14 DAY TRIAL // Ahead of the Worldwide Developers Conference, new details have leaked out regarding Apple’s plans with iOS 8, codenamed “Okemo” internally. Sources familiar with the plans say the company has performed a redesign across the entire OS, but that the aesthetic changes are not the focus of this release.
Sources close to Apple tell the people at 9to5mac that “iOS 8, which is internally codenamed Okemo, will focus on feature and design enhancements across the system.” Many of the apps and services will see “subtle tweaks,” but some apps will indeed see major improvements as well. One of those is Maps.
Apple Maps will keep its UI and improve mapping data and clarity, while adding “tweaked cartography, clearer labeling, and improved notation of bus stops, train stations, and airports.” Transit directions will be the major new addition in Apple Maps 2.0, with transit functionality being “deeply embedded for several cities around the world,” according to the sources.
By far the biggest new addition in iOS 8 will be the all-new Healthbook app, which tracks blood work, heart rate, blood pressure, nutrition, sleep, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, weight, and activity, among other things. There are clues embedded in Healthbook that give away Apple’s plans to support third-party medical devices.
The app will offer graphs and the previously rumored Emergency Card, which includes a photograph, birth date, blood type, organ donor status, and emergency contact information, to “provide emergency technicians, nurses, hospitals, and doctors with vital information about patients in emergency situations.”
Other plans include: breaking out iTunes Radio from the Music app, removing the Game Center app, redesigning the Voice Memos app, adding a new multitasking feature to iPads, the ability to connect an iPad to a Mac and use it as an external monitor, integration with home appliances, song identification with Shazam, and updates to the Messages app.
Sources say that some of these new features are not ready and will not be showcased at the Worldwide Developers Conference, which is just a few hours away. Although Apple will most likely release iOS 8 this year, some features may not be shipped until next year, according to the sources.
Interestingly, the sources also told the site that “Apple is only finalizing which features make the cut for the first iOS 8 beta tomorrow,” which is certainly disappointing. We’ll be covering all the juicy tidbits from WWDC later today, so don’t go anywhere too far.