iOS 8 review: 3 months later

Three months ago we reviewed iOS 8, arguably the most jam-packed versions of the iPhone and iPad operating system we've seen since the introduction of the App Store back in 2008. Since then we've gotten updates — up to iOS 8.1.2 on the production branch and iOS 8.2 beta 2 on the developer branch. We've gotten bug fixes, performance enhancements, and even more new features. But with the good comes the bad. With new possibilities come new frustrations and with new workflows come new bugs. So, how has it held up? How are we liking iOS 8 now, some three months later?

Continuity

Peter: I'm impressed with Continuity when it works, and angered when it doesn't — which is still much more often than I'd like. Of all of iOS 8's new features, Continuity is arguably the most important for Mac users, because it enables us to make better use of both our devices than we can separately. I want Apple to iron the bugs and inefficiencies out here and get the fundamentals right. This is such important technology. Apple can't afford to screw it up.

Ally: Continuity is the missing piece between iOS and OS X and when it works, it's amazing. The keyword here is when it works. I've had fairly good luck with it myself but I know that isn't the case for everyone. Hopefully over time the bugs and kinks not only get worked out, but developers find new, creative, and amazing ways to meld together workflows that make it even more valuable.

Ren: Echoing Ally and Peter: When Continuity works, it's a fantastic little tool. I still haven't integrated it fully into my day-to-day routine, but I find that I'm using it a little bit more each week. I don't really use Continuity calling all that often, but Handoff's been a big winner for me, especially when it comes to Pixelmator. I've been a longtime Photoshop user, but being able to quickly swap Pixelmator canvases from iPad to Mac via Handoff has convinced me to give the indie app a daily spot in my workflow.

Rene: I'm spoiled. My job affords me the incredible luxury of working with almost entirely new Apple stuff, and all Apple stuff. As such, Continuity has worked really well for me. I use Instant Hotspot all the time, and it's a giant leap ahead of personal hotspot. Likewise, Relay. My green-bubble friends are now with me everywhere (hi Phil!). AirDrop has been incredibly convenient, and Hand-off I just want for iTunes and media already.

Widgets and extensions

Ren: I haven't been using widgets and extensions all that much on the Mac, but they've been game-changers on iOS. I love my Notification Center's Today view widgets (though I have far too many): There's ETA, which gives me a list of frequent destinations and average travel time with traffic; Dark Sky's next hour forecast; Clips, which allows me to save snippets from my clipboard for use whenever; Sky Guide with its planetary charts; Fantastical's excellent calendar preview; iTranslate's auto-clipboard translation… there are too many to name. On the extension front, I've mostly been using photo and video extensions, though Workflow has introduced a few new custom extensions to my day.

Peter: I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't used widgets or extensions nearly as much as I should have since iOS 8 was released. The two that have become the most frequently used include Fantastical 2, a superb alternative to Apple's own Calendar app; and ESPN SportsCenter, which helps me keep track of all the sportsball things.

Ally: I've become somewhat of a widget fanatic since iOS 8 was launched. It's also urged me to use the Notification Center Today view a heck of a lot more than I ever did prior to iOS 8. Actually, I rarely used Notification Center unless it was to quickly view incoming messages. Now with Fantastical, Dark Sky, TeeVee 3, and many other great apps that show me info at a glance, I know what's going on in just a single swipe and I couldn't be happier to have the option.

Rene: Extensibility has transformed the way I use iOS. Previously, any time I wanted to do anything else, I had to leave what I was doing and the app I was doing it in, go to another app, do something else, and then find my way back. Now, I pull swipe a widget, do a quick calculation, and swipe it away. I edit a photo using filters from 3 apps all in one place. I use an action extension right inside Safari or share from any app I'm in to any service I want. Rather than hunting around my iPhone or iPad for functionality, it now all comes right to me, wherever I am and whenever I want it. It's a whole new age.

QuickType and Keyboards

Ren: I love the idea of third-party keyboards, but so far I've mostly just added GIF keyboards to my roster. I haven't really been able to work Swype or SwiftKey into daily use — not enough time in the day to devote to a new way of using a keyboard — though I keep meaning to set aside a few hours to really give them a go. GIF keyboards, though, I've been loving. My current favorite is PopKey, though Riffsy's GIF Keyboard is also pretty great. And I recently started playing around with Slated, which offers an auto-translation of anything you type — the grammar may not always be perfect, but it's an awesome way to keep another language in the forefront for either learning or communication with someone whose first language isn't English.

