10 New iOS 14 Features That Android Has Had For Years

Just like every year, Apple announced what people are going to expect in the new generation of iOS, in this case, the iOS14.

Normally iOS updates bring a set of new never-before-seen features with a few features that are not so new. Some have existed on Android for years!

Reuters

Here¡¯s what iOS 14 announced that already existed on Android since quite a while.

Bubble notifications for calls

Apple was so proud to announce that now phone calls won¡¯t take up the entire screen on the device, in case you¡¯re working on something. A simple bubble tab would drop from top, and allow you to answer, reject or dismiss the call entirely.

Apple/ Droid Life

If Apple stepped out of its bubble, they¡¯d know that the feature (called Heads Up Notification) was up and running since Android Lollipop days.

App Library

App Library feature on iOS 14 allows you to organise the clutter of the apps to make it look neater by also giving the ability to hide unnecessary apps. Google¡¯s Android launchers have been coming with grouping and app-hiding features since a while now.

Apple

App Clips

App Clips on iOS 14 allows users to use a part of the app without requiring the user to download the whole app and require to sign up. Google has been doing this for its low-end budget phones with low storage space for a while now (since 2016), with a feature called Instant Apps.

Widgets

Apple touted Widgets to make its flat iOS home screen to look dynamic and customisable, and while it does look better than it used to, it clearly isn¡¯t something new.

Widgets might be new on iOS 14 but they¡¯re pretty old, and they have been a part of Android since the very beginning.

App Control Transparency

Apple touted its ¡®Privacy¡¯ by telling its users that the apps will offer better transparency on the kind of control it¡¯ll have on your device. While a cool feature, it¡¯s not unique to Apple.

Apple/ Google Play Store

Head to Google Play Store. When you click on About this App (or Game), it¡¯ll show you a list of info. Scrolling down will show you a tab called ¡®App Permissions¡¯. Hitting ¡®See More¡¯ will show you the kind of resources the app will take on your device.

Picture in Picture

While people on iOS will be truly surprised to see Picture in Picture feature on iOS 14, Android as had it since Android 8 which was launched nearly three years ago in 2017 with PiP being available for YouTube Red (Premium) subscribers.

Wind-Down

Apple introduced a cool feature that works in tandem with its iPhone, Apple Watch and Home app where if you enter a particular time to go to bed, it¡¯ll commence a ¡®Wind-Down¡¯ by setting devices on DND while fading out the light to prepare you for the sleep.

Even though Android doesn¡¯t have a dedicated app like Wind-Down, the Google Home app has the ability to add a bedtime routine which will fade the lights for you before a specific time to help you relax. You can pair this with the DND feature on phone (you can manually set up DND on phone) and sync with your Google Watch.

Active Translation

iOS 14 boasted its foray into real-time conversation translations between 11 languages including English, Mandarin, German, French as well as Korean.

Apple/ Google

Google Translate, which is regarded as the gold standard of translation apps has been rocking it for nearly 14 years now and has the ability to transcribe conversations in real-time in 8 different languages.

Apple Maps Cycling

Apple Maps was happy to announce that it was including cycling routes on its maps with intuitive information suck as elevation, stairs and even cycle repair shops on the way. Google Maps has had this feature for a few years now.

Even though it doesn¡¯t show stairs on your route, it does offer elevation notification and routes specific to two-wheelers.

Apple/ The Guardian

Siri with a smaller footprint

As annoying as Siri can be with its poor and inaccurate answers, what was more annoying is that it takes up the entire screen while answering those queries.

However, with iOS 14, Siri now gets a much smaller footprint. While great, Google Assistant has been doing it way before that, by taking over only the bottom part of the device.