Today, Apple launched iOS 14, which completely revamps the iPhone's home screen.
Hold for applause.
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And it also brings features like translation, a face Memoji and the ability to Unlock your car with your iPhone.
Let's check it out.
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WWDC Apple's annual developer conference is a bit different this year.
Because of COVID-19 the keynote was actually streamed online as a video, but that didn't stop the company from launching some serious upgrades to all of its operating systems.
Of course, the one I'm interested in is iOS 14, which brings that other mentioned homescreen redesign, but also brings features like picture and picture video, better widgets and a new interface for Siri.
So Let's talk about all these features and more.
Since 2007, the iPhone home screen has remained largely unchanged.
Organizing and moving apps can be pretty tedious, especially with the way the home screen forces apps to go to the top left side first, and fill in from there.
And 14 app library automatically organizes all your apps into a single view and what I like about this,
This might be one of my more favorite features when IS14 is the fact that you organize the iPhone around yourself versus being stuck with that magnetic app layout, which might actually still be there if you really wanted to use it.
So the way it works is actually categorizes apps and combines them and groups them together.
So for example, if you had the Facebook app and the Twitter app on your phone, it actually group them into a little folder called social apps.
This solution feels like the have your cake and eat it too answer for app organization.
Now let's talk about widgets currently in IOS 13 widgets can be found on the today view page on your home screen.
In IOS 14, you'll be able to actually pin widgets to your home screen and resize them to your liking.
Now This is a feature that's been in Android for years, but in a neat Apple twist there is a thing called Smart Stacks, that stacks up a bunch of widgets based off apps that you use frequently and even according to what time of day you're using those apps.
And if you want to go through them you just simply swipe across that stack to bring a different widget to the top.
Now let's talk about app clips.
Now this is an incredibly thought out addition by Apple.
Let's say that you're inside a coffee shop and you wanna use the rewards program from the coffee shops app but you don't have it downloaded.
Using a QR code or NFC at the coffee shops registered, you'd actually be able to download an app clip, which appears in the phone kind of like a card at the bottom of the screen, similar to when you have your air pods connected to your phone.
The card gives you direct access to functionality chosen by the apps developer.
The idea is you don't need to download an entire app to access a feature, especially if it's a one off kind of use.
But Next, well, I want to talk about a silent but deadly addition to iOS 14.
And that's something we didn't hear much, if anything about in the keynote, I don't think.
And that is the ability to use a third party app as your default mail.
Or browser on the iPhone.
I know, right?
So that means I could take something like Firefox and make that my default internet browser on my iPhone.
That means I could take something like Gmail and use that as my default Mail app on the iPhone.
Yeah, that's pretty good.>> Next up is the ability to have pitcher video on your iPhone, like iPad OS and Mac OS.
iOS 14 will now let users have picture and picture video on their home screen.
This will allow you to watch video while being able to interact with everything else on your phone.
The feature even works when you're on a phone call or FaceTime call that said, I don't know if it's gonna be like iPad OS where you're not gonna watch YouTube videos on your home screen, maybe listen to the audio if you have YouTube premium, but yeah, that's probably not gonna be the reality.
But let's move on and talk about some tasty new features that's coming to the Messages app.
So if you're on a group thread in the Messages app, you're gonna be able to enable it so you don't receive notifications unless your name is specifically mentioned in a message.
That's pretty cool.
Also, you're gonna be able to pin conversations to the top of the app.
Next up, look out.
Siri is getting some changes.
So currently in IOS 13, if I trigger Siri, the entire screen goes black and the text comes out.
It basically hides everything else on the phone.
And that can be kind of annoying.
When you activate Siri in IOS 14.
There's just a small animation at the bottom of the screen.
So it doesn't block anything.
Not bad.
Next let's have a real talk about emoji which got a bunch of new customizations.
Apple added 20, new head and headwear options as well as add options for guys like me.
And there are three new actions you can have your memo to do, which includes giving a hug, sending a blush, as well as sending a fizbo.
Bump.
One of the more interesting additions is the ability for you to add a face mask cheering emoji way to stay relevant in current times Apple.
Next up, I want to talk about translation.
One of the coolest new features is the ability to translate texts or dictation between different languages.
Now we've seen apps like Google Translate before.
But this is a bit different because it's gonna be built right into iOS 14.
And it actually operates off of the iPhones neural engine, meaning you don't have to be online to use it.
Full disclosure, neural engine happens to be the name of my Radiohead cover band.
A helpful tool inside the app is the ability to go into what's called a conversation mode.
And you do this by simply rotating the iPhone into the landscape.
And on the left side of your screen is all of your translation and on the right side of the screen is the person you're talking to.
To make it easy to follow.
At launch the Translate Apple support 11 languages.
Now let's talk about some changes coming to Apple Maps.
And if you write a bike thing you know the current version Apple Maps does not support directions for cycling.
But that's gonna change the IOS 14, where you can get route options for roads, bike lanes and paths, as well as it'll give you a heads up about elevation changes, steep grades, as well as stairs.
Now let's talk about getting small, similar to the way that Siri has been minimized to take up less room in IOS 14.
The same is gonna apply to incoming phone calls.
So any apps that can receive phone calls will now notify you with a nice petite strip across the top of the screen.
All right, you gearheads, this next one's for you, and it's a big one.
And that's the ability to unlock your car with your iPhone.
Think of it kind of like an Apple Wallet for CarPlay and you're gonna be able to use your iPhone, unlock, lock, and even start your car.
You can also share your key digitally with friends or family.
And to wrap up here's a Jeopardy style potpourri round Have significant but worth mentioning iOS 14 features.
The Home app supports adaptive lighting that automatically changes throughout the course of a day.
A new sleep mode will turn your iPhone into a Do Not Disturb mode alarm clock.
The camera app will have faster shot to shot performance as well as you have the ability to control and change the exposure value without changing your focus value.
That's a big one for me.
Voice Memos get audio enhancements in the health app asleep feature will help you track and attain goals for sleeping.
Alright, this last one is a big one, maybe one of the more significant parts of iOS 14, but maybe not one of the more interesting parts of iOS 14.
And that's when you go to the App Store.
And before you download an app, you can actually look at an information on the apps Privacy Practices, so you can know what information it's gonna want to have access to like Your location and contacts, your cameras, things like that.
Hey, so that's all I got.
I should say that a developer version of iOS 14 is currently available, and a public beta version will be available in July.
A final version of iOS 14 will be released this fall and iOS 14 is supported on the exact same device.
Is that are supported on iOS 13, meaning the iPhone 6s and newer.
But I wanna hear from you, what are your favorite new features announced for iOS 14?
And what are some features that you're hoping for that didn't get announced or aren't part of the iOS.
Throw your thoughts in the comments.
