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iOS 14 facts for kids
| Version of the iOS operating system | |
 |
|
iOS 14 home screen on an iPhone 12
|
|
| Developer | Apple |
|---|---|
| Source model | Closed, with open-source components |
| General availability |
September 16, 2020 |
| Latest release | 14.8.1 (October 26, 2021) |
| Repository |
|
| Update method | Software Update |
| Package manager | App Store |
| Platforms | iPhone, iPod Touch |
| Kernel type | Hybrid (XNU) |
| Default user interface |
Cocoa Touch (multi-touch, GUI) |
| License | Proprietary software with open-source components |
| Preceded by | iOS 13 |
| Succeeded by | iOS 15 |
| Tagline | Looks brand new. Feels like home. |
| Support status | |
| Obsolete, no longer receiving security updates, because all iPhones and iPod Touches that support iOS 14 also support iOS 15. Partial third-party app support. | |
| Articles in the series | |
| iPadOS 14 (iPadOS version derived from iOS 14) | |
iOS 14 was a big update for the iOS mobile operating system. It was made by Apple for their iPhone and iPod touch devices. Apple first showed iOS 14 on June 22, 2020, at their Worldwide Developers Conference. It was then released to everyone on September 16, 2020. Later, iOS 15 took its place on September 20, 2021.
Contents
- Cool New Features in iOS 14
- App Clips: Quick App Access
- CarPlay: Your iPhone in Your Car
- Car Keys: Unlock Your Car with Your iPhone
- Home Screen: Make It Your Own
- Compact Design: Less Screen Space Used
- Search and Siri: Smarter and Faster
- Security and Privacy: Keeping Your Info Safe
- ARKit 4: Amazing Augmented Reality
- MagSafe: New Accessories
- Other Handy Changes
- App Updates in iOS 14
- Supported Devices
- Release History
- See also
Cool New Features in iOS 14
App Clips: Quick App Access
App Clips are like tiny parts of apps that you don't need to download fully. They are designed for quick tasks, like paying for parking or ordering food. You can find them using special NFC tags or QR codes. You can also share them through Messages or find them on websites and Maps.
CarPlay: Your iPhone in Your Car
CarPlay got some updates in iOS 14. You could now set a custom background picture. Apple Maps in CarPlay also helped you find places like parking or food stops. If you had an electric car, it could even help you find charging stations.
Car Keys: Unlock Your Car with Your iPhone
Car keys let your iPhone act like a digital car key. This uses NFC technology. The first car to work with this was the 2021 BMW 5 Series. You could find your car keys in the Wallet app. You could also share these digital keys with friends or family. Even if your iPhone battery was low, the car key could still work for a few hours. This feature needed an iPhone from 2018 or newer.
Home Screen: Make It Your Own
In iOS 14, your home screen became much more flexible. You could now add app icons and new app widgets wherever you wanted. You could also hide pages of apps you didn't use often. This helped keep your screen neat and tidy.
Widgets: Smart Info at a Glance
Widgets were redesigned and could be placed right on your home screen. They came in different sizes, like small squares or larger rectangles. You could even stack widgets on top of each other and swipe through them. A "Smart Stack" could automatically show you the most helpful widget based on the time of day.
App Library: All Your Apps Organized
To the right of your last home screen page, you would find the App Library. This feature automatically sorted all your apps into categories. Apps you used most often would appear at the top of each category. There was also a "recent" section for newly installed apps and App Clips. You could easily search for apps or browse them in alphabetical order.
Compact Design: Less Screen Space Used
iOS 14 made many full-screen alerts smaller. Now, things like incoming calls or Siri would appear as small banners or bubbles. This meant you could still see and use the app behind them.
Picture-in-picture was another cool feature. It let you watch videos or have FaceTime calls in a small window while you used other apps. You could change the size of this window or even move it off-screen temporarily. Many apps, like Safari, FaceTime, Disney+, and Netflix, supported this.
Search and Siri: Smarter and Faster
The Search feature on the home screen got better. It now took up less space and offered quick ways to open apps. It also gave more detailed web search results and better suggestions as you typed.
Siri's look also became smaller, so it didn't cover your whole screen. Siri could answer more questions and translate more languages. You could also ask Siri for cycling directions or share your estimated arrival time with friends.
Security and Privacy: Keeping Your Info Safe
App Store: Know What Apps Need
Starting with iOS 14.3, the App Store showed you what permissions each app needed before you downloaded it. This helped you understand what information an app might access. You could also choose to share only your approximate location with apps, instead of your exact spot, to protect your privacy.
Privacy Indicators: See When Apps Use Your Mic or Camera
iOS 14 added special indicators to let you know when an app was using your microphone or camera. An orange dot would appear at the top of your screen for the microphone, and a green dot for the camera. You would also get a notification if an app tried to access what you had copied to your clipboard.
App Tracking Transparency: You Decide Who Tracks You
Apps now had to ask your permission if they wanted to track your activity across different apps and websites. This gave you more control over your personal data.
Wi-Fi Privacy: Random MAC Addresses
To help prevent tracking, your device would use a different MAC address for each Wi-Fi network you joined. This made it harder for networks to track your device's movements.
Local Network Control
A new privacy setting let you stop certain apps from finding and talking to other devices on your home network.
ARKit 4: Amazing Augmented Reality
ARKit 4 brought new tools for augmented reality (AR). This included using the LiDAR sensors on the iPhone 12 Pro to understand depth better. It also allowed AR experiences to be placed at specific locations using Apple Maps data.
