David A. Cox: Hey folks, Apple just released iOS 14, and today, I am going to teach you
how to use my top ten favorite new features. Coming up next on Tech Talk America.
David Cox: Hello everyone and welcome to the class. There are a ton of new features that
are built into iOS 14, but in the interest of brevity, I am just going to focus today's
class on my favorites. Now most of these are for the iPhone, but there are a few that are
specifically for the iPad. I encourage you to watch the whole video and when you are
done, let me know which of these features is your favorite down below in the comment
section. Now, I am not really putting these in any specific order, however, I am going
to save my personal favorite for last. Today's video is sponsored by our friends at Power
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David Cox: I would like to start with one of my favorite features in iOS 14, which is
the App Library. Now if you swiped over to the last page of your apps and then swipe
one more time, you will come to the App Library where you will find all of your apps organized
automatically into different categories, including this one here at the very top right which
is for recently installed apps. So now when you go to remove an app, which you can do
by pressing and holding on it then tap on where it says "edit home screen" and then
finally tap the minus symbol. In addition to deleting the app, you will see a second
option to remove it from the home screen but leave it in the App Library. If you tap on
the search bar at the top of the App Library, you will see a simple list of all of your
apps. The big reason why I love this feature is that thanks to the App Library, I have
dramatically simplified my home screen so that it only shows me apps that I use every
single day. Page two of my home screen contains a few folders of less frequently used apps,
as well as a few widgets, which we are going to talk about in just a minute.
David Cox: There is one setting in regards to the App Library that I would like to bring
to your attention because if you are not aware of it, this could throw you for a curveball.
If you go into settings on your phone, and then go into home screen, you will see a new
option for how to handle newly installed apps. You can either tell them to appear on your
home screen, or they can skip the home screen altogether and just go straight to the App
Library.
David Cox: All right, let us talk about widgets. To add a widget, once again, just press and
hold on any app, then tap on "edit home screen" to send them into jiggle mode. I love that
term. And then finally tap on the plus symbol at the top of your screen. Here are all the
different types of widgets that are available as of today's date. Let us go over a couple
of these right now. This first one that you see here is to access my podcasts, and when
I tap on it, you will see that there are three different sized widgets that I can choose
from. Now that number may change depending on which widget you are using. Let us go over
a couple of other types of widgets. If you have an Apple Watch, you might want to consider
adding the fitness widget so that you can see your activity levels right easily on your
home screen. We also have an option to add a second clock which can be really helpful
if you have to consistently talk with people who live in a different time zone. You will
also find a stock market widget. You can see upcoming events on your calendar, and there
is also a weather widget, which I admit is very useful. For a full list of all the widgets,
just keep scrolling to the bottom of this list.
David Cox: Another option is that you can also add something called a Smart Stack which
allows you to swipe between different widgets that are the same size. Now if there are any
widgets in the Smart Stack that you do not care for, you can just long press on it and
then swipe left on the items that you want to remove. You can also create a custom Smart
Stack by simply dragging and dropping to widgets that are the same size on top of each other.
David Cox: At number eight, we have a Simplified UI for Siri and incoming phone calls. In the
past when you use Siri or place a call, these types of actions would take up the entire
screen. But now in iOS 14, they have a new compact design, which does not pull you away
from whatever you are doing.
David Cox: At number seven, you can now finally change the default browser away from Safari.
To change your default browser, just go into settings, then scroll down to Safari, and
you can change the default browser to whatever you want. Did you really need to take fourteen
versions of iOS for that to be a thing?
David Cox: At number six, we have several changes in messages--including you can now
pin conversations, as well as group conversations. To access this feature just open up messages,
then tap edit at the top, and select edit pins. Another cool feature is that if you
are in a group chat with someone, and then you type the "@" symbol followed by the name
of someone who is in that chat, you will notice that their name will turn blue. That means
when you send the message, it will only deliver notification to that person's phone.
David Cox: At number five, we have a new accessibility feature called backtap, which personally I
think anyone can benefit from. And what is great about this feature is you can customize
it. To access this new feature just go into settings, then go into accessibility. From
there, we are going to go into the touch menu which is here under physical and motor, then
scroll down to the very bottom of this next menu and select back tap. The two options
that we have to choose from are double tap and triple tap. So this means when I tap twice
on the back of my iPhone, I can make it perform a custom action. Now in my case I decided
to make this go to the home screen. You can do the same thing or you can choose something
different. In the case of triple tap, I decide to make that access reachability mode, which
is really handy if you are using your phone with one hand and need to access something
at the top of the screen.
David Cox: At number four, the Apple Pencil now finally has its own settings. And if you
have watched this YouTube channel before you have probably heard me say before that I really
do enjoy using the Apple Pencil. Well, after these changes, I like it even better. For
example, you can now double tap the pencil, one-two, to make it perform a custom action,
including you can make it trigger the eraser. If you are using one of the different painting
apps, you can also have it switch back and forth between the current tool that you are
using and the last tool that you are using; or option three, you can make it reveal a
color palette. Another feature we have to talk about in this menu is the new scribble
feature. And what I would recommend you do is if you have the Apple Pencil, there is
a tutorial that is built inside of this menu to walk you through the different gestures.
So for example, if I have written something and I want to delete it, you can just literally
scribble it out and it will know to delete it.
David Cox: My number three favorite feature in iOS 14 does also involve the Apple Pencil
and it is super simple. Let us say your iPad is sleeping, and then all you do is pick up
the Apple Pencil, and literally tap the screen. Now what that will do is launch something
called an instant note. So now you can scribble down whatever it is you need to remember,
and it will save that image inside of the Notes App. Love that feature Apple. Good job.
David Cox: At number two, we have the brand new translation app. This allows you to easily
translate conversations back and forth between two languages. Now you can use this app in
either portrait mode or landscape mode, but personally I think it works a lot better in
landscape mode. One last thing about the translation app, if you are going to be traveling abroad,
what I would recommend you do before you go on your trip is to go into settings and then
to download that language so that it is on your device. To do this when you are in settings
go into translate, it now has its own menu, and from there you are going to turn off cellular
data, and turn on "on device mode."
David Cox: And finally, my number one favorite feature in iOS 14 is actually three features
that are all now available as part of Airpods Pro. Now I have to be honest with you guys,
when I first heard about Spacial Audio I was like, "That does not sound very cool." And
then I tried it. And you know what? It is pretty cool. Spacial audio allows your Airpods
to track head movement using the built-in gyroscope and accelerometer in order to deliver
a surround sound like experience. It does not work with everything, but it does work
with most things that you can get through the iTunes Store, as well as on Apple Music.
Trust me, this is just one of those things you have to try for yourself. The second new
feature is automatic device switching. So now you can start by listening to something
on your phone, then pick up your iPad, and the connection switches on its own. The third
feature is now you can share your audio wirelessly with someone else who is also using AirPods
Pro.
David Cox: So what was your favorite feature in iOS 14? Was it something I mentioned? Was
it something I left out? Let me know about it down below in the comment section. Real
quick before we go, I hope you will take a second to check out my brand new podcast called
"The Creative Source." The way that I have been describing the show to people is it is
a little bit like inside the actor's studio, but for way more than just actors. We are
talking to all different types of creative professionals. You can listen on any of your
favorite podcasting platforms and new episodes come out every single Monday. Thank you so
much for watching everyone. If you enjoyed this video, please take a quick moment to
hit that thumbs up like button, and I will see you next time. This is David A. Cox with
Tech Talk America. Class dismissed.