iCloud Photo Library

The best new features of iOS 8

Admittedly, the myriad of new and useful capabilities that Apple's just-released iOS 8 brings to your iPhone, iPod touch and iPad are going to prove hugely popular with mainstream users, to say the least. With iOS 8, Apple is appeasing harsh critics who'd frequently point out that Android is capable of things iOS cannot do, and then some more.

iOS 8 opens up Apple's mobile operating system to third-party development to a much greater extent than ever before. And stemming from relaxed policies, iOS 8 boosts on-the-go productivity with deeper inter-app sharing while implementing some of the features our Android friends have grown accustomed to, but in a typical hassle-free Apple fashion, things like third-party keyboards, custom actions, photo editing extensions within the context of Photos and Camera apps and way more.

And though evolutionary rather than revolutionary, we have no doubt in our minds that iOS 8 is going to significantly improve the functionality of Apple's mobile platform, and perhaps even give some folks less reasons to jailbreak.

To celebrate today's release of the free iOS 8 software update, we proudly present you this detailed overview of more than two dozen iOS 8 features we think you're going to fall in love with at first sight.

Apple TV update brings refreshed design, new Beats Music channel and more

In addition to iOS 8, Apple has released a new version of its Apple TV software this morning. The update brings about a number of improvements, including a redesigned interface, a new Beats Music channel, and support for various new iOS 8 features.

Easily the most obvious change is the refreshed design, which now utilizes flatter images and thinner fonts. The makeover is long overdue, and it helps brings the design language of the Apple TV software more in line with the iOS and Mac platforms.

Apple to wipe all CloudKit data on July 22

Apple has sent an email to registered developers notifying them of a complete wipe of CloudKit databases. The erase, which is scheduled to take place on July 22nd, is related to the iCloud APIs introduced at WWDC this year and will effect iCloud containers with public databases.

This is the second time Apple is deleting iCloud server data, as the tech giant performed a similar wipe on July 7th in order to upgrade their servers to coincide with the latest beta releases for iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite. 

Here is Apple's full email to developers:

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

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.