for example, iPhone to iPad), but also between iOS 8 devices and Yosemite Macs.
- Make and take calls: You can make and receive phone calls with your Mac, iPad, or iPod touch, using your iPhone to connect to the cellular network. For example, if your iPhone receives a call, you can answer it on your Mac, even if the iPhone is across the room. For more about relaying phone calls with the Phone Calling feature, see Share iPhone Calls and Texts across Devices, part of Joe Kissell’s Digital Sharing for Apple Users: A Take Control Crash Course.
- Text Message Forwarding: Apple has figured out how to transfer SMS and MMS instant messages—normally limited to the iPhone and its cellular phone service—between your phone and other Apple devices. See New! Text Message Forwarding.
Keyboard
A third-party keyboard (mentioned earlier in this chapter) will appear on your device only if you install it, but these features are available by default:
- QuickType: Taking a cue from Google’s Android, the iOS 8 keyboard presents word suggestions as you type. Just tap one to insert it.
- Improved dictation: When you dictate, iOS 8 displays recognized words as you say them, instead of forcing you to stop dictating periodically and wait for the latest batch of text to be transcribed.
To learn more about keyboards, read Commanding Keyboards in iOS 8 and iPhone 6 Quirks.
iCloud
- Family Sharing: An obvious response to years of suggestions, this feature lets you share content from the App Store, iTunes Store, and iBooks Store among several linked accounts. It also enables easier sharing of photos, calendars, and more. See All in the Family Sharing.
- iCloud Drive: iCloud Drive is a complete overhaul of Apple’s iCloud Documents and Data feature, which debuted in iOS 5. Instead of app data being confined to just that app, you can access iCloud data from other apps via old-fashioned folders. For more, see New! iCloud Drive.
- iCloud Photo Library: Unlike the older My Photo Stream, which syncs new photos to your Apple devices without storing them in a central cloud location, the new iCloud Photo Library can store all your photos and videos in iCloud; you can opt to store only low-res images locally, thus saving space on your device. For more details, see Photos.
Siri
- New languages: Siri understands 22 new languages.
- Hey Siri: Enable this feature and you can activate Siri any time your device is connected to power by saying, “Hey Siri.”
- Visual feedback: Siri displays words as you say them.
- Identify songs: Siri integrates with the Shazam music identification service. Activate Siri while a song is playing, ask what song is playing, and she identifies it ②.
② Siri can now listen to and identify songs. She’ll never give you up, let you down, or desert you.
- Search for apps and media: You can use Siri to search the App Store and iTunes Store.
For more on Siri, see Speaking to Siri.
More Changes
- Apple Pay, available now on the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, iPad Air 2, and iPad mini 3 lets you make secure, hassle-free payments.
- AirPlay: iOS 8 adds peer-to-peer AirPlay, which lets you stream content to an Apple TV without needing to first connect to the Wi-Fi network that the Apple TV is on.
- Recent contacts in the App Switcher: The App Switcher displays shortcuts to recently accessed contacts at the top of the screen. See New! Contact Shortcuts.
- Spotlight: Spotlight’s search results can now show online content, including Wikipedia entries, news items, and movie showtimes, as well as items in the iTunes Store, App Store, and iBooks Store. See New! Spotlight Suggestions.
- Interactive notifications: You can reply to a notification directly from its banner or alert, without having to open the source app. See New! Interactive Notifications.
- Battery usage by app: You can now discover which apps are using the most juice under Settings > Usage > Battery Usage. See Improving Battery Life.
More for Developers
Along with the Extensibility features listed earlier, these iOS 8 developer options are noteworthy:
- Location-based apps: Some apps display an icon on the Lock screen when the device is near a designated location. For example, if the Apple Store app is installed, you will see a shortcut to the app on your Lock screen when you’re near an Apple Store. See New! Suggested Apps for details.
- HomeKit: HomeKit brings home-automation integration to iOS. For example, with the right hardware installed in your home, you could turn on a light from a Notification Center widget, or tell Siri to turn up the heat.
