There was a major IOS update a couple of months ago…technically, it is now now up to version 8.1.1…..and I have discovered there are a few neat features which I didn’t know about!

I am a total Apple fan….I have an iPhone 5s, an iPad mini and an iPad Air…so get a little excited when my gadgets can do new tricks!

So apologies to the users of other platforms, but this week’s My Friday Five is a list of five new things in IOS 8 that I had no idea existed!

IOS-8-Features

1. Hey Siri

Did you know that you can activate Siri just by saying “Hey Siri”?

Just go to Settings>General>Siri and enable “Allow Hey Siri”!

Now instead of holding down the Home button, you can bring Siri to life just by “calling out” to her…which is kind of freaky when you think about it!

There is one catch….the device needs to be plugged into power for this feature to work….which I thought would kinda restrict the usefulness of this.

But I guess, I have my iPhone plugged into power when I am in the car, so it would work perfectly in that situation.

2. Emergency Health ID

IOS 8 comes with a new Health app, which allows you to create a screen with important info such as date of birth, allergies, medications, blood type, organ donor status and emergency contacts.

This app then allows anyone to access this potentially life saving information from the lock screen.

My husband is a liver transplant recipient, and therefore requires very specific medication and treatment, so this Health app feature is another avenue in which we can ensure he has his vital medical details on hand in an emergency, and I am not on hand to assist.

I will also set it up as I have no thyroid and need medication daily as well.

3. Recover Recently Deleted Photos

When you delete photos from your device, IOS 8 places them into a folder, where they will remain for 30 days.

Handy if you decide to clean out your photos, and then accidentally delete some images you want to keep!

To find this “Recently Deleted” folder, go to Photos > Albums…..you might be surprised how many old photos are in there…I had 166!

4. Send Last Location

I am a big fan of the Find My iPhone…it has been a godsend with a husband who misplaces his iPhone and iPad regularly.

Luckily, neither gadget has gone too far AWOL.

But this new addition to Find My iPhone adds another useful feature….when enabled, the last location of the device will be sent before the battery runs out, and the connection is lost….and may the device as well….

You can turn this on by going to Settings > iCloud > Find My iPhone.

5. Battery Performance

Do you find your battery is getting very flat very quickly?

Now you can find out which app is the power drainer…just go to Settings>General>Usage>Battery Usage and you will be able to see what each app is consuming.

I had a look at the usage on my phone and the two apps that use the most on my iPhone, apart from the Home & Lock Screen, are Instagram and Facebook, followed by Hangouts and the camera…no surprises there!

So fellow Apple users….be honest, did you know about any of these?

And do you know of any other useful new IOS 8 additions that I should check out?