iOS 15 was launched this year to create a better iPhone experience with lots of improvements in the previous operating system. Here is everything you need to know about the latest iOS operating system.
In June 2021, Apple released iOS 15, the most recent version of the iOS operating system, which was launched on September 20, 2021. Redesigned FaceTime capabilities, tools to decrease distractions, and more are all included in the latest system. The improvements and modifications appear to be a natural extension of what’s currently in place. It improves certain built-in apps that needed updating, like FaceTime and Maps, adds some useful new features like the ability to store ID cards in Wallet. Moreover, it boosts your iPhone’s on-device intelligence with new features. Although not all of these changes are entirely polished, the upgrade is something to look forward to.
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Since the end of June, iOS 15 was available as a public beta, but now it is available as a download that anybody may install. All you have to do is to go to your phone’s Settings app and select General and from there, click Software Update.
Availibilty:
One of the most notable upgrades is the overhaul of the FaceTime video messaging app. The update introduces a grid view option that neatly arranges everyone’s faces who is present in the call. Moreover, if you have an iPhone XR or later, you can use FaceTime with iOS 15 to make use of the spatial audio. You’ll hear the person’s speech emanating from the region of the screen where their square is positioned with spatial audio. Even though it may appear to be a minor change, it makes a significant impact in making video calls feel more natural.
There is more to FaceTime’s audio advancements. There are Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum functions, the former can filter out background noise on calls, allowing your voice to be amplified, and the latter can gather up all ambient sounds around you. Moreover, FaceTime can now introduce a background blur when you’re on camera. This Portrait mode for video conversations allows users to blur out their background and put themselves in focus, as well as mute alerts, which make it easier to hear when you’re on mute.
Also, FaceTime will assist those who do not own an iPhone. FaceTime is coming to Android and Windows as well, however with a browser-based interface rather than a dedicated app. You can now create shared URLs to arrange FaceTime calls with your friends who don’t own an iPhone. Moreover, you can not only control who can join the call, but you can also kick them out 30 seconds after they join.
With SharePlay you can stream music or video on a FaceTime conversation with the other individuals on the call. Also, the playback is synchronized so that everyone is seeing or listening at the same time. You can even use it to share the screen of your iPhone. Paramount Plus and Showtime are supported in SharePlay. There are more apps using SharePlay’s screen-sharing functionality, such as Redfin, Night Sky, and the Heads Up game. Support is being added to more apps all the time.
You could all control the playback from your various devices. Also, you can even resize the video window to make it easier to observe the video while shrinking the FaceTime window. You can switch to text or audio discussions when FaceTime arrives, but the video playback takes precedence. SharePlay does a good job of dropping the audio from whatever you’re watching or listening to, allowing you to continue your discussion. Audio controls on SharePlay appeared to be universal, you can’t increase the volume of what you’re playing back. Everyone in the session can play, pause, skip and contribute to a shared queue.
In a FaceTime call, participants can now share their screens to watch apps together via SharePlay. Disney+, ESPN+, HBO Max, Hulu, MasterClass, Paramount+, Pluto TV, TikTok, Twitch, and other third-party apps are going to integrate SharePlay. SharePlay works with the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV, allowing users to connect over FaceTime while watching shows or movies on a larger screen. SharePlay also has a function called in-app Messages controls.
The new Focus feature is here to liberate us from distractions and time suckers. You can consider Focus to be a more polished version of Do Not Disturb, excluding all but the most important notifications. Moreover, it also limits your home screen to only the apps you need for the task at hand. You can select Work Focus to limit notifications from streaming apps and social networking tools, as well as incoming messages from people you haven’t whitelisted. You can create a home screen that solely shows your work-related apps to further reduce distractions. Other iOS 15 users will be able to see your Focus status in Messages, which should make them less likely to ping you. Third-party chat applications can also show your Focus state, which is a great addition.
Furthermore, while iPadOS 15 and macOS Monterey both support this, your Focus setting follows you from device to device. You can easily set this up and activate it. You can set your focus by swiping down from the upper corner of your iPhone screen to the Control Center. To turn it off you can click on the icon that shows on your phone’s lock screen. Moreover, Apple lets you name and modify any focus mode you choose, whether it’s for gaming, family time, driving, sleeping, or whatever else. The Only drawback is that the home screen function in Focus is a little limited. You don’t make a new home screen that appears only when you activate a specific focus mode and then fades away when you’re done. Instead, you choose from a list of pre-made home screens. This can conflict with your way to organise your apps.
Also, if you swipe left till you reach the App Library, you can open apps you’ve left out of focus. So it’s not like you can’t play a game when you really should be working. To make Focus fully effective, you must change your working habits and remember to turn Focus modes on and off.
Apple’s new notifications summary is the most significant improvement to notifications. You can set it up in the Notifications section of the Settings app. When you set up a Notifications Summary, you can choose which app notifications you only want to see at certain times of the day, such as in the morning or evening. These will appear in the on-screen summary at the time you specify. Thus, allowing you to skim through updates you may have missed without feeling bombarded throughout the day.
The most relevant alerts are displayed first in the summary, which is sorted by priority using on-device intelligence that analyses the user’s interactions with apps.
