Apple gave us a lengthy rundown of iOS 8 during its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) earlier this year, but one crucial detail remained: the release date. Today, we have our answer. It’ll be available to download from September 17.
Like previous updates, iOS 8 will be a free upgrade for iPhone, iPad and iPod owners. The following devices will be eligible for the update: iPhone 4s, iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPod touch (5th generation), iPad 2, iPad (third and fourth generation), iPad Air, iPad mini and iPad mini with Retina display.
While the visual style of iOS 8 remains largely the same as iOS 7, there’s a raft of improvements and new services to explore.
HealthKit is one of most notable. It’s a tool that allows developers to share health and fitness data with one another, creating smarter, deeper and more accurate insights. Apple will be pulling all of this together into a new app called Health, which gives an overview and breakdowns by specific timeframes and sources.
TouchID, or fingerprint authentication, is being opened up to third-party apps. The Notification Center will offer widgets for the first time and notifications will be actionable – if a banner alert for an SMS comes through, you’ll be able to fire off a quick reply without leaving your current app. iCloud Drive will give you a full-blown storage service for all of your files, while Spotlight is being updated with suggestions based on Wikipedia entries, nearby places and trending news.
QuickType is introducing predictive typing, similar to Swiftkey, and developers will be able to offer their own third-party keyboards for the first time. Siri is also being upgraded and new enterprise features should appeal to business users.
There’s a lot to unpack; check out previous coverage for a full rundown.
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