iOS 14 is the fourteenth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc. for their iPhone and iPod Touch lines. Announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 22, 2020 as the successor to iOS 13, it was released to the public on September 16, 2020. It was succeeded by iOS 15 on September 20, 2021.
System features
App Clips
App Clips are a new feature expanding on the functionality of the App Store. Intended as a dynamic feature rather than a permanently installed app, App Clips are extremely pared-back with very few OS permissions. At the time of the announcement, only the use of Apple Pay and Sign in with Apple were shown.
App Clips may be discovered in person via NFC tags (iPhone 7 or newer) or QR codes with App Clips branding. They may also be shared via Messages, or placed on websites or Maps.
CarPlay
CarPlay was updated to allow users to set a built-in wallpaper. Route management in Apple Maps was extended with features alerting the user to available stops, such as parking and food ordering. Additionally, route planning for electric vehicles now considers the location of charging stations.
Car keys
Car keys allow an iPhone to act as a virtual car key using NFC technology with compatible cars. The first compatible car showcased by Apple at the WWDC 2020 was the 2021 BMW 5 Series. Keys are accessible from the Wallet app. Keys may be shared; sharing may be temporary or given restrictions. In the event the iPhone is out of battery, car keys can still be accessed via the power reserve of the iPhone for about five hours. Car keys require an iPhone released in 2018 or later.
Home screen
Unlike previous versions, in which icons on the home screen were rearranged in order and corresponded directly to apps, users may add app icons and newly-introduced app widgets; pages may be added or deleted at will. This allows users to hide infrequently used apps and avoid clutter.
Widgets
To the left of the first page, the Today View is replaced by a scrollable widget UI. Widgets may be placed on the home screen to sit amongst app icons; they may be resized to two-by-two, horizontal two-by-four, or four-by-four icons. Widgets of the same size may be stacked over each other and swiped between for convenience; a Smart Stack may be placed which automatically shows the most relevant widget to the user based on the time of day.
App Library
To the right of the last page, the App Library lists and categorizes apps installed on the device. Apps within each category are arranged based on the frequency of their usage. In addition to a category for suggested apps, a "recent" category lists apps recently installed alongside App Clips recently accessed. Users can search for the app they want or browse them in alphabetical order.
Compact UI
A series of changes were made in iOS 14 to reduce the visual space taken by previously full-screen interfaces; such interfaces now appear and hover in front of an app, allowing for touch (and therefore multitasking) on the app behind. Voice calling interfaces, including Phone, or other third-party apps such as Skype, are made substantially thinner, taking approximately as much space as a notification. Siri's interface is now also compact.
Picture-in-picture allows users to continue watching video playback (or take voice calls, such as with FaceTime) in a thumbnail-sized view after leaving the app. This view may be resized with pinch gestures, or moved off-screen temporarily and re-summoned for multitasking. Picture-in-picture is currently supported by Safari and FaceTime, along with several third-party apps, including Disney+, ESPN, Max, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video. This feature was not available in the YouTube app at launch; Google subsequently announced that picture-in-picture would be supported on YouTube in a forthcoming update, but only for subscribers to YouTube Premium. Ultimately, this feature was delayed until July 2022, when it was made available for all users with devices running iOS 15 or higher.
Search and Siri
Improvements to the Search feature on the home screen were made, including a refined UI which only now takes up a small circle and text bubble on the screen instead of the entire screen, quick launcher for apps, more detailed web search, shortcuts to in-app search, and improved as-you-type search suggestions.