Sep 21

Sep 21 Top 10 new features now on your iPhone

Whether you’re buying a new iPhone this fall or not, iOS 14 packs new features for Messages, a customizable Home Screen and more in a free software update.

iOS 14 Software Update

Before you read any further, please back up your phone :) You never know when a software update is going to go awry.

A few months back Apple laid out what new features were coming in the fall in a free software update to their iPhone operating system. This past week, they held a keynote presentation largely on the new Apple Watch and iPad, but announced that the iOS 14 update was coming within 24 hours.

And while there will likely be an announcement of a new iPhone next month, coming loaded with iOS 14, it’s available now to download for free on any iPhone dating back to the iPhone 6s. In addition to security and bug fixes that always come with these updates, this particular release has a plethora of goodies that I think you’re going to like.

I’ve laid out my personal top 10 new features of iOS 14, big or small, below.

The top 10

1. Widgets

You’ve likely already seen the buzz around this feature on social media with people sharing their new customized home screens.

In iOS 14 you can add widgets that allow condensed versions of apps you choose to take up a portion of your screen. Most likely these will be frequent apps you open like Weather and therefore, you won’t have to open the app each time you want to know parka or no parka.

One of my personal favorites in widgets is what Apple is calling Smart Stacks. A Smart Stack is a group of widgets put together in a scrollable catalog. I’ve played with putting a date widget, weather, fitness, and maps together.

For more on how to add a widget click here.

2. App Library

There’s been the ability to search your entire phone by keyword for a little while now, but never strictly apps. In iOS 14, you can take that one app that you use once or twice a year but don’t want to remove from your phone and you can remove it from the home screen and simply search for it in the App Library when you need it.

The last page of apps on your iPhone home screen will now be an App Library, sorted into categories and also searchable. So, when you’re ready go ahead and remove that app that’s taking up room on your home screen, hold down on that app and the phone will ask “Delete App” or “Move to App Library.”

3. Continuous FaceTime video

In the age of lots more FaceTime sessions, ever been on a FaceTime call with someone and you’re talking about the latest racist thing the president said so you swipe away on your FaceTime call to find the clip on Twitter but you can’t see your friend and your video is paused on their end? I know! Me too.

No more of this! The new update places your FaceTime call into a picture-in-picture mode so you can keep chatting and seeing each others’ beautiful faces while searching the internet, finding that email, or checking the weather.

4. Message pins

Think of this as your squad. We’ve all got those group text threads and people we text the most. You can now pin your thread with them at the top of your Messages app.

Simply swipe to the right on a thread and click the pin icon.

Learn more on pinning conversations here.

5. Compact incoming calls

Previously if someone called you on an iPhone, their incoming call notification took over the entire screen and there was no way to decline the call other than to click the sleep/wake button on the side of the phone.

Now, when someone calls, a small call bar shows up at the top of the screen giving you the ability to keep reading your email or working on what you were doing before that call so rudely interrupted you :)

6. Masked Memojis

Minor one here, but you can now make sure your Memoji is masked up and looking out for their neighbor. #vote

7. Cycling directions

Long time coming here, but major cities like San Francisco, L.A., New York and more now have cycling directions in the Maps app. This will likely be expanded to all cities as it rolls out. This includes elevation and safety recommendations like whether the route brings you onto busy roads or has bike lanes.

8. Translate

A new app called Translate is Apple’s latest venture into the translation game that Google has been a part of for some time now. The app uses recorded audio that you speak into the microphone or text you’ve entered to translate to different languages. The app will then spell out and play back the audio of what you said translated into the language you have selected.

Looking forward to using this if we ever travel again in our lifetime.

9. Set default mail and browser

Being an Apple fan through and through, I use Mail and Safari on my phone, but there are those folks out there who love using the Gmail app or the Google Chrome browser app on their iPhone.

Until now, when you clicked a link on an iPhone, it would just send you straight into Safari. Google fans rejoice. You can now set a third-party app as your default mail or browser on your phone.

10. In-line message replies

Ever been that person who gets to the group thread late but wants to reply to something everyone was chatting about an hour ago and miles up the thread? Now you can!

iOS 14 gives you the ability to reply specifically to a message in a conversation thread as an in-line reply.

Simply hold down on the message you want to respond to and hit “Reply.”