Apple today announced the next major version of its mobile operating system, iOS 8. The new version comes with improvements and features that probably many Apple fanboys were waiting for.
The launch of the new iOS was confirmed earlier when the company was decorating the Moscone Center with the iOS 8 banners.
Once Craig was done with the preview of Yosemite, Tim Cook took stage to reveal some information about the iOS 8.
General Announcements
Before the iOS was announced, Tim Cook took stage to reveal some of the updates about iOS in general
- iPhone has passed 500 million devices
- 130 million customers have bought an iOS device in the past 12 months and it was their first Apple device.
- Nearly half of the customers in China in the past six months switched from Android to iPhone
- iOS 7’s customer satisfaction is at 97% – The CSAT ratings that no one gets.
- Almost 9 out of 10 people are now running on iOS 7. While Android runs only on 1 out of 10 customers.
New iOS 8 Features – Complete List
- New interactive Notifications – You can now reply to messages right from Notifications
- New Safari – With new view for the tabs on iPad
- Reading a message is now seamless on iOS 8.
- New Mail app updates with Swipe gestures
- You can now Swipe the message down, to get access to the rest of the emails in your inbox
- The iOS now displays a Favorite contacts in the Multi-tasking bar
- Improved Spotlight – Includes Apps from App Store, Get Directions, News, Restaurants, Songs from iTunes, new Movies Search
New Keyboard on iOS 8
- Auto Suggestions – Just like Android
- Automatically learns how you type with different people on different apps
- Privacy is protected and none of your key strokes leaves your devices.
Continuity Feature on iOS 8
- Setup Instant Hotspot with no configuration on iPad
- Pick up the work you were doing on iPhone or iPad from your Mac
New Messaging feature on iOS 8
- You can now name your thread.
- Add or remove people from a group conversation
- You can choose when to leave the thread
- You can now share the location
- At a glance view of pictures and attachment features
- Tap to talk feature – Just like how Whatsapp works
iOS 8 – Enterprise
- 98% of the Fortune 500 uses iOS
- iOS 8 now has new passcode feature
- Now has VIP thread – Allows you to subscribe to a thread right from your Mail app
- Third Party enterprise documents providers
- Also improved features overall on security
Health feature on iOS 8
- Monitoring your Activity level like weight, blood pressure and more
- HealthKit provides a single place in which developers can use to log all the data
- Health is a new app that comes installed to provide healthcare information
- Apple is working with healthcare hospitals to integrate them into iOS 8
Family Sharing on iOS 8
- Share Reminders, Photos and Find My iPhone with Family
- Share media between family members
- You can now share the purchases of all the members of your family
- Works based on same credit card numbers
- Permission needs to be approved by the original owner
iCloud Photos on iOS 8
- You can now preserve edits between devices
- New Search feature – Search by location, Year, date, Time, albums and person
- New Smart Editing features
New iCloud Plans
- You can now own 20GB of storage at $0.99mo
Hey Siri on iOS 8
- Song Recognition
- Siri is always listening
- You can now see what it is recognising
Earlier at WWDC:
Apple’s WWDC 2014 is happening right now at Moscone Center in San Francisco and we are bringing every bit of news from the event for you. You can follow the event here at the #WWDC14 central on 4CAST.
Image via Ars Technica