New Delhi: Apple's mobile operating system iOS 8 which has been in the works for some time will be made available on September 17.
The new platform is a free software update for iPhones and iPads and will support features such as Apple's Health app that monitors health and fitness, and the HomeKit for home automation.
With HomeKit, users can say "good morning," and have the lights turned on in specific rooms, the thermostat adjusted and the garage door opened, for example. The software will have improved security, faster messaging and a new virtual keyboard.
Apple had first unveiled the new iOS 8 software at its annual developers conference in San Francisco. Here is what's new in iOS 8.
- In iOS 8, every photo and video you take now lives in iCloud. So you can view a photo from last week or last year no matter where you are.
- 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.
- Apple says iOS 8 makes it simple to find every shot. 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 will get choices based on what's important to you.
- Even after you take your photo, Photos can automatically straighten horizons and provide the ideal crop.
- You can crop, straighten, enhance, or add filters to your pictures in iOS 8. Your changes are immediately uploaded to iCloud and visible on your other devices.
- iOS 8 makes it possible for other app developers to create filters and editing tools that you can use in Photos.
- iOS 8 lets you modify the overall light in a photo with a single control. Use the smart slider to find just the right lighting. Slide to enhance blue skies or make colors pop. Photos also adjusts exposure, brightness, and contrast.
- The messaging app in iOS 8 has Tap to Talk (make an audio/video recording and send to recipients).
- Messages in iOS 8 will let users send multiple photos and videos at once.
- iOS 8 will let users share their location in the middle of any conversation.
- It also has group messaging. Start a group conversation and give it a name. You can include who you want, drop who you don't, and leave the conversation whenever you want.
- Tap to see every attachment from a conversation. It's simple to browse the photos and videos within a thread, says Apple. You will see all the photos and videos going back to the very first exchange, without having to scroll through earlier messages.
- It will have new gestures, such as double tapping to get a list of people you communicate with most often.
- The new software will sport interactive notifications, so you can respond to a message without having to leave another app.
- Apple says with iOS 8, time-saving features arrive in mail. From your inbox, swipe to mark an email as read or flag it for follow-up. You can jump between a draft email and an email in your inbox to gather the information you need to compose your message.
- 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.
- A "quick type" feature promises predictive typing suggestions. For example, if you start typing, "Do you want to go to," the phone will suggest "dinner" or "movie" as the next word. Currently, the suggestions are limited to spelling corrections.
- For the first time, iOS 8 opens up the keyboard to developers. It means users will be able to use keyboards from other companies on their iOS devices.
- Family Sharing is a new feature in iOS. Up to six people in your family can share purchases from iTunes, iBooks, and the App Store without sharing accounts. You will be able to pay for family purchases with the same credit card.
- Once you set up Family Sharing, family members get access to each other's music, movies, TV shows, books, and apps.
- Family Sharing 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.
- 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.
- Family Sharing can automatically share your location with your family members and show you where they are, too.
- iOS 8 will gives users freedom to work with the document of their choice on the device of their choice. Because with iCloud Drive, users will be able to store all their presentations, spreadsheets, PDFs, images, and any other kind of document in iCloud and access them from their iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or PC.
- iCloud Drive will give users access to the latest version of their documents from any device. Edits you make on one device appear on all of them.
- iOS 8 will have a built-in health-management tool to help people track their vital signs, diet and sleeping habits. Called "Healthkit," it will pull together data such as blood pressure and weight, collected by a growing plethora of healthcare apps on the iPhone or iPad.
- You can view your most recent health and fitness data in one dashboard. You can also see a list of the different types of data being managed by Health, and then tap to see each one individually.
- Apple will work in tandem with Nike, a major player in fitness tracking, and the Mayo Clinic on the new feature, which will be included with the latest versions of Apple's mobile software.
- iOS 8 gives have complete control over exactly which data to share with each health and fitness app.
- With iOS, Apple says that your iPhone, iPad, and Mac will be connected like never before.
- A new "handoff" feature will let you switch devices more easily, so you can start writing an email on a phone and finish on a Mac.
- And when a call comes in on your iPhone, you can get caller ID information on your Mac. Just click or swipe the notification to answer, ignore, or respond with a quick message. You can also make a phone call from your iPad or Mac.
- Not only from iPhone, you can now send (or receive) SMS and MMS text messages right from your iPad or Mac.
- Now Spotlight goes beyond your device to find what you're looking for. Before it answers, it considers things like context and location.
- The enterprise-grade security technologies built into iOS are even more powerful in iOS 8, says Apple. The company says it has expanded data protection to more apps and enabled finer control over mail encryption.
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