As we are continuing to learn following the release of the very first beta, iOS 8 is full of weird and wonderful surprises, and now it has emerged that the camera of an iPhone running the upcoming software can be used to scan in credit card details.
Of the big announcements to come out of the WWDC opening keynote, Apple's decision to bring third-party keyboards to iOS was probably the most unexpected and yet, one of the most wished-for additions to a platform that has stubbornly stuck to the one keyboard for its entire life. Being able to install completely new keyboards can quite literally change the way we work.
If you've been getting stuck into some of iOS 8 beta’s new features and quirks, there are undoubtedly some that you may have missed. Apple pushed some significant changes with this new release, but there remains an abundance of lesser-known alterations and additions to the latest version. Here, we run through some of them.
With Apple having announced iOS 8 and subsequently rolled out the first beta over the past couple of days, it's no surprise to see that users have flocked to download and checkout some of the new features. But, being in beta and all, it's still far from finished, and having had a little taster of what's to come, it's quite likely that you'll want to revert back to the more familiar, stable environment that is iOS 7.1.x. If you have tried the beta and wish to step back to the latest public release, we've got the steps for you below.
Whenever a new version of iOS is released, the focus immediately turns to its jailbreaking potential. With the first beta of iOS 8 having just been distributed to developers, it has now emerged that it can, in fact, be jailbroken, with renowned security expert known in jailbreak circles as i0n1c having worked some more magic.
It took Apple a fair while, but having seen some signs in iOS 7 that some attention was being paid to the great tweaks gracing Cydia and the jailbreak scene, it appears that the company has taken more than a fleeting interest this time around. In fact, several of the newly-announced software's features first appeared through Cydia in one form or another, and here, we look at how the jailbreak scene has been a key influencer of iOS 8.
Apple's WWDC 2014 keynote was as polarizing as ever, but for the very first time, we're seeing significant parts of the ecosystem being opened up to third parties. Once iOS 8 gets its public release around September time, users will be able to head over to the App Store and download / install a new system-wide keyboard if they don't like the stock offering, and Fleksy - one of the key players in this field - has just teased a snapshot of its iOS 8 port on Twitter.
In an effort to make its mobile OS as seamless as possible, Apple is set to bring contextual, location-based shortcuts to the lock screen with iOS 8. This means if, for example, you're whimsically wandering around near a shopping mall and just so happen to be looking at your phone, iOS 8 may throw up an icon relating to the nearest Starbucks or Apple Retail Store, as well as other outlets of interest that aren't so closely affiliated with Apple.
The feeling of having accidentally deleted a photo is one enough to send a chill down one's spine - particularly if said image was of particular importance or sentiment. Often, a lost photo can be magically recovered through cloud backup or by using numerous recovery tools, and thankfully, makers of software have done their bit by elongating the process of permanent deletion. From what we're hearing, Apple is making it a tad more difficult to lose a treasured memory for good, with a new lifeline feature that'll help you recover those snaps that you erroneously discarded of.
Along with all of the more obvious features relating to the UI and general functionality of iOS, Apple has done quite a lot of work in improving the security features of its mobile operating system through the past few revisions. With iOS 8 having just been announced earlier on this week at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) keynote, some of the details are only now beginning to trickle in, and given the rife nature of iPhone theft in particular, users will be pleased to learn that the Cupertino outfit plans to make it even easier to track a lost, stolen or otherwise missing devices with iOS 8.
