Bits and Pieces of iOS 8 Scattered All Over The Place

[twerppoet]

Minor, but Interesting things I’ve found in iOS 8: Mostly things that were not in the release notes, or that I decided to mention again because I really like them.

Messages

• You can set the time that audio, video, and text messages are kept. Audio and video are defaulted to delete after 2 minutes (after you view them I’m guessing) or Never. Text messages can be kept for 30 days, 1 Year, or Forever.
• If one of your contacts has shared their location, you can see them on the map in the Details of a conversation. Apparently Find My Friends location sharing is carried over into Messages.

Photos

• Alas, iPhotos is no more.
• Camera Roll and Photo Stream seem to have been replaced by the slightly smarter Recently Added and Recently Deleted albums; with Photo Stream itself disappearing into the background. You only know it’s there because you still see it in Photo’s settings.
• Nice editing tools. Filters still boring.

Camera

• You can now tap on the Camera modes. Before you could only swipe through them.

Keyboard

• When you select a word suggestion, then type a period, it backspaces to put the period where it needs to be. It does this whether you’ve got the double space shortcut enabled or not. (Keyboard settings)
• The Predictive feature can be turned on/off using the World key. Tap and hold for the option. You need to have more than one keyboard language enabled to see the World key.
• Keyboard shortcuts show up in the predictive text, making it easier to avoid the unwanted shortcut.
• Top three word replacement options show up in the predictive text. Much faster than using the contextual menu.

Mail

• Seriously liking the Notify Me option.
• You can swap the swipe actions for Flag and Unread in settings, or change the right swipe to Archive.

Misc:

• Notes app now has basic formatting (BIU), and you can insert photos. That means you could use it to create emails, and send them directly from the Notes app. If you’ve have emails that you send over and over again, this could be a light weight solution.
• Slight, but pleasantly noticeable overall darkening of most native apps and other ‘stuff’. Much easier on the eyes.
• iBooks now has a new All category that shows ‘all’ your books, even if they are in other categories, and you can toggle Hide iCloud Books to filter by what is on your device. Thank you Apple.
• On the other hand, iBooks has gotten in-your-face with the store part of the app.

 

[scifan57]

The podcast, iTunes University, and iBooks apps are now native iOS apps that can't be deleted. If you didn't have them before, they will show up on your home screen after the iOS update.

 

[twerppoet]

There is also a new Tips app, that will offer weekly tips on how to use your iOS device(s).

 

[J. A.]

You can hide the tabs bar in Safari, and private browsing can be enabled for one tab only. The feature can be found when you tap the sheets icon (don't know the right expression), at the top right.

The address/search bar hides and reappears in Safari as you scroll through a page, depending on you lifting the finger, or leaving it on the screen.

 

[scifan57]

You can hide the tabs bar in Safari, and private browsing can be enabled for one tab only. The feature can be found when you tap the sheets icon (don't know the right expression), at the top right.

The address/search bar hides and reappears in Safari as you scroll through a page, depending on you lifting the finger, or leaving it on the screen.

The problem with posting pictures in iPad Forum has been around for at least 2 months in the beta version of iOS 8. The problem is also at iPhone Forums. The forum owners will have to get the site updated or get ZenForo to make their forum software fully compatable with iOS 8. We're going to have a lot of unhappy members if the problem isn't solved.

 

[twerppoet]

Just used Tapatalk to post a picture from the iPad. That still works.

 

[J. A.]

The problem with posting pictures in iPad Forum has been around for at least 2 months in the beta version of iOS 8. The problem is also at iPhone Forums. The forum owners will have to get the site updated or get ZenForo to make their forum software fully compatable with iOS 8. We're going to have a lot of unhappy members if the problem isn't solved.

It seems the forum software has a problem with IOS 8 in general. It doesn't automatically insert my login details, while other websites do.

 

[twerppoet]

It seems the forum software has a problem with IOS 8 in general. It doesn't automatically insert my login details, while other websites do.

Are you using 1Password?

I had to clear data and cookies (no longer called that) before 1Password would work with some sites. Including this one.

Might help with Keychain and Safari's auto-fill feature as well.

 

[J. A.]

I'm using Keychain and Safari's autofill feature, and I deleted whatever it is called now in Safari. (Not motivated enough to look at it now, sorry.)

I do use 1Password, but not for iPF and AppleWatchForum. Might have to try that. Thank you!

 

[twerppoet]

I've turned off auto-fill in Safari, for now. I wanted to see if I could live completely in the more secure 1Password world.

 

[twerppoet]

More cool things, because I'm still reading new articles about iOS 8.

In Safari:

Tap-hold on the bookmark icon for a quick list that lets you; Add Bookmarks, Add to Reading List, and Add to Shared Links.

Tap the URL field and see your Favorites. Pull down on the favorites pain while there to reveal Add to Favorites and Request Desktop Site menu items.

Tap-hold the + icon to see recently closed tabs. (I think this was possible before).

 

[twerppoet]

Oooooh. Bravo Apple.

Safari now blocks ads from automatically redirecting to the App Store without user interaction.

 

[J. A.]

Oooooh. Bravo Apple.

Great!

 

[J. A.]

iCloud reacts more like an Apple ID now. When you need to take a look at it, you have to enter your password first.

It also shows a picture of you (wondering where that's from?) and it can be changed, if you don't like it.

 

[J. A.]

There's a "Frequently visited" feature in Safari:

To remove sites from there, tap and hold: