Gallery: Apple iOS 8 vs. iOS 7: A Visual Tour of the Biggest Updates
01ios8-spotlight
As in iOS 7, you still summon Spotlight by swiping down on the Home screen. But the iOS 8 version of Spotlight is more open-ended and powerful. What used to be a tool to just search your phone can now show results from the web, local movie listings, and apps in the App Store. Look for a similarly expanded Spotlight tool in the upcoming OS X Yosemite.
02ios8-notifications
The approach toward notification handling in iOS 8 is much more immediate. When you get a notification like an incoming text or tweet, instead of having to unlock the device and open the proper app (as you did in iOS 7), now you can just respond or interact with that notification directly from the lock screen. Reply to texts and Facebook messages, fave Tweets, what have you.
03ios8-predictivetype
SwiftKey is likely to be a popular third-party keyboard for iOS 8, but you can get some SwiftKey-like features by using the stock keyboard in the new OS. A few suggested words appear above the keys while you type, and tapping them will help you save a bit of thumb energy. This predictive type feature has also changed the older auto-correct method to this fancy new one.
04ios8-multitask
In both iOS 7 and 8, Double-clicking the home button gives you access to a carousel of recent apps. Jump into any app by tapping, or close any app by swiping up. New iOS 8 is the second row up top, a slider of icons that shows your contacts. Swipe right to see Recents, or left for your Favorites. Tap an icon to call, text, or FaceTime with any of them.
05ios8-photolike
New in iOS 8, the Photos app gets improved editing tools that you can use to adjust brightness, color, and composition. But the first thing you'll notice is the new "Fave" button. It's shaped like a heart. What happens when you tap it? The photo gets shuttled into an album within the Photos library named "Favorites." Go ahead, separate the wheat from the chaff.
06ios8-usage
Go to your Usage screen in iOS 7's Settings, and you could only see which apps were hogging storage. Now, in iOS 8, you can also see which ones are eating up battery. On the Usage screen, you see all native and third-party apps ranked by how much battery they've been using. Helpful for monitoring apps that waste electrons, and perhaps your time.
07ios8-controlcenter
Swipe up from the bottom edge of the screen anywhere in iOS and you get the Control Center, quick links to adjust volume and brightness, and to toggle Bluetooth or Airplane Mode. None of those settings have changed, but the look has. Notice that iOS 7's delicate outlines are gone. They've been replaced by more subtle shading in iOS 8. The "buttons" look more like real buttons.
08ios8-sharing
Same with the Sharing dialog. In iOS 7, the tapping the "share" icon (the small box with an arrow pointing up) brought up a menu of line-art symbols for different sharing actions. The iOS 8 versions of these icons are much more solid, with darker, more blocky images and a "Cancel" button that actually looks like a button.
09ios8-camera
The new iPhone cameras stay at 8 megapixels, but iOS 8's camera software gets some new tricks. You can adjust the exposure level of your photos while you're composing the shot, you can create timelapse videos, and there's a new shutter timer. Look for the clock up top, and set it for a 3- or 10-second countdown. Great for selfies---just don't make a duck face.
10ios8-homescreen
The iOS Home Screen hasn't changed much. When you reboot your phone (or unbox your new iPhone), you'll notice two new apps have been added: Tips and Health. Tips is exactly what it sounds like: A guide for using iOS 8's new features. Health won't do much until other HealthKit-enabled apps and devices start populating it with your data. You have to manually type in your stats for now.
