Apple has officially released iOS 8.3, bringing a number of bug fixes and new features to iOS 8.
iOS 8.3 was first released through Apple's iOS beta program, confirming the release of the software to the public. Here are the top five changes that Apple has made in iOS 8.3.
1. Diverse Emojis
One of the biggest changes in iOS 8.3 is the changed emoji keyboard, which includes over 300 characters and a diverse selection of skin colors. Previously, the diversity in the emoji keyboard was limited to an Indian man wearing a turban, and people of other ethnicities were not represented. Apple has also added more diversity in relationship-based emoji, including emoji of two men and two women.
2. Wireless CarPlay Support
CarPlay is still not extremely popular, but it is growing with a massive number of car manufacturers having signed up to produce CarPlay compatible cars over then next year or so. iOS 8.3 helps make the iPhone ready for these cars, enabling users to connect to CarPlay wirelessly. Previously, users were forced to connect to the system through a lightning cable. CarPlay will now even work while the phone is still in the user's pocket.
3. Connectivity Bug Fixes
There were a number of connectivity bugs in iOS 8.2. For example, users were often asked to repeatedly enter their Wi-Fi login credentials and were even intermittently disconnected from Wi-Fi networks. Another issue with disconnected hands-free calls randomly has been fixed.
4. iCloud Photo Library
Because of the fact that Photos is now available for OS X, there are a few tweaks to how photos are handled in iCloud. Because users can now access all of their photos through iCloud on OS X, the same can be done on iOS, including any edits to photos that a user makes. The feature, however, does have to be turned on manually, which can be done by going to the "Photos and Camera" menu from within the Settings app.
5. Landscape Orientation Bug Fix
Ever since Apple released the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, it has had a number of issues with viewing the device in landscape mode. For example, users were sometimes unable to rotate the device back to portrait mode after viewing it in landscape mode. Also, sometimes, when the display was rotated to landscape mode it appeared upside-down. These bugs should all be fixed with the released of iOS 8.3.
