How Your Apps Can Make the Most Out of iOS 8
As of the 2nd of March, 2015, iOS 8 adoption has hit 75%. There are over 500 million iPhones out there in the wild so that means that almost 400 million of them are running Apple’s new operating system.
As an app developer, it’s your job to make sure that your apps are using iOS 8’s features wisely. Users will appreciate the fact that your app was made specifically for their OS and it can also make your app more useful to them to.
Here, we look at several features that you can help your apps make the most of iOS 8.
Health and HealthKit
With iOS 8, Apple made it incredibly clear that the focus of the operating system is ‘health and fitness’. For years, people have used their iPhones and iPads to help them work out, lose weight or just keep general tabs on their health and with the Health app and the HealthKit API, it’s now even easier for developers to utilise that.
The Health app is the centralized health hub where iOS 8 users can go to look at all of their health-related data. From here they can also send this data to their doctors to figure out if there is something to be worried about and if they need to schedule an appointment. The HealthKit API, meanwhile, is what lets third-party apps get their data into Health in the first place.
As users will want to keep track of this data more than ever, for you, it means that an app that caters to this could mean big business. Maybe your app is a simple calorie counter or maybe it offers personalised workout plans with instructions on how to do them. Either way, Health and HealthKit gives you one massive feature to include.
App Extensions
Speaking of apps working together, iOS 8’s app extensions feature allows apps to communicate with one another. For developers who have released entire suites of apps (e.g a document viewer, a cloud storage and a file management app) this is huge as the apps will be able to share data. It also provides an added incentive for your users to stick by your apps rather than downloading someone else’s.
Furthermore, there’s the also potential for apps and games that use the data of other apps in fun and quirky ways. Imagine a creepy zombie game where special zombies come out at certain times of day, or an adventure app where certain locations are only available when the weather is nice. You could even create a finance management game that’s affected by the real life stock market.
The possibilities are endless.
Metal API
Also boosting the performance the potential of games is Apple’s Metal API. Almost everyone on the planet has played a game on a mobile device, whether it’s Angry Birds, Candy Crush or Temple Run 2. The iPhone and the iPad are quickly replacing games consoles for many people.
That’s why the Metal API is so handy. Replacing OpenGL, Metal API promises better graphics for your gaming apps. Apple is so enthusiastic about their work with Metal that they even say that developers will be able to create “console-like” graphics.
It doesn’t take a genius to know just how much of a big deal it is if your app can look better than games on PS3 or Xbox 360. Users will flock to your app as soon as they see how impressive it looks.
Interactive Notifications
While Android has had these features for a while, iOS 8 finally adds interactive widgets notifications to Apple devices.
Interactive notifications allow users to respond to a notification directly from the Notification Centre. Users won’t have to open up the app just to respond to a message or act on a decision which is handy if they’re in a rush or if they’re on the go.
Interactive widgets meanwhile, can display interactive data in real time. If your app deals with stats or figures at all then this gives users an added reason to stay invested. For example, if your app is a game with a high score leaderboard then may you could work on a notification that lets users track their leaderboard position right from the notification centre.
Anything that increases their engagement with your app is a plus.
Battery Life
Last but not least is the your app’s battery usage. While it’s understandable for games with great graphics to use a lot of battery, other apps that drain the user’s battery life are going to find themselves unused or uninstalled.
Previously in iOS if you wanted to know how much battery each app was using, you would have to guess. It’s far easier to figure out now as iOS 8 includes a list of all of the apps you have open at one time and it gives you a percentage breakdown of how much battery they’re using.
While it’s certainly a small feature in the larger scheme of things, it can certainly have a massive impact. You won’t want to give users a single reason not to love your work so you should certainly be conscious of just how power intensive your app is.
