Apple Unveils iOS 8: Here's What You Need to Know

Image via Complex Original

-If you get a text, you can respond to it within the Notification Center, without ever opening iMessage.

-When you double-tap the home button to access the apps you've recently opened, you'll now get access to people you recently contacted as well, with a separate menu atop of your apps.

-When you use Spotlight to search for things, you'll now can search for apps you don't have within iTunes, get news, locations of nearby restaurants, songs on iTunes, movies and show times for theatres nearby.

-You can now "Shazam" a song straight from Siri.

-In one of the biggest updates, Apple's new feature, Continuity, let's you pick up your work straight from your Mac to your iPad or iPhone, or vice versa. So if you're working on an email on your iPhone, but feel like working on it with your Mac, you can swipe left on the Continuity icon, and your email will seamlessly switch device screens.

-You can now use your iPhone as a hotspot for your MacBook.

-Also, you can now get those "green text messages" from people who don't own iPhones on your Mac and iPad.

-Apple's big change for its keyboard. It supports predictive typing suggestions, so if you're typing something such as, "I'm going to be late to the..." the keyboard will show you likely options to finish your sentence, such as "meeting," "movie," or "appointment."

-It will also adapt to the different people you talk to, so it will suggest personalized words to if you're talking to a close friend or co-worker.

-On a related note, Apple is now opening its keyboard to third-party keyboards, so you can finally download apps like SwiftKey.

-You can now mark a message as "unread" simply by swiping all the way right; or you can delete it by swiping all the way left.

-Users can share photos calendars, reminders, with family members. This goes for purchased items like books, music, and movies as well.

-Apple: "In the home we're used to sharing physical media, but increasingly our media is in our devices. Now you can get at not just your purchases, but the purchases of everyone in your family."

-The Photo app gets an updated smart editing system that lets you control things like lighting, shadows, and other features that have usually been reserved for third-party editing apps.

-All of your edits will be saved in iCloud, and will sync between devices.

-You can sync all of your photos and video with iCloud: the first 5GB are free, 20GB runs $.99 a month, and 200GB for $3.99 a month.

-Apple: "We're not only preserving the edits, but your device has access to more photos in the cloud than you can store locally."

-Apple's most frequently used app, now lets you name group threads. So if you're sending messages to people in a group your going on a trip with, you can name the thread "trip to Yosemite," to separate it from your other thread, "Beach Trip This Weekend."

-You can now add and remove people from the thread

-The "Do Not Disturb" option let's you turn off notifications so your phone isn't ringing all the time when new messages from the group come in.

-Users can now share their location within messages, and photos that are shared within a group thread can all be viewed in one page (so you don't have to scroll all the way back to see pictures that people sent.)

-In a move that Snapchat and WhatsApp and users will find familiar, you can now send audio messages or video clips to people that self-destruct. These can also be replied to from the lockscreen.

-You can keep all of your most important health information all in one app, called Health.

-It works with third party apps like Nike and MayoClinic.

-If you took a blood test and things aren't looking up to par, the app can contact your doctor and set up a timely appointment for a check-up.

-You have a long time to wait: it won't be out until the fall, right in time for the iPhone 6.