WWDC 2014: With iOS 8, are the Apple walls finally crumbling?

Is the Apple wall finally crumbling with iOS 8 here? That’s the question on everyone’s mind after having seen the new features of the mobile OS. With new features like Extensions, Widgets for apps in Notifications Center, the option of changing your ‘Keyboard,’ third-party photo app filters in the native Photos app, it looks like a lot has changed in iOS, both for users and app developers.   The new Extensions feature of iOS 8 in particular has caused a lot of talk around what it means for iOS and inter-app communications. For starters, Extensions will still keep the sandboxing measures for apps in place but will allow apps to communicate with each other via iOS 8.   As this editorial in The Verge notes “iOS 8’s new extensibility, which opens up first- and third-party apps to additive features from any developer, or the loosening of boundaries on things like third-party keyboards and widgets, or the open access to Touch ID. It’s obvious that Apple is ready to break down some of its long-standing barriers and let people inside.”   Another piece  Ars Technica echoes the same line noting, “App Extensions probably represent the largest break with iOS’ past — for the first time, Apple is giving up its total control of the iOS interface, allowing others to tack widgets and keyboards on top.”   Developers are naturally excited about these features. Robert Tolar Haining, an engineer at US based app developers Modest told  Ars Technica, “The bigger update here is being able to create widgets within the Notification Center…It’ll be interesting to see whether ad-supported apps will adopt these features, that could have the effect of reducing actual app use.”   Extensions mean is that developers can now bring features, UI of their apps and run them through the core of iOS and interact with other apps. And it means more options for users too. For instance, to share a photo directly from the native photos app, users had to stick to the options Apple gave you: these were Facebook, Twitter, Mail, AirDrop, iCloud and Flickr. Soon developers like WhatsApp, Telegram, even Instagram could have extensions which will allow you share a photo on whatever app you want to directly from iOS 8 itself.   But the question of app usage itself can’t be ignored. The new feature will mean more interaction with the core iOS system and the iPhone itself. Also as the developer at Modest pointed out, you won’t have to open each app to do an action.   Apple also announced that it would be opening up Touch ID for third-party app users. What this means is that an app like 1Password could soon use this feature of iPhone 5s to allow users to just log-in, without having to type in their long passwords. By giving access to third-party app, Touch ID is now going to occupy a bigger space in the iOS ecosystem.   For users, Extensions means much more features. Widgets are a part of this feature and they can reply, ’like’ posts simply from the Notifications Center without having to go back to the app. It also means that you don’t have to keep opening the app every time you want to reply to message while you were browsing the web and is thus more efficient in terms of power usage as well.   Apple’s new iOS 8 is still far from open in terms of a mobile OS, but with Extensions the Cupertino tech giant has shown that it will lower some barriers for developers, but of course without giving up total control.