Gallery: Apple's 12 Best iOS 8 Features and Upgrades

  • Image may contain Lighting Human Person Stage Spotlight LED and Crowd
    Photo: Jeff Chiu/AP
    01

    Tim Cook

    Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks about iOS 8 at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference.
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    Apple
    02

    health-apple

    A new app called Health will collect and display your health data collected from your health-tracking devices and health-related apps.
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    Photo: Apple
    03

    family-sharing-apple

    Family sharing lets you view all your family media purchases, for up to six family members sharing the same credit card, no matter whose device is being used.
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    Photo: Apple
    04

    photo-sharing2

    Photos now show all your photos stored on iCloud. Search lets you match by location, time, and album names. Editing tools let you adjust light and color, straighten pictures and crop them.
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    Photo: Apple
    05

    homekit

    HomeKit is Apple's new centralized home-automation platform in iOS. It will let you talk to connected devices from various manufacturers in your home. You can even use Siri to control it all.
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    Photo: Apple
    06

    widgets

    Applications can now define widgets, which live in the notification center.
  • Image may contain Screen Electronics Craig Federighi Human Person Monitor and Display
    Photo: Apple
    07

    notifications

    Notifications are now interactive, to let you reply to, "Like," or dismiss some items like text messages and calendar alerts directly from the notification center and lock screen.
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    Photo: Apple
    08

    mobile-email

    Mail added several features to let you better navigate between messages and add items like a calendar event without leaving the message.
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    09

    third-party-keyboard-apple

    We can finally install third-party keyboards! Rejoice, Swype users!
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    Christina Bonnington/WIRED
    10

    predictive-text-bonnington

    Apple's vanishing iMessages continue to cause trouble, and now the company must answer its former customers in federal court.
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    Photo: Christina Bonnington/WIRED
    11

    group-messaging-bonnington

    Messages gains the ability to name group threads, drop people (or yourself) from a group chat, or mute a chat. You can send an audio or video message in a way that's similar to WhatsApp.
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    Photo: Apple
    12

    siri

    Awaken Siri solely by voice command. Say "Hey Siri," then ask it questions or get directions without having to physically touch the phone. It also has Shazam-based song recognition.
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    Photo: Apple
    13

    touch-id

    Third-party apps can now use TouchID for login.
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