iOS 14 brings in some lovely new iMessage effects, better SMS spam filtering, and more India-specific features. iOS 14 has better SMS spam filtering.
You also get a more natural-sounding Siri
We do have some localized iMessage effects too
Gone are the days when Apple used to only design features for maybe the U.S. and U.K. and some features that were targeted at the rest of the world. For the past three years, we've got iOS features designed specifically for India. We have better SMS spam filtering, new fonts, new iMessage effects, and much more. Here are the best India-specific features in iOS 14.
1. iMessage Effects for India
You are already aware that if we send certain keywords in iMessage, for example, happy birthday, happy new year, congratulations, or pew, you'll see full-screen effects on the app. Now, these effects have been localized for India. For example, try typing जन्मदिन मुबारक and send it to someone on iMessage. You'll see a lovely little bunch of balloons popping up over on the screen. Similarly, typing Happy Diwali or Happy Holi in Hindi or English triggers these effects too.
2. Better SMS Spam Filtering
SMS spam is a problem that plagues a lot of Indians. iOS 14 has made tackling this problem a little bit easier. We already had apps such as VeroSMS that would allow you to filter spam, but now the Messages app is getting additional filters built-in to complement those apps. So if you tap at the Filters button on the top left, you'll see nice filters such as Known Senders, Unknown Senders, Transactional Messages, etc.
3. Indian English Translation
One of the languages supported for translation in iOS 14 is Indian English. Now, that's good to see because you can now translate from Spanish in English but what we really need is the ability to translate to and from Indian languages. For example, Chinese, Spanish, or Portuguese to Hindi, Marathi, or any other Indian language, because that would be a game-changer in India.
4. New Fonts for India
iOS 14 supports 20 new document fonts, and some even existing Indian fonts have got new styles such as bold and italics.
5. Support for Devanagari Email IDs
If you know somebody who has an email ID in Devanagari, you can now send emails to them via the Mail app. The app now supports Devanagari email IDs, apart from an address in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, and Thai.
6. Download Updates on Cellular Data
The next big feature that we want to highlight here is increased support for cellular data downloads in iOS 14. Apple now allows you to download software updates, Siri voices, and Apple TV+ downloads via mobile data, which is perfect for India. People use a lot of mobile data, and broadband access remains relatively low.
7. Siri Sounds More Natural
The Indian English voice of Siri sounded a bit robotic in iOS 13, but with the latest iOS 14 update, it sounds much more lifelike. In case you like using the voice assistant, you'll hear a more human-like voice now.
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