Apple announced iOS 8 at WWDC. The new OS seems to follow the trend set by iOS 7 and introduces a lot of cool new features that make life easier not only for iPhone and iPad users, but for iOS developers too. Let’s have a look at what iOS 8 has to offer.
App Store improvements
One of the most hated things about the App Store was app discoverability and Apple received a lot of negative feedback from users because of that. The new App Store takes that feedback into account and introduces a new tab called Explore. This new tab will help users find apps easier. In addition to that, there is a new Trending Searches feature plus lots of other app discoverability improvements.
Apple also introduced app previews that are short videos added to the apps’ descriptions, as well as app bundles that let users download collections of apps in one click.
New APIs
Apple is planning to release about 4,000 new APIs with iOS 8. The company says that these new APIs will offer “extensibility”, e.g. will allow developers to share data between apps. It will also become possible to create dynamic widgets within notifications.
Kits
iOS 8 introduces a bunch of new kits for developers and users: PhotoKit, HealthKit, HomeKit, CloudKit, SceneKit, SpriteKit, Metal and TouchID for apps. Let’s have a look at the kits for iPhone and iPad users.
HealthKit is a new development that will allow iOS users to store their health information in a secure environment on their device. Publicly shared health information will be accessible by apps.
HomeKit is Apple’s step towards making the iPhone a control device for a smart home. It’s a framework that will let apps connect with smart home devices and control them.
And now let’s move on to kits for developers
PhotoKit offers developers a new API that makes it easier to manage photos and videos, including the one stored in the iCloud.
CloudKit offers a better way for developers to work with iCloud with the help of a new CloudKit framework.
SceneKit is a new kit for iPhone game developers. It’s a new 3D graphics framework to create 3D animations and effects.
SpriteKit was introduced with iOS 7, but the new version of this kit has some significant improvements. For example, it will include custom Open GL ES shaders and lightings, advanced physics and animation, as well as new scene editors for Xcode.
Metal is a new framework that is a lot more advanced than the ones mentioned above. It’s designed for hardcore gaming and allows to access the A7 processor directly. That will massively improve the performance of games.
TouchID has been around since iOS 7, but iOS 8 will have a more advanced version that will allow developers to add TouchID to their apps.
As you can see, iOS 8 will have lots of exciting stuff, so we can’t wait for it to get released.
