Apple previewed it’s updated OS for iPhones during its World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) in June. The virtual conference previewed a whole set of new features in iOS 14 which will be coming out this fall. Here we’ll be exploring what an iPhone will be able to do when the software arrives.
iOS 14 Compatible Devices
iOS 14 New Features:
Incoming Call Screen
Honestly, the biggest change I was excited about in iOS 14 is hands down the redesigned UI for the incoming call screen. They don’t take up the whole screen anymore (finally). Instead, it’s a small drop-down notification from which you can either accept or decline the call, or easily hide it and keep doing what you’re doing while the phone rings. Thank you, Apple!
Widgets
Okay now coming onto the major changes…previously in iOS 13, Widgets were only available on the Today screen, but with iOS 14, the new Widgets can finally be pinned onto the Home Screen in different sizes while providing timely information at a glance. This is a welcomed change as it provides us, users, with some level of customizability and has been a long-overdue feature that has been available on Android for quite some time now.
There is a new widget called Smart Stack where users can create a stack of widgets that gives you the right widget based on time, location, and activity. You’ll be able to swipe through the Smart Stack to see different widgets.
The first party widgets are very neat and refined, but we’re excited to see 3rd party apps implement their widgets.
App Library
Another feature that has been brought over from android is the App Drawer or according to apple, App Library. The App Library is placed at the end of the Home Screen pages and it automatically organizes all of your apps into folders, such as Social or Recently Added, as well as Siri Suggestions, showing you apps that you might want to access based on your recent activities. You can also access an alphabetically arranged list of all your apps by tapping on the search bar. Now You’ll be able to choose how many Home Screen pages to display and hide entire pages using “Jiggle Mode” for quick access to the App Library while keeping the most used apps on your Home Screen.
App Clip
An App Clip is a small part of an app (under 10MB) which is discoverable the moment you need it and is focused on a specific task. The new feature is meant to help users discover more of what the App Store has to offer, without cluttering the home screen
When you scan a QR code, a dedicated App Clip code or NFC tags, your iPhone will launch the App Clip card. You can tap Open to launch the app without downloading it. App Clips are compatible with Apple Pay and Sign in with Apple. This means you don’t have to make an account with an app or use your credit card information. Users will be able to pay for takeout or parking and learn more about local businesses just by scanning.
You’ll also be able to open App Clips in Messages, Maps, and Safari. Again, the feature is similar to Android’s “Instant Apps.”
Messages
In iOS 14, Messages will allow users to pin conversations to the top of their messages list, similar to what apps like WhatsApp and Snapchat already offer. Mentions and inline replies are also being introduced in group threads and there will also be new Memoji options along with the option to set a group photo using an image or emoji. Just like on Instagram, users will be able to mute a group conversation but receive notifications when their name is directly mentioned too.
Siri: Enhanced & Redesigned
Just like the call screen, Siri is getting a redesign as well in iOS 14, not only enabling it to pop up on the page rather than move to a separate screen but it’s getting a host of new features too, including better translation functionality and expansion of knowledge. You’ll also be able to start record and send an audio message using Siri. However, as shown in the current beta, you’ll not be able to interact with the apps behind Siri despite the new compact UI and smaller animations. Hopefully, it’ll be something fixed before the final release.
Translate app
A new Translate app will launch on iOS 14, offering a translation of voice and text among 11 different languages. The app will work offline for private voice and text translation, using Apple’s Neural Engine for results. Turning your iPhone to landscape mode will initiate conversation mode, automatically detecting which languages are being spoken.
Maps
Maps will get cycling directions in iOS 14, along with electric vehicle routing and curated Guides. Cycling directions will take into account elevation, how busy a street is, and whether there are stairs on the route.
The electric vehicle routing feature will add charging stops along a planned route based on current vehicle charge and charger types, while Guides provide a curated list of interesting places to visit in a city, such as popular attractions or a new restaurant.
Digital car keys
Digital car keys will arrive with iOS 14, allowing users to use an iPhone or Apple Watch Series 5 to unlock and start their car. They use NFC and you’ll be able to share digital car keys using Messages so someone else can drive your car, for example. You’ll also be able to disable them though iCloud if a device is lost.
It’s worth mentioning that car keys will only be supported by certain devices: iPhones released in between 2018 & 2019 along with the Apple Watch Series 5
The first car to have this feature will be the all-new BMW 5 Series.
