15 Insanely Great Tricks to Master Apple's iOS 8

So, you just downloaded iOS 8. Looks pretty familiar, right? Certainly, last year's switch from iOS 6to iOS 7 -- which saw Apple ditch the iPhone's tired, six-year-old interface and move to somethingmore spare and clean -- was a far bigger leap visually than this update to iOS 8.

In fact, most of the apps in iOS 8 look almost identical to what you were using just days ago. And afew of them appear entirely unchanged. But there are new functions, new tricks, and time-savershidden in these new iOS 8 versions of your favorite apps. Some of them you'll see right away. But therest... well, let us show you.

Messages

You can now "peek behind" your conversations. Tap "Details" at the top of any SMS or MMS threadto gain quick access to not only the contact info for the person you're talking to, but also the photosand videos you've been sending each other. Keep scrolling--Messages archives all the images you'vebeen sharing, even pics that were sent months ago. If your chat partner has location sharingenabled, you can see where they're sending their chats from. You can also mute any conversation.And all of these new messaging features work in group conversations, as well. The mute switch isespecially helpful when you're in a group chat and one of your friends won't, you know, just zip it.Maybe even more handy: you can remove yourself from any chat. On that Details screen, just tap"Leave this conversation" to bow out.

Camera

Whether you're using a brand-new iPhone 6 and its much-improved camera, or you're on a freshlyupdated 5, 5c or 5s, there are some new features in the default iOS 8 camera app. First you mightnotice that you now have a Timelapse video feature. To use it, put your thumb anywhere on thescreen and keep swiping your thumb to the right. Watch the horizontal slider at the bottom. Justafter the Slo-Mo setting, you'll see Timelapse. Go point it at some clouds, or at a busy intersection atrush hour. Another welcome addition: you can also now adjust the brightness of any photo beforeyou click the shutter. When you're setting up your shot, look for the vertical exposure slider next tothe focus box. Slide it up and down to make the picture brighter or darker. You can still edit yourpictures after the fact, but now you have a better chance of getting the photo you want right away,without having to brighten it later.

Safari

Apple's new update irons out some of the iOS web browser's most frustrating quirks. First is a newquick-search feature: Just type the name of a website and a search term, separated by a space. Forexample, typing "craigslist chainsaw" will prompt Safari to ask if you'd just like to searchCraigslist.org for a chainsaw. In older versions of iOS, typing this into the address bar would prompta Google search for those individual words, and then you'd have to tap on the Google result youwanted. So this new trick saves you a couple of taps. You have to enable this Quick Website Searchfeature in Safari's settings, and it only works on sites that you've previously run searches on--Safariwants to be sure it's only offering the option on sites you browse often. But it's a boon for usability.Another new option in iOS 8?s Safari is the ability to request a full, desktop version of a site instead

of the mobile version. This eliminates a common headache on the mobile web. To request thedesktop site, just tap Safari's address bar while browsing a mobile site, and you'll see the desktopoption appear.

Mail

In the default iOS 8 Mail client, you'll notice that when you swipe a message to the left, you getadditional options. In iOS 7, there was just "More" and "Archive." But now you get options for"More," "Flag" for follow-up, and "Trash." Cool! But try this. Swipe to the right, and you'll see anadditional fourth option: "Mark as Unread."

Siri

You used to have to hold down the Home button to invoke Apple's digital concierge. Now, just speakher name. Try it: "Hey, Siri." She'll spring to life and the microphone will be ready to capture yourrequest. This isn't always on by default--it's a drain on the device's battery to be constantly listeningfor the magic words, so you can only summon Siri with your voice when the device is charging. Toenable this feature, look in Siri's settings. This will be a big help in the car. If you want to call updirections to the nearest cheeseburger on your drive home, you can do it entirely without evertaking your hands off the wheel.

Battery Management

Want to see which apps are sucking up the most juice? Go into Settings > General > Usage. You'llsee a list of all your apps, ranked in descending order, with the biggest battery hogs at the top. Thedefault view shows the worst offenders over the last 24 hours. Move the slider at the top to see yourusage over the last week. Android has had this feature since the Bronze Age, so it's nice to see iOS 8add it.

All Your Besties

To hop between apps, tap the home button twice. You know this one, you've seen it in iOS 7. Itbrings up a sideways-scrolling list of open apps, with the ones you've used most recently showing upfirst. But in iOS 8, there's something new. Look above that big carousel of apps, and you'll see asmaller sideways-scroller of your friends' faces. It's the same concept: these are the people you mostrecently chatted with or called. Also included in this list are the contacts from your Phone's"Favorites" list. This shortcut is especially helpful for those of us who rarely open the phone appanymore, and therefore don't get as much use out of that Favorites list. Now, for a quicker way tosend a chat or initiate a call to a loved one, you can just double-tap the Home button and put yourthumb on their face.

QuickType

As you're thumb-typing away, you'll see iOS 8 suggesting the words it thinks you're shooting for. Tapthe correct ones and they appear in the text input field. Not only does this change the whole iOSautocorrect paradigm, but it should also speed up your typing. This is one of those obviousdifferences, you'll notice it right away. But here's the hidden bit in this new QuickType feature:When you're typing a message or an email, iOS 8 will pay attention to who you're chatting with, andit will adjust your tone to suit the nature of communications you usually have with that person. So,QuickType will suggest an entirely different set of words (and let those LOLs and WTFs slide) whenyou're texting with your husband than when you're sending an email to your travel agent. HTH!

Where is Continuity?

Oh, you mean the much-hyped and highly anticipated feature that gives your iOS devices the abilityto hand off conversations, browser sessions, and documents to your Mac, and vice versa? Thosefeatures only work with OS X Yosemite, and the next version of Apple's desktop OS doesn't ship untilnext month. You get some limited Continuity features between iOS 8 devices, but come back inOctober and we'll show you all of the cool things it can do between your mobile and your Mac.