I use QuickType… when I remember to. My virtual typing is so fast these days that it's hard to sit still long enough for the engine to give me recommendations. But when I'm doing something one-handed, I find it very useful indeed.

Peter: To be frank, I haven't found a lot of use for third-party keyboards. In fact, I find them more of a distraction than a really useful tool. After some futzing around with some of the ones that Ally and my other colleagues recommended, I ended up removing them all together.

QuickType, on the other hand, is something I find very useful. I find iOS 8's suggestions to be quite often on the money, and it saves me a lot of time to tap the suggested word instead of writing it out.

Ally: I've found QuickType to be more convenient and easier to use than older versions of auto-correct. I actually don't really think about it often and just find myself using it. But I guess that's the point.

As for third party keyboards, I think at this point I'm so used to the iOS stock keyboard, it's a hard habit to break. When I use a third party keyboard, I find myself using either Minuum or Text Expander. I use a lot of snippets so Text Expander makes sense when I'm writing on the iPad. Minuum makes using the iPhone 6 Plus one-handed somewhat bearable, so I switch to it here and there when I need to.

Rene: I like the idea of custom keyboards a lot. Different ways to type will suit different kinds of typists, and if you can get the keyboard you want on the iPhone or iPad, that's a win. I do think Apple needs to improve the installation process a lot. I'd like to tap and hold the keyboard change key (globe icon), see a + sign to indicate a new keyboard is available, and then install it right there, like you can with widgets in Today view. That'd be much easier.

That said, I still find myself using Apple's keyboard most of the time, and ignoring QuickType as I do. Much like Ren, I'm so used to it after all these years, I just type first and notice suggestions later.

iCloud Drive and storage providers

Peter: iCloud Drive is great if you want to sync data between your Macs and iOS devices. And that's exactly how I use it. iCloud Drive doesn't replace Dropbox for me, which is a much more effective cross-platform sharing technology that I use with friends and coworkers. I think there's room for a lot of different solutions when it comes to cloud storage, because people are always thinking up new ways to use it. And I don't think iCloud Drive is going to replace them all, because of Apple's platforms-specific focus.

Ally: I have yet to pry myself away from Dropbox, mainly due to how many people I already collaborate and share with. Mobile Nations is a cross-platform company and we have so many people using so many devices, solutions like iCloud Drive just won't ever make sense in that capacity.

That being said, I do use iCloud Drive for personal files and find it to be a super simple way to keep files I'm working on in sync between devices. I can work on a how to in Napkin from my MacBook Air, hit the save button, and pick it up again right where I left off on my iMac. Then again, I've been able to do this with Documents in the Cloud for quite some time. I haven't yet migrated a ton of files to iCloud Drive and still think I'll wait for that until I have a Files.app option on iOS.

Ren: I'm with Ally here. Dropbox for life.

I do want to trust iCloud Drive, but the implementation is just too shoddy right now. Files.app would fix a lot of concerns I have, but at the same time, I know Apple's trying to move away from people messing with the storage of their documents. The problem is that people (me) still want to have access to their files — moving them, storing them, sharing them — and I don't know if obfuscating everything is the right way to go about doing it.

But iCloud's document sync, as Ally described, is pretty nifty. I love not having to worry about saving or transferring my documents and files between Mac and iOS. Unfortunately, it's not implemented in every app I use, only some of them, and when the experience breaks down, it's a bit of a bummer.

Rene: For years I've been begging Apple for Files.app and DocumentPicker. This year I got the latter, but not the former. I still want a Files.app for the same reasons I'm glad to have a Photos.app, but I'm also incredibly impressed with storage providers. Like Ally and Ren, I use Dropbox a lot, and with storage providers, Dropbox can be a first class citizen on iOS, on equal footing with iCloud. Yes Apple still has bugs to fix with their online services, and with the file sharing system, but we're well on our way to that mattering less than ever.

Messages

Ren: All hail SMS relay. I can't count the number of times SMS messages had gone unanswered in the past because my phone was across the room, or I looked at a message and didn't want to answer it on my phone because it would require too much typing. It's a nice little addition, and it takes away the whole SMS second-class-citizen feeling.

I also really love the new details screen; not only does it make finding old attachments easy, but I use the quick buttons for sharing and sending location all the time when meeting with friends. By largely taking Find My Friends out of the app, location sharing becomes a lot less "creepy neverending locator" and a lot more of a useful utility.

And though I don't get stuck on too many never-ending group threads, Do Not Disturb has proved essential for the few I have been on. It makes it easier to keep named group conversations around, too, for occasional coordination.

