Apple’s annual World Wide Developers conference has kicked off in California and with it comes the major announcements of all of the software changes that Apple has planned for its iOS running tablets and smartphones.

Last year saw the major redesign of the operating system that was iOS 7 and with such a  drastic change to the overall look and feel, the update to iOS 8 was always expected to be more about adding new, and missing, features to Apple’s mobile OS.

So without further ado here are the 10 things you need to know about iOS 8:

1 – Interactive notifications

iOS 8 catches up to Android and even BlackBerry’s OS 10.2 with the new ability to interact with notifications without having to leave the app that you are currently busy with. Got a text message? Simply tap it and reply just under the notification banner at the top of your screen without having to open the messages app. It’s not just Apple’s apps that can take advantage of the new feature either – Facebook notifications will now allow you to like posts with two quick taps on your screen too.

2 – Widgets for iOS

For those who have used Android smartphones or tablets, the concept of widgets will be nothing new. However for the uninitiated, iOS 8 will allow you to pin widgets to your notification centre that will provide you with up to date information from apps that are on your smartphone without having to open the apps themselves.

3 – Goodbye auto-correcting keyboard fails

iOS has long had one of the most infuriating touch screen keyboards, and the mess created by its auto-correcting tendencies has even spawned many a humorous meme. iOS 8 will introduce a new keyboard with a new prediction algorithm called QuickType. The new keyboard will not only predict your next word based on your overall history of usage, it will also can distinguish between the words that you most often with each of your contacts to help you avoid using some inappropriate slang with your straight-laced business clients. A bit like SwiftKey then.

4 – Messages get a massive upgrade

According to Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi, Messages is the most used app on the iPhone and its getting a massive overhaul in iOS 8. In particular, group messaging was a big focus with the ability to name threads, turn off the notifications from a particular thread with ‘Do Not Disturb’ or leave a conversation. In addition, you will now be able to share your locations with the group (for an hour, the rest of day, or indefinitely), and send self-destructing voice and video messages by just holding down on the microphone icon, just like in WhatsApp.

5 – Homekit turns your home into Kitt from Knight Rider

We’ve been wanting a fully automated house ever since we knew that the possibility of having one existed. Homekit is Apple’s framework for connection to a range of home automation products from companies that it describes as “the leaders” in home automation. It will let you securely pair your smartphone to the system and control individual devices like your lights as well as grouping devices together to, for instance, close the garage door, switch off the heater and dim the lights until they’re completely off when you go to bed and all of that with one command that can even be given to Siri.

6 – Your health gets some love

iOS has apps and compatible health-monitoring accessories from the likes of FitBit, WiThings and Jawbone but all of these devices and their associated data live in their own secluded world. iOS 8 will arrive with the Health app as well as the HealthKit APIs which will link all of these apps and their data together to form a single profile of your health. You will be able to choose which specific pieces of information are shared with each specific third party app.

7 – The family that shares together, stays together

Family sharing will allow you and up to five other members of you family to share pictures, reminders, calendars and locations with each other to keep everyone in the loop when it comes to family activities. Even iTunes content like apps, music and movies can be shared amongst the six family members as long as they all use the same credit card on their accounts. Don’t worry about the kids going nuts on your credit card either because you can set up authorisation for purchases that will pop up as a notification on your iPhone for you to approve whenever a family member wants to buy something.

8 – Siri becomes a better listener

Apple’s digital assistant Siri will get some new features in iOS 8 with the Google Now-like ability to be summoned with the voice command “Hey Siri”. Siri will also be able to listen while translating your command or question into text (in real time), so that you can see if she has made any errors. Music aficionados can also rejoice as Siri will now be able to identify music tracks using Shazam’s technology.

9 – A thousand pictures are worth…

Photos are a big part of the modern smartphone and while each iPhone is better than the last at taking the photos, iOS 8 is better at managing them. The new Photos app will allow you to search through every photo whether it be on the device you are using or in your iCloud Drive. You can search by location, time or date of the photos and by names of albums. New smart editing features will include adjusting the lighting and colour of photos as well as smart straightening and cropping features.

10 – Apps that can talk to each other

The fact that each individual app is separated into its ‘own little box’ is both one of iOS’s biggest strengths and weaknesses. iOS 8 will allow apps to talk to each other for the first time while maintaining the security that having each app in its own little sandbox has provided up until now. In addition to allowing apps to ‘speak to each other’, this feature will for the first time make Safari extensions (like Bing’s foreign language translate and Pinterest’s ‘quick pin from a browser feature’) possible in the iOS derivative of the browser.

iOS 8 is available in beta form to developers and will be available in its final form some time in our Spring to iPhones from the iPhone 4s and onwards as well as all iPads from the iPad 2.

[Image – Apple]