iOS 14, iPadOS 14, tvOS 14 and watchOS 7 are available tomorrow — Apple World Today

iOS 14

At the virtual Worldwide Developer Conference, Apple previewed iOS 14, which saw a major update to Home Screen pages with redesigned widgets and the App Library, a new way to tap into the App Store with App Clips, updates to Messages, and more.

The new widgets present timely information at a glance and can be pinned in different sizes on any Home Screen page. Users can create a Smart Stack of widgets that uses on-device intelligence to surface the right widget based on time, location, and activity, according to Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering.

“This helps you get info at a glance,” he adds. “The Home Screen is more beautiful and data rich.”

Home Screen pages can display widgets that are customized for work, travel, sports, entertainment, and other areas of interest. At the end of the Home Screen pages is the App Library, a new space that automatically organizes all of a user’s apps into one view, and intelligently surfaces apps that may be helpful in the moment, says Federighi. Users can choose how many Home Screen pages to display and easily hide pages for quicker access to the App Library. 

Incoming FaceTime and phone calls and Siri interactions take on an all-new compact design that enables users to stay in the context of what they’re doing. With Picture-in-Picture support, iPhone users can now watch a video or take a FaceTime call while using another app.

An App Clip is a small part of an app experience designed to be discovered the moment it is needed. App Clips are associated with a particular product or business, and load within seconds to complete a specific task, such as renting a scooter, purchasing a coffee, or filling a parking meter. They can be discovered and accessed by scanning a new Apple-designed App Clip code, or through NFC tags and QR codes, or shared in Messages or from Safari.

With Messages, users can now pin conversations to the top of their messages list, keep up with group threads through mentions and inline replies, and further customize conversations by setting a group photo using an image or emoji, according to Stacey Lysik, senior director, Apple.

“You can pin conversations at the top of your list,” she adds. “There are now over one trillion ways to customize a message’s look with Memoji and we’re adding more Memoji options that are more inclusive and diverse with additional hairstyles, headwear, face coverings, and more.”

iOS 14 also adds in-line replies to group messages. While in a group message, you can type someone’s name to replay to that person. You can also create a unique visual look for a Messages group.

Meg Frost, product design for Apple Maps, says Maps in iOS 14 makes it easier than ever to navigate and explore with new cycling directions, electric vehicle routing, and curated Guides. Cycling directions take into account elevation, how busy a street is, and whether there are stairs along the route. Electric vehicle routing adds charging stops along a planned route based on current vehicle charge and charger types.