With the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus comes a brand new mobile operating system, iOS 8, available to download for older devices from today. Currently, iOS is one of the most popular operating systems in the world, playing second fiddle only to Android. Now upgraded to include a raft of new features, Apple will be hoping that the updated system will help in closing this gap. Here are some of the features that might not be immediately obvious, but could certainly help their cause.
1) ‘Send Last Location’ setting
A Send Last Location feature has been added to Find my iPhone so that your GPS coordinates are backed up to iCloud whenever your battery life is close to running out.
Just before the battery shuts down, the last thing the device does is pinpoint exactly where you left it, so there’ll be no need to turn the house upside down for your phone when it’s sitting pretty in the office.
2) Detailed battery usage breakdown
Is Kim Kardashian (or more specifically, her mobile game) responsible for running down your battery life? A new option in the usage menu under Settings will be able to tell you; it provides a breakdown of how much battery each app has used in the last 24 hours or seven days.
3) Leave Group Conversation option
Good news for those with already quite enough Whatsapp and Facebook group messages to contend with. Under Details in a group conversation on iMessage, there’s now the option to exit the conversation. Alternatively, if you’re not watching the same programme your friends are live messaging and fancy a little respite, you can also select the Do Not Disturb option to stay in the conversation, but silence it.
4) Grayscale mode
A little ostentatious perhaps, but for anyone interested in giving their device a vintage twist, the Accessibility menu now offers a ‘grayscale’ option, that gives the entire operating system a black and white hue.
5) Reply to messages without changing screens
Previously, if you were using an app and received a text message, you’d need to exit the screen you were on in order to reply. iOS8 eliminates this irritating feature; simply swipe down on the banner that appears when a message comes through, and enter a quick response without leaving the screen.
6) Self-destructing photos
Apple appears to have taken a leaf out of Snapchat’s book with this new feature. When using iOS 8’s messages app, holding down on the camera icon opens the camera app, and any pictures or videos sent from here will self-destruct two minutes after being sent.
7) Send multiple pictures at a time
If you tap on the keyboard’s camera icon, a preview of up to 20 recent photos comes up, giving you the option to easily choose multiple photos at the same time.
8) View all attachments from a conversation without scrolling up
Instead of having to scroll back through eons of messages to relocate a photo or video previously sent by a friend, with iOS 8, you can go to a ‘Details’ icon and scroll down to view all of the attachments that any conversations has garnered.
Press down on the attachment, and you can choose to either save or delete them too. This should save photos automatically cluttering your photo stream.
9) Share your location in Messages
iOS8 allows users to share their location directly through Messages. Under Details, you can choose the option to ‘Send My Current Location’, and a mapped image will be sent to the recipient – useful for when your friend asks where to meet you.
10) Faster access to contacts
Double tapping the home button will result in your most contacted people appearing as a line of icons. Clicking on one of the faces will provide you with the option to call, chat or FaceTime this contact.
11) Upgraded Mail
With iOS 8 comes gesture based message manipulation in the Mail app. Now, users will be able to swipe to the left to reply to a message or delete a flag, or, with a harder swipe, delete the message altogether.
12) Keyboard enhancements
The new iOS 8 software sees Apple upgrade its keyboard for the first time. It now offers context-sensitive predictive typing, which claims to pick up on how you write, and subsequently provide a list of words to make texting a lot faster.
Apple claims that this feature is sensitive enough to decipher who exactly you are talking with and adjust the suggestions accordingly, so should, in theory, be able to pick up on the differences when texting your boss, as opposed to your best friend.
13) Siri listens at all times
Not as creepy as this might suggest; Apple has upgraded Siri to listen constantly in order for it to be activated simply by you saying ‘Hey Siri’, and without the need to touch the home button.
14) Siri and Shazam have integrated
Siri will now be able to recognise songs being played in the vicinity, eliminating the need to open the Shazam app used for the same purpose. You will then be able to purchase songs from the results screen.
15) Quick access to apps according to your location
Apple has built subtle notifications into the lock screen, based on location, so that if you’re near to a particular shop or business, a tiny icon for this business will appear. If you pull this up, you’ll be automatically transported into the relevant app.
16) Easily recover deleted photos
In iOS 8, when the preview icon at the bottom of the screen in the camera app is tapped, it opens up a view that allows you to recover deleted photos. To clear this menu, you can simply empty the ‘Recently Deleted’ album in the Photos app.
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