Apple announced iOS 14 on the stage of the WWDC 2020 developer conference, giving the first (official) look at the latest version of its iPhone system, and it brings the biggest change to the iOS home screen in years, which is smart gadgets.
Gadgets:
Gadgets come in a variety of sizes and can still be viewed in the Today view, but in iOS 14, Apple is allowing gadgets to be added to the Home screen to be alongside your apps.
It can be added via the new gadgets gallery, where users can easily add and customize gadgets; There's also a new Smart Stack tool that automatically displays relevant apps based on the time of day.
App Library:
Apple also announced a new App Library view, where the library automatically organizes applications into groups and lists.
Thanks to this new App Library view, Apple now lets users hide apps on their home screen.
It's a lot like the Android App Drawer, but with some extra smart grouping features, like automatically pulling all Apple Arcade games into one.
Picture-in-Picture feature:
In another new feature, Apple is adding a system-wide picture in picture feature to iOS videos. As on macOS, videos will scroll over apps and can be resized or minimized at the side of the screen to continue playing in the background. This feature will also work with FaceTime calls.
App Clips feature:
Apple also launched the new App Clips feature, which is quick snippets of applications that depend on the card and allows you to access small parts of applications when you need them without requiring users to install a full application, which is similar to its version of the current Android applications.
Examples provided include: Accessing the parking app through NFC, or the Cofee store's rewards program.
App Clips supports logging in with an Apple account to avoid having to create new accounts, and can be accessed again through the new app library, and by paying with Apple Pay.
To get started with App Clips, Apple is launching a new QR code format that uses both visual codes and NFC to quickly access App Clips.
The catch is that you don't need to download a full app to be able to access what it has to offer, it looks great if you're someone who doesn't want to download more apps than you really need, plus the ability to purchase through Apple Pay.
Set email and default browsers:
Also available in iOS 14 is the long-awaited option for users to set their default email and browsers, although Apple hasn't provided much detail on how this works yet.
New view for Siri digital assistant:
Siri Assistant also includes a new view: instead of taking over the entire screen when Siri is activated, only a small part will appear at the bottom of the screen, which is the Siri animated icon.
Voice messages can now be sent in addition to Siri-identified messages.
Likewise, incoming phone calls and FaceTime calls will also appear as a new popup, instead of taking over the entire screen.
New translation app:
Apple also announced a new translation application that will be integrated into the system, which will allow users to easily translate between languages, just like Google Translate.
Users will be able to enter text in messages or voice messages and translate them into 11 different languages. English, Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Portuguese and Russian will be supported at launch.
Messages app updates:
The Messages app also got new features in iOS 14, you will be able to pin important contacts and chats to the top of the Messages app to easily chat with your best friends or group chats.
Memoji improvements:
There are also new Memoji accessories including more age options and accessories for faces, such as face masks and emotions (like blushing).
This may seem like a small plus, but it's great if you want to live the dream of communicating only with Memoji.
Chat improvements:
Apple has also added new threaded conversations in group chats and provides alerts to specific people in the chat.
Apple Maps updates and EV support:
Apple Maps has also acquired new and curated guides from companies like Zagat or AllTrails to provide better recommendations for new places.
There is also cyclist support, with customized cycling directions that take into account altitude, bike paths and roads, plus a notification if you will need to carry the bike up stairs to reach your destination.
There's also the new EV Routing feature, which will track the vehicle's current charging ratio, altitude and weather, and direct you to compatible car charging stations.
Apple is working with BMW and Ford, although specific cars have not been announced.
CarPlay has also gained support for custom wallpapers and new app categories: parking apps, EV charging, and fast food apps.
Auto keys:
Apple is also adding support for NFC-enabled car keys with iOS 14, with the 2021 BMW 5 Series set to be the first to support this feature.
You can register the key in your Apple Wallet app, and when you drive to a supported car, it will unlock it via NFC, then start the engine as soon as you place your phone on the pad.
The keys are stored on the device, and can be deleted from the cloud if you want. The also cool thing about this feature is that you can create unique driver profiles for other iPhone users, grant user-specific permissions, for example, to your child, or have no restrictions whatsoever for another person, such as a spouse or other trusted person.
NFC passes are stored in Apple's Secure Enclave for security and can be shared with other iOS users, giving them temporary access to your vehicle.
The new Car Key feature will also come to iOS 13, and to make sure your car is not locked, it will use a special backup power feature to allow access up to five hours after your phone has finished charging.
The Home Smart Home app also got new features, including adaptive lighting support, which allows compatible smart lights to adjust color temperature throughout the day, and facial recognition for HomeKit security cameras.
Other features:
There are also a bunch of smaller features as well. Safari on iOS 14 will let you know if a password is leaked in a data breach, similar to Chrome.
Developers now have the option to share subscriptions through family accounts. Game Center gets a new design. A new sleep mode does not disturb you, dims your phone screen, and displays your next alarm in the morning.
The latest iOS updates were very few or missed, as last year's iOS 13 was a popular issue after the amazing iOS 12 (from a performance standpoint), which brought the stability iOS 11 was most in need of was buggy.
IOS 14 will be released this fall, but the beta version will be available to members of the Apple Developer Program starting today, with plans to release a public beta for all iOS users in July.
IOS 14 will work on iPhone 6S and later, thus the same devices that support iOS 13.
