iOS 14 has a new home screen with widgets, a redesigned Siri, and more
Theres also a new Translate app and new group chat features
- By Chaim Gartenberg
- on June 22, 2020 1:08 pm
Apple has announced iOS 14 onstage at WWDC 2020, giving the first [official] look at the latest version of its software for the iPhone, and its bringing the biggest change to the iOS home screen in years: widgets.
Widgets come in a variety of sizes and can still be viewed in the Today view, but in iOS 14, Apple allows widgets to be added to the main Home screen to live right alongside your apps. To add them, theres a new widget gallery where users can easily add and customize widgets. Theres also a new Smart Stack widget that automatically shows relevant apps based on the time of day.
Apple also announced a new App Library view that automatically organizes apps into groups and lists. Thanks to that new App Library view, Apple allows users to now hide apps on their main home screen. It looks pretty similar to Androids app drawer, but with some additional smart grouping features like automatically pulling out all your Apple Arcade games into one batch. Picture-in-picture video is coming to iOS
In another new feature, Apple is adding system-wide picture-in-picture to iOS videos. Much like on macOS, videos will hover over apps and can be adjusted in size or collapsed into the side of the display to continue playing in the background. Itll also work with FaceTime calls, too.
Apple is also launching a new App Clip feature, which are speedy, card-based snippets of apps that let you access small parts of apps when you need them without requiring users to install a full app. Examples given included accessing a parking app through an NFC tag, or a coffee stores reward program. App Clips support Sign In With Apple to avoid having to make new accounts, can be accessed again through the new App Library, and work with Apple Pay. To go with App Clips, Apple is launching a new QR-code format that uses both visual codes and NFC to access App Clips quickly.
Also coming in iOS 14: the long-requested option to users to set their own default email and browsers, although Apple hasnt provided too many details on how that works just yet.
Siri also has a new view: instead of taking over your whole screen when you activate the digital assistant, theres just a small overlay at the bottom of the display of the animated Siri icon. There are also new features: Siri can now send audio messages in addition to just dictated messages.
Similar, incoming phone calls and FaceTime calls will also appear with a less obtrusive new pop-up, instead of taking over the entire screen.
Apple also announced a new Translate app that will be built into iOS, which much like Google Translate will allow users to easily translate between languages. Users will be able to enter text in or dictate messages and have them translated into 11 languages. English, Mandarin Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese,Korean, Arabic, Portuguese, and Russian will all be supported at launch.
Messages is also getting new features: in iOS 14, youll be able to pin important contacts and conversations to the top of the Messages app to easily talk to your favorite friends or group chats. There are also new Memoji accessories including an apt face mask option. Apple is also adding new threaded conversations in group chats and mention notifications to ping specific people in the chat.
Apple Maps is getting new, curated guides from companies like Zagat or AllTrails to give better recommendations for new places. Maps is also getting support for cycling, with dedicated directions for bike-riding that takes into account elevation, bike paths, stairs, and roads. Cycling will launch in NYC, LA, San Fransiscos Bay Area, Shanghai, and Beijing. Theres also a new EV Routing feature, which will track the current charge of your car, factor in elevation and weather, and route you to compatible stations. Apples working with BMW and Ford, although no specific cars were announced. Unlock your car with your iPhone
CarPlay is getting support for custom wallpapers and new app categories: parking apps, EV chargers, and fast food takeout apps. Apple is also adding support for NFC car keys with iOS 14, with the 2021 BMW 5 Series set to be the first to support the feature. NFC passes are stored in Apples Secure Enclave for security and can be shared to other iOS users, giving them temporary access to your vehicle. The new car key feature will also be coming to iOS 13, and to make sure you wont get locked out of your car, itll use a special power reserve feature to allow access up to five hours after your phone has died.
The Home app is also getting new features, including support for Adaptive Lighting, which allows for compatible smart lights to adjust color temperature over the course of the day, and facial recognition for HomeKit security cameras.
Theres also a host of smaller features, too. Safari on iOS 14 will now inform you if one of your passwords has been leaked in a data breach, similar to Chrome. Developers now have an option to share subscriptions through Family Sharing. Game Center is getting a new design. And theres a new Sleep mode that turns on do-not-disturb, dims your phones screen, and shows your upcoming alarm for morning.
