iOS 8: Top eight features

Apple recently announced the latest update to its operating system at WWDC. We pick the top 8 features.

Despite the rumours indicating that iOS 8 would be a mostly superficial update, Apple has surprised everyone with the announcements at WWDC. Uncharacteristically, Apple had a lot of catching up to do with Android in terms of features and with iOS 8, it has done it with a bang.

We pick the eight best features of iOS 8:

1. Touch ID

The fingerprint scanning mechanism works pretty well on the iPhone 5S but its functionality was restricted to unlocking the device and authenticating purchases on the app store. Apple has unleashed the potential of Touch ID by throwing it open to developers. We can expect to save a lot of time by skipping the ID and password step on our favorite apps. A simple tap could open your bank details or give you access to your Drop box account.

2. i Cloud Drive

Apple has thrown its hat in the ring against the dominating cloud services like Drop box. Apple’s answer to the cloud problem is the iCloud Drive, which allows you to access your files on Mac, PC, iPad and iPhone.

The iCloud Drive has dramatically improved the cloud experience. Previously, changes didn’t get immediately reflected across all apps when you made a change to the iCloud document. That has been rectified with changes appearing in real-time across all apps.

3. Extensibility

In a sign of loosening the tight grip Apple maintained on its ecosystem a bit, it has allowed third party apps to interact with each other. Apps can take and share data from other apps on the device. As demonstrated on stage at WWDC, a third-party photo app could make its filters available on the Photos app in iOS.

This would mean a lot more fluidity and interaction between different apps. This should go a long way in improving the user experience.

4. Third Party Widgets

The lack of support for widgets has been a sore point for iOS. Widgets in the Notification Center had been limited to Apple’s Stock and Weather updates. As part of Extensibility, developers can now add their own Widgets, increasing the usefulness of the Notication Center multi fold. With a widget for your cricket scores app, you can check the score with a quick glance at the Notification Center.

5. Custom Keyboards

This has taken a long time but Apple has finally delivered. On the wish list of every iOS user, the ability to use a third-party keyboard has finally arrived on Apple’s operating system. Although Apple’s keyboard was one of the best when it came out, since then plenty of third party keyboards have taken it to a whole new level of innovation. We can expect Swift key and others to come out with an i OS version soon.

6. Health Kit

The most discussed feature pre-WWDC, the rumored Health book has been given the moniker Health Kit. It is basically a developer API that will allow health apps to assemble all their health data on a single window, the “Health” app on iOS. This app will act as a central window for all the health related statistics for the user.

Fitness seems to be a fast growing segment on smart phones and Apple is ensuring that it stays in the race. With the iWatch rumored to launch later this year, the Health app could come into focus then.

7. Messages gets Voice and Video Replies

In a major improvement to Messages, Apple has given it a feature set that lets it compete with the best in the business. Group messages have been given an update that gives you greater control. The Messages app now also allows sharing of location and display of media in one window saving a lot of time which would have been spent scrolling.

The most important addition is the ability to send voice and video replies. Despite being a common feature now, the execution on iOS makes it stand out. The app allows you to send a voice reply with just a single swiping gesture. Neat.

8.  Mail Improvements

The Mail app on the iOS has been one of the weak spots of the platform. It has always come off as rather clunky and slow to use. Apple has rejigged the Mail and fixed some of the most frustrating issues with the Mail app. Users can now quickly delete, mark-unread or mark as junk any e-mail message with simple swipes. It now also allows you to briefly suspend writing an e-mail to navigate around your inbox. Presumably, this feature will help immensely if you need to copy text, or look around in another one of your e-mails.