Apple unveiled the new iOS 14: Widgets on the home screen, Picture in Picture, Better Siri

Apple finally unveiled the new iOS 14 and will be on all compatible devices by september this year. The overall UI should be the same that we are familiar with but Apple is making a ground work to improve it, make it more intuitive and even makes it more practical than ever.

The new iOS 14 is somehow taking shape like that of Google Android and in fact the details below looks oddly familiar with the rival operating system in a cleaver ways.

Widgets

Widgets do exist in iOS since version 8 but while many people are loving it, there are those who didn’t realize that they’re there baked into the OS. What makes iOS 14 appealing is that widgets are now going out from the confines of the Today’s view or a pull up menu and are now available on the home screen.

Widgets now sits with everyone else and lies comfortably next to apps on your home screen. What’s nice with widgets is that they are more diverse which user can adjust their sizes and are data rich.

App Library

With iOS 14, apply finally adds categorization of apps from the home screen but you’ll need to go far right at the end of your home screen to access it. This new feature is viewed as an Apple version of the familiar App drawer on Android but the App Library on iOS 14 is based on categories and shows suggested and frequently used apps and apps that are recently installed for easy access.

Picture-in-Picture

iOS users have been dreaming this feature on their devices for years and Apple has finally make it available with iOS 14. The new feature applies to videos in apps as well as with FaceTime video calls.

What it does is that the video player now plays videos on top of other apps similar to what Android users enjoyed for quite some time. But what makes it more user friendly is that it while moving the video around the screen, the audio track keeps running.

Siri

Apple made a lot of new improvements to Siri with now being more intelligent with 20x more facts than years ago. It now also includes translation functions with real-time live conversation support.

Unlike its older version, the new Siri on iOS4 will no longer need to take up all the viewable space on your device as it becomes more compact with the conversation animation orb at the bottom and the cards are displayed up top giving users a view of what’s on their current screens.

App improvements

iMessages app can now accommodate 40% more messages than its predecessor and double the capacity of group messages. It also includes pinning people on top of conversation list, mentions and in-line replies on group message threads.

Apple Maps comes with new features and is much improved with more location specific features such as cycling locations with complete elevation information for New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Beijing and Shanghai.

Electric Vehicles could also make use of Apple Maps as it also shows charging routes along the way. Guides also shows stores, restaurants, popular places with recommendations from Respected Brands.

CarPlay fully connected vehicles such as the 2021 BMW 5 Series will turn your iPhone into your car key to start the car. The feature uses NFC with a tap on the door handle to unlock and with the iPhone on the wireless charging pad to turn on or off the vehicle. Users can even share the iKey with other users through iMessage together with customized profiles.

App Store, With iOS 14, Apple introduces App Clips where users can get a bit of experience of an app without having it installed on the device. This helps users to experience part of the app and it even work with Apple Pay and even sign into Apple too.

App Clip can be had through scanning a new Apple-designed App code or on tags with NFC functions and also with QR Codes. Besides that, App code can also be shared through Messages or in Safari.

iOS 14 is now available in Developer Preview and will hit the public by Fall on the following devices: