15 important features of iOS 8

      iOS 8 is all about features that gives users and developers access to the things they have been demanding since 2-3 years.

      The most important features of iOS 8:

    1) Health Kit

      Apple introduced a new Health app for iOS 8 that can collate information collected on you by other apps and put them in one place for easy reference. Apple also introduced Healthkit, a new tool that developers can use to access your health data for use in their own apps or to communicate with the other health apps you have installed on your iDevice

     HealthKit is Apple’s answer for the wave of wearable fitness devices that sync with your iPhone. The Health app compiles all of your favorite fitness stats in one easy to read application – heart rate, blood pressure, weight, activity, calories consumed and more.

      Mayo Clinic and a host of other medical companies are onboard with the HealthKit to give patients better care so your doctor can keep tabs on your lazy ass from the comfort of his office and share it with other doctors – as long as you give him permission of course.

    2) New Swift keyboard

     The iOS 8 keyboard will predict your next word as you type based on your previous usage, and offers suggestions. You will also be able to install and use third-party keyboards, a feature that is very popular among Android users. Adaptxt, a keyboard app for Android that offers contextual predictions, from Keypoint Technologies of India, is one of the third party apps that is already scheduled to launch for iOS 8.

   3) Photos

      iOS 8 will get a new iCloud Photo Library that will save all your full resolution photos on the cloud and leave 'light' versions of them on your phone to save space. You'll also be able to search through your photos now based on date, time, location and album name of the photos. iOS 8 will also bring a number of photo editing tools and introduce time-lapse video recording that lets you capture a subject over a duration and watch an accelerated version of events.

    4) Spotlight Search

      Apple claims that it has improved the search tool inside iOS 8 and that now it considers context and location when delivering results. Instead of opening your browser, you'll be able to search for news, wikipedia pages, music and apps directly from the spotlight search tool.

    5) Safari

     The popular tab view from Safari for iPhone has been ported to the iPad, but you’ll never have to hit the Tab View button again thanks to a new quick toggle gesture that can be triggered with a two finger pinch on any webpage. Apple also added a new Sidebar that slides out to reveal bookmarks, reading lists, and sharedlinks.

    6) Messaging

      Snapchat, Whatsapp and every other disappearing messaging service were put on notice with some huge upgrades to iMessages today that add the ability to not only send quick video and voice messages, but also the option to make them expire.

       iOS 8 adds a new Tap to Talk feature that lets you share video and photos with a simple gesture. Annoying group messages are a thing of the past now too with the option to leave a conversation, label threads, add/remove contacts mid-convo, and the option to add DND to specific threads.

    7) Interactive notifications

      iOS 8 is full of tiny tweaks as well. Notification Center now lets users reply to messages from the NC panel. The camera app picked up the ability to set separate focus and exposure points. Handoff will let you seamlessly start a project on your iPhone and finish it on your Mac.

    8) Greater integration with Mac OS

     Apple made it clear that it was focused on improving the integration between iOS devices and Mac machines. With iOS 8 installed on your iPad/iPhone and OS X Yosemite installed on your Mac (and provided you're signed into the same iCloud account on all the devices), you'll be able to start working on an email, browse a website or work on a file in Pages/Keynote/Numbers on either device and continue doing the same when you move to the other device. Your iPad and Mac will also be able to answer calls and receive messages if your iPhone is on the same Wi-Fi network.

    9) Family Sharing

      In iOS 8, you will be able to share stuff that you bought from iTunes and the App Store with six other people without needing to share your account details. Parents will also be able to approve a purchase made by a child on another device and the entire group (or 'family' as Apple calls it) will also be able to contribute to a single Family photo album. The 'Find my iPhone/iPad' feature has also been extended to the 'family' and family members will be able to help each other find their misplaced devices.     

      Developers, developers, developers!

      Apart from the focus on integration between iOS and OS X, the big message of the WWDC conference was developer outreach. Apple stated that it has opened up 4,000 APIs in iOS 8 to enable developers to add more functionality to their apps. This includes the ability for developers of social networking apps to add their app as the default sharing destination, for developers of photo editing apps to add their tools and filters to the default camera app, among others. Apple also revealed Swift, a new programming language that, it claimed, made it easier to code apps and software for iOS and OS X.

   10) Change in Weather Channel Provider

      In iOS 7, Apple's weather app got its info from Yahoo. Starting in iOS 8, that data comes from the Weather Channel.

  

   11) Gaming

       Apple also paid special attention to game developers by introducing three new game developement tools: SpriteKit, for light 2D games; SceneKit, for casual 3D games and; Metal, for high-performance 'console'-level games.

    12) Improvements in Siri

      Siri receives a number of new upgrades in iOS 8, including the ability to to purchase iTunes items. When users compose a message with talk-to-text in Messages, Siri now dictates talk-to-text live as you’re speaking, so you know when she’s garbled a word like “areolas”. You can also find the feature on the main Siri screen.

      Siri can now be pulled up just by saying “hey Siri,” rather than pressing the homebutton. Phone calls can be answered from your Mac, and AirDrop is now compatible between iPhones and Macs.

   13) Touch ID with third-party apps

      Apple took fingerprint reading mainstream with the TouchID sensor in the iPhone 5S. In iOS 8, it's going to open up that level of convenience to developers, who can let a user unlock any password stored in their keychain by placing their finger on the reader.

   14) Mail

      Have you ever been in the middle of composing an e-mail and realized you needed to go back into your inbox to see something? In the past, you've had to  save the draft of the e-mail you were writing, go back into your inbox and then reopen it later. Now you'll be able to swipe down to pause your active message, go about your other business and return whenever you want.

    15) Apple Pay

     Apple Pay is a service that allows iPhone users to pay for their purchases by tapping the TouchID button, which scans their fingerprint and then authorizes the payment. While only the NFC-equipped iPhone 6 can do this, iPhone 5S owners will also be able to use Apple Pay through an Apple Watch. This could eventually replace credit card swiping, if most stores adopt the system.