Apple iOS 8.0 officially announced - Here's all you need to know

Today Apple took the covers off its newest version of its mobile operating system - iOS 8.0 and it looks like the company has been putting in quite a bit of work on it. The update brings several new features and improvements which will benefit both end users and developers. Lets take a closer look at some of the key features.

The iOS 8 update is expected this fall, likely alongside a new lineup of devices to run the latest version of the platform. However developers signed up for Apple's Developer Program will get early access to test the update and ready their apps for the fall release of iOS

Photos Messages EMail Safari QuickType Keyboard Family Sharing iCloud Drive

Health Continuity Spotlight Enterprise SDK Changelog Compatibility

Photos

The Photos app on iOS 8 will see a huge update, as Apple addresses one of the main issues iOS users have with their devices - Managing photos. Users want to access their photos across all their iOS and Mac devices and the way this is done is through iCloud. 

Apple now introduces iCloud Photo Library, which saves every photo and video you capture on your Apple devices on the iCloud, giving you the freedom to access your images from any of your devices, from any time. Since you are no longer limited, you can access photos from last week or even from years ago.

Once you've enabled it on your iOS devices, iCloud Photo Library automatically keeps all your photos and videos in iCloud, at full resolution in their original formats, including RAW files. You can access and download them anytime from your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or the web.

iCloud Photo Library helps you make the most out of the space available on your iOS device, so you can spend more time shooting pictures and less time managing them. It can automatically keep the original high-resolution photos and videos in iCloud and leave behind lightweight versions that are perfectly sized for each device. You get 5GB of iCloud storage free, and other storage plans will start at $0.99 per month.

iCloud Photo Library keeps your photos and videos organized into Moments, Collections, and Years across all your devices and even on the web. You can mark favorites, create albums, or drag photos into a custom order whether you're on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch.

Crop, straighten, enhance, or add filters to your pictures using Photos in iOS 8. Your changes are immediately uploaded to iCloud and visible on your other devices. And the edits are not permanent, which means you can always revert back to your original if you change your mind.

Apple has even made it easier to find photos. Now you can search thousands of your photos right from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Search by the date or time the photo was taken, location, or album name. Just tap the search icon, and you’ll get choices based on what’s important to you. One more tap gives you immediate access to photos taken nearby, photos taken the same time last year, or your all-time favorite photos.

Messages

Apple has also brought some great enhancements to messaging on iOS 8. With the new update, you can easily capture any sound - your voice, a song, or a big laugh - and make it part of the conversation. Simply touch and hold the new microphone button to record your message. Then swipe to send it.

Touch and hold with your thumb to record your message, then swipe up to send it. To hear a message, simply hold iPhone to your ear and listen like it’s a phone call. Or just tap the Play button. Its the same way with videos. Just capture what you are looking at and send it as a video message to your contacts through Messages.

Apple has also made it extremely easy to manage your group messages. Start a group conversation and give it a name like “Soccer Team” or “Road Trip.” Easily include who you want, drop who you don’t, and leave the conversation whenever you want. Or turn on Do Not Disturb and then read through the messages when you have time.

Tap Details to name a conversation so you can easily find it again later. In Details, you can add and remove people from the conversation - or leave it yourself.

Ever wanted to tell your friend where you are, but found it hard to explain the directions over the phone or as a message ? With the updated messages, you will be able to answer that question more clearly than ever with a map showing your location. You can also share your whereabouts with people you choose for an hour, until the end of the day, or indefinitely. And you can see people in the message thread on a map if they've shared their locations.

You can now send multiple photos or videos at once with Messages. Just tap the camera icon to see the most recent photos in your Camera Roll. Select the ones you want to share and tap Send. It’s that easy. Want to send older photos? Tap Photo Library and select the shots you want.

With the update to Messages, it is much easier to see attachments from a conversation. It’s simple to browse the photos and videos within a thread. You’ll see all the photos and videos going back to the very first exchange, without having to scroll through earlier messages.

Design

Apple has designed iOS 8 to be easier to use than ever before. In iOS 8, you’ll find a convenient new way to respond to notifications. Helpful shortcuts to the people you talk to most. And time-saving features for managing your mail. All of which make the experience of using your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch that much better.

With interactive notifications, you can take action on texts, email, calendar invitations, reminders, and even messages from apps like Facebook right from their notification banners - without leaving the app you’re in. Now it’s easy to quickly reply to important messages and keep doing what you were doing.

