Just as promised, Apple has released the iOS 8 update to the public after several months of beta testing.
iOS 8 is the next major version of Apple’s mobile operating system, bringing with it many new features that users have been clamoring for for some time. Those include:
- Actionable notifications that let you do things like respond to texts without jumping into the Messages app
- Spotlight searches that gather results from the App Store, Wikipedia, iTunes, websites and more
- QuickType keyboard with word suggestions
- Health app for tracking your fitness
- Family Sharing for sharing purchased apps and content with up to 6 family members
- Built-in Shazam song recognition for Siri
- Interactive widgets in Notification Center
- Safari Extensions, including sharing to other apps
- System-wide third-party keyboards
- Third-party support for Touch ID
And those are just a handful of the features that are included in iOS 8. Unfortunately, some of the new goodies require you to have OS X Yosemite on your computer. That update won’t roll out until later this year, so you’ll have to wait to play with new features like Continuity and Handoff, which allow you to move from your iOS device to your Mac or another iOS device and take your call, text message or email with you.
iOS 8 is available to the iPhone 4s, iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPod touch 5th generation, iPad 2, iPad with Retina display, iPad Air, iPad mini and iPad mini with Retina display. In order to download the update, you can either connect your iOS device to your computer and upgrade through iTunes or check for an over the air update on your iOS device by going into Settings > General > Software Update.
Once you get iOS 8 up and running on your iOS hardware, be sure to share your first impressions with us! And if you’d like a preview of iOS 8 in action before downloading it yourself, you can check out our hands on with a beta version of iOS 8 down below!
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