Best New Features In IOS 8 That You Should Know About

Yesterday, Apple took the wraps off iOS 8 at its WWDC keynote. Considering the paucity of leaks before the event, no one really had any high hopes from the update as far as new features were concerned, which is why everyone was pleasantly surprised when Apple started firing one great new feature after another during the event that would have made even users of other platforms sit up and take notice.

Extensions

One feature in Android that a lot of iOS users have been clamouring for was ability to apps to interact with each other instead of residing in their respective silos. This allows apps to talk to each other, thereby letting you share content from one app to another.

This is what Extensions brings to iOS. In iOS 8, apps can place an extension in the share sheet, that will allow you to share, say, a web page to any app that supports this functionality, whereas previously you’d be limited to the few built-in apps along with Twitter and Facebook. Or apps can provide specific functionality in other apps, such as the Bing Translate action Apple demonstrated during the keynote in Safari.

Keyboard

The stock iOS keyboard has always been very good but over time people started demanding more features, such as ability to see predictions above the key row or being able to swipe instead of typing. The keyboard in iOS 8 is hugely improved and now shows suggestions as you type. The suggestions are context aware and thus provide relevant suggestions depending upon what you are typing. It learns from your usage and improves the suggestions to match the context and your typing style.

Healthkit and Homekit

Currently, there are many companies making health focused devices, such as the Nike FuelBand, the Jawbone Up and the FitBit. These devices usually have their own apps, which scatters your data across the phone. What Healthkit does is provide device manufactures a place to collate all their data so it’s easier for the user to find all of it in one place. It also works with medical services that can track your health and contact a doctor if necessary for you.

– Rikkin Patel