If you’ve recently upgraded to iOS 8,
you’ll find no major changes in the look and feel in the latest version
of Apple’s mobile OS. The interface is exactly the same as iOS 7, while
some new apps have always existed on iOS devices. Why then are so many
people swearing by the new update? The truth is, many features have been
added in the most unassuming fashion that take some rummaging to find.
Save yourself the time and effort as we reveal some of the coolest
features you may not have noticed yet.
With support for a variety of widgets, you can gain quick access to
often-used functions just by pulling down the notification screen.
Widget apps such as Launcher, Quick-Tap and Wedge give
you on-tap access to your favorite contacts, music and apps. Once
you’ve selected which shortcuts you need from the app, Select Edit on
the Notification Center and simply click on the green “+” button next to
the widget’s name.
To open Apple’s voice-assistant Siri without using your hands, just
say “Hey Siri”. However, this works only if your phone is plugged to a
power source. So if you’ll be using it while driving, you’ll have to
first plug your iOS 8 device to the car battery. To enable this feature
go to Settings | General | Siri and toggle Allow “Hey Siri”.
3. Snap a photo to add a credit card
To make online purchases faster, click a photo of your credit card to
save the card details on your iOS 8 device. To do this, go to Safari
settings, select Passwords & Autofill and click on Saved Credit
Cards. The Use Camera option lets to snap a picture of your card, which
then automatically scans the card to pull out all your card details. If
you’re shopping on a website, it’ll give you the option to scan a card
by taking its photo. It detects the card number, expiry date and name,
though you’ll still have to enter in the CCV number.
Though iOS 8 comes with new editing features, some may still find
them to be inadequate. With support for third-party apps, not only do
you have features from different photography apps in one place, but you
can also make changes as soon as you click a photo. Once you’ve chosen
from iOS 8 supported photo-editing apps, you’ll see a tiny option on the
top left of the screen after you take photo. Click on it to see all the
apps in one place and edit photos from right inside the Photos app.
5. Raise to listen to voice iMessages
We know that Apple has added voice to iMessages for sending voice
clips to a fellow Apple user. To listen to them, you can just lift your
iPhone or iPad to your ear. To enable this feature, select Raise to
Listen from Messages, under Settings.
Some mobile-optimised websites can can have several features missing
from the desktop version. While some websites give you the option to
switch to the desktop version, there are many that don’t. The Safari
browser in iOS 8 lets you see the the desktop version using a simple
trick. On the address bar, select the URL and scroll downwards to see
the Request Desktop Site option.
Often, there are emails and messages that you don’t intend to read,
but are afraid of losing something important by deleting them. If seeing
a too many unread emails or messages on your phone puts you off, a
better option is to mark them as “read”. To make this easier, you can
“mass read” all messages and emails by selecting Edit on the top right
and selecting Read All at the bottom-left of the screen.
8. Find which apps have been hogging your battery the most
Now you can see how much power each installed app consumes. Not just
that, iOS 8 will also show you the reason why an app consumed a certain
amount of battery. For example, apps running in the background say
“Background activity”.
To recover photos or videos that have been accidentally deleted,
there’s a new folder called Recently Deleted. This includes recently
deleted apps which you can recover if you need to. Older photos and
videos get deleted automatically from the folder.