You can quickly reply to a message from the notification, without having to open the app. You can even accept or decline calendar invitations or make your RSVP all from the notification itself.

From any screen, press the Home button twice to see the multitasking interface. At the top, you’ll notice something new: the faces of people you've recently talked to and - if you swipe to the right - your favorite contacts as well. Just tap one to call, text, or start a FaceTime call.

EMail

From your inbox, swipe to mark an email as read or flag it for follow-up. You can also easily jump between a draft email and an email in your inbox to gather the information you need to compose your message. And now when Mail recognizes a reservation, flight confirmation, or phone number in an email, a notification appears. Just tap to add an event to your calendar or a phone number to your contacts.

Tap the notification at the top of the screen to quickly add flight and dinner reservations to Calendar or phone numbers to Contacts. If you've read an email but want to remember to read it again later, just swipe right and switch it to Unread. Swiping left lets you choose to flag a message, move it to a folder, or send it to the Trash. Keep your finger moving all the way to the left to delete.

Safari

The Tab view you know and love in Safari on iPhone now appears on your iPad. You can see all your open web pages, with tabs from the same site grouped together. There’s also a new Sidebar that slides out to reveal your bookmarks, Reading List, and Shared Links. So you’ll enjoy a familiar browsing experience across all your devices.

Tab view shows all the open tabs on your iPad as well as tabs on your other devices, too.

Tap the Sidebar to see your bookmarks, Reading List, and Shared Links.

QuickType keyboard

Apple introduces some great enhancements to the keyboard with iOS 8. Now you can tap to choose the perfect suggestion for your next word. And for the first time, third-party keyboards will be available. Typing as you know it might soon be a thing of the past.

Now you can write entire sentences with a few taps. Because as you type, you'll see choices of words or phrases you’d probably type next, based on your past conversations and writing style. iOS 8 takes into account the casual style you might use in Messages and the more formal language you probably use in Mail. 

It also adjusts based on the person you’re communicating with, because your choice of words is likely more laid back with your spouse than with your boss. Your conversation data is kept only on your device, so it’s always private.

When you’re using Messages, the word suggestions may be more casual and brief, if that’s how you like to text. The predictive text will adjust to give you more polished next-word choices.

You'll get word choices that are appropriate for your coworker, your best friend, and anyone else you've had conversations with. If someone asks you a question, iOS 8 understands. And before you even type one letter, it offers choices like “Yes” or “No.”

The iOS 8 predictive text engine is optimized for 14 countries. Which means as you type, you'll see suggested words and phrases that are commonly used in your region. And as you use the keyboard over time, it will learn the way you communicate, get to know your favorite phrases, and suggest a logical next word.

Apple plans to open up the keyboard to developers, so that they can include third party keyboards for iOS 8. This means you will soon be able to swipe rather than type or get back a classic keyboard layout once developers brings their custom keyboards to iOS.

Family Sharing

Family Sharing makes it easy for up to six people in your family to share each other’s iTunes, iBooks, and App Store purchases. Whenever one person buys a new song, movie, or app, everybody gets to share. It’s also easier than ever to share family photos, a family calendar, locations, and more.

Pay for family purchases with the same credit card and approve kids’ spending right from a parent’s device. Easily share photos, a family calendar, and more to help keep everyone connected. Once you set up Family Sharing, family members get immediate access to each other’s music, movies, TV shows, books, and apps. Download what you want with a tap anytime you like. All without having to share an Apple ID or passwords.

Family Sharing makes collecting and sharing family memories easier and more fun. It automatically sets up a family photo stream where you can share photos, videos, and comments. And everything stays up to date on everyone’s devices. So you’re all a tap away from the latest vacation shots, birthday highlights, and family pranks.

One shared family calendar equals one happy, organized family. Now everybody in the family can add events to one calendar. You can even set up family reminders that will appear on everyone’s devices at the exact time or place you choose. So when it’s school picture day, pizza night, or just a trip to the beach, everyone’s in the know.

Family Sharing can automatically share your location with your family members and show you where they are, too. Now it’s easier than ever to meet up at the park, see if Dad’s on his way home, or keep tabs on your kids throughout the day. Out shopping for a surprise birthday gift? Just hide your location with a tap.

Finding your family’s lost devices is even easier now that everyone can help. With the Find My iPhone app, family members can use their devices to locate one that’s lost and have it play a sound (even if the ringer is turned off). If you don’t want your devices to be located, simply turn sharing off.

