IOS 8

iOS 8 is the eighth major release of the iOS mobile operating system designed by Apple Inc. as the successor to iOS 7. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2014  on June 2, 2014, and was released on September 17, 2014. A new app named Health and a corresponding framework named HealthKit became available with the release. Upon the release, Siri was updated to support hands-free activation and music identification using Shazam. Voice and video messages are automatically deleted unless the user saves them for future reference. Interactive notifications let the user respond to texts without leaving the app they are currently using. Four days after release, iOS 8 had been installed on 46% of compatible Apple devices.

History
iOS 8 Beta 1 was introduced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 2, 2014, it was released to developers later that day. Billed as "The biggest change to iOS since the introduction of the App Store", iOS 8 brings some major new features and user interface enhancements over iOS 7.

On September 9th 2014, at their 'Wish We Could Say More' event, Apple introduced the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, a new mobile payment service called Apple Pay, and the Apple Watch. At their event, Apple also announced that iOS 8 would see a public release on September 17th. The Golden Master version was seeded to developers shortly after.

On October 20, 2014, Apple released iOS 8.1 to the public, this was the first significant update to the OS since it was launched in September 2014. On October 20, 2014, Camera roll was also added back in iOS 8.1 update, after it was removed from the iOS 8 initial release. Support for Apple Pay was also added in iOS 8.1

Photos and Camera
The Photos app contains more options to edit photos. The cropping feature now enables rotating images both clockwise and counter-clockwise. Furthermore, users can set the desired brightness and colors for photos. In iOS 8.0, the Camera Roll and My Photo Stream albums were removed; they were brought back in iOS 8.1. The Camera app now features a shot timer, which can be set to 3 or 10 seconds.

Notification Center
Notification Center is much improved in comparison to iOS 7. In the iOS 8 Notification Center, there are only 2 tabs, "Today" and "Notifications", compared to the Notification center in iOS 7, which had 3 tabs (Today, All, and Missed). Users can now add and remove widgets in Notification Center with the "Edit" button. This also allows the rearrangement of notification widgets. The "clear" button, used to clear notifications, is more visible. Users are now able to reply to text messages directly from the notification center.

Messages
In the Messages app, users can send audio and video messages by holding down the record button. In group conversations, users can add or remove someone from a thread, name a thread, share their location in a thread, view all attachments, and turn on Do Not Disturb to not receive notifications from a specific thread. Users can also set messages to auto delete after 30 days or a year.

Keyboards
iOS 8 includes a new predictive typing feature called QuickType. It displays word selections above the keyboard as one types. The feature can be turned off in Settings, or hidden using a swipe gesture. Additionally, iOS 8 allows users to install third-party keyboards. Many developers have ported their keyboards to iOS, including Minuum, Swype, SwiftKey, Fleksy and Adaptxt.

Family Sharing
New to iOS 8, a user can add five others as family members. Family members can share purchased apps, music, and books using the same credit card. iOS 8 can also automatically set up photo streams for all family members. Calendars may be synced between all members. You can send iTunes download requests to another accounts for approval through Ask to Buy as long as you are signed up as a child.

iCloud Drive
iCloud Drive is Apple's file hosting service for devices running iOS 8 or OS X Yosemite. This feature allows users to save photos, videos, documents (Keynote, Pages, and Numbers), and music, and other apps' data to iCloud. Users can start their work on one device and continue on another device. By default, users will get 5 gigabytes of storage for free, but this space will be expandable via subscription.

HealthKit
HealthKit is a service that allows developers to make software that integrates with the new Health application. This application allows users to track their steps, oxygen, sleep levels, and other health related data. Additionally, users can enter their medical history, so that the application can help serve them better. In a commercial for the iPhone 5S, the exercise song Chicken Fat is used to promote the new service.

HomeKit
HomeKit is a framework that allows developers to make software that discovers, configures, communicates with and controls devices for home automation. Actions can be grouped together and can be initiated using Siri.

