Siri

The best new features of iOS 8

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated July 25, 2023

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.

Microsoft shows off HTC One M8 features in new Cortana vs. Siri ad

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

Microsoft on Tuesday started airing a new Windows Phone commercial that takes another jab at Apple's Siri. The 30-second commercial titled 'Mirror, Mirror' has been posted on the official Windows Phone channel on YouTube this morning.

The video depicts Cortana, Microsoft's personal digital assistant for Windows Phone devices, performing a series of tasks that Siri on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad can't do, starting with deeper integration with core Windows Phone apps like calendar and Maps.

One scene depicts Cortana tapping information stored in a user's calendar to provide accurate route and mapping information. Another scene highlights dual front-facing speakers on the HTC One M8, to which Siri responds that she has but a single speaker and that she's “sitting on it”.

Siri inventors working on next-gen AI assistant, Viv

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 12, 2014

Dag Kittlaus and Adam Cheyer co-founded a SRI International spin-off in 2007. The startup eventually got acquired by Apple for its intelligent personal assistant technology which would later become (in)famously known as Siri.

But they haven't been standing still.

The co-founders of Siri are now taking the concept to the next level with Viv, a new breed of digital personal assistant which couples a myriad of data sources to next-generation artificial intelligence algorithms in order to do virtually anything you ask.

Viv's implications can't be overstated. And rather than sell out to the highest bidder, this time around the team has broad ambitions to rethink the future of intelligent agents while possibly giving birth to a multibillion-dollar industry.

An exhaustive feature published Tuesday by Wired explains how the new San Jose, California-headquartered startup, Viv Labs, plans on advancing artificial intelligence and taking over the world, why Viv eclipses Apple's Siri, Microsoft's Cortana and Google's Google Now and how it differs from literally every digital assistant out there...

Apple researching Siri for Mac, patent filing hints

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 7, 2014

Rumors of Apple's supposed intent to port its iOS digital personal assistant, Siri, over to the Mac have persisted for years, and intensified lately. Back in November 2012, for example, 9to5Mac claimed that Siri would be baked into OS X Mavericks.

Mavericks is here without Siri and the feature is nowhere to be seen in Yosemite, which looms on the horizon. Of course, the Mac's Dictation feature, powered by Nuance, doesn't count as it's simply speech-to-text with no real intelligence.

That being said, it would seem that the Cupertino firm has been quietly researching ways of enabling Siri on the Mac. Case in point: a newly discovered patent application filed back in February of this year which details how Siri for Mac might function, what features it could include and how it should improve your desktop productivity...

Siri joins Beats Pill mascots in new ‘Apple and Beats’ spot

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

Beats Electronics posted a new video to its Twitter account this evening called 'Apple and Beats.' The ad appears to be a continuation of today's celebration festivities, but oddly enough, no one in the spot actually gets to celebrate.

The clip features Beats Pill mascots Mikey and Tina, and Apple's sassy digital assistant Siri. Apparently Dr. Dre is throwing a party to mark the Beats deal being completed, but Siri won't give up directions because it's by "invitation-only."

Microsoft airs Cortana vs. Siri ad showing contextually-aware tasks

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 11, 2016

Microsoft on Monday shared a new television commercial which the company first showed off at its annual conference back in April to rally up developers who were concerned that the software giant was losing its mojo.

The 30-second video depicts a showdown between Cortana, Microsoft's own digital personal assistant baked into Windows Phone 8.1, and Apple's Siri.

Microsoft's assistant is shown completing a number of contextually-aware tasks using a plethora of services and data sources...

Beijing ruling spells trouble for Apple’s Siri in China

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 9, 2014

Apple's ability to use Siri as a competitive weapon in the 1.33 billion people market of China - its second-largest market by revenue - could be compromised. A Beijing court has now ruled against Apple by upholding the validity of a patent related to the personal assistant feature held by a Chinese company called Zhizhen Network Technology.

The ruling clears the way for Zhizhen to continue its own case patent infringement case against Apple. Specifically, the Shanghai-based firm is now asking the court to block Apple from selling devices with Siri installed. The iPhone maker is of course expected to appeal the verdict...

Apple assembling in-house speech synthesis team to supplant Siri’s Nuance with better tech

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 1, 2014

As we've written before, Apple has created Siri in a modular manner, so that it could easily replace her Nuance-powered speech recognition engine with a similar piece of software. Siri since its inception has been reliant on Nuance technology, but things look to be changing sooner than later.

The company is reportedly assembling an in-house team of speech synthesis and voice recognition experts tasked with developing a proprietary technology that could supplant Nuance and give the personal assistant a “neural network” boost...

Siri creators develop Kasisto, virtual personal assistant for business

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 27, 2014

SRI International, the startup behind the Siri personal assistant that Apple famously bought four years ago and implemented across its iOS device lineup, has spun off a new company called Kasisto that has developed a namesake personal assistant for businesses, Re/code reported Friday.

The business-minded personal assistant is aimed at companies wishing to implement Siri-like functionality within apps for industry verticals such as healthcare, automotive and more. Companies can train Kasisto for specific areas to perform complex tasks, which often require deep domain knowledge and human interaction...

Samsung could acquire Nuance, the company behind Siri’s speech recognition engine

Joe Rossignol ∙ Updated October 13, 2018

The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that Nuance Communications has been in talks with Samsung and private-equity firms about a possible sale of the company. The report, which cites sources with knowledge on the matter, claims it is unclear where sales talks currently stand, or whether these talks will actually materialize into a sale…

Traces of Preview, TextEdit, standalone iTunes Radio and Siri API discovered in iOS 8 code

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

As a prominent iOS developer noted on Twitter, looks like Apple is actually toying with a standalone iTunes Radio app, as previously suspected.

In addition, Apple looks to be prepping new stock iOS 8 apps - TextEdit and Preview - as well as potentially enabling third-party Siri access.

Code hooks and hidden assets discovered in the iOS 8 Beta code seem to support these findings, largely corroborating much of the earlier findings by prominent Apple blogger Mark Gurman.

Note that this is no guarantee that Apple will roll out these features - that is, it will only introduce them when they're ready for prime time. For example, The New York Times previously reported that split-screen functionality didn't make the cut in iOS 8. With that in mind, it's fairly safe to speculate that Preview, TextEdit, third-party Siri access and a standalone iTunes Radio could be slated for the iOS 8.1 update...

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...