The best iOS 8 widgets & extensions

Apple may have Read Later, but if you're serious about snapping snippets from the web (saving them for later enjoyment, in other words) then Pocket is the way to do it. Pocket has always been a fantastic tool for capturing web pages, videos, articles or pretty much anything you find on the internet, but the new Pocket extension makes it much easier to send items to Pocket directly from the Share menu in Safari.

To learn about setting up extensions and widgets in the first place, take a look at Using extensions in iOS 8

Apple placed support for Twitter and Facebook directly into iOS, but extensions open up the iPhone and iPad to all the other social media platforms. Our favourite is Pinterest, the image sharing site. One tap of Share > Pinterest and you can pick any image from a web page and add it to your collection of online images.

See also:

5 top tips for using Safari in iOS 8

Evernote is one of the most powerful note-taking services on the market. With the Evernote app installed you get extensions across the board. You can share anything to Evernote from Safari or Photos, but more importantly you get an Evernote extension in the Today view of Notification Centre offering quick access to Text, Camera, Photos, Reminder and List creation tools.

See: iOS 8 tips & tricks: Our guide to iOS 8's features

Day One is a fantastic diary app that is taking the app world by storm. The iOS 8 edition enables you to integrate Day One into the Today view of Notification Centre. You get flashbacks of older entries and random photos from months or even years gone by. With time, and regular use, we think Day One will be one of the best extensions you can add to your iPhone.

Not wanting to be outdone by iCloud Drive, Dropbox has come up with a raft of new features for iOS 8. Notification Centre now shows you all the files that have been recently edited and changed. Tapping a file in Notification Centre takes you to a preview in the Dropbox app. You can also manage shared files and folders from inside the Dropbox app, and there are a bunch of other new features.

If you find yourself wanting quick access to a calculator, then PCalc Lite is the way to go. Open Notification Centre and tap Today > Edit and PCalc to get a calculator in the Today view.

1Password remains one of our favourite apps. You store your passwords in 1Password securely using a Master Password, and then passwords can be synced across Mac, iPhone or iPad. With the 1Password app installed you can insert login and password info directly into Safari by tapping Share > 1Password.

There are lots of powerful GTD (Getting Things Done) apps available on the iPhone. Our personal favourite is Things (iPhone version; iPad version), but rivals OmniFocus and Clear both offer similar functionality. See something important, tap Share > Add To Things to create a new reminder with a link to that item.

Find out how to make space on an iPhone when you need it

Nowhere has extensions had more of an impact than inside the Photos app. A huge range of apps offer a range of additional editing features for Photos, but we suggest Camera360 is a good place to start. It offers advanced Blur, Portrait and Adjust modes that really show off what extensions can do for Photos.

See also: Tips for using the iPhone & iPad camera, PLUS: photo editing in iOS 8

Read these advanced iOS 8 tips you don’t know yet

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