1. Remove Recent Contacts From the In App Switcher
With iOS 8, Apple integrated recent and favorite contacts on the top of app switcher. So now whenever you double press the home button, they’ll be there. Every. Single. Time. Not only is this annoying, it gets distracting over time. Thankfully there’s a way to disable this. Go to Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendar -> Show in App Switcher and turn it off.
2. Turn Off iCloud Drive
In case you missed our memo about not activating your iCloud Drive when updating to iOS 8, here’s a refresher. iCloud Drive is only compatible with iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite. If you have a Mac running Mavericks or an iOS device that can’t get the update, turning on iCloud Drive will disable cloud access for those devices. If you want to turn it off now, go to Settings -> iCloud and turn off iCloud Drive.
3. Turn Off QuickType Predictions
Apple’s new QuickType prediction engine is cute. People on Twitter have already turned it into a game, using just the QuickType suggestions to create sentences. Sometimes they make sense, sometimes they don’t. Most of them are hilarious. The point is that QuickType predictions, as they stand right now, aren’t the best. And if you’re already used to autocorrect on iOS 8, you might want to turn predictions off. Go to Settings -> General -> Keyboard and turn the Predictive option off. Alternatively, tap and hold the Globe icon on the keyboard and turn off the Predictive option.
4. Disable Auto Destructive Messages
Messages is taking the Snapchat route and is making voice and video messages self-destructive by default. You’ll have to tap the “Keep” option for each message to save it. If you exchange a lot of media that you want to save, this can turn into chore. Go to Settings -> Messages-> Videos Messages and change the Expire option to Never. Then from Keep Messages section select Forever.
6. Use Banners Instead Of Alerts For Messages
When you get a message or iMessage on iOS 8, you can pull down the notification banner to quickly reply to it. If you’re using Alerts instead of banners, you do get the same functionality, only it’s a little buggy. If you receive another notification when you’re replying in the alert box, the message disappears completely and you need to start over. Switch to Banners from Alerts for Messages to fix this behavior.
7. Enable/Disable Handoff Between iPhone and iPad
While Continuity and Handoff features won’t make it to the Mac till end of October, they can be used between iPad and iPhone. If you’re running iOS 8 on both devices, they should be enabled by default. But some users are reporting that it’s not the case. Additionally, if your iPad is shared with your family, you might want to disable the Handoff feature altogether. So go to Settings -> General -> Handoff & Suggested Apps to enable/disable Handoff.
Has iOS 8 Annoyed You Yet?
Compared to iOS 7, iOS 8 seems to be a lot more stable. No major bugs or battery drain reported yet. But if iOS 8 has done something to annoy you, let us know in the comments below.
