Apple finally let go of its iron grip on your default apps
With iOS 14, Apple quietly extended its users a form of digital autonomy it had long withheld — the freedom to choose their own tools, see their own data, and shape their own experience. Released to millions of iPhones and iPads in late 2020, the update carries within it a quiet philosophical tension: a company famous for control slowly, selectively loosening its grip. These hidden features are not merely conveniences; they are small acts of transparency in a world where the machinery of technology has long operated out of sight.
- Apple's long-standing lock on default apps has cracked open — users can now assign Chrome or Outlook in place of Safari and Mail, a concession that arrived not from generosity but from necessity.
- Safari's new Privacy Report pulls back the curtain on the invisible economy of ad trackers, confronting users with a 30-day record of surveillance they never consented to see before.
- The redesigned home screen and App Library give users a way to reclaim order from digital clutter, letting them hide panels and redirect new downloads away from the main screen entirely.
- Back Tap, Picture-in-Picture, emoji search, and FaceTime eye contact represent a quieter revolution — small frictions removed, small pleasures added, daily life made incrementally more fluid.
- iOS 14.5 looms on the horizon with app tracking transparency, signaling that Apple's privacy-first identity is not a moment but a direction — one now backed by regulatory pressure and public expectation.
Apple has long had a habit of hiding its most useful features deep in the settings menu, and iOS 14 is no exception. Released in late 2020 and running on millions of devices, the update carries capabilities the company never loudly advertised — but which can meaningfully change how a phone feels to use.
The most symbolically significant change is also the most practical: Apple finally allows users to set default apps. Chrome, Edge, Outlook, and Hey email can now replace Safari and Mail as your go-to tools, provided the developers have updated their apps to support it. It's a small concession, but a telling one — Apple didn't offer this willingly so much as it eventually had to.
Privacy has become central to Apple's identity, and iOS 14 makes that visible. Safari now includes a Privacy Report accessible through the Aa button in the address bar, showing how many trackers were blocked on any given site and logging that data over 30 days. For most users, the numbers are a quiet shock.
The home screen has been rethought too. The App Library sorts everything into categories automatically, and users can hide entire panels of apps without deleting them. New downloads can be routed straight to the library, keeping the main screen clean. Meanwhile, ProRaw on the iPhone 12 Pro line offers photographers far greater editing latitude, and Scribble on iPad lets Apple Pencil users write directly into any text field and have it converted to typed text on the fly.
Smaller features round out the picture: an emoji search bar, Picture-in-Picture video that floats above other apps, and Back Tap — a gesture that lets double or triple-tapping the back of the phone trigger shortcuts like screenshots or Control Center. FaceTime can now simulate eye contact even when you're looking at the screen rather than the camera, and the Hidden Album can be made truly invisible in Settings.
Underpinning all of it is a broader privacy architecture. Every app in the App Store now carries a label disclosing what data it collects. With iOS 14.5, apps will be required to ask permission before tracking users for advertising. The tools are there — the question is whether people will use them.
Apple has a habit of burying its best features in the settings menu, where most people never think to look. iOS 14, released late last year and now running on millions of iPhones and iPads, is packed with capabilities the company never bothered to advertise—tricks that can genuinely change how you use your device, if you know where to find them.
Start with something radical: Apple finally let go of its iron grip on your default apps. For years, Safari and Mail were locked in as your only options, no matter what you preferred. Now you can assign Chrome as your browser or Outlook as your email client, assuming the app developers have updated their software to support the feature. It's a small thing, but it signals a shift. Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Outlook, and Hey email have already made the jump. To switch, you open Settings, scroll to the app you want, and tap the new default option if it's there. The feature exists because Apple had to let it exist—not because the company was eager to hand over control.
Privacy, meanwhile, has become Apple's calling card, and iOS 14 gives you tools to actually see what's happening. Open Safari, visit any website, tap the Aa button in the address bar, and you'll find a Privacy Report showing exactly how many ad trackers Safari blocked from following you. Tap deeper and you get a 30-day log. It's sobering. Nearly every website uses trackers. Most people never knew they were there until they could see the numbers.