Peter: Some long overdue improvements with group message naming and the ability to leave group chats, or just activating do not disturb for those times you don't want to be bothered. But the big game changer for me is SMS relay, which makes it possible for me to text with all those folks using non-iPhones without leaving my Mac. I love that feature most!

Ally: I can now be friends with green bubble people again. If I haven't responded to your texts in years, I apologize. Due to SMS relay, we can now be friends again.

Rene: I both love and hate the new Messages. Many of the new features are fantastic, including the Details view, the group message naming, do not disturb, and leave conversations are superb.

But the instant sending stuff scares me. I'm not of the sticker generation. I'm not comfortable with touch-and-release to send. I really, truly want to have to confirm before that unintentional half-selfie leaves my phone, or that careless soundbite hits the air.

Photos and Camera

Ally: Photo extensions are literally the best thing to ever come to the Photos app. I use them all the time, particularly Afterlight and Camera+. Manual camera controls have also brought some of the best camera replacement options we've ever seen. All of which enhance what we can do with the great camera we carry around in our pockets. I frequently find myself checking the photography section of the App Store since iOS 8 and I never fail to find awesome filter, editing, and camera apps that are new, wonderful, and unique in their own way.

Ren: God, yes, photo extensions. They're fantastic and give the Photos app so much more flexibility for editing, tweaking, meme-ing, the works. I'm so happy they exist — though I'm still waiting for that Waterlogue (opens in new tab) extension!

Manual camera controls and the iPhone 6's slow-motion are my two iOS 8 photographic winners, though. I use Manual (opens in new tab) all the time to get the correct exposure on pictures I wouldn't otherwise be able to shoot, and I love trawling the App Store for new camera apps. Regarding video: I didn't think I'd be able to do as much with it as I have. The iPhone 6's video sensor is pretty good, but paired with iOS 8's software rendering it's one of the best in its class. 240FPS slow-motion is clear even at low light levels, and digital video stabilization has seen large improvements over iOS 7 and the 5s (at least in my tests). Pair it with an app like Hyperlapse (opens in new tab), and you're looking at Steadicam-esque stabilization — from a phone!

Peter: With iOS 8, I've finally stopped fighting the iPhone to take a good photo, because I can use manual camera controls when I know I can do better than the software. I'm still waiting for the end-to-end workflow Apple promised with Photos on the Mac, due sometime in 2015, but I'm already happy with the improvements.

Rene: Manual camera controls by themselves were worth the iOS 8 update. While the iPhone takes the very best everyday photos in mobile already, being able to override it when I really do know better — getting that long exposure or that shifted focus or that custom balance — means I can use it for more than just the everyday. I can use it for the extraordinary.

Complementing that are the new editing tools in Photos.app which let me default to the grossest Magic Wand if I'm in a rush, or go totally granular for color and light if the mood strikes me.

iCloud Photo Library, when it comes out of beta and hits the Mac, will hopefully complete that circle as well, making all my photos and videos available on all my devices all the time. That, I really want Apple to nail.

Health and HealthKit

Peter: There was so much hype about Health before iOS 8's release, and it really hasn't lived up to it. This isn't as yet a transformative app; there's too much siloing of information in the health care field for that to happen, unless you're lucky enough to be affiliated with one of the few institutions that's working with Apple to gateway their own electronic systems to Apple's HealthKit technology. For the rest of us, it's a novelty to get our exercise apps synced and so on, but seems to have few truly useful applications yet.

Ally: I've yet to really use HealthKit. Actually, it's buried in a folder on my second page of apps. Typically, this is where apps go to die. Instead, I've found third party apps like the Up by Jawbone app still serve my needs better. Maybe that'll change with the Apple Watch, but only time will tell.

Ren: I'm with Peter and Ally here — HealthKit's delay and super-soft launch really took the wind out of its sails. I'm sure we'll see more when the Apple Watch comes to market, but until then, I don't see much use in it personally; I don't think I've launched the app since I upgraded to iOS 8.1 and entered in my medical information.

Rene: Health ended up being far more complicated than I expected. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it is a difficult thing. Right now I have step and stair climbing information in Health, but I want more. That means better support from apps and accessories, but it also means some additional help from Apple. Staring at those long lists is just so imposing right now. I don't know how it could be simplified — and won't dare use the dreaded wizard word! — but if anyone can do it, Apple can.

