Apple has announced iOS 8, its latest operating system for the mobile ecosystem that now boasts over 800 million devices.
The company has announced interactive notifications, something that users have been waiting for for a long time. This entails swiping down on a notification  a message, for example  to reply to them, without ever leaving the app. The same applies to apps like Facebook, which allow for responding to notifications from the top of the screen.
Spotlight has also received a significant update, adding the ability to search for content on the internet, and the App Store, from a single keyword.
Quick Type
Apple has developed Quick Type for the keyboard, a new predictive autocorrect feature that, like Android and Windows Phone, suggests words as you type. Apple promises that different apps will learn how you type depending on the context, so it will suggest different words depending on whom you’re talking to.
Messaging
Apple is adding new features to Group Messaging, such as naming and Do Not Disturb. Finally, sharing locations is easy within the Messages app. Apple is adding new features to Group Messaging, such as naming and Do Not Disturb.
Finally, you can listen to and reply to these voice and video messages from the lock screen by raising the iPhone to your ear.
iCloud Drive
Apple debuted iCloud Drive, a way to load documents into native Apple and third-party apps from the cloud. Files saved from an iOS device will save automatically and be available on the Mac, Windows and the web, too.
Lots of upgrades to the Enterprise, too, including multiple Document providers, in addition to iCloud, for third-party apps.
HealthKit
Apple announced the HealthKit development platform and a corresponding Health application (rumoured to be called Healthbook) to accumulate all the relevant data obtained from iOS devices and wearables. The Mayo Clinic and its associated organizations will be able to work with iOS devices to securely share health-related information and content.
Family Sharing means it’s easy for up to six family members, on a single credit card, to share app purchases and obtain permission for children to make in-app purchases.
Photos
The photos experience on iOS is also getting revamped. Unlike Photo Stream, which has a maximum of 1,000 photos stored in the cloud, the new Photos iCloud integration makes it easy to share and review every photo from any iOS device on the same account. The new Photos app also includes advanced photo editing tools, and all changes are non-destructive, saved as a separate photo on iCloud.
Siri
Apple has added the ability in Siri for users, when an iOS device is plugged in and charging, to activate Siri. The voice assistant service also supports Shazam song recognition, built in, without opening the app.
Developers
Developers can add short movies to the App Store listings, and users can beta test apps using Testflight, a company that Apple purchased earlier in the year.
The App Store is adding an Editors’ Choice tag for apps. Devs can now sell apps in bundles, at a discount, too.
Apple’s Extensibility service allows iOS developers to securely tap into other services using the sharing intent dialogue that debuted in iOS 7.
Third-party developers can also create widgets for users to add to the Notification Center. Lots of feature reproduction here.
Users can actually act on these extensions in-line.
Finally, third-party keyboards like Swype are coming to iOS. And Apple has released a TouchID SDK while retaining user security. The fingerprint data is never exposed to the system.
HomeKit
Apple debuted HomeKit, a common network protocol for home automation. Apple has teamed with a number of hardware manufacturers for lights, garage doors and more to work with the iPhone, iOS and Siri.
Metal
Apple introduced Metal, a low-overhead graphics framework that works directly with the A7 chip on the iPhone and iPad.
Swift
Debuting Swift, the company has reduced Objective-C to a last generation product.
OS 8s is available in beta today for developers, and will come to the rest of the Apple world in the fall
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