Apple WWDC 2020 is here and we saw Apple announcing it a whole lot of new operating system for various iDevices today. Apple finally announces the iPad OS 14 along with iOS 14 at WWDC 2020. Now with the new iOS 14, we can finally get almost 7-year-old Android like widget support on the iPhone. So let’s start with the iOS 14 features.
iOS 14:
Yes, you heard it right Apple has finally added the new Widget support on the Home screen after almost a decade. From the image, we can see the Widgets come in various sizes and will take some of the space on Today’s screen for further customisation. Any way we can take that Apple has copied the widget feature directly from Android OS.
The next feature is the App Library aka the Smart folders which we even saw with many of the Android devices. Yes, the App Library is nothing but automatically arranges apps based on various category and sits rightmost of the Home screen.
Further, the App Library also comes with folder showing recently added & suggested apps. The App Library looks like a bunch of folders on the home screen and will show the most used apps from various categories first which can be open by single touch without opening the folder. Lastly, you can even hide the Home screen from App library.
Apple also introduces the new PiP mode for iOS 14 which is specifically made for apps like Video and FaceTime. The Picture in Picture mode is similar to what we saw on Android OS. It gets an additional feature which is not available on Android phone yet with Video can be turned off and the audio track keeps running while you are working out.
Siri gets a new UI with a compact design and covers up only part of the screen. It is again improved way better than the iOS 13 and comes with 20 times more facts than the three-year-old version. Siri on iOS 14 will also get translation support with the help of Google Translate along with live conversation support.
Apple also update is Messages apps with 40% more messages along with twice as many groups than the predecessor. It also adds some new features like a new set of emoji pinning the most used person on top and mentions with inline replies.
Apple Maps with some enhanced mapping solution to the UK, Ireland, and Canada “later this year”. It also adds cycling directions, complete with elevation info and “avoid stairs” option for New York, LA, San Francisco, Beijing and Shanghai. The Guides feature will help you to discover the best restaurants, popular attractions and explore more recommendation from various brands.
Apple CarPlay to gets updated which will now make your iPhone as your Car key for the upcoming 2021 BMW 5 series. Yes, your iPhone will unlock your car with just one touch if you forgot to bring the car keys which is something interesting but still not much secure. The car unlocks feature uses NFC which need to tap the door for unlocking it and then place the phone on the charging pad to turn on the car and move ahead. This feature will also work on iOS 13.
Another feature from Android aka the Android Slices makes inspired Apple to do the new App Clips for App Store. Yes, Apple adds the new App Clips which is nothing but viewing and using the app without downloading the full file from the App store. One can even discover the App Clip with scanning a new Apple-designed App Clip code or through NFC tags and QR codes.
The new iOS 14 Developer Beta is available right now on your iPhone 6s and above. The stable version of iOS 14 will seed later this fall.
iPad OS 14:
Apple also updated its new OS for the iPads with the new iPad OS 14. The new iPad OS 14 brings some of the new features like completely redesigned apps made for iPad. Again the iPad OS 14 also get support for resizable widgets to save some space on the home screen.
The iPad OS 14 search screen is completely overhauled with call notification is moved on the top of the screen instead of taking the whole screen. Further, Apple also adds handwriting recognition to Apple Pencil called the Scribble which we already saw on various Samsung devices in the past. The Scribble will recognise your handwritten text into typed text in just one go. It also supports multiple languages at the same time.
The apps like Photos, Files and Music gets sidebar for faster navigation which will also help users to jump various part of the app really faster than expected. The Search Tool can work on any part of the screen even while you are running an app on the background and doesn’t occupy the whole screen now.
The developer preview of the iPad OS 14 is available from today for Apple Developer Program members and a public beta will arrive in coming next month for iPad Air 2 and above. The stable version of iPad OS 14 will be available to iPad Air 2 and later, all iPad Pro models, iPad 5th generation and later, and iPad mini 4 and later.
