iOS 14 is the fourteenth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple for the iPhone and iPod touch lines. Announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 22, 2020, as the successor to iOS 13, it was released to the public on September 16, 2020. It was succeeded by iOS 15 on September 20, 2021.
System features App Clips App Clips are a new feature expanding on the functionality of the App Store. Intended as a dynamic feature rather than a permanently installed app, App Clips are extremely pared-back with very few OS permissions. At the time of the announcement, only the use of Apple Pay and Sign in with Apple were shown.
App Clips may be discovered in person via NFC tags (iPhone 7 or newer) or QR codes with App Clips branding. They may also be shared via Messages, or placed on websites or Maps.
CarPlay CarPlay was updated to allow users to set a built-in wallpaper. Route management in Apple Maps was extended with features alerting the user to available stops, such as parking and food ordering. Additionally, route planning for electric vehicles now considers the location of charging stations.
Car keys Car keys allow an iPhone to act as a virtual car key using NFC technology with compatible cars. The first compatible car showcased by Apple at the WWDC 2020 was the 2021 BMW 5 Series. Keys are accessible from the Wallet app. Keys may be shared; sharing may be temporary or given restrictions. In the event the iPhone is out of battery, car keys can still be accessed via the power reserve of the iPhone for about five hours. Car keys require an iPhone released in 2018 or later.
Home screen Unlike previous versions, in which icons on the home screen were rearranged in order and corresponded directly to apps, users may add app icons and newly introduced app widgets; pages may be added or deleted at will. This allows users to hide infrequently used apps and avoid clutter.
Widgets To the left of the first page, the widgets are redesigned and made customizable. They may be placed on the home screen to sit amongst app icons; they may be resized to two-by-two, horizontal two-by-four, or four-by-four icons. Widgets of the same size may be stacked over each other and swiped between for convenience; a Smart Stack may be placed which automatically shows the most relevant widget to the user based on the time of day.
App Library To the right of the last page, the App Library lists and categorizes apps installed on the device. Apps within each category are arranged based on the frequency of their usage. In addition to a category for suggested apps, a "recent" category lists apps recently installed alongside App Clips recently accessed. Users can search for the app they want or browse them in alphabetical order.
Compact UI A series of changes were made in iOS 14 to reduce the visual space taken by previously full-screen interfaces; such interfaces now appear and hover in front of an app, allowing for touch (and therefore multitasking) on the app behind. Voice calling interfaces, including Phone, or other third-party apps such as Skype, are made substantially thinner, taking approximately as much space as a notification. Siri's interface is now also compact.
Picture-in-picture allows users to continue watching video playback (or take voice calls, such as with FaceTime) in a thumbnail-sized view after leaving the app. This view may be resized with pinch gestures, or moved off-screen temporarily and re-summoned for multitasking. Picture-in-picture is currently supported by Safari and FaceTime, along with several third-party apps, including Disney+, ESPN, Max, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video. This feature was not available in the YouTube app at launch; Google subsequently announced that picture-in-picture would be supported on YouTube in a forthcoming update, but only for subscribers to YouTube Premium. Ultimately, this feature was delayed until July 2022, when it was made available for all users with devices running iOS 15 or higher.
Search and Siri Improvements to the Search feature on the home screen were made, including a refined UI which only now takes up a small circle and text bubble on the screen instead of the entire screen, quick launcher for apps, more detailed web search, shortcuts to in-app search, and improved as-you-type search suggestions.
While made compact so that content below is visible, Siri's interface does not allow for simultaneous multitasking, as designers felt it unclear how the interface would then be dismissed. Siri can now answer a broader set of questions and translate more languages. Users can also share their ETA with contacts and ask for cycling directions.
Security and Privacy App Store On iOS 14.3 and later, the App Store now displays the permissions required for each application (so users can see and understand permissions required by the application prior to downloading it). Users may change location permissions to inform the app of an approximate location, preserving privacy when exact location is unnecessary.
Notifications for microphone, camera, and clipboard usage A recording indicator appears at the top of the screen whenever an app uses the microphone (orange dot indicator) or camera (green dot indicator). Likewise, a notification appears when the clipboard is accessed by an app.
Application Tracking Transparency Apps must request the user consent if they intend to track user activities across apps and websites.
During the iOS 14 announcement, Apple pledged to improve users' privacy by limiting apps' access to Apple's Identifier for Advertisers (also known as IDFA or Advertising Identifier). This change was postponed "until early 2021 in iOS/iPadOS 14.5" to let developers migrate to more privacy-friendly alternatives. Facebook has notably opposed such privacy measures, arguing that small businesses need to access user data for targeted advertising. Statistics from Verizon subsidiary Flurry Analytics show after iOS 14.5 was released, only 11-12% of all consumers and 4% of American consumers have allowed Facebook to track them, in what has been described as a "nightmare" for Facebook.
