Nearly three months after they were first announced, the iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and watchOS 7 updates are now available to everyone.
iPhone and iPad owners can get their device’s new update by launching their Settings app and tapping on “General” followed by “Software Update”. If you’ve got an Apple Watch, you can upgrade it by selecting the Watch app on your iPhone, tapping “General”, then selecting “Software Update”.
Each of these new updates brings new features for you to try out. iOS 14 allows you to place widgets on your home screens and includes App Library, a new home screen that automatically sorts all of your installed apps into folders. There new versions of incoming call notifications and Siri that’ll no longer take over your whole screen, too.
App Clips is a new iOS 14 feature that’ll let you scan a code and access a specific feature of an app without installing the whole thing. For example, you could pay for a parking meter without downloading the actual app.
Picture-in-picture is coming to the iPhone with iOS 14, too, while Apple Maps is getting cycling directions. There’s a whole new Translate app with support for 11 languages, and the Messages app is getting new features like the the ability to pin conversations to the top of your list as well as @mentions and in-line replies to help make group chats easier to follow.
iPad owners with an Apple Pencil will be able to use the new iPadOS 14 feature Scribble to write into a text field and have their handwriting automatically converted to text. There are updates to Apple apps like Files, Photos, and Music that include sidebars to better take advantage of the iPad’s bigger screen, too.
iPadOS 14 includes the same smaller incoming call notifications as iOS 14, plus improved Search with a new compact design that you can access anywhere and redesigned widgets.
And then there’s watchOS 7. One of the biggest new features of this update is sleep tracking, which uses your Apple Watch’s accelerometer to determine when you’re sleeping. You can then view a graph showing how much you slept and how much you were awake the night before, plus charts showing your weekly sleep trend.
While you’re wearing your Apple Watch at night, the screen will dim so that it won’t keep you awake. And when you do get up, a wake up screen will get you up-to-date with the current time, weather, and your Apple Watch’s battery level.
watchOS 7 also includes automatic handwashing detection that uses the Apple Watch’s sensors, microphone, and machine learning to figure out when you’re washing your hands and give you a 20-second countdown.
There are new workouts in the watch faces in the watchOS 7 update, too, and you can now share your watch faces with other people. And the Fitness app now includes four new workouts, including Dance, Core Training, and Functional Strength Training.
Once you get your iOS 14, iPadOS 14, or watchOS 7 update, be sure to share your thoughts of the new features with us!