In early June Apple holds its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. This year they announced the new features of iOS 8, which will run on the iPhone and iPad, and OS X Yosemite, which succeeds OS X Mavericks as the next operating system to run on Macs. Both will arrive in the fall.
The common feature they will share is continuity or Handoff. If you start a task on your iPhone such as composing an e-mail, viewing a website, or editing a Pages document, you can quickly continue on another device if your Mac or iPad is nearby within Bluetooth range. You’ll even be able to answer a phone call or read a text message on your (recent) Mac if your phone is nearby but not within reach.
iCloud will be enhanced to make an iCloud Drive available from your Mac or iOS device. Like other cloud storage services (e.g. Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, Box) you will now be able to create arbitrary files or folders in the iCloud Drive and mirror them onto your Mac or Windows PC, or access them from your iOS device. Before, you were limited to creating files from within applications like Pages and could only open those documents in the corresponding application on the other device. The new iCloud Photo Library, which can store as many photos as you have for as long as you need, will replace Photostream, which was limited to 1000 photos stored for 30 days. 5 GB of iCloud storage will be free (assuming you have or purchase an Apple device). You’ll be able to purchase more storage more cheaply than on some of the rival services.
iOS 8 will offer an improved predictive keyboard and finally allow third-party software keyboards (something Android has offered for a while) such as Swiftkey. Family Sharing will allow the sharing of iTunes media, books, and apps between family members with different accounts. One of the most anticipated features is a new Health app that will not only centralize fitness data, but also medically-related information such as allergies and medications needed.
OS X Yosemite will get a visual redesign. The Notification Center will get a Today view similar to the one in iOS. Sending large attachments in Mail will be easier as they will be automatically stored in iCloud Drive rather than sending directly through mail servers which may have size limits on attachments. If your iPhone is nearby, but a WiFi connection is not, your Mac will easily be able to set up an Instant Hotspot without touching your phone.