Here are some awesome “new” features Apple is introducing with iOS 14… I’m being a bit cynical for jokes, although I’m actually excited for some of those features.

Home screen

  • Widgets like Android had for years
  • Sorting of apps into categories like some Android launchers already can

iMessages

  • Pinning of iMessage conversations like other messengers already have
  • Threads in iMessages like Mattermost already uses
  • Avatars for groups … really? Hm.

On-device dictation

Like in Android 10 last year, this is a nice feature for privacy and saving data, where audio processing (speech to text) is done on-device without sending your audio to a server (cloud).

Apple Translate

Uh oh! Apple is releasing its very own translation app! This is a potential alternative to Google Translate. They promise privacy by doing everything on-device. On Google Translate you generally send the contents to be translated to Google’s servers. So if everything is really done offline with Apple Translate, I’ll use it! I can imagine translation quality could be compromised, but we will see when it’s out.

Siri

Siri is getting an overhaul, finally! But will it be as good as Google assistant? We will see when it’s out. What’s nice is that it won’t take up the entire screen anymore and instead just be a bubble at the bottom. It should now also be able to process more complex questions.

Receiving Phone Calls

Now when receiving phone calls, it won’t take up the entire screen anymore and instead show a little notification at the top with buttons you can press to answer, deny or swipe away to dismiss.

Apple Maps

Apple Maps will now support bicycle routes and show elevation or stairs on the way and routes for electric cars that will look for chargers (compatible with your car) on the way, which is nice. I’ve been waiting for an alternative to Google Maps for increased privacy. Could this be it?

The Mac version will have “Look Around” which is basically like Google Maps “Street View”.

Car Keys!

This one is actually neat! Use your iPhone as car keys! But I guess that requires a new car… oh well…. ):

What’s interesting is that you will be able to send a copy of your car keys through iMessage and even set permissions for that car key (like setting driving profiles).

App Clips

Uh oh! Google tried this one in the past but it terribly failed and no one even knows this existed. Basically, App Clips will be lightweight apps you can open by scanning a code or with NFC. Google did try something similar with websites that embed a “lightweight web app” that you can launch without installing a full-blown app. The intention was the same. So, you could for example open a “food ordering app” with one tap, without installation.

Since Apple is good at marketing, and since everybody goes crazy about what Apple does, I guess this time it won’t fail. We will see!

Picture in Picture

I was really excited when I heard about this one, but it turns out it’s just for videos… I mean it’s cool, but I was hoping for more, like on Android!