Parents get more control, while kids feel like they have more freedom. It’s not a parenting miracle, it’s Family Sharing. Enjoy the convenience of paying for family purchases with a single credit card. Enable “Ask to Buy” to require children to get permission before making iTunes, iBooks, and App Store purchases. You can even create Apple IDs for children under 13 years old so they can participate, too.

Before your children can make a purchase, they must ask your permission. A notification appears on your device. You can review the request, then approve or decline it.

iCloud Drive

Apple has announced iCloud Drive, as the company's response to OneDrive, Google Drive or DropBox. With iCloud Drive you can work on any file, anywhere. That includes presentations, PDFs, images, and more - right from iCloud. On whichever device you’re using, including your Mac or PC.

To upload your files to iCloud, simply drag them into the iCloud Drive on your Mac running OS X Yosemite or PC running Windows 8. Or start a new document using an iCloud-enabled app on your iOS device. Then you'll be able to access those documents from all your devices.

Using iCloud Drive means you’ll always have access to the latest version of all your documents from any device. For example, you can start creating a presentation on your Mac at home, then make final edits and present it in class using your iPad. All the changes you make along the way appear automatically on all your devices.

Your apps can now share files, which means you can access and work on the same file across multiple apps. For example, you can create a drawing in a sketching app, then open it in a paint app to color it in. Or create a chart in one app and place it in a slideshow using a presentation app. No more making copies or importing documents from one app to another. It’s a whole new level of collaboration between apps.

Health

Now your activity tracker, heart rate monitor, and other health and fitness apps can talk to each other. Which means they'll be able to work even harder for you. And all the information is accessible in one easy‑to‑read dashboard.

The new Health app gives you an easy-to-read dashboard of your health and fitness data. Apple has also created a new tool for developers called HealthKit, which allows all the incredible health and fitness apps to work together, and work harder, for you. It just might be the beginning of a health revolution.

Heart rate, calories burned, blood sugar, cholesterol - your health and fitness apps are great at collecting all that data. The new Health app puts that data in one place, accessible with a tap, giving you a clear and current overview of your health. You can also create an emergency card with important health information - for example, your blood type or allergies - that’s available right from your Lock screen.

Quickly view your most recent health and fitness data in one dashboard. See a list of the different types of data being managed by Health, then tap to see each one individually.

You have complete control over exactly which data to share with each health and fitness app. Create an emergency card that’s accessible from your Lock screen.

With HealthKit, developers can make their apps even more useful by allowing them to access your health data, too. And you choose what you want shared. For example, you can allow the data from your blood pressure app to be automatically shared with your doctor. Or allow your nutrition app to tell your fitness apps how many calories you consume each day.

Continuity

Things are about to get even better for people with multiple Apple devices. Now you can start an email on one device and seamlessly continue on another. And iPhone owners can answer phone calls on their Mac or iPad, and even send SMS messages from any of them.

Sometimes when your iPhone rings, it’s not where you are. Maybe it’s charging in another room. Or it’s buried in your backpack. But your Mac or iPad is sitting right there. Now you can make and receive phone calls on those devices as long as your iPhone running iOS 8 is on the same Wi-Fi network. Incoming calls show the caller’s name, number, and profile picture. Just click or swipe the notification to answer, ignore, or respond with a quick message. And making a phone call from your iPad or Mac is just as easy. Simply tap or click a phone number in Contacts, Calendar, or Safari. It all works with your existing iPhone number, so there’s nothing to set up.

Having a conversation with friends and family who don’t use an iPhone just got much easier. That’s because you can now send and receive SMS and MMS text messages right from your iPad or Mac. So when a friend texts you from any kind of phone, you can respond using whichever device is most convenient. You can also start a conversation from your iPad or Mac by clicking a phone number in Safari, Contacts, or Calendar.

The new Handoff feature allows you to start writing an email on your iPhone and pick up where you left off when you sit down at your Mac. Or browse the web on your Mac and continue from the same link on your iPad. It all happens automatically when your devices are signed in to the same iCloud account. Use Handoff with favorite apps like Mail, Safari, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Maps, Messages, Reminders, Calendar, and Contacts. And developers can build Handoff into their apps now, too.