Family Sharing

Peter: I've yet to set up Family Sharing, which is ironic, since I have a wife and three kids and we all share media content. I suppose I really should, but at this point it'll require a lot of retraining of habits we developed during the years when Family Sharing wasn't around, and that's just more effort than it's worth for us all right now.

Ally: We set up Family Sharing in our home and for the most part, it works just as advertised. We've experience some annoying issues along the way and some bugs, but nothing that makes us not want to use the service. The best part for me is being able to access and download each other's movies. No longer do we have to swap Apple IDs to avoid having to pay two times for a movie that is shared in one household.

Rene: I've helped friends set up Family Sharing and while the initial process required the development of some new habits — it forces you to stop doing a lot of the workarounds that lack of Family Sharing in the past forced you to come up with — it's been smooth ever since. The only drawback has been apps that either accidentally or intentionally don't play nice. Developers need to opt in, and when they don't, Apple needs to make shunning them easier.

Ren: Not having any use for Family Sharing, I can't really speak to its merits. I do know that my mother and father have been using it a ton at home to watch movies and download apps, however.

Siri and Spotlight

Ren: Siri has certainly gotten faster (especially when paired with an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus), and the "Hey Siri!" feature ensures that it gets a whole lot more use while I'm driving. Not having to press any buttons to trigger my device is great, and Siri's increased speed makes looking up locations a whole lot more painless. I still get a ton of ridiculous dictation errors, however, especially in a car with plenty of road noise.

Spotlight's actually gotten worse for me in iOS 8 — which is a shame, because I use it all the time to launch applications that aren't on my first Home screen. There's some sort of strange bug that comes and goes: You'll pull down on Spotlight and everything will be fine, but if you change that query, the results screen will disappear entirely, and searching a new query just brings you a blank interface. I'm not sure what error is going on behind the scenes here, but it's a disappointment, especially in a feature that used to work so flawlessly.

Peter: "Hey Siri" helps me do things with my phone while I'm driving that I couldn't otherwise, and even comes in handy around the house. Siri is faster than it was with iOS 7, and it's also a big advantage to actually see how Siri translates my speech into action.

Ally: I don't think iOS 8 has changed much for me in terms of how I use Spotlight and Siri. I think muscle memory still tells me to launch Safari to search for things. When it comes to Safari though, I find myself using the suggestions quite often.

Rene: Streaming Siri is a huge improvement. Instead of talk, wait, worry, work or fail, I now talk and see it working almost immediately. That's greatly increased my confidence in the system. (And watching words change as the sequential inference post-processes them is a sight to behold.) "Hey Siri" is nice, but I'd like to be able to customize my activation phrase so as to reduce the chances for accidental or unintentional triggering.

Spotlight was greatly improved in iOS 8. I'd still like it to become a full-on text-based front-end for Siri's contextually awareness, but tying it into maps and suggested search results is already a step in that direction.

Mail and Safari

Peter: I find myself frequently using Handoff to open a web page on my iPhone or iPad that was open on my Mac, or vice versa — it's a really useful feature that I thought might be a novelty, but has worked itself into my workflow. Mail's improved contextual awareness is quite helpful when it comes to sorting my schedule.

Ally: I love Safari's new search suggestion feature and use it regularly. iOS 8 also encouraged me to switch back to the native Mail app. The fact that Mail can pull out context and create events and upload important info in just a tap to my calendar, that's awesome and invaluable to me. I also like being able to set alerts for specific threads. I don't however use Handoff for mail with my Mac since I still prefer third party mail apps on the Mac over the native option.

Ren: Agreed with Ally on Mail. Mail's additional context-aware highlights are super-useful, especially when it comes to work emails, and per-alert threads are a godsend. I do use Handoff, and I really like being able to start an email on my phone and swap over to my Mac — I find I use it a lot at the beginning of the day to begin triaging emails over breakfast, then finish up the drafts at my computer when I sit down.

Rene: If Safari would quit reloading even single tabs when I switch away from it for more than a few seconds, we'd be best friends for life. Everything about it has gotten better, from the way tabs are handled to the favorites screen to private browsing to… well, you get the idea. It's clean, it's fast, and I feel like I have better control over my privacy than any other browser currently provides. Plus, with iCloud, iCloud Tabs, iCloud Keychain, and all the other ancillary services, I'm never more than a tap or two away from everything I need, from any device I need it from.

Mail remains Mail to me. The new features are nice, but they had me at universal inbox. I do wish search was better, but that's true of Apple search in general. It needs to be sloppier, it needs to understand nearest neighbor and next-best result. It needs to be better.

