iOS 14, iPadOS 14 new features detailed

iOS 14

• The new iOS 14 finally gains home screen widget support and these widgets sit between app icons. A widget called ‘smartstack’ automatically selects and displays time-dependent information as well.
• App Library is another new significant addition, which is somehow similar to an app drawer which has been always lacking on iOS. However, on iOS 14, apps are automatically sorted into large category folders. Users also get the ability of hiding apps from the rest of the home screens by hiding pages.
• Good news – incoming calls will no longer eat up the entire screen space – instead, apps which can receive calls will show a small, Android-like call notification window at the top of the screen.
• You can finally use a non-Apple, third-party app as a default app for browser and mail. So, you can finally ditch Safari and Apple mail for Chrome/ Firefox and Gmail as go to apps on iOS 14!
• Apple is directly competing with Google apps by introducing two new features – speech & text translation and offline on-device voice transcription for dictation.
• App Store gets a new feature called ‘App Clips’ that allows users to access some functions of an app that may be needed to access a service, without downloading the entire app.
• iOS 14 brings tweaks to iMessage as well. You can now pin messages and use WhatsApp-like @-mentions. Improved Apple Maps with new cycling routes, new electric vehicle charging information and saveable exploration guides will be expanding to new regions.
• The picture-in-picture video mode, which was previously available on iPadOS, is now carried on to iOS as well.
• With iOS 14, you can turn your iPhone into a car key with a new contactless ‘CarKey’ function which unlocks the car using NFC. The BMW 5 Series facelift will be the first car to get this feature.
• iOS 14 will be available for iPhone 6s and above, including the first-gen SE as well as iPod Touch seventh-gen.

iPadOS 14

• As expected, iPadOS 14 gets all the features of iOS 14, but it retains its exclusive extra features from the previous version which are specifically designed for iPads.
• But, a big new Apple Pencil that’s exclusive to iPadOS is that it can now convert your handwritten and scrawled notes into text, which will be really handy for those who prefer writing with Apple Pencil than typing. It also means that buying a keyboard accessory will now be less of a necessity for some users.
• The iPadOS 14 update will be available for iPad Air 2 and above.