iOS 14 Tidbits and Hidden Features: Privacy Updates, Emoji Picker, New Dark Sky Weather Forecasts and More

Apple today unveiled iOS 14 with major new features like widgets for the Home screen, App Clips, a new App Library view that shows you all of your apps at a glance, new @mentions and pinned chats in Messages, Maps updates, and more, but there are also tons of smaller changes and tweaks that went unmentioned.


Below, we’ve rounded up all of the minor updates and feature changes that Apple has added in the iOS and iPadOS 14 updates.

  • Emoji Picker – iOS 14 includes the same emoji search interface that’s available on the Mac, making it easier to find a specific emoji that you’re looking for.
  • Messages Threaded Conversations – Apple introduced conversation threads as a feature for group chats in the Messages app, but this feature also works in standard chats with just one other person. You can tap on any message to reply to that message directly, providing more organization for conversations.
  • Photos Privacy – In iOS 14, when apps ask for access to your Photos app, you can give them access only to select photos rather than the entire Photo Library.
  • Local Network Privacy – Apps in iOS 14 need to ask permission to find and connect with devices on the local network.
  • Music App Redesign – The Music app’s interface has been overhauled with a “Listen Now” feature front and center. A bottom navigation menu includes tabs for Browse, Radio, Library, and Search, with the “For You” option replaced by “Listen Now.”
  • Exposure Compensation in Camera – There’s a new exposure compensation control in Photos that lets you lock an exposure value while separately locking camera focus. Apple says taking photos is also faster with a faster time to first shot and shot to shot performance.
  • Health Checklist – A Health Checklist in the Health app lets you manage health and safety info in one place, and there are new data types for mobility, health records, symptoms, and ECG.
  • Notes – With on-device intelligence, search in the Notes app is faster, and you can capture sharper document scans.
  • Photos – Photos can be organized with new options to filter and sort, and it’s easier to navigate using pinch and zoom gestures.
  • Reminders – There’s a new Quick Entry option for the Reminders app, as well as smart suggestions for capturing new reminders more quickly. Shared list members can also assign reminders to each other to make it easier to split up tasks.
  • Third-Party Default Apps – Third-Party mail and browser apps can be set as the default in iOS and iPadOS 14.
  • Voice Memos – There’s a new Enhance Recording feature that lets you improve the sound quality of your recordings with a tap, plus there are new organizational options.
  • Weather – The Weather app provides info on severe weather events as well as upcoming shifts in weather. In the U.S., there’s also a chart with a minute-by-minute forecast of precipitation intensity, which appears to take advantage of functionality in Dark Sky, an app Apple recently purchased.

Have you found other new features in iOS and iPadOS 14 that went unmentioned by Apple? Let us know in the comments and we’ll add them to this list. We’ll be updating the hidden features list as we discover new changes and updates in the software releases.

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