Apple Pay

Ren: There are many things (cough-Continuity-cough) I wish were stable enough to follow Apple's old "It just works" mantra. Apple Pay is, amazingly, one of them. Yes, there are issues with some retailers — CVS, you're dead to me — but for supported stores, Apple Pay is stupidly simple. I've used it to buy groceries, get tea at Panera, pick up gas, and more. I can't wait until more stores support it, because I could really get used to not bringing my wallet around. (Though Apple still needs to solve the digital driver's license problem before I can truly go wallet-free.)

Peter: I've only had a chance to use Apple Pay a few times, but it's worked out very well each time I've tried it. Apple Pay is still new enough that it's a novelty for the cashier to see it work, and often elicits a conversation about what I'm doing. I just wish Apple Pay use was more widespread, and that Apple wasn't fighting for dominance with CurrentC, an as-yet-nonexistent but competing system that's the reason why CVS and Rite Aid shut down their NFC payment terminals.

Ally: We only have about three places where I live that accepts Apple Pay but that hasn't stopped me from using it wherever I can. Each time the process is smooth and painless. I can't wait for a day when I can actually leave my cards at home and not worry about whether or not Apple Pay and NFC payments are accepted where I'm headed.

Rene: Can we please have it in Canada already?

The bottom line

Ren: iOS 8 teased a ton of wonderfully promising features when it was first previewed in June, and I'm glad to say that most of those features work just as well as advertised. iOS 8.0 was definitely a little buggy at launch, but the company has made good strides to improve upon it with iOS 8.1, 8.1.1, and 8.1.2 — now if only they would fix poor Spotlight!

I am a little concerned with Apple's back-and-forth over iOS 8 tools like extensions, Notification Center widgets, and iCloud Drive. The company's created such wonderful tools for developers to use, but it's still not quite sure how developers should be using them — I'm hoping this trend goes away, because I'm not thrilled to see great developers being stifled by sporadically-applied rules.

Peter: iOS 7 looked different but under the hood, there wasn't a huge sea change to how things actually worked. iOS 8 is the second half of the story — adding a ton of new functionality and paving the way for the future. It's made all the eligible iOS device I use it on much more integrated and powerful.

Ally: iOS 8 brought with it lots of new and exciting features. More importantly, it's the most Apple has opened up iOS to developers, since ever. To me, this was the real news of the year, not the iPhone 6 Plus or the iPad Air 2. Hardware is only as good as the software that runs it. And in this case, bugs and all, Apple still hit it out of the park. I'm excited to see what amazing things developers do with iOS 8 in 2015.

Rene: When iOS 8 launched back in September, it felt like it was the biggest release since iOS 2 (iPhone OS 2) back in 2008. And it was. From the built-in features to all the new apps and all the new things they can do, my iPhone and iPad have never been as useful, as powerful, or as integral to my life.

Bugs still needs to be fixed, yes, and App Store review absolutely needs to get their Extensions act together, but given the recent high profile reversals, and the fixes afforded by iOS 8.1.1 and iOS 8.1.2, it looks like both of those things are well underway. Three months later, there's no longer any reason for anyone to even consider not updating. This is the iOS you've been waiting for.

Rene Ritchie
Contributor

Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.

