iOS 8 has been released so we explored it on my iPhone and iPad.
We took a look at the new iPhone Health app which is designed to centralize health data from other apps you have installed. My iPhone 5s has an M7 coprocessor that monitors my steps during the day without having an app open, so that data is already available in the Health app. I also showed the Argus app which monitors steps as well as calculating calories burned. I tried to enable it to share its data with the Health app, but for some reason the Active Calories did not show up. I had better luck with the Sleep Cycle app, which successfully shared its Sleep Analysis data.
We played with the updated Camera app. We tried the slo-mo feature and the time lapse video recording. For slow motion you’ll get 120 fps on the iPhone 5s and 240 fps on the 6 and 6 plus. The time lapse interval did not appear to be adjustable but, when I read about it later, the interval is apparently automatically adjusted, based on the length of video you record.
Developers can now enhance their apps to make their capabilities available in new ways. They can create widgets to appear in the Today view of the Notification Center, which pulls down like a window shade from the top of the screen. Developers can also write extensions to make some of their capabilities available in other apps. I have the LastPass password manager app and it now has an extension that allows it to be used to fill in passwords in the built-in Safari Web browser. Developers can now use the Touch ID button on the iPhone 5s and 6 (and new iPad Air 2 announced after the meeting) to authenticate within their own apps.
Some capabilities of iOS 8 coordinate with Mac OS X Yosemite, released after the meeting, so we’ll cover that next month.