Default third-party apps
Similar to macOS, Apple will enable users to set third-party apps as their default apps over Apple’s apps in iOS 14. You’ll be able to set Chrome or Gmail as your default browser and email app, respectively, so when you tap a link or an email address, it’ll automatically always open in those apps.
Picture-in-Picture support
Another long-overdue feature, 14 brings Picture-in-Picture support to the iPhone, allowing users to watch a video or make a FaceTime call while using another app. No, it doesn’t work with the YouTube app but you can get around it by using YouTube’s mobile webpage on Safari.
New Fitness app
The Activity app is getting a redesign for iOS 14, as well as a new name – Fitness. Rings, Workouts, and Trends will all be displayed on one page, offering easier access to the information, and there will be more compatibility for new workouts added too, including Dance.
Health app
The Health app offers new features as well in iOS 14, It includes sections for managing sleep and a new Health Checklist, which is a centralized place to manage health and safety features like Emergency SOS, Medical ID, ECG, and Fall Detection, among others. Support will also be added for new data types for mobility, Health Records, symptoms, and ECG.
Enhanced privacy
With iOS 14, all apps will be required to obtain user permission before tracking and App Store product pages will show summaries of developers’ self-reported privacy practices, According to Apple, “similar to a food label”. Users will also be able to upgrade existing accounts to Sign in with Apple, choose to share their approximate location rather than their precise location when granting any app location access, and get more transparency into an app’s use of the microphone and camera. We recently talked about how iOS 14 was able to catch TikTok spying on users as well. Click here to read the article.
Safari
Safari will offer a Privacy Report in iOS 14 so users can see which cross-site trackers have been blocked, as well as password monitoring to help users detect saved passwords that may have been involved in a data breach. Built-in translation for entire webpages is also being added – a feature Chrome already offers.
Home app
The Home app will get new automation suggestions and expanded controls in Control Center with iOS 14, as well as new features like Adaptive Lighting for compatible lights and on-device Face Recognition for compatible cameras. Adaptive Lighting will see smart lights automatically adjust the color temperature throughout the day, while on-device face recognition will identify friends and family using the information it already has.
Weather
The Weather app and widget will get next-hour precipitation charts in iOS 14, presenting minute-by-minute precipitation when rain is in the forecast.
AirPods
Those with a pair of AirPods will see them gain the ability to seamlessly switch between Apple devices with automatic device switching in iOS 14. AirPods Pro receives spatial audio similar to the ones seen on iPhone 11.
Find My App
The Find My app will add support for finding third-party products and accessories in iOS 14, with the new Find My network accessory program. It means users will be able to use the Find My app to locate other items as well as Apple devices and any contacts they share locations with.
Accessibility
Accessibility features in iOS 14 include Headphone Accommodations, which will amplify soft sounds and tunes audio to help music, movies, phone calls, and podcasts sound crisper and clearer. There is also sign language detection in Group FaceTime coming in iOS 14, which makes the person signing more prominent in a video call.
Additionally, VoiceOver – a screen reader for the blind community – will automatically recognize what is displayed visually onscreen.
Another feature that caught the headlines was the new accessibility setting called “Back Tap” which can be enabled in the Touch section of the Accessibility settings. It lets you trigger an action or shortcut by double-tapping or triple-tapping the back of your iPhone. For example, I can double-tap to take a screenshot and triple-tap to lock my device.
You can select from over two dozen actions and create actions using the shortcuts app. I’ve created a shortcut so that I’m able to double-tap to skip track and triple-tap to play the previous track.
Another compelling Accessibility feature is called Sound Recognition. It can alert you if your iPhone detects specific sounds, such as a fire or smoke alarm, or an animal. You select which sound you want to be notified about and when your iPhone detects one of those sounds, it will notify you with an on-screen alert.
That’s all the major changes on iOS 14 so far. There are many more small changes in the OS we’re still discovering and we’re covering it extensively on our stories on Instagram. Even though there are not a whole lot of new exciting features on iOS 14, it’s still a major update that’s finally closing a little bit of the gap between iOS and Android. We except the new update to be a stable release with fewer bugs as iOS 13 continues to be one buggy software. After all, iOS 14 will be the last update the iPhone 6s and iPhone SE (1st Generation) gets.
What are your thoughts on the new features? Let us know down below. if you want to experiment with the OS yourself, you can check out the article on installing iOS 14 by clicking here.
Last modified: July 2, 2020
