10 of 50 iOS 8 Tips and Tricks
iOS 8 isn’t quite the ground-up overhaul iOS 7 was, but it still packs in plenty of new goodies to play with. Some of the additions aren’t obvious at first glance, so we’ve taken it upon ourselves to compile this exhaustive list of 50 tips and tricks (plus we threw in an extra bonus tip for good measure). Check ’em out and you’ll become an expert in no time.
1. Hide QuickType Suggestions
The new QuickType keyboard brings the biggest change to text input since copy and paste, but it might not be for everyone. So if you want to ditch the predictive results and go back to the old way of autocorrect, simply swipe down on the new gray bar to hide it. When you’re ready to give QuickType another chance, just swipe back up.
The new QuickType keyboard brings the biggest change to text input since copy and paste, but it might not be for everyone. So if you want to ditch the predictive results and go back to the old way of autocorrect, simply swipe down on the new gray bar to hide it. When you’re ready to give QuickType another chance, just swipe back up.
2. Add Quick Photos and Videos to Messages
Messages has been able to handle images and videos since the days of iPhone OS 3, but it took Apple until iOS 8 to get it right. Tap the camera icon and you’ll instantly get access to your entire photo library without needing to leave the composing window. And when you press and hold the icon, a new radial menu pops up, letting you snap a quick pic or record video right in the app.
Messages has been able to handle images and videos since the days of iPhone OS 3, but it took Apple until iOS 8 to get it right. Tap the camera icon and you’ll instantly get access to your entire photo library without needing to leave the composing window. And when you press and hold the icon, a new radial menu pops up, letting you snap a quick pic or record video right in the app.
3. Add Audio Clips to Messages
Let’s face it: Siri isn’t entirely dependable when it comes to getting our words right in a hands-free text. Well, why have her write anything at all? To the right of the compose field in Messages you’ll find a new microphone icon — tap and hold it for a radial menu that lets you quickly record audio clips and send them with a flick of your thumb.
Let’s face it: Siri isn’t entirely dependable when it comes to getting our words right in a hands-free text. Well, why have her write anything at all? To the right of the compose field in Messages you’ll find a new microphone icon — tap and hold it for a radial menu that lets you quickly record audio clips and send them with a flick of your thumb.
4. Superior Photo Syncing
Open your albums tab in Photos and you'll notice something: there’s no more My Photo Stream. But don't worry, that’s a good thing! Apple has finally lifted the absurd 1,000-photo limit in iCloud, so now everything you snap or save will automatically sync and appear on all your devices. Just head over to Settings > Photos & Camera and toggle on My Photo Stream.
5. Selectively Clear Your Browsing History
Apple has always given us the ability to clear our history in Safari, but until iOS 8 it’s been all-or-nothing. Now you can delete parts of it by going to the history menu and tapping Clear at the bottom-right — you’ll be given options to get rid of everything from the past hour or day. You can even delete a single item by swiping over it. Because nobody ever needs to know just how much you keep up with the Kardashians.
Apple has always given us the ability to clear our history in Safari, but until iOS 8 it’s been all-or-nothing. Now you can delete parts of it by going to the history menu and tapping Clear at the bottom-right — you’ll be given options to get rid of everything from the past hour or day. You can even delete a single item by swiping over it. Because nobody ever needs to know just how much you keep up with the Kardashians.
Adding to Control Center and the quick-launch Camera icon, Apple has built a new kind of shortcut into the Lock screen. You can’t start any old app this way, but location services will plug your iPhone into the world so that when you walk into a Starbucks or Apple Store, the appropriate icon will appear in the bottom-left corner. As with the camera icon, just slide up and you’re in business.
7. Customizable Mail-Management Options
Slowly but surely, Apple is turning Mail into a powerful mobile email client. Among the additions this time around is a new set of customizable menus. Now when you swipe, you’ll get more than just an option to delete. The function can even be customized to your particular swiping preferences: in Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Swipe Options you can choose to add buttons to flag, archive, or mark as read that can appear on either side of the screen.
8. Hide an Email Draft
Working with drafts in Mail has never been a particularly pleasant experience — if you needed to reference an old message while working on the new one, you had to save and close the draft, check what you needed, then open the draft back up. Thankfully, Apple has dramatically streamlined the process in iOS 8. While you’re composing a message, just swipe down to hide it from view and you’ll get full access to all your folders and messages. When you find what you're looking for, simply tap the bar at the bottom to resume.
9. Show Related Messages in Mail
Previous iOS versions of Mail did a fine job grouping conversations together, but during a hectic workday threads could get split up, making it hard to hunt down missing pieces. In iOS 8, Apple has made it easier to collect them all, wherever they may be. Tap on the More button after swiping left and you’ll find a new option to show related messages. Like magic, it will collect every relevant piece of communication for your reading pleasure.
10. A Better Notification Banner
One of the most sought-after iOS features has finally arrived. When a notification banner pops up you can tap it to go to the app or flick it away as always, but pulling it down no longer opens the obtrusive Notification Center. Instead, you get a pair of options that allow you to quickly take action without leaving the app you’re in. Hooray!
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