The iOS 14 is an operating system that was designed, developed especially for iPhone by Apple in 2020. The system has been released on September 16, 2020, and was preinstalled on the iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max. This software gets the latest update (14.8.1) on October 26, 2021.
All-New iOS version contains loads of new system features such as a new Home Screen, from now the user has the ability to hide single apps or whole pages from the Home Screen. The next feature is Widgets on the Home Screen – Users can place preinstalled widgets or from third-party apps on the Home Screen in up to three different sizes.
Another novelty is on the last page of Home Screen, its App Library which allows to search Apps in a new way. Apps are categorized in folders such as Suggestions, Recently Added and others by default categories from the App Store.
Apple finally decided to bring a few features known from Android such as Picture-in-picture which allows users to continue watching videos or taking voice calls in a thumbnail-sized view after leaving the app.
Now users can answer the phone directly from a small notification on the top of the screen without any interruption on current tasks on the screen. Now Siri gets refined UI, quick and compact without using whole space on the screen.
The biggest change in iOS 14 is Privacy. From now users will get notifications for the microphone, camera, or clipboard usage. A recording indicator appears at the top of the screen whenever an app uses the microphone or camera. Likewise, a notification appears when the clipboard is accessed by an app.
App Store now displays the permissions required for each application (so users can see and understand permissions required by the application before downloading it). Users may change location permissions to inform the app of an approximate location, preserving privacy when the exact location is unnecessary.
New iOS gets loads of other features such as App Clips, this 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.
Car keys allow an iPhone to act as a virtual car key using NFC technology with compatible cars. 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.
ARKit 4 introduced Depth API for new access to depth information from the LiDAR sensors on the iPad Pro and iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max. Group chats using iMessage may be given a custom image, a Memoji, or an emoji. Users may now mention other users, and change notification settings to only are notified when explicitly mentioned. Messages may be replied to with inline replies, allowing for simultaneous conversation threads and seeing the replies in the general conversation or as a separate thread.
Safari gained the ability to monitor passwords for data breaches and generate privacy reports for trackers on websites.
The new Translate app allows users to translate voice and text between 11 languages: English, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, German, French, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, and Arabic.
iOS 14.5 update has introduced an option to unlock iPhone with Apple Watch while wearing face masks, has been added support for AirTag, and includes App Tracking Transparency to control which apps are allowed to track user activity across other apps and websites. The user can decide if he wants to shed this data or not.
Today iOS 14 is 3 years old!
iOS 14 – General information
| Released | September 16, 2020 |
| Original Price | Free |
| System Requirements | iPhone 6s iPhone 6s Plus iPhone 7 iPhone 7 Plus iPhone 8 iPhone 8 Plus iPhone X iPhone Xs iPhone Xs Max iPhone Xr iPhone 11 iPhone 11 Pro iPhone 11 Pro Max iPhone 12 iPhone 12 mini iPhone 12 Pro iPhone 12 Pro Max iPhone SE iPhone SE 2nd Generation iPod touch 7th Generation |
| Distribution | Finder Over-the-Air |
Versions
| Versions | Build | Release Date |
| iOS 14.0 | 18A373 | September 16, 2020 |
| iOS 14.0.1 | 18A393 | September 24, 2020 |
| iOS 14.1 | 18A8395 | October 20, 2020 |
| iOS 14.2 | 18B92 18B111 | November 5, 2020 |
| iOS 14.2.1 | 18B121 | November 19, 2020 |
| iOS 14.3 | 18C66 | December 14, 2020 |
| iOS 14.4 | 18D52 | January 26, 2021 |
| iOS 14.4.1 | 18D16 | March 8, 2021 |
| iOS 14.4.2 | 18D70 | March 26, 2021 |
| iOS 14.5 | 18E199 | April 26, 2021 |
| iOS 14.5.1 | 18E212 | May 3, 2021 |
| iOS 14.6 | 18F72 | May 24, 2021 |
| iOS 14.7 | 18G69 | July 19, 2021 |
| iOS 14.7.1 | 18G82 | July 26, 2021 |
| iOS 14.8 | 18H17 | September 13, 2021 |
| iOS 14.8.1 | 18H107 | October 26, 2021 |