58 Comments
  • Ren, maybe all the other stores that don't support Apple Pay are dead to you too? No? Why? Because they didn't pull it when they found they were unknowingly supporting it? Maybe just boycott all stores that don't have Apple pay <<rude comment removed by moderator - please stay civil>>
  • Relax dude it was just a joke. Sent from the iMore App
  • CVS has lost my business for the same reason. CVS disabling NFC is not the same thing as other retailers not having NFC rolled out yet. CVS has chosen to get behind CurrentC, and that is their choice. Because of that choice, I choose to take my business elsewhere.
  • One thing that shocked the hell out of me was Siri song recognition (Shazam!). I thought there was some algorithm that digitally identified identical recordings, but it is much more than that. I was preparing to record a Chopin waltz and this new feature was out so I fired up Siri and said, "What song is this?" and then I proceeded to play the piano. About 30 seconds in Siri identified the correct piece by composer, Opus, and number, and offered me the opportunity to buy it. Holy crap! I was planning a trip from Michigan to New York from my iMac. A 12-hour drive is a bit much for me so I selected a point more than half way to stay at a hotel. After selecting a place to stay the night I went to their webpage, opened a Sticky for note taking, highlighted the phone number with the mouse and called the number from my iMac. Making that speakerphone call while pulling out plastic and typing notes was an absolute godsend for someone who rarely travels. There is a new app coming out called Duet Display that will revolutionize things for me. It's one of those apps for using an iOS device as a second monitor, and with an un-password-protected computer it can act as the ONLY monitor once the computer is set up to do that. Mac Mini and iPad with no monitor needed. What an awesome answer for someone who cannot decide between an iPad or a Macbook! And it would be charging the iPad while using it in this manner. This might cause me to buy a new Mini or Macbook Air even though I was hoping the iPhone 6+ might replace something. Apple should buy this and make it a core technology as it is lag free and seamless (or so I assume). Overall, I'm loving the new iOS and Yosemite. There are great new features that do work well, and some new things that I don't care so much about that are not quite ready for primetime. It all keeps getting better and better, and that's the main thing.
  • Trying to watch videos on the iPhone 6 plus is a pain. It constantly skips when you rotate to landscape mode and crashes safari.
  • This. I have seen far more web page crashing in iOS8 than iOS7. I am also using iPhone 6 Plus and changing a web video from portrait to landscape means it will almost always start 'rebufferring' or simply stop playing. Ideally it should just change the orientation and keeps showing what it's showing but NO... it refuses to make the transition smooth. This problem might be specific to iP 6 Plus but it's mind boggling that Apple has not rectified the bug yet even after 3 months of iOS 8 release. Sent from the iMore App
  • Whenever I use an apple app and turn my phone sideways it crashes. Safari seems really cool sideways if I was actually able to use it. Sent from the iMore App
  • You all covered a lot of my gripes and what I like about iOS 8. Good job.
  • Apple Pay doesn't always work flawlessly. Far from it. Several times, I will have to do it twice. For some reason, the cashiers have to push something on their end first. If they don't, my phone will chime and say "Done", but the transaction didn't go through on the vendor's end. We always have to do it again. It's more of a hassle than anything.
  • Which retailers have you experienced this issue with?
  • McDonalds and Extra Mile
  • This is no different than if you had swiped a credit card too early- I've had it happen with the old plastic too. Blame it on these retailers' point of sale systems that don't allow payment at any time, not Apple Pay.
  • Regarding iCloud Drive- does anyone think we will ever see the day in which the user can choose which "cloud" storage service to use for their files and backup storage? Just like we can now install 3rd party keyboards, what if we can one day use DropBox to save our backups and app data? We already have photo backups for DropBox and OneDrive, but these are not in the background, you must launch the apps. Not that I am a diehard fan of either of those, but isn't this somewhat of a mild anti-trust issue? Like only being able to play music purchased from the iTunes Store? We are locked into iCloud for cloud based backup, which means we don't have a choice, we must pay their fees or else rely on computer-based backups. What about those who don't have a (usable) computer, and only have iOS devices? iCloud is their only option right now. Sent from the iMore App
  • Dunno, could such a thing be trusted? Seems like Apple being blamed for Apple failure is one thing, but this would make core features dependent on others, yet blame still on Apple.
  • I have to open the OneDrive app every time the machine starts up.
  • First of all: the iTunes issue was ruled not to be an anti-trust violation. If you recall at the time both MS and Apple had their own DRM locking music to their own line of devices (plays for sure for MS I believe). Regardless, we could all install non-DRM music on our iPods. I ripped plenty of CDs. You can blame congress for the ongoing DRM fiasco. As tempting as it is to sue and blame Apple for every feature you would like and don't have, not having some apps running in the background is in no way an anti-trust violation. It is not a significant barrier to entry; unless you are extremely lazy. I use Onedrive myself and bought Office 365 to get the 1 TB of storage. I have no issues using it for backups. It is much easier to backup and share photos than iCloud. Inconvenience is not the same as anti-trust.
