iOS 8 Details and Leaked Images Point to Greater iCloud Integration
This must be the week for iOS 8 leaks: a new report out of 9to5Mac suggests that Apple’s in-development iOS 8 will offer greater integration of the company’s iCloud file storage system. The move comes in response to developer complaints that the current systems in place to integrate iCloud is too complicated.
The post spells it out thusly:
“Apple is said to be researching new iCloud storage tools to make the development of server-integrated App Store applications for iOS simpler. Developers have long complained that building App Store apps that rely on iCloud is a complex and unreliable process. This potential future initiative would be designed to resolve those issues.”
The same post also explains that iOS 8 will feature new versions of the Preview and TextEdit apps optimized for iPhones and iPads, both of which will work well with users’ iCloud accounts. Interestingly, the post says that the iOS 8 versions of those apps won’t actually allow users to edit files, just view them. To which I, as a happy and productive Windows and Android user can only say, “Huh?”
Confusions on that point aside, hearing that Apple is looking to better integrate its iCloud file storage system with its desktop and mobile operating systems can only be good news for users. Over the last couple months, I’ve migrated all of my work files onto Dropbox (none of which is large enough to hit the cap on its free storage options), and it’s been great to have easy access to my files at all times. If Apple users want to use a homegrown solution made by Apple itself, that will likely only make their experiences even more enjoyable.
But this news isn’t all we’ve got concerning iOS 8 today. Another post on 9to5Mac posted some leaked images of what iOS 8 will actually look like, images that have apparently been “confirmed with several sources.”
There’s nothing incredibly revelatory going on in any of these, but if nothing else, we can get a pretty good look at the Healthbook app icon that we’ve been hearing about for some time now. That icon offers some more hints as to what Healthbook will monitor: your blood pressure, your heart rate, and the number calories you’ve burned. This app was likely designed to be combined with the iWatch that will have to be unveiled by Apple someday before the end of the world.
Take a look at the screens below and form your own opinion about the future face of the iPhone.
