iOS 8 is the eighth version of Apple's iOS mobile operating system. It was announced at the company's Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 2, 2014 and was released to the public on September 17, 2014. The ios8 tag should be used for questions specific to Apple's iOS 8 operating system. General iOS questions should use the ios tag.
The biggest developer release yet with more than 4,000 new APIs. (See iOS 8 API Differences) iOS 8 allows developers to further customize the user experience with major extensibility features additions:
- Notification Center widgets
- Third-party keyboards
- App extensions
This release also introduces robust frameworks such as:
- HealthKit
- HomeKit
- LocalAuthentication
- Photos
- CloudKit
iOS 8 also includes Metal, a new graphics technology that maximizes the performance of the A7 chip with 10x performance and Swift, a powerful new programming language. SceneKit framework is introduced to build apps with 3D graphics and with high performance. Unified storyboard makes it easier to develop the interface for both iPhone and iPad with orientation and different screen size as well.
iOS and OS X introduces a new feature Handoff that extends the user experience of continuity across devices. Handoff enables users to begin an activity on one device, then switch to another device and resume the same activity on the other device.
Compatibility
iOS 8 supports the following devices:
- Phone 4S
- iPhone 5
- iPhone 5S
- iPhone 5C
- iPhone 6
- iPhone 6 Plus
- iPhone 6S
- iPhone 6S Plus
- iPad 2
- iPad 3
- iPad 4
- iPad Air
- iPad Mini
- iPad Mini 2
- iPad Mini 3
- iPad Mini 4
- iPod Touch 5G
iOS 8 Latest Version