  • Agree with Peter, the ESPN widget is fantastic. I like it even more than the Android counterpart. Sent from the iMore App
  • Shit buggy iOS 8! Can't wait for more bugs in iOS 9! Sent from the iMore App
  • Oh and why can't we use Touch ID for reviewing apps? Can't find any options.... Sent from the iMore App
  • RE: "I'm spoiled. My job affords me the incredible luxury of working with almost entirely new Apple stuff, and all Apple stuff." Does that mean you reviewed iOS 8 only on newer iDevices? Kinda disqualifies you from giving a balanced review if that's the case, me thinks, since there are at least two years worth of prior-generation iDevices that iOS 8 also supports.
  • No, I have it on everything from iPhone 4s and iPad 2/3 up. But thanks for asking!
  • "Three months later, there's no longer any reason for anyone to even consider not updating. This is the iOS you've been waiting for." Except for the ghastly, stuttering performance on older devices that make the cheapest Android phones look smooth and fast, and Windows Phone magical, in comparison. But Rene only uses the latest and the absolutely most expensive Apple products, so what would he know of the average user's reality or the real-world modern Apple user experience? Ps.
    For the best everyday photos, the Lumia line of course offers the best cameras. For the pro taking the extraordinary photo, any modern camera phone will do, of course, given a decent mnaual UI.
  • I sure disagree with the assertion that the Lumia line offers the best cameras. Perhaps from a spec perspective, but not from a results perspective.
  • I have used both, so I know what the handsets are capable of in real-world conditions -- studio settings do not interest me. That the Lumia cameras are so good is really surprising, given that the phones cost so little, one third or less what Apple's do. One would think that for that money Apple could do a superior camera, but no. Perhaps all their R&D money goes into the new campus design.
  • How can i update when it wants 6th of my 16gb ipad to upgrade! Wtf!? Already down 3gb from the shelf for the ios it was sold with, which was ios 5 or 6 Sent from the iMore App
  • Update it using iTunes. You only need a small fraction of the space that way. Enough with the whining. Noone forced you to buy a 16GB iPad.
  • "Noone forced you to buy a 16GB iPad." Apple said it would be a great purchase, and it sure as hell was priced as such, a high-end device. What the heck do you think the user is supposed to know about future OS update space requirements?
  • You are obviously not familiar with photography. No professional that wants to keep their job would use a phone for pro photography. Pro SLRs have too many advantages to count including:
    - depth of field control
    - superior lenses and selection
    - macro capability
    - sensor size for capturing light
    - manual control capability
    - zoom (not the fake digital zoom which is only cropping) Phone cameras are ok, and very convenient, but unusable for true pro photography. And please don't equate the number of pixels to camera quality. Even my 10 year old 6 MP DSLR takes much better photos than a 41 MP Lumia.
  • The point was that a professional can take good phone-camera photos on any modern smartphone. Whether you are wielding a Sony or a Samsung or whatever matters less than the guy shooting the photo. This is the standard today. I do not equate megapixels with image quality. It just happens that the 2011 Nokia 808 and perhaps a mdoern Lumia 930 and/or 1020 take the best camera phone photos. Whatever the megapixel count happens to be, is uninteresting. Comparing phone cameras to DSLR's is pointless. No-one is talking about replacing one with the other.
  • IOS 8 and it's updates have an intermittent issue with copy and paste--it doesn't work more often than it does. I have yet to see Apple acknowledge this but I know I'm not alone. And I spent nearly an hour online with tech support which helped . . . for a day.
  • (1) The keyboards are still crazy buggy and slow to load if they do at all.
    (2) Screen still gets stuck in wrong orientation all the time.
    (3) Family sharing is basically letting everyone use one person's account in practice - so it is definitely not that great. Generally the features are all half-baked, buggy and often poorly executed. For the first time ever, I've considered checking out Android.
  • I'll add a couple of frustrations that no one here wants to report on:
    1. Massive malfunctioning with blurpethooth in automobiles. Half my family tha updated to iOS8 now have major deficiences or completely nonfunctional issues with this.
    2. Video adapters (both VGA and HDMI) are all the sudden not recognized. Especially for iPads 2-4. Apples answer to me: buy a new adapter for $50! Pisses me off!!
    3. Facebook profile pictures not syncing to contacts. My entire family has this issue. Not a necessity but still annoying. I'm still dedicated to my apple products. But I have noticed the last two OS generations being released with major flaws. The bluetooth one especially. My mother can't get hers to sync at all! If that were me, I'd have to degrade or something. Luckily, mine still syncs, but bluetooth voice to text does not. I really miss being able to check and respond to my texts without endangering my life! Apple, please test these better before release!! I'd rather a slower upgrade schedule than have these problems.
