Top Features of iOS 8 that Stand Out

It’s been quite some time since iOS 8 hit the market. Since then, it has generated lots of excitement among the users and rightly so. But there are some features in iOS 8 that stand out from the rest and make it special. We look at some of them in this article.

Response to Notifications

Responding to notifications has been made easy too as one can reply to messages without opening the messaging app. The same feature is added to calendar notifications and FaceBook too.

Developers can now build widgets for notifications where real time updates can be flashed consistently on just about any topic.

SIRI is More Responsive

SIRI has now become more useful while driving with better hands-free use. SIRI with Shazam can now recognize songs and also buy tracks through Amazon.

Touch ID for all

Third-party apps can now use the Touch ID feature with fingerprint data. So mobile payments become easier and so does social sharing.

Mail Navigation with a Swipe

With the mail app you can just swipe to flag and delete messages. Swiping down minimizes the draft for accessing other mails while a tap at the bottom will reopen the draft.

Spotlight Finds More

Similar to OS X Yosemite, Spotlight here too, will aid you in searching apps within the device as well as web locations outside. Spotlight throws up results from the music library and iTunes.

Keyboard Gets Smarter

Predictive typing finally comes to the iOS, in the form of QuickType which suggests words and phrases 

depending on the app. Apple now supports third-party keyboards too, including Swype.

Advanced Photos and Camera Options

iOS 8 provides the Photos app with smart editing tools along with individual tools available to fine tune the images. You can now adjust the brightness, exposure, contrast, shadows etc. The framework will be available to third-party developers too.

Unifying Medical Data through Health Kit 

Health kit combines all your health related in a centralized place. You can share information received from medics and if your health indicators are not optimal, the app can even contact the hospital and doctor.

Family Sharing Lets You Spread Media Around

With the family sharing feature, you can share photos and event calendars within the family including share iTunes and app Store purchases with up to six people. In addition, parents will be notified if their children try to buy something online.

The Benefits iOS Apps Bring to Your Business

IOS apps are loved by everyone.IOS Apps present a great opportunity for the growth of your business. This article looks at how iOS apps can help increase your business prospects and help you achieve greater visibility in this world of constant change.

You can benefit from iOS apps by enabling them to give your employees relevant data anytime they need, wherever they may be. Business intelligence apps not only provide sales statistics, but also generate reports on the spot doing away with the need to rush to your office computers to do the same. Audit apps help accountants and others come up with quality audit reports.

There are iOS apps specifically for managers, executives and businessmen to help them gather and organize information that guides important business decisions. Presentation and graph apps are also available to aid them in communicating their ideas to their peers.

By far the most effective use of iOS apps is that they help reach customers by providing enhanced versions of their existing services. Unique apps like medical or doctor's consultation apps, for instance, provide ready answers to common medical questions such as giving temporary or emergency remedies, disease symptoms and various other treatments.

Events ticketing companies make it easier for their customers to book seats via apps they are enabled with interactive seating maps to make booking easier. Customers can send a message to the help desk right away if they have questions without having to leave the app.

Games too, are now available on most iOS devices, particularly the iPad, turning it into a stiff competitor in game console wars. Talking of games, there are those information-rich, highly interactive, and visually exhaustive educational games that serve as study aides for students.

Yet another kind of iOS app helps service-oriented businesses help their own customers. Medical professionals, for example, reach for their iPads or iPhone’s to find information that helps them treat their patients better. These apps give critical data, such as drug dosage and concentration, for many kinds of diseases. Some apps also update doctors about the latest medical technologies and treatments.

Lastly, sales representatives too use certain iPad apps, like product catalog apps, to show visual aids when they make their case before their customers. Other apps compile important sales and customer information to make neat CRM tools.

How to Develop a Successful IPhone Application?

Thousands of people create iPhone apps every day. But only a few among those become successful in the market. This article lists out some of the things that you need for your iPhone app to be successful.

Do not develop an app just for the sake of it. Look at how the app could help shore up your communication with your current clients and prospects. Remember that people love mobile applications because they get quick and easy interaction from a product or service company. So, you need to determine apps that are user-friendly and practical. Doing so will also enhance your company's brand ultimately. 

You might want to offer a productivity app or an entertainment app (or both) based on the type of business you have. Most companies prefer utility apps, since they are more useful at interacting with your business and getting extra information about your products/services.


You’d have to hire an app maker or get a white label mobile app package unless you're tech-savvy. This can be done in a number of ways. You could ask for referrals from others or outsource the job. You can create and customize your own mobile application for an affordable price, by hiring an app reseller company.

Do a little research to find out what mobile devices your clients use and decide whether or not your app will work on the iPhone or Android system as well. Of course, it's highly recommendable that your app works on different platforms like iOS (iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad) and Android.

Last but not least, never release your app until it's ready. With all the social media hype, you want to avoid bad feedback from your clients due to a buggy application. Supposing it's an iPhone app, consumers can rate it 1 to 5 stars on the iStore. A bad rating means you wasted your time, money, and effort in something that people are not interested to use.

With all the current mobile trends, the future looks bright for the mobile app industry. This will no doubt continue as people rely on mobile apps to get the information and services that they require. By making sure you follow the app maker tips above and you ensure that you’d certainly be successful in offering not only iPhone apps, but just any mobile app in any category.

What Swift Means For Apple and the Industry?

There’s been a new excitement in the air in iOS developer circles. It is the arrival of Swift that is driving new developers to joy. The onset of Swift has meant that it is finally curtains down for the parent, Objective C. In this article, we look at the motives behind the switch to a new programming language and how it will affect the IT industry as a whole.

For those of you who didn’t know, Objective-C is ridiculously difficult to use. Most beginners who attempted to learn it and even developers familiar with its complexities breathed a huge sigh of relief at the announcement. It is clear that Apple wanted to make iOS accessible to a wider range of developers and it understood that sticking to Objective-C wouldn't work. However, it isn't exactly unfamiliar to existing developers because it uses the same LLVM compiler and runtime which means the code can live side-by-side in the same application. According to Apple, this will "unify the procedural and object-oriented portions of the language."



Apple's free e-book, The Swift Programming Language, offers a guide that goes deeper into the language and acts as a formal reference for any interested developer. Owing to its accessibility and its promise of adopting safe programming patterns and adding modern features to make programming easier, more flexible and fun, businesses looking to develop apps on iOS will soon have a wider pool of iOS and Mac OS X developers to choose from. This will help alleviate the stress of hiring qualified developers in a gradually shrinking talent pool. This increase in talent may also make developers' salaries accelerate at a slower rate.

Additionally, Swift utilizes several time saving features such as displaying outputs in real time and delivering instant feedback on errors. Developers are thus saved from having to create colossal amounts of code before seeing the results. Apple developers can also bid adieu to sifting through code line-by-line to find tiny errors whenever an issue arises. These benefits will result in huge cost reductions for corporations and may sway more of the IT industry's top innovators to developing for Apple.

Although it is too premature to say the effect of these will be seen immediately, the IT industry is certainly abuzz about Swift. It not only begins a new chapter in iOS development, but also makes iOS and Mac OS X development a more viable option in the years to come and its accessibility will most certainly work to Apple's advantage.