You can start browsing on your iPad and continue from the same link on your iPhone. You can also start working on a project on your iPad or iPhone and pick up instantly on your Mac. If you begin composing an email on your Mac and finish it on your iPhone. Or vice versa.

If you’re out of Wi-Fi range, iPad can connect to your phone’s personal hotspot when your iPhone is close by. With the new Instant Hotspot feature, you’ll see the name of your device in the list of Wi-Fi networks in Settings. Just select it and you’re connected. And when iPad isn’t using your phone’s network, it intelligently disconnects to save battery life.

Spotlight

Sometimes you’re looking for a contact or an app. Sometimes you’re looking for answers. Spotlight now gives you suggestions from Wikipedia entries, places nearby, trending news, and more. It’s even smart enough to recognize context and location to offer you the most relevant information.

Type in a term like “Point Reyes” and you'll get a snippet of the Wikipedia article, including a picture and a short summary. Tap it, and Spotlight takes you to the full article. Spotlight knows what topics are hot. And as what’s trending changes, the list it gives you does, too. Hungry? Just enter the name of a restaurant, and Spotlight will show you one nearby, including the phone number and hours it’s open. Tap to go to Maps and see exactly how to get there.

Spotlight is a great personal shopper. It can help you get right to the music, movies, TV shows, and podcasts you want. Looking for an app you read about or that game everyone’s playing? Type the name, and Spotlight searches the App Store to find it fast. Want to find the perfect book? Spotlight helps you do less searching and more reading.

Spotlight knows about popular websites. Type in a name, and Spotlight will take you there. Just type a movie name, and Spotlight can give you the showtimes at nearby theaters. See all these results in Safari as you're typing in a search. The results appear alongside Top Hits and search suggestions.

Enterprise

iPhone and iPad have become the devices of choice at work simply because they're the devices of choice in daily life. And it gets even better in iOS 8 with new productivity, security, and device management features.

Developers

SDK

iOS 8 is the biggest release for developers since the introduction of the App Store. We’re giving them new tools to extend the reach of their apps and opening up new opportunities for them to take advantage of iCloud, Touch ID, and more. Which means you’ll soon see exciting new apps with capabilities that were never possible before.

ChangeLog

For those who dont want to go through the new features in detail, here a list of new features and improvements headed to your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch this fall with iOS 8.0

• Refined UI in multi-tasking, Mail, Messages, third-party sharing options among other system apps.
• Safari plugin support, bird-eye tab view for iPad
• iCloud Drive with 5GB free storage
• Third-party keyboards, adaptive default one
• Family Share - share and control the content across Apple IDs using the same credit card, children app purchase requests
• Handoff support with Mac OS X Yosemite - continuity from any iOS 8 iDevice to Mac OS X, instant automatic hotspot, SMS/MMS/iMessages and voice calls transition supported
• New Photos with smart editing, search, third-party filters
• Health pack
• Better Spotlight with automatic internet suggestions from popular services such as Wikipedia, Maps, IMDb
• Enterprise easy setup
• Better Siri with voice activation, Shazam integration, 24 new dictation languages
• Third-party widgets in Notification Center
• Updated App Store with category browsing, Beta apps, Bundles
• China gets lunar calendar, turn-by-turn navigation, better weather data

The following features are those listed by Apple, but weren't detailed during the keynote presentation

• Safari Private Browsing per tab
• Camera: Instant Burst Mode, Timer, separate focus and exposure, Panorama for iPad
• Integrated iBooks with auto night mode, Book Series support
• Battery usage per app statistics
• Tips app
• Rich Text Editing in Notes
• RSS Feeds in Shared Links
• Wi-Fi calling support
• Travel time notifications
• FaceTime call waiting
• Improved accessibility, In Case of Emergency card, TouchID to exit Guided Access, Braille keyboard
• Flyover city tours
• New keyboards, dictation languages and dictionaries

Compatibility

So you maybe wondering which devices are compatible with the new version of iOS? Well most current iOS devices are. Sadly the Apple iPhone 4 will be the only iOS 7 device not to receive the update to iOS 8.0. The following devices are compatible to receive the iOS 8.0 update, when it is released this fall

Apple iPhone 4S Apple iPhone 5 Apple iPhone 5c Apple iPhone 5s

Apple iPad 2 Apple iPad 3 (with Retina Display) Apple iPad 4 (with Retina Display) Apple iPad Air Apple iPad mini Apple iPad mini 2 (with Retina Display)

Apple iPod Touch (5th Generation)