Handoff
Handoff allows users to share documents, e-mails, and websites over Wi-Fi or personal hotspot between iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite devices. For example, when working on an email, Pages document, Keynote presentation, Numbers spreadsheet, viewing a location in Maps or browsing Safari on the Mac, on the lock screen of the iOS device it shows what app users are currently using on their Mac and will allow them to pick up where they left off in the app they were using on the Mac. This also works in the other direction. Users working reading email on their Mac running OS X Yosemite can then pick up their iPhone or iPad and see the application for mail in the bottom left corner and slide up from the app and their iOS device will open up the app right where they were on their Mac. Handoff also allows all text messages (not just iMessages as before) to be read and replied on their Mac and iPad. This also is extended to the uses of the voice function to make and receive call on their Mac and iPad if their iPhone is connected with iCloud.

This feature is supported only by compatible Macs with Bluetooth LE running OS X Yosemite, and by compatible devices running iOS 8. The following devices running iOS 8 will be supported: iPhone 5 or later, iPad (4th generation), iPad Air, iPad mini, iPad mini with Retina display, and iPod touch (5th generation).

Spotlight
In iOS 8, Spotlight is integrated with a number of web services so that users can search using Wikipedia, Bing, or Google. Other services include: news, nearby places, suggested websites, movie showtimes, and content that is not already on the device from the iTunes Store. Moreover, the enhanced spotlight search is also available in safari browser, so you can have now your own search engine that will find your desired stuff on services linked to spotlight search.

Other updates
The multitasking screen now shows a list of recently called and favorited contacts, which can be turned off in Settings.

EU Internet has been added in the cellular settings to allow data roaming within the European Union only.

Siri now outputs what users say as they speak for more accuracy and has integrated Shazam support. Holding down the home button will activate Siri, and saying "What's playing?" will identify what song is playing. Saying "Hey, Siri" whenever the device is plugged into a power source will activate Siri if the feature is turned on. Purchasing content through Siri is now possible, and Siri now has support for 22 new languages.

Wi-Fi calling has been added to allow mobile phone calls over Wi-Fi. It is planned to be available for customers of EE in the UK. AT&T and Verizon are going to launch Wi-Fi calling in 2015. According to Computerworld, Vodafone might also provide this service to its customers in Australia. Wi-Fi Calling is available to T-Mobile customers in the US.

Problems
A study by Crittercism found that the rate at which applications crashed in their tests was 3.56% on iOS 8, higher than the 2% found on iOS 7.1.

On September 24, 2014, the iOS 8.0.1 release crippled iPhone 6 devices by disabling Touch ID and cell service. The update was released at 9:00 AM PST, and approximately at 11:00 AM PST, Apple removed the update due to these problems, as well as other minor issues. A day later, Apple released iOS 8.0.2 which contains all the fixes included with iOS 8.0.1 and also fixes the problems that iOS 8.0.1 introduced.

Reception
iOS 8 received mixed reviews. Brad Molen of Engadget said, "To be fair, much of the focus on iOS 7 was on getting developers up to speed on the design overhaul; iOS 8, on the other hand, is all about adding functionality to the iPhone and iPad. As a result, you’re not going to see many significant changes to the layout or design of iOS this time around. In fact, you may not even be able to tell the difference between iOS 7 and 8 unless you’re looking closely. But don’t let looks deceive you: There’s a lot of new stuff under the hood." Charles Arthur of The Guardian said, "There’s no radical change in appearance; instead, there are deeper changes, and an overall cleaning up of the interface."

Darrell Etherington of TechCrunch said, "Best for me has been the ability to mute and leave group conversations, which is something I’ve been sorely missing since the introduction of group iMessage conversations. My family can tend to get pretty chatty on these threads, and while that’s generally fun, it can also be a huge distraction during work events, and during other times when I’d appreciate not getting a whole lot of noise mixed in with my signal. Martin Byrant of The Next Web said, "These features won’t set the world alight for everyone, but they work well and they’re nice extras for people who send a lot of iMessages. That’s especially true if you own a Mac as of course messages are synced there too."

Microwave charging hoax
In September 2014, a hoax Apple advertisement for an alleged feature called "Wave" of iOS 8 circulated on Twitter. The advertisement promised users that they would be able to recharge their iPhone by heating it in a microwave oven. This feature does not exist, and the media cited numerous people reporting on Twitter that they had destroyed their iPhone by following the procedure described in the advertisement.

Similar hoaxes had developed around iOS 7, where similar ads claimed that the update would cause devices to become waterproof, and that AirDrop was a mechanism for protecting the device's screen from impact when dropped.

