At WWDC, Apple unveiled its next major update to iOS. The fourteenth release of iOS brings some big changes to the design and the user experience of the iPhone since the original iPhone. For years, the home screen of the iPhone has not changed even one bit – it has just been a grid of icons coupled with a dock at the bottom.
However, it looks like Apple is ready to let people experiment with the home screen – customize according to their needs. Beginning with iOS 14, users will be able to add widgets to their home screen. The widgets will live alongside the app icons in the app grid; widgets will be offered in three different sizes (may differ from app to app).
While most people have welcomed this new addition of widgets to the iPhone, many have also taken a dig at Apple for blatantly copying the widgets feature from Android. The Android vs iOS war has its flaws because Apple’s Mac OS X had widgets a long time ago. On the other hand, a handful of people have pointed out that widgets on iOS resemble the Windows Phone’s live tiles more compared to Android’s widgets.
iOS 14 also brings Smart Stack – a stack of intelligently curated widgets. The smart stack will automatically show the most coherent widget based on time and location. Users will be able to add different widgets to the smart stack and will be able to swipe through them for a quick glance.
The iOS 14 update is unlocking some of the locks that Apple had placed. For instance, users will now be able to set third-party web browsers and email clients as their default apart from Apple’s default Safari and Mail.
iOS 14 is now available for developers to try. The final release is expected to ship in the month of September alongside the new iPhones.
