iOS 14 public beta now out, try the new software features yourself

The release of the iOS 14 is still months away, most probably in September yet, but a public beta version is already out, and you can download it and try it yourself.

The newest Apple software was unveiled last June during the Worldwide Developers Conference wherein the company promised that iOS 14 features are ones that have been long asked by users and have long been introduced by its competitors.

One of these features is the widgets, which Apple has put its own twist on, and that is the Smart Stack wherein the software customizes the widgets based on the apps that you used most often and the time of the day that you mostly used them.

An example will be if you are regularly using the weather app as soon as you wake up in the morning, then that app will be on the top of the Smart Stack in the morning. If during lunch, you are regularly checking out a food app, then by lunch, that app will be on the top.

Perhaps one of the most useful features of the IOS 14 is the lights indicator for the camera and mic when being used by an app. A green light that appears as a green dot at the top of the right of your phone’s screen tells you that an app is using your camera. An orange dot would mean that an app is using your mic. So, this somehow assuages worries amidst all the news we hear about the phone’s camera being used to spy on us.

Another useful feature is the Back Tap for accessibility. You can enable the Back Tap under the Touch section of the Accessibility settings. This will allow you to tap the back of your iPhone twice or thrice and trigger a short cut in accessing the apps or features that you need or a number of actions like taking screenshots, among others.

And, a feature that has long been on the iPad can now be used on the iPhone and that is the picture-in-picture video feature which can also be used during FaceTime calls.

iOs 14 comes with many other useful features that you can try now via the public beta. While the software is to be released alongside the rumored iPhone 12, it can run on iPhone 6s and up.

Image credit courtesy of William Hook/Flickr