iPhone News

Apple posts ‘Apps We Can’t Live Without’ video from WWDC

Cody Lee ∙ June 2, 2014

Apple opened up this morning's WWDC keynote with a video about developers and the apps they make for Apple's devices. Unsurprisingly, the clip was well-done and paid tribute to the strong app ecosystem developers have helped build for Mac and iOS.

For those that missed the presentation, Apple just posted the clip to its YouTube channel. It's called 'Apps We Can't Live Without,' and it highlights a number of apps that are being used in various fields and professions. And we've got it for you after the fold...

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iOS 8 adds always-on ‘Hey, Siri’ feature, Shazam integration

Cody Lee ∙ June 2, 2014

Adding to the long list of new features in iOS 8 is a handful of Siri improvements. The digital assistant didn't get a ton of stage time, but iOS/OS X chief Craig Federighi did take a moment to run down some of its new capabilities.

In iOS 8, Siri will be able to handle dictation—where you talk, it types—in 22 new languages (not sure which ones yet, but will obviously be available on Apple.com soon), and will feature Shazam ID technology for identifying songs...

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Apple adds new iOS/OS X programming language: Swift

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 2, 2014

Swift, a programming language for distributed parallel scripting (if you're a developer, you know what I'm talking about), can now be used to develop apps for both iOS and OS X, Apple announced during today's keynote at its five-day WWDC developer-only show in San Francisco.

Matter of fact, Swift code can co-exist with Objective-C, which has long been the preferred programming language for iOS development. Jump past the fold for the full breakdown...

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Apple introduces ‘HomeKit’ smart home platform

Cody Lee ∙ June 2, 2014

As expected, Apple has announced a new platform for smart home accessories called HomeKit. The new API, which will launch with iOS 8, will make it easier for smart accessories to allow their devices to be controlled by iPhones, as well as Siri.

This will allow users to control HomeKit-certified smart appliances, such as garage doors, lights and security cameras, by simply speaking a command. Imagine saying 'get ready for bed,' and watching all of your [smart] doors lock and lights turn off...

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Apple opens up Touch ID to developers

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 2, 2014

Apple has announced that it is opening up its Touch ID fingerprint sensor to third-party developers. Reportedly years in the making, the all-new Touch ID API is available to registered iOS developers, making it easy to integrate Apple's seamless fingerprint reading functionality into their apps without compromising Touch ID's strong security...

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iOS 8 supports third-party keyboards

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 17, 2018

Yes! I was just talking about this in my Samsung Galaxy S5 vs iPhone 5s post, and it's actually here. As I type this with tears on my keyboard, it's almost hard to believe that Apple has opened up its SDK with the ability to use third party keyboards.

This means that you will be able to use third party keyboards like Swype for faster more sensible input for touch screens...

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iOS 8 brings widgets to Notification Center

Cody Lee ∙ June 2, 2014

Moving along with Apple's iOS 8 portion of its WWDC keynote, Craig Federighi just introduced widgets. Like the stock widgets we've seen before, iOS 8's widgets will appear in the Notification Center and offer quick information for apps at a glance...

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iOS 8 Photos app syncs full libraries across all devices, adds new search and editing tools

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 17, 2018

Apple has updated the Photos app in iOS 8 with some great changes. Most importantly, Photos now sync with iCloud—a feature called iCloud Photo Library—so that users can access all of their photos from all devices at any time. In fact, iCloud can store more photos on the cloud that your physical device can hold, meaning you can get to all of your photos and any time courtesy of the cloud.

Even the edits that you make on your devices go up live to the iCloud Photo Library, and sync with all devices, including the Mac. Apple is working on a new build from the ground up photos solution on the Mac, which will be shipping later next year.

You can even upload videos, and save the original and full resolution versions of both photos and videos. This is all possible via a new tiered pricing plan, which is detailed inside.

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Apple announces much improved App Store with app bundles/previews, better search and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 2, 2014

In addition to all the goodies outlined earlier, Apple during the WWDC 2014 keynote running at San Francisco's Moscone West has announced a much announced App Store with the new Explore tab, Trending searches, making search faster with continuously scrolling search, the new Editor's Choice label for highlighted apps, app previews with short videos right inside the App Store, app bundles and more...

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Apple unveils new ‘Health’ app for iOS 8

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 17, 2018

As several reports predicted, Apple is getting into the Healthcare industry with iOS 8 by introducing a new app called 'Health.' Health provides an easy-to-access hub where iPhone owners can store and monitor important fitness and health-related metrics.

As explained by Craig Federighi, this is a huge improvement over the current situation, where this kind of information is spread across multiple apps and services. And of course, Apple also introduced HealthKit for developers, which means 3rd-party integration...

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Apple updates Spotlight to be much more intelligent in iOS 8

Jeff Benjamin ∙ June 2, 2014

Like its OS X brethren, Spotlight has been updated in iOS 8 to be more intelligent. As it stands now, Spotlight is pretty bland, dumb and can only search for apps and content stored directly on your device.

In iOS 8, Spotlight can provide live search suggestions for apps, Wikipedia entries, movies, songs from iTunes radio, news and more. It's a much more powerful way to perform smart searches on iOS.

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