The new features of iOS 8 have most Apple lovers in a tizzy because of the strong features that it has introduced. Here are the best features of the platform. Response to notifications Responding to notifications has become easy too. One can reply back to messages without having to open the messaging app. The same attribute is added to Calendar notifications and even Facebook. One can set up the feature from the lock screen, which will shave a few seconds off your response time. Developers can now resort to building widgets for the notifications drawer wherein real-time updates can be flashed consistently, be it sports, stocks or just about anything else. Siri is more responsive Siri is now becoming useful while driving cars with better hands-free use. Hey, Siri will now start the assistant and with Shazam, it can now recognize songs and even buy tracks through Amazon. TouchID for all Third-party apps can now make use of the TouchID feature with fingerprint data restricted to the phone itself. Now social sharing becomes easy and so do mobile payments. Mail navigation with a swipe The Mail app now introduces the option to flag and delete messages with just a single swipe. Swiping down will minimize the draft for accessing other inbox mails. Tapping at the bottom with reopening the draft. You can add calendar events from email directly too. Spotlight finds more Similar to the yet-to-be-launched OS X Yosemite, Spotlight in iOS will help you search for apps within the device as well as in web locations from where you might want it to be downloaded from. Search for songs, and Spotlight will show results from the music library and even from iTunes. You can push for local theater listings, and content for streaming. Keyboard gets smarter Predictive typing makes its way to iOS, finally in the form of QuickType which will suggest words and phrases depending on the app. It will look the same though, without the row on top indicating the options. Apple now also supports third-party keyboards, including Swype. Advanced Photos and camera options iOS 8 provides the Photos App to automatically correct the pictures with smart editing tools along with individual tools available for fine-tuning the images. Now users can adjust exposure, brightness, contrast, shadows and the like. The Photos framework will be available for third-party developers to build apps. iOS 8 also allows camera apps for better control with manual adjustment of focus, shutter speed, and ISO. Healthkit unifies medical data Healthkit aggregates all health-related info from different features combining and storing that info in a centralized place. Users can share the information received from doctors. If the health levels are not optimal, the app has the ability to contact the hospital and doctor. HomeKit provides smart home control With a multitude of smart home devices that are independent of each other, Apple’s HomeKit brings them together under a common network protocol to control all of them. Voice commands will help in monitoring and controlling the different smart home features such as lights, doors, thermostat and the like. Philips and Honeywell are some of the partners for the same. Family Sharing lets you spread media around With the family sharing feature, one can share photos and calendar entries within the family and even share iTunes and App Store purchases with up to six people. Also, parents will be notified if their kids are trying to buy something online. Building on iOS 7′s flat interface, iOS 8 App Development has enabled users to do much more than before. Now, instead of just showing the open apps, it also shows the pictures of people who you connect with on a regular basis. One can communicate in more ways than one through the feature. 2