Apple iOS 8 preview: Opening Up

Other pre-installed apps

Apps such as Calendar, Notes, Weather, Calculator and Alarm received very few upgrades, if any. The only thing worth mentioning is the rich text editing in the Notes app.

Rich Text editing in Notes

There is a new app coming with iOS 8 - Tips. It will show new tips from Apple in your notification area each week, helping you make better use your iDevice better with intuitive demos and suggestions.

Tips app

The iBooks is now part of the iOS package and will be pre-installed once you upgrade to iOS 8. Its interface mimics that of the App Store, but the first tab is still your virtual bookshelf.

iBooks

Health Kit

As of its 8th version, iOS features a HealthKit suite which gathers all data collected from the device's tracking apps and various third-party accessories. Apple has teamed up with a number of partners on the health suite including Nike and the Mayo clinic.

Health app

The app offers a Medical ID card that lists all of your health-related data, emergency contacts, medication, intolerances and doctors' contacts.

The Health app will store and track stuff like calorie burnout, periods of sleep and activity, among others. Its dashboard is where you are supposed to find all important data at a glance.

Sure, health-related apps and accessories compatible with the iOS 8 are yet to arrive and third-party software developers taken on board.

App Store gets beta apps, bundles

During the iOS 8 announcement, Apple unveiled several new features for its App Store. Better and smarter search with a new interface, App Bundles offered by devs, embedded videos in the app descriptions a la Google Play Store, and devs will be able to invite users to closed beta testing of future versions of their apps.

We've yet to see a beta section in the App Store this fall and how the beta app seeding will work. The promised App Bundles functionality isn't available yet either.

We can at least show you what the new search interface looks like.

The App Store

We guess there will be a lot new stuff to explore on the App Store later this year.