I can't speak to the question of the differences between iOS 7 and iOS 8 in regards to viewDidAppear, here are some what I hope are useful links to take a look at.
There was a question answered that addressed the call/event cycle that contains a graphic that you may find useful:
iOS 7 - Difference between viewDidLoad and viewDidAppear
And this link has a reference to a UIViewController using a UINavigationController that, in turns, manages other UIViewControllers and the viewDidAppear message was getting lost in the hierarchy. The fix was to ensure that the navigation controller explicitly called viewDidAppear so it would be passed it to the child views.
http://davidebenini.it/2009/01/03/viewwillappear-not-being-called-inside-a-uinavigationcontroller/
Not sure of your exact situation, but hopefully these will help.