Wi-Fi MAC address randomization To limit tracking and improve privacy, devices now use a different MAC address for each Wi-Fi network instead of using the physical device Wi-Fi MAC address.
Local network restriction A new privacy option can restrict certain applications from discovering and interacting with other devices on a home network through Bonjour or other network protocols.
Other internal security changes One of the major changes in iOS 14 is the introduction of a new, tightly sandboxed 'BlastDoor' service which is now responsible for almost all parsing of untrusted data in iMessages. BlastDoor inspects all inbound messages in a secure, sandboxed environment, which prevents any malicious code inside of a message from interacting with the rest of the operating system or accessing user data. A specially-crafted message sent to a target can no longer interact with the file system or perform network operations.
If the camera module is not detectable as genuine Apple component, the system will warn the user.
ARKit 4 ARKit 4 introduced Depth API for new access to depth information from the LiDAR sensors on the iPhone 12 Pro. ARKit 4 also introduced Location Anchor, which uses data from Apple Maps and enables augmented reality experiences to be placed on geographical coordinates and other smaller improvements.
MagSafe iOS 14 adds MagSafe accessory support for the iPhone 12 and beyond (as of 2023) lineup, with a new animation for each accessory.
Other changes Other changes include that the Emoji keyboard was updated with a search function. iOS 14 adds 20 new hair and headwear styles to Memoji and Animoji, including face mask options for Memoji. Also, the user's email and browser apps – by default the stock Mail app and Safari – may now be changed. On iPhones released in 2017 and later (iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, iPhone X and newer), a new accessibility feature allows users to perform common tasks by double-tapping the back of the device via the phone's accelerometer (e.g. opening Control Center or running a shortcut). Users with devices that do not automatically read NFC tags may add a shortcut on the Control Center to do so. iOS 14 introduces support for the VP9 codec, allowing playback of YouTube videos in 4K resolution. In Safari, VP9 support is enabled through WebRTC, which is disabled by default. In the Notes app, it is now easier to find notes using an improved "on-device intelligence." The skeuomorphic paper texture in the app has also been removed. The Weather app now shows an air quality index and minute-by-minute forecasts for the next hour in the United States. Apple now uses additional weather data from their recently acquired service Dark Sky instead of only The Weather Channel. Apple Arcade now has direct integration with Gamecenter. The scroll wheel picker used for time has been reduced in size with the option to use a number pad. A new Accessibility feature, called Sound Recognition, allows iPhones to listen for predefined sounds and issue an alert whenever the specific audio is detected. This way an iPhone can detect fire, various sirens, animals, multiple household noises, and a baby that is crying or someone that's shouting. The Music icon was redesigned with a red gradient, similar to the icon used in iOS 7 through 8.3. The iOS 12 wallpaper was removed, and eight new wallpapers were added in iOS 14.2. Magnifier is now a separate app that can be accessed outside of the Control Center. People Detection was added in Measure on iOS 14.2. Unlocking an iPhone equipped with Face ID while wearing a mask, using a paired Apple Watch, was added on iOS 14.5 and watchOS 7.4.
App features Calendar The Calendar app now supports a Julian calendar format for years earlier than October 15, 1582 and the Calendar app icon now uses abbreviated names for the days of the week.
Camera The Camera app gained several new features. Features include:
The ability to mirror photos taken from the front camera on iPhone XS and later. QR code reading enhancements. Exposure compensation control on iPhone 11 and iPhone SE (2nd generation) and later. Quick toggles in Video mode to change resolution and frame rate for all iPhones. Previously, this feature was limited to the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro. QuickTake video function for iPhone XR and iPhone XS. Camera UI from iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro for the iPhone XR and the iPhone XS. The ability to capture burst photos and QuickTake video with volume buttons on supported devices. An updated Night mode capture experience on the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro. The PAL format video shooting. Improvements were also made in shot-to-shot performance. According to Apple, photos can be shot up to 90% faster, time to first shot is now up to 25% faster, and Portrait shot-to-shot is up to 15% faster.
FaceTime On iPhone XS and later, FaceTime now automatically adjusts the visual appearance of eyes to account for the camera being above where a caller's eyes are displayed, allowing for direct two-way eye contact. Additionally, if a caller is using sign language in a call with multiple people, their window will be focused on accordingly.
FaceTime on iPhone XS and later now supports 1080p video on Wi-Fi. iOS 14.2 added support for 1080p FaceTime video on iPhone 8 and later on Wi-Fi, and for 5G and Wi-Fi on iPhone 12.
FaceTime now supports picture-in-picture mode. This allows users to continue seeing the other person while multitasking between other apps. Double tapping on the FaceTime window allows for the size to be changed to small, medium, or large. A single tap expands the window back to full screen.
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