iOS 8 Tips

One of the most anticipated features in iOS 8 was the ability to leave or delete a person from a group message, but some users are reporting that the new feature does not work. This is because there are several factors that need to be met before you can use the option to leave or delete a person from a conversation of 4 or more people. First, lets look at how to leave a group message:

You can leave a group message by entering the message thread and tapping the "Details" button in the top right corner. From here, you can either silence group texts by tapping the "Do Not Disturb" slider, or leave the group entirely by selecting the "Leave this conversation" option.

Family Sharing is one of the more useful new features found in iOS 8. It allows family members to share purchases made on the App Store and iTunes, and it also allows one person to control those purchases from a single credit card. You can set up the Family Sharing option by opening the App Store app after your first install iOS 8 and following the prompts, or you can go to Settings > iCloud > Family.

Family Sharing allows you to add up to six devices to your account. You can add additional devices after the initial setup by also going to Settings > iCloud > Family from the master device. Once you're inside the Family settings, just tap "Add Family Member..." and enter a family member's name or email address.

Prior to iOS 8, Apple only allowed its native apps like Calendar, Reminders, and Stocks to push data to your Notification Center. To be sure, there were jailbreak tweaks such as NCWeather that would let you add widgets, but that was not sanctioned by Apple and could've nullified your warranty. With the latest iOS, however, Apple has opened up the Notification Center to third party developers and there are already a bunch of apps with widgets available. For example, if you have the Sports Center app, it now has a widget available that you can add to your NC, which will show you updated scores, news, etc.

If you have updated to iOS 8 and want to add a widget to your iPhone's Notification Center, here's how:

1. Make sure you have an updated version of your app that includes iOS 8 widgets.

2. Open your Notification Center by swiping down from the top of your screen.

The evolution of the mobile phone is odd when you think about it. We went from wanting smaller phones to wanting larger displays, and we chose text as our preferred means of communication over video and voice calls. So why did Apple add the ability to send voice messages in iOS 8 if people are just going text each other anyway? Some would argue that Apple added voice messages because it is a popular feature on WhatsApp, BlackBerry Messenger and other third-party messaging services, but I like to think of it as the end of the dinosaur known as Voice Mail.

How many times have you had a text conversation where you said, "I can't explain this in text... I'm going to call you". Or how many times have you wanted to leave someone a message but didn't want to deal with the long process of calling them and leaving a voice mail? This is where a voice messages comes in. Thanks to iOS 8, iPhone users can now quickly record and send a voice message without the need to call someone.

Here's a quick look at all the new features Apple has added to its default Mail app in iOS 8.

Swiping left or right on an email now brings up the more options. Swipe left for "More," "Flag" or "Trash," and swipe right to quickly mark an email as Unread or Read. You can also customize these options under Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Swipe Options.