The last few iOS updates have been very hit-or-miss, with last years notoriously problematic iOS 13 following the incredible solid [from a performance standpoint] iOS 12, which in turn brought much-needed stability to the buggy iOS 11.
iOS 14 will be out this fall, but a developer preview will be available to Apple Developer Program members starting today, with plans for a public beta for all iOS users in July. iOS 14 will work on the iPhone 6S and up the same devices that supported iOS 13.
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Comments
Somewhere a windows phone designer is crying
By BlatantNinja23 on 06.22.20 1:13pm
I guess whats old is new again
By SmileyBarry on 06.22.20 1:14pm
What is dead may never die
By caelmikoto on 06.22.20 2:51pm
Long live webOS!
okay. Ill shut up now.
By fxspec06 on 06.22.20 3:13pm
Theres always someone in these comments sections asking me to relive that pain.
By flowlike_water on 06.22.20 3:23pm
sorry. i cried August 19th, 2012 when Leo Crapotheker announced the death of webOS. RIP
By fxspec06 on 06.22.20 3:25pm
Im with you.
I still miss my Windows Phone. The hardware was pretty great too.
If Microsoft had made the license free from the beginning, today we might have a world with Microsoft & Apple instead of Android.
And that would be a much better world.
By JFitzgerald on 06.22.20 7:19pm
Or better yet, a world with Google, Microsoft and Apple. Trading one duopoly for another isnt all that great.
By OpssYourBad on 06.22.20 11:49pm
The only contender to iOS. Too bad MS had to kill it.
Much better? Maybe not. They were already into anti-trust issues.
By alwaysonline on 06.23.20 4:09am
still alive in TVs
By enlight10ment on 06.22.20 4:58pm
reminds me so much of windows phone, which is a good thing. I loved the interface of my windows phone, and I love my current iphone. iOS has been slowly copying some of the better UI elements from windows phone for years now, and im not complaining
By michaelh68 on 06.22.20 1:16pm
Yeah this looks great I never had a Windows phone, but I really liked the tiles. This should be cool.
By Mha71 on 06.22.20 2:45pm
Live tiles was awesome. I rocked Windows phone for a year and overall, I liked it.
Hated the fact that MS couldnt manage the platform and updated it in a way that removed the unique hubs.
Hubs and Live Tiles are two ideas that were/are great.
By AnatidaeProject on 06.22.20 1:20pm
Hubs I think was even better but they really butchered them with every update. Windows Phone 7.5 was really the peak of WP for me. It felt like it caught up with features and it was gorgeous. Then Windows Phone 8 took ages to release, fell behind the competition, ruined many great features and you had to buy a brand new phone for it.
By EddieRiggs on 06.22.20 3:16pm
The problem with Hubs is that, while theyre great from a users perspective, developers dont want to be part of them because they want you going to their app, not accessing their service as though it was built into the phone. This was one of the reason why they struggled to get developer support
By Daishi on 06.23.20 2:39am
And smart lenses integrated directly within the camera app, WP was a pioneer at so many levels
By superincro on 06.22.20 4:25pm
I loved that! I thought it was a smart way to keep the camera UI clean for newbs but also add functionality for power users.
Nokia had some really good ones too.
By flowlike_water on 06.24.20 8:40pm
And I cry too. Why, Microsoft? WHY?!
By gameshoes3003 on 06.22.20 1:28pm
They got into the market way too late, and then they gave up too soon. Worst. Timing. Possible.
By aaronak on 06.22.20 8:05pm
I had a Windows phone. It was awesome but Apples implementation looks 100 times better.
By Shocker Allstar on 06.22.20 3:00pm Hello Darkness my old friend
By Serg407 on 06.22.20 3:07pm
These arent live tiles in neither style nor function.
By Eso on 06.22.20 6:13pm
As I understand theres a difference how it works, iOS widgets are more like Android, theyre separate from the app icon. The reason why I dont like live tiles is that its also acting as an app icon, that sometimes makes it less scannable, more difficult to see what app it is at a glance, because app logo is not always visible when live tile shows different kinds of information. I have to say I like Apples implementation best, its tidier than Android looks wise. That said I still prefer Androids arrangment [apps can be anywhere not just at the top], and I like Android app drawer better than this new strange Apples version.
By Mumblefluff on 06.23.20 8:45am
Live Tiles FTW!
By onix on 06.22.20 1:15pm
Lol, Windows Phone Live Tiles.
By Popcorn! Smiles! on 06.22.20 4:34pm View All Comments