The home screen itself has been reimagined. The new App Library works like a drawer, sorting your apps into categories so you don't need seventeen screens cluttered with icons you tap once a year. You can hide entire home screen panels with a long-press and a few taps—the apps don't disappear, they just move to the library. Better yet, newly downloaded apps can be sent straight to the App Library instead of cluttering your carefully curated home screen. Go to Settings, choose Home Screen, and select App Library Only. Your phone stays yours again.
For those with an iPhone 12 Pro or 12 Pro Max, iOS 14.3 introduced ProRaw, a new photo format that gives you vastly more control over editing. Turn it on in Settings under Camera, then look for the RAW toggle in the camera app. The difference in what you can do with those files is substantial. On iPad, Scribble lets you write directly into any text field with an Apple Pencil, and the device converts your handwriting to typed text automatically. You can pull down an incoming message, scribble a reply, and keep writing notes without ever setting down the stylus.
Some features are pure quality-of-life improvements. The emoji keyboard finally has a search bar—type what you want and find it instantly instead of scrolling through hundreds of tiny faces. Picture-in-Picture mode, borrowed from iPad, lets you shrink a video into a floating window and keep using your phone. Swipe up from the bottom while watching something in Twitch or Safari, and the video shrinks to a thumbnail you can move around or hide off-screen. YouTube doesn't officially support it, but you can work around that by watching in Safari and putting the video in full-screen mode before you leave the app.
There are stranger tricks too. Back Tap lets you double or triple-tap the back of your phone to trigger actions—take a screenshot, launch Siri, open Control Center. It sounds like it would activate constantly in your pocket, but the phone is surprisingly good at distinguishing intentional taps from accidental ones. FaceTime now has an eye contact feature that makes it look like you're staring into the camera even when you're looking at the screen. Hidden photos can actually be hidden now; turn off the Hidden Album in Settings and those photos disappear from view entirely, though they're still saved on your device. And when you're deep in the Settings app, long-press the back button to see a list of pages you can jump to instead of tapping backward one screen at a time.
All of this sits on top of iOS 14's bigger privacy push. The App Store now shows an app privacy label for every app, listing what data developers collect and how they use it. Starting with iOS 14.5, apps will ask permission before tracking you for ads. You can start making decisions now about whether you want apps that harvest enormous amounts of personal information on your phone at all. The feature exists because regulators demanded it, but it's useful whether you care about privacy or not—you get to see what these apps actually do.
Citações Notáveis
These welcome enhancements will surely enrich your experience, but my favorite tricks in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 are the ones you have to work to find.— Patrick Holland, CNET
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does Apple hide these features? Wouldn't it make sense to advertise them?
Some of them are genuinely niche—Back Tap is useful but not for everyone. Others, like default apps, Apple probably didn't want to highlight because it took regulatory pressure to add them. And some are just buried because Apple's settings menu is already overwhelming.
The privacy report in Safari—does that actually change anything, or is it just showing you something you can't control?
It shows you what's being blocked, which is the key thing. Safari is already stopping the trackers. But seeing the number—sometimes it's dozens per page—makes people aware of how pervasive this is. That awareness matters.
Why would someone want to hide the hidden album?
If you're hiding photos you genuinely don't want anyone to find, having a visible "Hidden" folder defeats the purpose. Someone picks up your phone, sees that folder, and knows to look there. Making it invisible actually protects privacy.
The Scribble feature on iPad—is that actually faster than typing, or does it just feel cool?
For people who already use an Apple Pencil, it's genuinely faster. You don't have to put the stylus down, switch to the keyboard, type, and switch back. You just keep writing. For someone who doesn't use a pencil, it's irrelevant.
What's the point of the eye contact feature in FaceTime if it's not real?
It's about perception. The person on the other end feels like you're paying attention because you appear to be looking at them. In reality, you're looking at their face on the screen. It's a small psychological trick that makes video calls feel more natural.