With the iOS 14 public beta now available, I threw caution to the wind and installed it on my main iPhone. I wasn’t too worried, as the past few public betas from Apple have been surprisingly stable. But I did make an archived backup of my iPhone just in case, and I recommend other beta testers do the same.
It’s a safe bet that many if not all of the features present in the public beta will make it to the final release scheduled for this fall. After digging through and trying out all the features, here is a look at seven of the more notable ones you will want to try first.
One of the first things you can tweak to your liking are widgets on the home screen and in Today View. In addition to choosing from a variety of native and third-party widgets, you can adjust their size to show or hide relevant information and create your ideal home screen. Apple also adds a Smart Stack, which combines several widgets through which you can scroll. You can customize the Smart Stack or let Apple do the work and automatically select relevant widgets based on how you use your phone.
App Library Ditches Endless Pages of Apps
The new App Library (organized by Suggested, Recently Added, and predetermined categories) organizes and neatly tucks away your apps on a separate home screen. Frequently used apps will be larger apps; tap to open. Tapping on the smaller apps will display them in the corresponding folder. Dragging down on the App Library will reveal a search bar and a scrollable, alphabetical list of all installed apps.
No More Full-Screen Phone Call Notifications
iOS 14 moves away from the restrictive full-screen phone call notification, and re-imagines it as a small window that appears at the top of your device while keeping most of your current screen in full view. The new window, which is reminiscent of an app notification, gives you the ability to answer/ignore calls, as well as choose speakerphone/headphone listening options.
Siri Gets Less Intrusive, More Informative
Siri also takes up less screen real estate in iOS 14 by appearing as a small round orb at the bottom of your screen when summoned. Results appear at the top of the screen in a small window (similar to phone call notifications), so you can still see your current screen. Siri is also getting better at finding the right answers to your queries, so expect more actual answers from Apple’s digital assistant instead of a list of links to web search results.
Video Picture-in-Picture
Apple gives the iPhone a multi-tasking boost with iOS 14 by bringing picture-in-picture to its smartphone. It’s been available on the iPad for some time, but iPhone users can now minimize and resize video playback (with the exception of YouTube for now) and FaceTime calls to a smaller window that can be moved around the screen. Continue watching that Netflix call or chatting with friends while you write an email or track down something on the web. You can also “swipe away” a video to hide it off screen while still listening to audio.
Better Organizations for Messages
Apple is incorporating popular features from rival messaging apps into its own Messages platform. For example, users now have the ability to pin message threads to the top of the Messages stack for quick access to frequently used chats. Messages also adds better message filtering; sort through either All messages, Known Messages, or Unknown Messages. In-line replies to specific messages have also been added to cut down on conversation confusion.
Beefed-Up Privacy, Security Features
Some of the notable privacy/security features include the addition of a tiny green or amber-colored dot in the upper-right corner of your screen when apps are actively using your camera or microphone, respectively. Apple will provide the option to switch app logins to “Sign in with Apple” (if the developer supports it), while Safari will now monitor for breaches of websites for which you have saved passwords.
Expect the final, stable version of iOS 14 this fall.
