Apple iOS 8 and its features

Apple’s iOS in its series of iPhones are particularly popular for its unique features. Apple works a log in providing as much features as possible for its users, especially the iPhones users. Almost every year a new version of iPhone is launched, along with the major version upgrade of the iOS too. The iOS 8 is out for a few weeks now, as it was released along with the iPhone 6, and supports iPhone 4s or the later versions. As every major version upgrades in the past, this brand new version of the iOS also has many new features.

In the iOS 8, there are many features which are derived from the older versions of the iOS, but there are many new features too. The new features are obvious, as the size of the new iPhone also has grown high, much high compared to the older iPhones. Well, to point out the improvements or new features which the iOS 8 has, we can summarize them as following:

Messages improvements: Tap to Talk to send your voice, a video or a photo with just a swipe Group messaging options to name a conversation, add a contact, remove a contact, or leave a conversation New details view with Do Not Disturb, location sharing and attachments view

Photos improvements: Smart editing tools to adjust light and color with a swipe Fine-tune controls to adjust exposure, brightness, contrast, highlights, shadows and more Search by date, location, or album name or use smart suggestions Smart albums for Slo-mo videos, Bursts, Panoramas, and Time-lapse. Third-party photo filters and editing tools supported directly in Photos Your photos and metadata from iPhoto will be migrated to Photos. Books, Journals and Slideshows will be converted to albums containing only photos. iPhoto for iOS is not supported on devices running iOS 8 or later.

Camera improvements: Time-lapse mode Capture timer Adjust exposure with a simple nudge to lighten or darken a photo prior to capture Burst mode on front facing camera on iPhone 5s Panorama for iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display

Keyboard improvements: QuickType keyboard Predictive typing personalized to your writing style, and customized based on the recipient and the app Predictive is available in English (Australia, Canada, UK, US), French (Canada, France, Switzerland), German (Germany, Switzerland), Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, Thai; Third-party keyboard support

Features for Health: New Health app with easy-to-read dashboard of health and fitness data Ability to share health data with apps to provide a more comprehensive way to manage your health and fitness Add a Medical ID with information about allergies, medical conditions, and more with the option to make accessible from the lock screen Available on iPhone and iPod touch

Family Sharing: Share iTunes, iBooks, and App Store purchases with up to six members of your family. Pay for family purchases with a single credit card and approve purchases by children with Ask to Buy Easily share family photos, a family calendar, locations and more

iCloud Drive improvements: Store all your documents in iCloud and access them from your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or PC Share the same file across multiple compatible apps. Edits you make on one device update on all your devices automatically. Continuity features so your iPhone, iPad, and Mac work together more seamlessly Handoff to continue what you’re doing as you move from one device to another

Calls improvement: Make and receive calls and send and receive SMS or MMS messages on your iPad or Mac Instant Hotspot to automatically use your cellular connection to get online with your other devices

AirDrop compatibility with OS X Yosemite Available on iPhone 5 or later, iPad (4th generation), iPad Air, iPad mini, and iPod touch (5th generation)

Spotlight improvements: Displays suggestions from Wikipedia entries, places nearby, movies (US only), popular web sites, App Store, iTunes Store and iBooks Store Safari also supports Spotlight suggestions alongside Top Hit and search suggestions Supported for local languages in US, UK, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland

Mail improvements: Easily jump between drafts and your inbox with a simple swipe down on the draft Intelligent suggestions for Calendar events and Contacts VIP threads

Siri improvements: Improvements to responsiveness, reliability and accuracy “Hey, Siri” option to initiate Siri using just your voice when your device is plugged in

Streaming voice recognition: Works with Shazam to answer “What song is playing?” Purchase content from iTunes Store

Safari improvements: DuckDuckGo search engine support Private browsing per tab Subscribe to RSS feeds in Shared Links. Use Camera to scan and enter credit card info

Maps improvements: Flyover city tours Maps place cards in Phone and Contacts Inline map view and travel time notifications for Calendar events

App Store improvements: New Explore tab for easier category browsing Top trending searches displayed in Search tab Scrolling search results. App video previews. Editors’ Choice badges. Quick access to key contacts in multitasking view Interactive Notifications for Messages, Mail, Calendar, Reminders and enabled third-party apps

New Tips app to help you do more with your iOS devices iBooks app built into iOS, now with auto night mode and new organization for book series Podcasts app built into iOS Battery usage by app iCloud Keychain can use saved website passwords to easily sign in to associated apps FaceTime Audio call waiting Rich text editing in Notes Peer-to-peer AirPlay discovery and playback

Enterprise features: Expanded data protection to Calendar, Contacts, Messages, Reminders, and Notes in addition to Mail and 3rd-party apps Per message S/MIME email controls Improved UI to make it easier for users to understand the remote management of their device Automatic reply for Exchange Free/busy lookup for Calendar invitations MDM Managed books can be automatically pushed to users Accessibility features Redesigned Zoom with one-handed control and multiple zoom modes including picture-in-picture Built-in timer and Touch ID support for Guided Access Speak Screen to read out contents of the screen via gesture or Siri command

VoiceOver improvements: including Alex voice option and Braille input support Multi-device support for MFi hearing aids to seamlessly switch from one paired iOS device to another Features for China Vector-based maps Turn-by-turn navigation Lunar calendar support

Improved predictive input, improved weather data

Expanded language support: Dictation support for 22 additional languages: Croatian, Catalan, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Indonesian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Slovakian, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese. New keyboards for English (India), Bengali, Filipino, Marathi, Slovenian, and Urdu Hindi localization. Definitions of a selected word for additional languages: Russian, Portuguese (Brazil), Thai, Turkish Spanish-English bilingual dictionary Spell check for Turkish. Hebrew language support for Text to Speech and VoiceOver.

New developer capabilities including Extensibility, giving apps new sharing options and the ability to create widgets, photo filters and editing tools in Photos, and 3rd-party keyboards Metal, a new graphics technology for game providers to bring console-class 3D games to mobile devices SpriteKit and SceneKit for improved 2D and 3D games HealthKit, so health and fitness apps can share their data with each other HomeKit, a new way for you to control supported devices in your home using Siri Touch ID support so you can sign in to third-party apps with just your fingerprint CloudKit, offering a complete and scaleable back-end solution helping developers eliminate the need for writing server code and maintaining servers Bug fixes.

Well, in my opinion, these are the features which are enough for anyone to tempt to upgrade to the iOS 8. Have you upgraded the version of the iOS in your iPhone to the iOS 8, or used by buying a brand new iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 plus? How do you feel about these tons of new features and improvement by Apple in the new version of its iOS? Leave your opinion in the comment section below.