A Breakdown of all the Major New Features in iOS 8
We’ve covered a lot of the new iOS, iPhone, iPad and app reviews one this blog in the past, but given the sheer amount of things announced today for iOS8, we thought it’d be helpful to create a roundup of everything you need to know about the update, which will publicly launch this fall…
Keyboard
- QuickType keyboard – which enables predictive suggestions inside iOS Messages and other apps
- Third party keyboards – iOS 8 supports third party keyboard replacements such as Swype, SwiftKey, and others
Interactive Notifications
- quick reply to messages from anywhere
- accept/decline calendar invitations
- mark an email as read or trash it
- mark reminders as complete
- reply to notifications from third party apps
- swipe to mark an email as read or flag it, or long-swipe to delete
- now recognizes a reservation, flight confirmation, or phone number
Safari for iPad
- new Tab view
- new new slide-out sidebar for bookmarks, shared links and Reading List
Messages
- rename group threads
- enable Do Not Disturb for a group thread to silence alerts
- easily remove yourself from an annoying group thread
- record and send audio notes
- record and send videos
- share your location
- send multiple photos and videos
- view all attachments from a thread at once
App Store
- new ‘Explore’ tab
- new ‘Trending’ searches
- new Editor’s Choice label
- app previews with short videos
Family Sharing
- up to six people in your family can share purchases from iTunes stores
- parents can track/limit kids’ spending
- easily share photos, videos, calendars and location
Photos
- iCloud Photo Library keeps every photo and video in iCloud, accessible from any device
- search for photos by the date, time, location, or album name
- smart composition tools auto-straighten and crop photos
- smart adjustments intelligently adjusts exposure, brightness, contrast, and more
- new photo filters
- create time-lapse videos
Siri
- Hey, Siri
- Shazam song ID
- dictation supports 22 new languages
Health app
- easy to read dashboard for your health and fitness data
- HealthKit platform makes it easier for third party apps to integrate with Health app
- emergency card stores important health information
Other
- widgets in Notification Center, third party app support
- contact shortcuts in Multitasking screen
- Touch ID gains third party support
