You're going to see the phrase "updated for iOS 8" a lot in the coming days, and not just for Microsoft apps. But for the software giant, it all starts with Skype: the communications app is the first of Microsoft's apps to get the iOS 8 treatment and the star feature is interactive notifications.
I just wrote about this feature—which I called notification actions—in 10 iPhone 6/iOS 8 Features I'd Like to See in Windows Phone. Here's how Microsoft describes it:
"The newest version of Skype for iPhone takes advantage of extensions in iOS 8 to deliver interactive notifications," Microsoft's Eric Lin writes in a new post to the Skype Garage & Updates blog. "You can now answer voice and videos calls as well as jump right to text conversations to reply all from the lock screen and notification center."
So there are two aspects to this UI.
From the lock screen, you can now choose Reply, Decline or Answer, or Call Back/Message to new incoming Skype communications. Here's Call Back or Message:
If you're doing something on your iPhone and a Skype call comes in, you can now tap the notification slice and perform various actions—like Reply, Answer or Decline, Call Back or Message, or Voice or Video—without leaving the current app. (What you see will vary on what type of communications you're getting, as listed below.) Here's Answer or Decline:
That UI is also available if you bring up the Notification Center UI. (By swiping down from the top of the screen.)
In either case...
For incoming calls, you can choose to answer with voice or video.
For missed calls you can return the call or send a message.
And for incoming messages, you can jump right to the text box to reply.
Nice!