MagSafe: New Accessories
iOS 14 added support for MagSafe accessories for the iPhone 12 and newer iPhones. When you attached a MagSafe accessory, you would see a cool new animation on your screen.
Other Handy Changes
- The Emoji keyboard got a search bar to help you find emojis faster.
- Memoji and Animoji gained new hair styles, headwear, and even face mask options.
- You could now change your default email and web browser apps from Apple's own Mail and Safari.
- On newer iPhones (iPhone 8 and later), a "Back Tap" feature let you double-tap the back of your phone to do things like open Control Center.
- iOS 14 supported the VP9 video format, allowing YouTube videos to play in 4K resolution.
- The Notes app made it easier to find notes and removed its old paper-like background.
- The Weather app now showed an air quality index and minute-by-minute forecasts.
- Apple Arcade worked better with Gamecenter.
- A new "Sound Recognition" feature could listen for specific sounds (like a fire alarm or a baby crying) and alert you.
- The Music app icon was redesigned.
- New wallpapers were added.
- The Magnifier tool became a separate app.
- "People Detection" was added to the Measure app.
- You could unlock your Face ID iPhone while wearing a mask if you had a paired Apple Watch (iOS 14.5 and watchOS 7.4).
App Updates in iOS 14
Calendar: Better Dates
The Calendar app now supported the Julian calendar for very old dates. The app icon also used shorter names for the days of the week.
Camera: Snap Better Photos
The Camera app got several improvements:
- You could mirror photos taken with the front camera on iPhone XS and newer.
- QR code reading was improved.
- You could control exposure on iPhone 11 and iPhone SE (2nd generation) and newer.
- Quickly change video resolution and frame rate in Video mode on all iPhones.
- QuickTake video (for fast video recording) came to iPhone XR and iPhone XS.
- The camera felt faster, taking photos up to 90% quicker.
FaceTime: Clearer Calls
On iPhone XS and newer, FaceTime could make it look like you were making direct eye contact, even if you weren't looking directly at the camera. If someone was using sign language in a group call, their video would be highlighted.
FaceTime also supported 1080p video calls over Wi-Fi on iPhone XS and newer. Later, iOS 14.2 added 1080p support for iPhone 8 and newer over Wi-Fi, and for 5G and Wi-Fi on iPhone 12. FaceTime also worked with picture-in-picture mode.
Home App: Smarter Home Control
The Home app, which controls HomeKit devices, got a new look. It made it easier to find suggested accessories and your favorite ones. It also added more ways to automate your smart home devices. For example, security cameras could be set to only alert you if activity happened in a specific area. Smart lighting could also change its color temperature throughout the day to help with your circadian rhythm (your body's natural sleep-wake cycle).
Messages: Better Conversations
In the Messages app, you could now pin up to nine important conversations to the top of your list.
Group chats could have custom pictures, Memoji, or emoji. You could also mention other people in a group chat and choose to only get notifications when you were directly mentioned. You could also reply directly to specific messages, which helped keep conversations organized.
Maps: New Ways to Explore
Apple Maps added cycling routes, showing you information like hills and stairs. It also suggested routes with less busy streets. This feature was available in big cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Shanghai. Apple also added EV routing, which helped electric car owners find charging stations along their route. The app also featured curated guides to help you find places to eat, shop, and explore.
Safari: Safer Browsing
Safari, Apple's web browser, gained new features to keep you safe online. It could check your saved passwords for data breaches and create privacy reports to show you which trackers were on websites. It also became much faster at running JavaScript.
Safari also added a built-in translation tool for web pages in several languages, including English, Spanish, French, and German.
Translate: Speak Any Language
The new stock Translate app was introduced in iOS 14. It let you translate voice and text between 11 languages, such as English, Spanish, Chinese, and French. If you turned your phone sideways, it had an "attention mode" that made translations easier for others to read. It could even automatically detect which of two chosen languages was being spoken during a conversation.
Supported Devices
If your iPhone or iPod Touch could run iOS 13, it could also run iOS 14.
iPhone Models |
iPod Touch Models
|
Release History
The first test version of iOS 14 for developers came out on June 22, 2020. A public test version was released on July 9, 2020. The final version, iOS 14, was officially released to everyone on September 16, 2020.
| Version | Release date | Release notes |
|---|---|---|
| 14.0 | September 16, 2020 | Release notes |
| 14.0.1 | September 24, 2020 | Release notes |
| 14.1 | October 20, 2020 | Release notes |
| 14.2 | November 5, 2020 | Release notes |
| 14.2.1 | November 19, 2020 | Release notes |
| 14.3 | December 14, 2020 | Release notes |
| 14.4 | January 26, 2021 | Release notes |
| 14.4.1 | March 8, 2021 | Security content |
| 14.4.2 | March 26, 2021 | Security content |
| 14.5 | April 26, 2021 | Release notes |
| 14.5.1 | May 3, 2021 | Release notes |
| 14.6 | May 24, 2021 | Release notes |
| 14.7 | July 19, 2021 | Release notes |
| 14.7.1 | July 26, 2021 | Release notes |
| 14.8 | September 13, 2021 | Release notes |
| 14.8.1 | October 26, 2021 | Security content |
See also
In Spanish: IOS 14 para niños
- iPadOS 14
- macOS Big Sur
- tvOS 14
- watchOS 7