iOS 8

The fourth major update to iOS 8 will be avilable on June, 30, 2015. iOS 8.4 will include Apple's new music streaming service with Beats 1 radio. This will also be the final major update to iOS 8 before iOS 9.0 is released in the fall.

Find My iPad is a must have feature, both for your privacy/security and for your wallet. It allows you to remotely locate, lock or erase a lost or stolen iPad using iCloud. To turn it on, simply go to Settings -> iCloud and toggle on Find My iPad. You probably want to turn on Send Last Location as well, as it will have your iPad send its whereabouts when the battery is about to die. See here for instructions on how to use the service.

iOS 8 added recent contacts to the app switcher (double tap the home button to bring up app switcher) in the form of their pictures in circles. If you don't like the looks of this, or just don't use it for access to your recent contacts, you can easily shut it off. Go to Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendar and scroll down to Show in App Switcher. Tap on it and toggle off Recents.

Do Not Disturb is a handy feature on iOS devices that silences all notifications, including calls, texts and emails. It is perfect for use while at the movies, out to dinner or in bed for the night. A problem that can arise though, is forgetting to turn it off and subsequently missing important calls, texts, etc. The solution is scheduling times for it to turn on and off. This can be done by going to Settings -> Do Not Disturb and toggling on Scheduled. From there you can set the From and To times for Do Not Disturb to be engaged.

iOS 8.2 was released on March 9, 2015. The update includes Health app improvements, stability enhancements and bug fixes. Here are the official release notes:

Health App improvements

Adds the ability to select the unit of measurement for body temperature, weight, height, distance, and blood glucose
Improves stability when dealing with large amounts of data
Includes the ability to add and visualise workout sessions from 3rd-party apps
Addresses an issue that may have prevented users from adding a photo in Medical ID
Fixes units for vitamins and minerals

A simple but useful addition in iOS 8 is the ability to add photos to your notes. To do so, simply open up a note on your iPad and tap and hold the screen until a "Paste|Insert Photo" button comes up. Tap the Insert Photo option and you'll be taken to your photo album where you can choose what photo(s) to add.

Sharing photos with your iPad has become a lot easier in iOS 8. You tap a picture, tap the share button and a whole interface of options pops up. You can customize this interface a bit to suit your needs better. If, for example, you never post photos on Twitter, why keep it as an option? It only serves to clutter the screen, so you might as well remove it.

iOS 8.1 will be available on October 20, 2014. It will add Apple Pay to the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3, and it will also bring back the deleted Camera Roll feature to the Photos app.

In iOS 8 you can now see which apps are using up your battery the most. You can check by going to Settings -> General -> Usage -> Battery Usage. On this screen you can see by percentage which apps have used the most juice in the pas 24 hours or last 7 days. It also shows you how much time you have spent using the iPad since its last full charge and how much time it has spent in standby.