Version history: Portable iOS devices
Apple announced iOS 8 on June 2, 2014 at its annual Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) event, with release announced for September 17, 2014. With this release, Apple continues the cycle to drop support for older devices. However, unlike past releases, which usually dropped support for two devices, iOS 8 only drops support for one device, specifically, the iPhone 4. Supported devices include the iPhone 4S onwards, iPod Touch (5th generation), the iPad 2 onwards, and the iPad Mini (1st generation) onwards. The iPad 2 is also the first Apple device to support five major versions of iOS: 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.

Version history: Apple TV (3rd generation) onwards
{|class="wikitable collapsible uncollapsed" style="width:100%; font-size:88%;" !style="background:#3d4; padding:0 0.5em;" colspan="5"|Table of versions: iOS 8.x – Apple TV (3rd generation) onwards !style="width:8em; "|iOS version !style="width:8em; "|Apple TV Software !style="width:8em; "|Build !style="width:8em; "|Release date !Features !style="white-space: nowrap; background:silver;"|
 * - valign="top"

8.0
!style="white-space:nowrap; background:#3d4;"|
 * 7.0
 * style="white-space: nowrap;"|12A365b
 * September 17, 2014
 * Refreshed user experience
 * A fresh new look for Apple TV.
 * Family Sharing
 * Play your family’s purchases.
 * Ask to Buy
 * Make sure children get permission before buying items from iTunes.
 * Descriptive Video Services
 * Hear descriptive video with a new accessibility feature coming to select iTunes movies and TV shows later this year.
 * Peer-to-peer AirPlay
 * Guests can AirPlay from their Mac or iOS device directly to your Apple TV (model A1469 or later) without connecting to your wireless network.
 * Beats Music
 * Listen to music that's always right for you.
 * Listen to music that's always right for you.

8.1
!style="width:8em; "|iOS Version !style="width:8em; "|Apple TV Software !style="width:8em; "|Build !style="width:8em; "|Release date !Features
 * 7.0.1
 * style="white-space: nowrap;"|12B410a
 * October 20, 2014
 * Stability and performance
 * Includes general performance and stability improvements.
 * - class="sortbottom"
 * - class="sortbottom"
 * }

Supported devices

 * iPhone
 * iPhone 4S
 * iPhone 5
 * iPhone 5C
 * iPhone 5S
 * iPhone 6
 * iPhone 6 Plus


 * iPod Touch
 * iPod Touch (5th generation)


 * iPad
 * iPad 2 Wi-Fi only
 * iPad 2 Wi-Fi+3G GSM
 * iPad 2 Wi-Fi+3G CDMA
 * iPad (3rd generation) Wi-Fi only
 * iPad (3rd generation) Wi-Fi+4G (LTE) (AT&T/global version)
 * iPad (3rd generation) Wi-Fi+4G (LTE) (Verizon version)
 * iPad (4th generation) Wi-Fi only
 * iPad (4th generation) Wi-Fi+4G (LTE) (AT&T/global version)
 * iPad (4th generation) Wi-Fi+4G (LTE) (Verizon version)
 * iPad Air Wi-Fi only
 * iPad Air Wi-Fi+4G (LTE) (AT&T/global version)
 * iPad Air Wi-Fi+4G (LTE) (Verizon version)
 * iPad Air 2 Wi-Fi only
 * iPad Air 2 Wi-Fi+4G (LTE) (AT&T/global version)
 * iPad Air 2 Wi-Fi+4G (LTE) (Verizon version)


 * iPad Mini
 * iPad Mini (1st generation) Wi-Fi only
 * iPad Mini (1st generation) Wi-Fi+4G (LTE)
 * iPad Mini 2 Wi-Fi only
 * iPad Mini 2 Wi-Fi+4G (LTE)
 * iPad Mini 3 Wi-Fi only
 * iPad Mini 3 Wi-Fi+4G (LTE)


 * Apple TV (3rd generation onwards)
 * Apple TV (3rd generation)

iOS 8 requires around 3-6 GB of free space for the installation process to work. Once installed, it takes up more storage than iOS 7, on average an extra 740 MB on iPhones and 1.03 GB on iPads.