6 super-helpful iOS8 tricks you probably don't know about

iOS8
(Image credit: Apple.com)

When we iPhone users download the latest iOS software update, the first thing many of us do is scour geek websites for lists of hidden, cool features. And sure enough, there are dozens of such lists already, because iOS8 is packed with helpful goodies. I've read nearly all of these lists, and below I've distilled what I think are the most useful hidden features — the stuff that gets lost behind the glamor of, say, enhancements to the camera app, widgets, intuitive keyboards, Continuity, and third-party app-sharing.

1. Automatic notifications for important emails. I've been using a different mail app for awhile because Apple's indigenous interface is frustratingly free of ways to organize what comes in. Now, it's gotten a bit better. One enhancement is the ability to designate a chain of emails as important with a tap of the finger in the subject line, which will automatically send replies to your email to the new notification window (where, also new, you can reply directly to it.) This will save time and help clear clutter.

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Marc Ambinder

Marc Ambinder is TheWeek.com's editor-at-large. He is the author, with D.B. Grady, of The Command and Deep State: Inside the Government Secrecy Industry. Marc is also a contributing editor for The Atlantic and GQ. Formerly, he served as White House correspondent for National Journal, chief political consultant for CBS News, and politics editor at The Atlantic. Marc is a 2001 graduate of Harvard. He is married to Michael Park, a corporate strategy consultant, and lives in Los Angeles.