- HealthKit: With HealthKit, developers can transfer data between their apps and devices and the new Health app. For example, a sleep tracker could automatically track the number of hours you sleep, and that data would be available to you, along with all your other health data, in the Health app. See iOS 8: For Your Health.
- Touch ID: Apple has opened the Touch ID fingerprint scanner to third-party developers. (This scanner is built into the Home button on newer iOS devices.)
Accessibility
Highlights of changes include:
- Grayscale mode: A new setting allows you to strip all color from the iOS interface.
- Improved Zoom: iOS 8 provides more granular control of the Zoom feature, including the ability to exclude the keyboard from Zoom.
- Speak Screen: In iOS 7, you could have a selection of text, or auto-corrected text, spoken to you. Now you can have all text on the screen read out loud.
For more, see Accessibility in iOS 8.
Apps with Changes
- Health: A new app on the iPhone and iPod touch, Health can track many details about your body and health—and provide that data to, and get data from, third-party apps and devices. It can also make key medical details available from the iPhone’s Lock screen so first responders can access it during an emergency. See iOS 8: For Your Health.
- Tips: Another new app, Tips provides useful tidbits about iOS 8.
- App Store: The iOS 8 App Store includes new discovery tools such as Explore, Trending Searches, and Related Searches, as well as Editors’ Choice badges. Also, pages now have infinite scrolling, you can view video previews of apps, and some apps can be bought bundled with other apps. See New! App Store Improvements.
- Camera and Photos: The Camera app can take time-lapse photos and timed photos, and the app now lets you adjust the exposure when taking a photo. You can also now take panoramas on the iPad. For more, see iOS 8 Camera Basics and New! Camera Features in iOS 8.
Aside from the aforementioned iCloud Photo Library, the Photos app now allows you to search your entire library (with smart suggestions), use smart composition and adjustment tools to fix images automatically, apply third-party photo filters, mark images as favorites, hide photos, and quickly undelete photos. I cover some of these features in Get to Know Photos in iOS 8.
- iBooks: Now installed by default, iBooks has a new night mode for reading in dim lighting, and book grouping.
- Mail: Mail now supports more gesture actions for processing your email from the preview list, and offers per-thread notifications. It also lets you minimize an in-progress message so you can browse and view other messages and then resume composing later. It also may show a banner for working with new contact or calendar details in a message. See What’s New in iOS 8 Mail?.
- Maps: Select cities now feature Flyover City Tours, place cards offer more information, and Chinese maps have been greatly expanded. See Mapping in iOS 8.
- Messages: You can now name, unsubscribe from, and kick people out of group chats. You can also conveniently view all of a thread’s media assets (photos, videos, and the like) in one place. Plus, you can send quick voice and video messages, auto-delete messages, and send your location to your contacts; and you gain easier access to photo attachments.
Read Sending a Message in iOS 8 and Tips for Messages in iOS 8.
Phone: If your carrier supports it, phone calls can be automatically routed over your local Wi-Fi network and thus the Internet instead of the cellular network.
A smaller tweak is that the Phone app now pulls Maps-based business info into your list of recent calls. For instance, if you call a restaurant from the Maps app, its listing in the Recents tab in Phone will show the business name, address, and other information.
See Phoning It In.
- Notes: You can now insert photos into your notes and use rich text formatting.
- Safari: New capabilities include subscribing to RSS feeds, the option to search in DuckDuckGo, storing credit card information (so it can be entered automatically when you shop online) by “scanning” your cards with your device camera, creating independent Private Browsing tabs, support for WebGL 3D graphics ③, and more. See Going on Safari.
③ In iOS 8, Safari can render 3D images with Web GL. Ooh, pretty!
- Weather: This built-in app now uses The Weather Channel for data instead of Yahoo, provides a 10-day forecast, and has a textual Today summary.
Copyright © 2014, Josh Centers. All rights reserved.