  • Has there been any improvement on the HDMI output issue with the release of the latest update iOS 8.2?
  • I love everything about ios 8 except it uses so much data that I can't afford to keep cellular data on. Just using Safari for a few minutes will blow through data at an alarming rate. I used 3.5 GB in 2 and a half days. I switched back to my old android using the same habits and used 390 MB in 7 days. I have tried everything but can't use the iphone normally and be able to afford to use it.
  • I have the opposite experience. My iPhone is very good on days where Android chugged it Sent from the iMore App
  • Its well known that iOS 8 downloads data 10x as fast as Android. lol Seriously though, I track each family member's data usage and saw no change with iOS 8. However, I saw data usage jump when my family switched to iPhone from Android. The reason was that everyone started using a lot of great apps and streaming music. With android we were busy trying to just keep the droids running without crashing all the time.
  • I love Apple, don't get me wrong, and I love iMore, but come on, most jam packed release since the app store, are you freakin' kidding me? Not saying iOS 8 isn't good, but there is no way that it is a more "jam packed" release than iOS 7, or any of the other releases for that matter. Does anyone truly believe that iOS 8 is really the biggest release, or, what is probably the case, did I misread the statement and they were talking about another aspect of iOS 8.
  • Yeah, I think the 7 is bigger.
  • Uh, iOS8 adds a shitload more features than iOS7 did. Extensibility, widgets, 3rd party KBs, SMS relay, continuity, family sharing, iCloud Drive, HealthKit/Homekit, massive spotlight improvements, are all things that can fundamentally change the experience, not to mention have massive future potential. Yes, iOS8 is a bigger release when it comes to features. Less so when it comes to looks, obviously.
  • My mum, who bought iPhone 4S in the summer, against my advice, has not upgraded to iOS 8 -- finally heeding my advice -- since the new OS would destroy the user experience with its performance issues without adding any new features that she actually needs. That is how 'jam-packed' the update was for a non-techie: Problems, and no new features.
  • Still want print to PDF (from the print option), file attachment within the mail app, and a file picker app for iCloud. Sent from the iMore App
  • Forget features. It is not the rock solid platform it once was. I'm getting an occasional hiccup and need to reboot my iPhone 6 more than any iOS device I've owned since I began using iPhones the day the 3G came out. To me, that's a bit of a bummer.
  • Besides safari crashes and videos needing to be entirely rebuffered from time to time, no complaints. Apple Pay has worked flawlessly the few times I used it. It was only once at an Arco that it didn't work even though it went claimed to go through. But it turns out it was Arco's end that was the problem and not Apple Pay.
  • Three months later and my iPad Air's Wifi still stinks. As for the custom keyboard, I only use one for typing Khmer since there isn't one out of box! (Not to mention the script rendering also sucks)
  • Yesterday, I was getting a call in my iPhone and my Mac also started ringing(as expected) but I couldn't pick up the phone due to some reasons and it eventually turned into a missed call BUT my Mac continued to ring!! Sent from the iMore App
  • I have a random issue with my iPhone 6 when listening to music. The volume will suddenly cut in half and I have to reboot to get it back to normal. I also have issues with keyboard lag at times using stock keyboard.
  • Are you sure the volume issue isn't your headphones? Try a different pair if you have one. Posted from the amazing whatever device I can afford because I'm a broke college kid.
  • I have the same problem with my 6 plus. It does it when I get a calendar notification while listening to music. Sent from the iMore App
  • Surprised to hear issues with changing to landscape while playing a video on the 6 plus. Sent from the iMore App
  • iOS 8: Great on my iPhone 6, the worst possible update for my iPad 3.
  • Me too
  • Its funny when people blow up basic features available in android and claim they are even features of ios. eg Widgets, keyboards.... seriously guys :) LOL
  • It's funny when an Android fan comes here to post pointless comments bashing people that quite frankly chose iOS for a reason despite whatever compels you to believe Android is the superior operating system. Can't we just let people like what they like if it doesn't hurt any one? Would you go up to these people and tell the. The cereal they eat in the morning is wrong because it's not *insert your favorite brand*? Gosh m8. Posted from the amazing whatever device I can afford because I'm a broke college kid.
  • And the camera photograph-sound isn't always working... Sent from the iMore App
  • Is it possible for ios8 to have a share extension for facebook like the android one? I mean tag people, places, etc... Or is it facebook lazyness?
  • Third party keyboards would be great if they worked in spotlight! Please Apple, fix the bug... Sent from the iMore App
  • This has been the worst, in my experience, pairing of hardware and software. Rotating from landscape to portrait is arduous and clunky. It gets stuck in portrait mode more times than I can count. Safari frequently crashes. When in landscape mode I sometimes am unable to push buttons in Safari on the webpage so I have to rotate back to portrait just to surf the web. Apple has completely jumped ship with their motto "it just works" and resorted to "let's hurry and put out unfinished products".
  • Tim iPad 8 air