The iOS 8 is an operating system that was designed and developed especially for iPhone and iPad by Apple from 2014 to 2016. The system has been released on September 17, 2014, and was preinstalled on the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPod touch 6th Generation, iPad Air 2, and iPad mini 3. This software gets the last update (8.4.2) on December 12, 2016, and later has been replaced by a newer version of iOS 9.
iOS 8 incorporated significant changes to the operating system. It introduced Continuity, a cross-platform (Mac, iPhone, and iPad) system that enables the communication between devices in different product categories, such as the ability to answer calls and reply to SMS on the Mac and iPad.
Continuity includes a “Handoff” feature that lets users start a task on one device and continue on another. Other changes included a new Spotlight Suggestionssearch results in a feature that provides more detailed results; Family Sharing, where a family can link together their accounts to share content, with one parent as the administrator with permission controls; an updated keyboard with QuickType, providing contextual predictive word suggestions; and Extensibility, which allows for easier sharing of content between apps.
Third-party developers got additional features to integrate their apps deeper into the operating system, including support for widgets in the Notification Center, and the ability to make keyboards that users can replace the default iOS keyboard with.
App updates in the release included the new Health app, which can aggregate data from different fitness apps, as well as enabling a Medical ID accessible on the lock screen for emergencies; support for iCloud Photo Library in the Photos app, which enables photos to be synchronized and stored in the cloud; and iCloud Drive, which lets users store files in the cloud and browse them across devices.
In iOS 8.4, Apple updated its Music app with a streaming service called Apple Music, and a 24-hour radio station called Apple Music 1.
Today iOS 8 is 8 years old!
iOS 8 General Information
| Released | September 17, 2014 |
| Original Price | Free |
| System Requirements | iPhone 4s iPhone 5 iPhone 5s iPhone 5c iPhone 6 iPhone 6 Plus iPod touch 5th Generation iPod touch 6th Generation iPad 2 iPad 3rd Generation iPad 4th Generation iPad Air iPad Air 2 iPad mini iPad mini 2 iPad mini 3 Apple TV 3rd Generation |
| Distribution | iTunes Over-the-Air Apple TV Software Update |
Versions
| Versions | Build | Release Date |
| iOS 8.0 | 12A365 12A366 | September 17, 2014 |
| iOS 8.0.1 | 12A402 | September 24, 2014 |
| iOS 8.0.2 | 12A405 | September 25, 2014 |
| iOS 8.1 | 12B410 12B411 | October 20, 2014 |
| iOS 8.1.1 | 12B435 12B436 | November 17, 2014 |
| iOS 8.1.2 | 12B440 | December 9, 2014 |
| iOS 8.1.3 | 12B466 | January 27, 2015 |
| iOS 8.2 | 12D508 | March 9, 2015 |
| iOS 8.3 | 12F69 12F70 | April 8, 2015 |
| iOS 8.4 | 12H143 | June 30, 2015 |
| iOS 8.4.1 | 12H321 | August 13, 2015 |
