I just learned you can swipe a text message to the left and reply directly

I think it's been this way since iOS 5.

 

I've never tried to swipe left to see if that feature was there, but I did know you could swipe right and took you directly to the message to reply. Had to put in password if you had one, otherwise no.

Are you saying that now even WITH a password set, you can reply from lock screen?

My phone never leaves my presence anyways so I'm not worried about that but just wondering.

 

You mean swipe down on the text message banner.

Never mind. Didn't see that you wrote about the lock screen. Yes, swipe to left when on the lock screen and swipe down when on the home screen to quickly respond to a notification.

 

I was speaking more from a security standpoint, but as I said my phone never leaves my side so I'm not worried about that. For me, this actually sounds very useful. (and you as well from what it looks like) I suppose if anyone is worried about security, they should just disable everything from the lock screen anyways.

 

This is new for iOS 8. Quick reply from top banner from any screen. And quick reply from lock screen. You have to make sure "show preview" is enabled. If not you won't get this option because how would you know what you are replying to.

 

Apple should've implemented this a LONG time ago. Better late than never I suppose.