iOS 14 is a major upgrade to the operating system. From a ton of new features, it comes with a lot of things that we have already seen in Android and some completely new features.

While we agree to some part of that, even the features that may seem to have been directly taken (finally) from Android, Apple didn’t just put them in there without their own edits.

Here are all the flagship as well as some of the hidden iOS 14 features.

WARNING : DO NOT INSTALL PUBLIC BETA ON YOUR MAIN DEVICE. IT CAN BUG OUT AND CAN LEAD YOU TO LOSE ALL YOUR DATA

Widgets

Finally after years of asking Apple to do it, you can now put Widgets on your main home screen. But..

It’s not like Android. The concept ? Sure. But there’s functionality and how they can be edited is, well, Apple. Restricted a bit. But smart when it comes to some points.

On Public BETA of the software, there are still widgets just for the first party apps, but Apple plans to let third party app developers to make their widgets as well. But that’s not the only best part of it.

What makes Widgets on iOS 14 unique is the fact that you can stack widgets on top of each other as long as their size is same. And that is not even the best part. That stacking will create what Apple is calling the “Smart Stack” and these stacks will use the on-device Machine Learning algorithms used by Siri Suggestions currently to show you exactly the widget you would need at that time of the day.  Crazy, right ?

App Library

Did anybody read that as  “MENU” or “APP DRAWER” because we did. Apple’s App Library on iOS 14 is exactly that with just one more thing.

App Library, lets you turn off every other home screen page but one in favour of having just one page with all your apps sorted according to their categories. It’s been there in Android but coming from a long time iOS user, this is amazing. With around 140 apps installed on my device, it’s a sigh of relief to not have everything messed up.

Earlier I used to make folders myself, but now that is done for me automatically and that too beautifully. Not forgetting I can now have just one front page and disable all those pages with App CHAOS. Also you can search through the App Library but idk why that matters when you have spotlight already.

We have another take on how we can use the App Gallery. Look out for it on our Instagram IGTV soon.

Compact UI

Finally ? At last ? Apple got sense ? That there are some calls that we just don’t want to attend or be bothered by. Compact UI mainly involves two parts – Compact Calls and a Compact Siri.

• Compact Calls

Compact Calls make your call a banner now ( for real Apple, were you guys sleeping or what ?). But yes, it’s finally coming with iOS 14 and it’s a bliss for all us introverts who just don’t to be bothered by them calls while we scroll through our IG feed. 

You can swipe up on it to send it to the background and touch the status bar to get back to it.

• Compact Siri

Yes, like Compact Calls, iOS 14 comes with a whole new Siri which shows up as just a Siri sphere at the bottom 1/3rd of your screen and it’s responses in the top 1/4th screen as banner (ofcourse) and just like calls you can swipe it up after you’re done with it.

Siri still isn’t on-par with Google Assistant but this surely is better than the full screen activation and responses.

Picture in Picture (PiP)

Watching Netflix while I text on Whatsapp ? On iOS ? Sure. Why not.

Yet another feature that has been in Android 8 ( 2 years ago ) and honestly it’s just that . Nothing being Apple. Just straight Picture-in-Picture.

For the ones who don’t know what PiP in the upcoming iOS 14 enables you to play the video you’re watching ( for selected apps ) to run in front when you do other tasks. For reference, watch the video.

Default Application

I never understood what was the point of not allowing it.

One of the most iOS 14 features most loved by people is the option to set default Email and Browser applications. I have no idea why in the world they didn’t let us do it before. If I don’t like some default application, I am going to use it anyways. Be it default or not. And your restricted default application is going to just stay there without any use crying in a folder labelled “Extras”.

Things aside, Safari is still better than Chrome on Apple devices, you can’t argue with me on that. You can’t. Drop it.

Apple Maps

Apple has been trying to get Apple Maps to match Google Maps and they have made a lot of progress but it still isn’t upto the mark. They might work for most part in United States and other countries with less complicated roadways but in India, It is a no go. They just don’t work.

Apple still doesn’t let you set default app for Maps and you are stuck with Apple Maps but Google Maps is still your only choice if you want proper navigations without confusions.

They have bike support now though.

Apple Translate

I don’t know what was Apple thinking in making this but this just isn’t something anyone would have imagined Apple trying to do.

A Translate App. We already had Google Translate which works amazing but then again it’s Apple and they gotta shoot their shots at anything and anywhere possible. And all iOS 14 features scream that.

But contrary to what we thought, Apple Translate is actually good. It’s fast. It’s smooth. And that automatic feature is a cherry on the cake but till Apple put in more language supports, we all gonna have to stick to Google for reliability.

Miscellaneous

Apart from the main flagship features that Apple showcased during the WWDC, there are a lot more features in iOS 14 that you’ll encounter on daily basis while you go through using your iPhone.

• Privacy Dot

To improve the privacy and make users more aware about things happening around their phone, Apple has put a feature that shows a green or yellow dot in the top right corner of your screen if some app is using your camera or microphone in the background respectively.

• Back Tap

This is one of iOS 14’s top appreciated features even though it’s placed deep in the Accessibility settings in the Settings. This enables iPhone X and above to have shortcuts when you tap twice or thrice on the back of them.

You can access the feature – Settings -> Accessibility -> Touch -> Back Tap

Here you can set shortcuts for Double Tap and Triple Tap.

• Emoji Search

This has been needed since long for the emoji freaks. Now you can finally search for the emoji you want instead of going though the entire database.

• Seamless Connection for AirPods

Seamless connection for AirPods was maybe one of the most innovative feature at WWDC this year.

Your AirPods detect if you switch device and they automatically connected to the device you switch to. This is legit something everybody wished but never thought would be possible but guess Apple proved again why they lead the industry with the best user experience and why their eco-system is one of it’s kind.