9 Significant features in iOS 14 - a seamless experience
Coming this fall, the Apple iOS 14 is packed with tons of new features and functions while retaining the core look of it. Here, we will look at 9 significant changes from what the current iOS users have been using.
Feature 1: Widgets
With the new iOS14, you will now be able to add and choose the widget's size and position on your home screen. There is also a feature called Smart Stack, which shows a cycle of your most used widget at the time of the day and night.
Feature 2: App Library
The new App library appears at the very last of the page with an easy-to-navigate view. It organizes the application automatically in categories and the most-used apps. However, the overall look seems clutter and bold, seeing how sleek apple design has always been. Also, already able to customize folders, this feature may not be seen that useful at the moment unless your app is not organized.
In the App library, Apple has included a search bar where apps are in alphabetical order allowing users to browse and search quickly.
Feature 3: Home Screen Pages
The App drawer gives the user an option to display and hide home screen pages. For instance, apps that we would prefer to keep and not delete at the moment can be placed on a particular home screen and get hidden. This way, the overall home screen page looks neater.
Feature 4: Compact UI - Picture in Picture
The picture in the picture in this iOS version covers a broader area. You will now be able to continue your FaceTime call or video while using another background app. It is resizable and minimizable by moving it off-screen, giving you a full display of another app.
Feature 5: Compact UI - Phone calls
The compact UI removes the dominating incoming call, which pauses everything in hand and taking up the entire phone screen. Designed like a drop-down notification, it now takes up a small percentage at the upper screen, and you can dismiss it and continue with what you are doing without needing to answer or reject.
Feature 6: Compact UI - Compact Siri
Similar to the dominating incoming call, when activated, Siri takes up the entire screen and pauses the background app. Not anymore. Siri now appears in the form of a small circle located at the bottom of the screen when activated. It gives a pop-out notification at the top of the screen when there is a result, giving the user a view of the task before Siri is activated. However, they will not be able to interact with the background app without exiting Siri.
Feature 7: Back Tap
If you like a big display phone and is struggling to reach every corner of the screen, the back tap can be useful to you. It is a customizable shortcut function triggered with a double or triple tap at the back of the phone, allowing faster access to preferred tasks in a simple gesture.
Feature 8: Privacy - Recording Indicator
Privacy protection has always been vital, and Apple now has additional security. Among it is an indicator for the user to be aware of apps accessing the microphone or camera, both in the app and Control Center.
Green color light means the camera is on, and orange light means the microphone is on. The light indicator will appear at the top right of the screen, allowing the user to be aware. The user can also check via the Control Center to see if an app has recently used the camera or microphone.
Feature 9: AirPods
Spatial Audio
For AirPods Pro user, you will be able to enjoy this new spatial audio feature, which gives you an immersive surround sound experience. With the gyroscope and accelerometer in the AirPods Pro, the head and connected device's motion is tracked. The playing of audio gets adjusted accordingly.
Seamless Switching
For both AirPods Pro and AirPods users, iOS 14 supports an automatic switching function. Users will now be able to switch seamlessly between Apple devices. If you end a phone call, the AirPod will get connected back to the video or music on another Apple device that was running before the phone call.
iPhone Compatibility:
Lastly, here is a list of iPhone compatibility for iOS14 update.
Although the official iOS 14 release date is not final, it can be expected in September based on the past iOS release. Until then, there is still a public beta version if you are eager to try now, which is generally stable, but we wouldn't recommend it. It is called a beta for a reason, and this could mean experiencing more bugs, depleting your battery life faster, risk losing data, and more than the final version.