SAN FRANCISCO, June 22 (Xinhua) -- Apple on Monday previewed its latest version of iPhone operating system, iOS 14, during its virtual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), introducing the "biggest update ever" to Home Screen pages with redesigned widgets and the App Library.
"iOS 14 transforms the most iconic elements of the iPhone experience, starting with the biggest update we've ever made to the Home Screen," said Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering.
"With beautifully redesigned widgets on the Home Screen, the App Library that automatically organizes all of your apps... iPhone becomes even more powerful and easier to use," he added.
The new widgets present timely information at a glance and can be pinned in different sizes on any Home Screen page. Users can create a Smart Stack of widgets, which uses on-device intelligence to surface the right widget based on time, location, and activity, the company said.
Home Screen pages can display widgets that are customized for work, travel, sports, entertainment, and other areas of interest.
App Library will automatically organize all of a user's apps into one simple, easy-to-navigate view, and intelligently surface apps that may be helpful at the moment. Users can choose how many Home Screen pages to display and hide pages for quick access to the App Library.
With Picture-in-Picture support, iPhone users can watch a video or take a FaceTime call while using another app.
Maps has added new cycling directions, electric vehicle routing, and curated Guides. Cycling directions take into account elevation, how busy a street is, and whether there are stairs along the route. Electric vehicle routing adds charging stops along a planned route based on current vehicle charge and charger types.
Under iOS 14, all apps will now be required to obtain user permission before tracking. Users can choose to share their approximate location with app developers rather than their precise location when granting app location access, according to the company.
Apple said that the new software features will be available this fall as a free software update for iPhone 6s and later.
The WWDC 2020 kicked off on Monday and will run virtually until Friday.