iOS 8 Tips and Tricks

     iOS 8 has some pretty nifty tricks in it!  You now have more options when using Safari in iOS 8.  You can now save articles and items you like directly into your Evernote account, your Pocket account, and more.  Just tap on the sharing icon (the box with the arrow up) and choose where you would like to put the article.  You can Tweet a link to it, post it on Facebook, etc.  If you do not see Evernote or Pocket as options, but you have those apps installed on your device, go to the More icon and tap on it.  Then, allow access to the apps you want by swiping to green.  Now you can save to Evernote, Pocket, etc. straight from Safari!

     Students can now have an entire screen read to them in Safari or other native iOS apps such as Pages without having to highlight the sections they want read.  To enable this function, go to Settings.  Tap on General.  Tap on Accessibility.  Then tap on Speech.  Swipe to turn on Speak Screen.  Now, when students want an entire screen read, they simply swipe downward from the top of the screen with two fingers.  Options will also come up to allow students to speed up or slow down the reading.  

     Safari is just one of many upgrades in iOS 8!The camera has gotten some great updates, too.   Now, users can do a time-lapse video and a panoramic photo!  There is also a timer for photos that can be set to either 3 seconds or 10 seconds.  In addition to the camera updates, another nice feature is the notification when an app is using your location information in the background.  Users can even disallow the app from doing so within the notification itself.  This will help users know which apps could be potentially draining their battery life by running location services in the background.

     For parents, a nice feature that has been added is in Guided Access.  Parents now have the ability to select how long the iPad can be used before shutting off, thus allowing parents to limit their child's time on the device.

     Finally, if you update your MacBook to Yosemite, you will then be able to air drop from your MacBook to your iPad and vice versa.  This will be a very handy tool in the classroom!