Golden Gekko Review of iOS8- for users and developers

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iOS8 What’s newWhat does it mean for your app?

News for Users


App extensions Apple is allowing apps to share data and features with other apps to

a far greater extent than previously possible. Historically apps and

their data in iOS have been confined to their own ‘sandbox’, mainly

for increased security.

With the new APIs provided in iOS8, apps can now share data whilst

security in the OS remains strong.

Why is it important?

Extensions will simplify the way people use their iPhones by not

having them go to a specific app interface every time they want to

take a certain action.

It will enable developers to create custom functionality within

a specific context for the users which could help create richer

experiences in different apps.


Battery Usage Indicator In iOS8 Apple has added, without fanfare, the ability for users to

see which apps are draining their battery most. Apps which perform

similar tasks can now be compared on battery usage, easily, side by

side by users everywhere.


Battery life has always been a crucial battleground for apps, as seen

so often with tracking apps. The new battery usage features in iOS8

have the potential to bring the energy efficiency of your app front and

center.


Contextual App Suggestions App suggestions are provided on the bottom left of the lock screen

based on location. Here the Starbucks icon allows users to quickly

open the Starbucks app when they’re in a Starbucks. Other

examples include suggesting the app for a particular train station

when the user is there and taking them straight to the download

page in the App Store.


Everything is about context. You want to have what you need, when

you need it. This functionality will help facilitate the on-the-go lifestyle

that so many users have already adopted by presenting them with

relevant app suggestions.


Family Sharing Family sharing enables 6 family members to join a group and share

content across all their Apple products. Parents can enable consent

features to give them control over their children’s purchases.

Most purchased content can also now be shared. Preventing users

having to buy the same app each time a new person in the family

wants it.


Besides increased parental control when it comes to purchasing

digital goods, this will include location tracking (keeping track of who

is where when it is time for dinner), and automatic photo sharing that

could be used during summer vacations for example.


Handoff With Handoff Apple is allowing users to seamlessly move between

devices mid-task.

The demonstrations at WWDC were restricted to Apple apps but

iOS8 includes APIs to enable the same capabilities for third party

apps which have a presence on the Mac App Store and the mobile

App Store.


User journeys can now move between devices far more freely.

Cross-platform applications will automatically get a strong offering

since they will be able to implement this from day one.


Health App (& HealthKit) The new Apple health app will be able to pull in health related data

from third-party apps (Nike+ etc.) on the device into a single hub.

In addition third parties can work with the HealthKit framework to

store, retrieve, manipulate and present health info on apps or even

on third party devices.


Apart from being useful for tracking of health and fitness related

data, this addition to will help connect the iPhone to all the wearable

devices we’ve seen during the last couple of years.

And one can only imagine the impact this could potentially have if

the generated data could be leveraged in medicine in the future.


Widgets iOS8 allows widgets for the first time. The widgets, which can be

accessed through the Notification center, will perform similarly to

those already present on Android, fulfilling a variety of simple tasks.

In the WWDC keynote, an eBay widget was demonstrated allowing

a user to follow progress on a bid as well as put a new bid in all from

the Notification center.


Again, this is something that will allow us to carry out far more

actions without resorting to the individual apps’ own interfaces.

Quicker actions and having everything you need up front.

News for Developers


App Store & iTunes Connect New App Store features that come with iOS8 includes app previews

(promotional videos for your app) and app bundles (multiple apps

that can be installed with a single click).

On top of this you will get free analytics through iTunes Connect and

TestFlight making it easier for beta testing of pre-release apps.


This is a great opportunity to get exposure for a group of similar

apps while being able to promote them with videos as already

possible on Google Play.

What we like most about this update is the fact that it makes it easier

for developers to carry user testing, something that will help create

better apps for everyone.


CloudKit CloudKit is a new cloud storage system for developers that is

effectively free and features a huge amount of free storage. It works

as a scaleable back-end solution which eliminates the need for

writing server code and maintaining servers.

Developers can now store and retrieve app data like structured data

in a database or assets right from iCloud. It also enables users to

anonymously sign in to apps using their iCloud Apple IDs (without

sharing any personal information during the process).



HomeKit Apple has provided a framework for home automation devices to

be integrated with iOS device while the apps controlling the devices

can now be integrated directly with Siri. Home devices can also be

grouped together to be controlled with single commands.

A user can now set up a voice command ‘Get ready for bed’ which

could lock the doors and dim the lights in their home.

It was only a matter of time until the Internet of Things reached the

iPhone. However, we are still waiting to see successful projects

including connected devices. We predict this will be an important

piece of the puzzle in making that happen.



Metal In short, Metal has been described as “more efficient rendering of

detailed 3D graphics”.

It consists of a group of new APIs that gives apps with graphics

(specifically the A7 chip) dramatically lower overheads, 10x

performance gains compared to iOS7 in draw call speed and efficient

multi-threading.

Metal is a big leap towards new technical capabilities since it gives

developers a single API and a single target for all graphics hardware.

We should be able to see the result of this in the quality of gaming

apps next year.



PhotoKit PhotoKit provides API access to the same features as Apple uses for

its own Photo App including non-destructive edits, more control over

focus, white balance and exposure.

This improves the workflow when editing photos, meaning no more

importing, exporting and having four different copies of a single

photo. All edits are non-destructive and changes are synchronized

across apps and devices.



Swift Swift is a new programming language for iOS and OS X that makes it

easier for developers to create apps.

Swift helps developers write safer and more reliable code by

eliminating entire categories of common programming errors, and

coexists with Objective-C code, so developers can integrate Swift

into their existing apps.

Swift uses a more concise syntax that will help increase iOS

developers’ productivity while keeping up the performance of apps.

It is, supposedly, quicker and easier to learn than Objective-C,

potentially helping to solve any deficit for iOS developers in the

future.



Touch ID Fingerprint security is now available to third party apps on Apple

devices with fingerprint scanning capabilities. Highly sensitive data

contained within either B2C or B2B apps can be secured without the

need for further passwords.

This will have a significant impact by removing a step in verifications,

payments, the customer registration process etc. PayPal is already

reported to plan integration of Touch ID-powered mobile payments in

its app.


Fighting for a world full of mobile solutionssince 2005

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Date post:	15-Jul-2015
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Golden Gekko Review of iOS8- for users and developers

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