With the release of iOS 14 last year, Apple added a number of new features and enhancements to the OS. Some of these features were much-requested while there were others that helped improve the overall usability of the OS. iOS 14 comes with over 100 new features but here are 10 cool features of the OS that you are probably not using.
If you are using an iPhone for the first time, it is possible that you might not be aware of all the new features that Apple has introduced in iOS 14. The below list will quickly introduce you to some of the most amazing and useful iOS 14 features that you should be aware of.
Cool iOS 14 Features to Know
1. Back Tap
iOS 14 introduces a useful Back Tap accessibility shortcut that you can use to quickly trigger a shortcut, bring up the Control Center, take a screenshot, and more. Apple markets the back tap gesture as an accessibility feature which is why it is buried deep in the Settings app. However, once you set up the feature, there’s no going back. You can set up two different actions to Back Tap — one that can be triggered via a double-tap and another via a triple-tap.
Read: How to Use Back Tap on iPhone to Launch Apps
2. Stack Widgets
With iOS 14, Apple has added widgets support to the home screen. In typical Apple style, the execution is pretty impressive with the company also allowing users to stack widgets on top of each other to save space. By stacking widgets, you will not need to make space for having multiple widgets on your home screen. Instead, you can just have one widget, stack other widgets on top of it, and then cycle between them via a simple swipe.
Read: How to Add, Remove, and Customize Widgets on iPhone
3. Dismiss Incoming Calls
Previously, if you received a call on your iPhone, there was no way to dismiss it and go to the home screen or any app of your choice. With iOS 14 that changes as it finally lets you dismiss an incoming call notification.
When you are within an app and receive a call, it will show up as a banner notification which you can swipe away to hide. And if the incoming call notification takes up your entire screen, you can simply swipe up from the bottom of the display to go to the lock screen or home screen.
4. Pin Conversation in Messages
If you heavily rely on iMessage for all your group chats and conversations, then you will love the meaningful improvements that Apple has made to the app with iOS 14. Among other things, it is now possible to pin conversations in the Messages app so all your important chats show up right at the top. Swipe right on a conversation and select the Pin option. To pin multiple conversations, tap on the ‘…’ button and select the ‘Edit Pin’ option. It will allow you to Pin/Unpin multiple conversations quickly.
5. Clipboard Data Snooping
With every new release of iOS, Apple makes a number of improvements to protect the privacy and security of iPhone users. In iOS 14, the company has taken one such step by showing a notification whenever an app or widget reads your clipboard data.
This might not seem like a big deal but the feature revealed that a number of iOS apps were silently reading your clipboard data in the background.
6. Quickly Change Video Resolution
Before iOS 14 landed, iPhone users looking to change the video recording resolution had to dig into the Camera settings from the Settings app — a time-consuming process for a simple task. With iOS 14, that’s no longer the case as Apple has added an option to change the video resolution right from within the Camera app.
Open the camera app and you will find the option to change the video resolution on the top-right corner. The feature was first added to the iPhone 11 series with the iOS 13.3 but with the iOS 14 update, Apple added the feature to all iPhones.
7. Reminder to Charge AirPods
If you own a pair of AirPods or AirPods Pro, iOS 14 adds a handy option of reminding you when to charge them. Previously, one would only come to know that their AirPods battery is running low when they connected it to their iPhone and started using it only to realize that it’s dead. iOS 14 will send you a notification as a reminder to charge your AirPods thereby further improving the experience of using the earbuds.
8. Picture-in-Picture
Apple has finally added adding Picture-in-Picture support for iPhones in iOS 14. This means that you can finally be on a video call with your loved one while using any other app or browse the web while watching Netflix. This might seem like a small feature but in a world where everyone is working from home and using their phones for attending meetings and conferences, the addition of Picture-in-Picture is a big deal.
9. Move Apps to App Library
iOS 14 brings about a major revamp to the home screen experience. You are now no longer forced to have the icon of every single app installed on your iPhone. Instead, you can simply move them to App Library. You can also clear up your home screen pages and only keep those apps that you use regularly.
10. App Tracking Transparency
This is a feature that Apple first introduced with iOS 14 at WWDC 2020 but will finally roll out to the public with the release of iOS 14.5 in March. The feature has managed to create quite a stir, with Facebook coming down harshly on Apple and saying that it will destroy small businesses. With the App Tracking feature, Apple wants to ensure that apps and services that track users across their devices using the advertising identifier will have to take their permission first to do so.
With this change, Apple is trying to make sure that users are aware of which apps track them and how they use their data.
You are likely to know about the key iOS 14 features like home screen widgets but not the ones listed above. The above features will help you in getting the most out of your iPhone running iOS 14. In fact, most of the above features are also available on iPad running iPadOS 14.
