iOS 8

iHealth, maker of various iPhone connected healthcare accessories, today announced that its iOS apps are being updated with HealthKit integration. That means that the users of the company’s Wireless Blood Pressure Monitors, Blood Glucose Meters, Wireless Scale, and other health tracking accessories will be able to sync data with the new iOS 8 Health app.
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Over the weekend Apple shared a short list of HealthKit apps that work with the new Health app on iOS 8 after a few apps hit the App Store on Friday with HealthKit support included. Several more iPhone apps using HealthKit to share data with Apple’s Health app on iOS 8 have become available and more are anticipated from some big names shortly. We’ll continue to update the list below over the next few weeks with iPhone apps and accessories with HealthKit and Health support to give you a comprehensive list of apps that can put your Health app to better use.
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Multitasking dramatically got redesigned with iOS 7. With iOS 8, Multitasking added a shortcut to the people who are most important to you. In this how to, I will discuss customizing the people that appear at the top, using multitasking to contact your important people, as well as disabling it.

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Have you ever wondered how much of your battery is being used? Or have you ever wondered why sometimes when you use certain apps your battery dramatically drains? New in the iOS 8 Settings application is the ability to track battery usage per each app you have installed on your device. This method is very similar to tracking your cellular data usage.
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A few days ago Apple published a new privacy page on its website that detailed the various measures it has put in place to protect Mac and iOS users’ personal data. One of those features, which is new in iOS 8, is the automatic randomization of MAC addresses when the device is searching for a Wi-Fi network. This makes it much more difficult to track a device by seeing which Wi-Fi networks have spotted its unique identifier.

A new two-part study by AirTight Networks into how well this security feature works has turned up some interesting results, including several conditions that will stop the phone from randomizing a MAC address. Part one of the study breaks down what exactly needs to happen in order to start this function…

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After a series of botched updates, which meant HealthKit apps could not launch alongside iOS 8’s release, Apple has finally started allowing apps that integrate with the Health app into the App Store. The first of many is FitPort, which acts as a replacement dashboard for Health information, with all data being synced back into the Health database.

On opening the app, the Health permissions screen opens which asks users to individually enable access to health statistics. This allows users to be very selective about what information they share with third-party apps. Users have to explicitly enable read and write capabilities for every health data type the app wants to integrate. Just like asking for location access, this sheet is presented by the OS, meaning all apps benefit from this level of privacy.

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Apple has invited a number of non-developer users to participate in what it’s calling an “AirDrop Test Fest” to help fix bugs in the over-the-air file sharing system, according to users who have gotten the invite. Users who have been invited will find a notice inside the Feedback Assistant application included with the public beta of the upcoming OS X Yosemite.

Users who have been invited to participate are provided with a set of guidelines for testing the feature. According to the notice, users will need two Macs capable of running Yosemite and AirDrop, or one Mac running Yosemite and one running Mavericks to test the “legacy” feature. An iOS device isn’t required to participate, indicating that the focus will be on Mac-to-Mac transfers rather than cross-platform ones.

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Update: Many users are reporting that cellular functions and Touch ID are no longer working post update, so we would recommend holding off until further notice. Many who have updated their iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, and iPhone 5s are reporting no problems, so it appears this problem is likely confined to iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

Update 2: The update has been pulled. Apple has issued a statement to Re/code:

https://twitter.com/JohnPaczkowski/status/514843301996802048

Apple has released iOS 8.0.1 to the public, and it’s rolling out now OTA to all devices capable of running iOS 8. The update’s build number is 12A402, and it packs fixes for a variety of bugs that have plagued users of version 8.0. Most notably, the new version includes a fix for the bug that was keeping HealthKit apps from the App Store. Furthermore, the update addresses a plethora of other problems including an issue with apps accessing photos from the Photo Library, a bug involving 3rd party keyboards, an issue that caused unexpected data usage when receiving SMS and MMS messages, an issue involving ringtones not being restored by iCloud, and more.

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When Apple released Apple TV software update 7.0 earlier this month, it came with support for new iOS 8 features including the new Peer-to-Peer AirPlay feature. First announced when Apple unveiled iOS 8 earlier this year, Peer-to-Peer AirPlay allows users on iOS 8 and the upcoming OS X Yosemite release to stream content to an Apple TV without having to connect to the same wireless network. What we didn’t know at the time, however, is that the feature is limited to only the latest Apple TV hardware:
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Although dozens of custom keyboards have been launching left and right just in time for iOS 8, most of them have stayed rather traditional. Yes, there’s new features here and there that are firsts for iOS like the ability to swipe to type using Swype and SwiftKey, but these are still just keyboards for typing letters. A new keyboard from Riffsy called GIF Keyboard, on the other hand, isn’t really a keyboard—it’s a great way to quickly and easily send GIFs to friends using your favorite apps.

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With the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, Apple made several improvements to the camera quality. It’s still packing an 8-megapixel sensor (f2.2 aperture), but there are a few new features that make the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus camera stand out. There’s a certain level of quality that most people expect when shooting video or photos with an iPhone, but this cinematic camera demo takes it to another level…

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While iOS 8 adoption was lagging behind last year’s release at just 15% before the official launch of the new iPhones on Friday, it’s now hovering at approximately 30% after record first weekend sales for the new iPhones. That stat, which comes from research and analytics firms Fiksu, Mixpanel, Appsee, & Chitika is below the almost 50% of users iOS 7 had this many days into launch last year.

Fiksu and Mixpanel also offered data on iPhone 6 vs iPhone 6 Plus adoption following the first weekend of sales. Both show that iPhone 6 is outpacing iPhone 6 Plus quite significantly after the first few days in customers’ hands, but it’s quite likely that could be due to a much tighter supply of iPhone 6 Plus.
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It’s iPhone season once again and most of us are faced with a tough decision. Should you upgrade or wait around another year for a better device? That may be a tough decision, but it’s always easier to see the pros and cons of both sides with a good old-fashioned comparison.

We’re taking a look at Apple’s new iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and last year’s iPhone 5s and going over the details and specifications for each device. Knowing the facts is half of the battle, but hopefully this will help you see the benefits from each side…

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The Skype app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch has now been updated with support for iOS 8. Unfortunately, this does not include support for iPhone 6 and 6 Plus screen sizes, meaning Skype still renders at a scaled iPhone 5s resolution.

However, the update does add interactive notifications which helps streamline responding to content. Hence, new Skype notifications have buttons attached to the alert which can perform various actions. For voice calls, you can answer or decline. For video calls, you can choose between voice or video responses. For missed calls, you can respond with a message or call the person straight back.

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New in iOS 8 you are able to create a Medical ID in the Health App. Even though the rest of the Health app is down, the Medical ID is fully functioning. The Medical ID is important because in case of an emergency, medical responders can look at your phone and know any allergies or medical conditions you have and know who to contact for you without unlocking your phone. To continue to make a Medical ID, press the word Create Medical ID in red.

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Keeping your home screen organized can sometimes be a difficult task. Folders are great, but what if you’re looking for a deeper level of order? Luckily, we’ve seen a few glitches over time that have helped.

Hidden in iOS 8 is a glitch that allows you to nest folders within folders. This can be helpful if you’d like to sub-categorize apps within folders or hide various stock apps in iOS 8 (because there are a lot of them). Nesting folders on iOS 8 is easy to do and completely reversible…

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