For Apple fans, September is one of the most highly anticipated months as the company reveals the release of new products and software. While this year was the first in eight years without the launch of a new iPhone, users will finally be able to install one of Apple’s biggest software updates ever, iOS 14. Read on to find out what this will mean in practice for you.
Calls
The way you receive calls is going to change in iOS 14. Now, incoming calls will appear as a notification banner, instead of taking over the entire screen, which has often been described as a pain point for users. This also includes calls from other apps, such as Facebook Messenger, FaceTime, and WhatsApp. Swipe up on the banner to dismiss the call or tap to answer.
Privacy
Apple has always touted their devices’ superior privacy levels and iOS 14 builds on this. Now, all apps are required to obtain permission from you before tracking you via a pop-up notification, increasing transparency for users.
What’s more, Apple has now made it possible for you to share your approximate location with apps (instead of your precise location), will display an indicator within the app whenever it is using the microphone or camera, and now gives you the option to choose only to share selected items with an app that requests access to your photos – rather than the entire library.
Finally, if you connect to an unsecured Wi-Fi network that doesn’t use a private Wi-Fi address, you’ll get a security warning. If you still decide to use these networks, you should refrain from looking at confidential emails or accessing your mobile banking, as on public Wi-Fi you are more likely to be the victim of a cyberattack.
Passwords & Safari
One of the most interesting updates in iOS 14 is the new way in which Safari can now securely monitor your saved passwords, and can automatically keep an eye out for passwords that may have been involved in a data breach. If Safari discovers your password has been breached, it can automatically generate a new secure password, which you can then reset.
Picture-in-Picture Mode
If you’re watching a movie on your iPhone or taking a video call, for example, but need to respond to someone in the messaging app, Apple’s new Picture-in-Picture mode means you don’t need to hit the pause button. Instead, a floating screen will appear over your home screen (or any other app). You can resize this screen by pinching the video to make it bigger or smaller, drag it around, and even minimise the video window to the side of the screen but still have audio playing, if you need the full screen for something else.
Widgets
No post talking about iOS 14 would be complete without mentioning the introduction of widgets. Inspired by the Apple Watch, widgets allow you to have more information from your apps on the home screen. This saves you having to open apps to get the information you need. For example, you can have the weather in your area displayed for the whole day. Add them by holding down the home screen, pressing + in the top corner, and selecting what size you’d prefer.
You will also be able to add a smart stack of up to 10 widgets, curated based on the apps that you use the most. Depending on the time of day, different apps will be displayed, giving you faster access to what you need at the right time.
To do this follow the same process as before by holding down the home screen and pressing the ‘+’ in the top corner. Then, locate the widgets you want to include in your personalised stack. Next, simply drag and drop the widget to your screen on top of another widget the same size and make a stack.
Keep in mind, any widgets you add to a stack will need to be the same size, so you can’t have one small, two medium and three large widgets in your stack.
Maps
The Apple Maps app has also undergone major change with iOS 14, however this brings it more in line with other, already popular map applications, like Waze. For instance, Maps now lets you know when you’re approaching speed cameras and red-light cameras along your route. It will also show you where the congestion zone tolls begin in major cities like London and Paris and can route you around them if you like.
Maps is also making it easier for cyclists to complete their journey safely – routing them along bike lanes, bike paths, and bike-friendly roads.
Lastly, if you have an electric vehicle, Maps automatically adds charging stops along your route and even accounts for charging time when calculating the ETA. Once you securely add your electric vehicle on your iPhone, Maps can keep track of things like the current charge and charger type to give you the best route possible.
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iOS 14 will be compatible with iPhones 6S and above, and the iPhone 12 series that is set to debut autumn 2020 will come with the update pre-installed.
It should be noted that installing this update requires you to have quite a bit of free storage on your phone – 2.35 GB to be exact. If you don’t have the space, try reading this post to learn how you make room on your device:
Do you have any other topics you’d like us to cover or have any questions? Want to read more Apple news? Leave a comment in the section below.
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