Emergency messages and notifications that are time-delicate will in any case be convened immediately. The outline is an inventive strategy for you to discover when new podcast episodes are free without having that information intrude on your workday.
Furthermore, iOS 15.2 improves the summary of the notification system and has made it less cluttered.
Apple’s efforts to eliminate distractions do not end with Focus. In iOS 15, Apple is taking another try at simplifying alerts. Incoming messages will show the contact photo you’ve allocated to a person in the Contacts app. Also, app icons on alerts are now larger, making them easier to identify at a glance so you can decide if you want to check the notification. You can also choose to temporarily disable notifications for an hour or a day. To do this, you can swipe left on the alerts to bring up the options. These options now include more muting options. If you haven’t replied in a while, iOS 15 will advise that you mute the discussion.
Maps have constantly improved in recent years. In iOS 15, it provides more comprehensive 3D representations of cities, including better landmarks, 3D buildings, clearly identified commercial districts, and more detailed roads and trees. Initially, the feature was only available in a few locations – San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and London. Everyone with an iPhone XR or later will be able to enjoy the new interactive globe in iOS 15. When you zoom out, you’ll get an actual star field and a perspective of the planet from space. Whereas, when you zoom in, you’ll notice defined details, such as mountain ranges, deserts, and ocean depths, giving the impression of an interactive relief map.
The 3D driving view offers you a driver’s eye viewpoint on highways near complex interchanges. 3D renderings of roadside structures are helpful in orienting. It works on both the iPhone and Apple CarPlay and includes road elements like turn lanes, medians, bike lanes, and pedestrian crosswalks. Maps now incorporate significant bus routes. You may also pin your favourite transit lines to keep track of when they depart. Maps will track a user’s chosen transit route and notify them when it’s appropriate to disembark.
Immersive walking directions are still limited and are the least developed feature in iOS 15. Although it’s a sensible addition, as you’re walking, Maps will superimpose arrows and street names to check you’re on the right track. In actuality, however, the feature is inconvenient to utilise. You must first use your phone to examine the surrounding area. The overlay directions will then appear, but if you turn to walk in that direction, they will only reappear after you turn your phone 90 degrees away from where you’re heading. At the same time, your iPhone will warn you about the dangers of walking while gazing at your phone. In comparison to the other more refined Maps expansions, it’s a bit of a shambles.
New road colours and labels, custom-designed landmarks, and a new “moonlit” Night Mode have all been added to neighborhoods, business districts, elevations, buildings, and other elements. Information about businesses, locations, and physical elements are now easier to access and engage with thanks to redesigned place cards. The Guides Home features editorially curated information about new places. There are new options to filter results by criteria while looking for a new place. Maps will refresh search results as you move about, and the most-used settings are now all in one location.
The new appearance of Safari in iOS 15 shows Apple’s efforts to streamline the browser in macOS Monterey. In the new look, Safari’s tab bar is located at the bottom of the screen by default. This was done keeping in mind that positioning the tab bar near your thumb makes navigating the browser with one hand easier. The tab bar is unobtrusive, as it slides down to the bottom of the screen when you scroll down a page. When you tap the bottom of the screen, it pops back up.
Moreover, Safari now uses a new grid layout to provide you with a quick overview of all your open tabs. This view is more convenient than the stacked windows present in the previous version. This tab overview grid was designed to help accommodate grouped tabs. Also, you may group relevant browser tabs together on your Mac or your iPhone. Swiping right or left on your iPhone screen will take you to the next page. You can even save your tabs in a folder and sync them across their iPhone, iPad, and Mac with Tab Groups. You can refresh a web page by just pulling it down, and voice search is now supported. Moreover, Safari now has a customised start page and mobile web extensions.
Intelligent Tracking Prevention is one of the new privacy features in Safari in iOS 15. This prevents trackers from profiling you based on your IP address, and Safari will automatically upgrade sites that support HTTPS from insecure HTTP.
Google Lens has been offering AI-powered tools that allow you to use your camera for everything. It has everything from learning more about the world around you to capturing and acting on text in images for a time now. Following suit, iOS 15 adds Live Text and Visual Look Up to your iPhone’s new features.
With Live Text, you can tap on text in a photo to capture and copy it. The generated content can then be pinned in a note, email, or SMS. This works best with clearly printed text rather than handwritten notes. The Notes app now includes Live Text functionality. This allows you to summon the phone’s camera from within the note-taking app and record text immediately. The ability to call phone numbers or search up addresses directly from images is an even better feature of Live Text. Simply long-press a phone number to bring up a pop-up menu with options. These options include making a phone call, sending a text message, adding a number to your contacts, and so on. When it comes to addresses, the results have been more hit-or-miss. Live Text may pick up the street number but not the city, resulting in incorrect directions.
With Visual Look Up, Siri recognises certain things but not others. When you swipe up on images Visual Look Up will properly identify. The feature is still lacking, but it’s quite useful when it has additional information to share about your photographs.
Messages have undergone a lot of changes, as Apple’s chat app has evolved into a place where many iPhone users spend the majority of their time. The major upgrades are in new Memoji outfits and accessibility options. Shared With You has implications for a number of other built-in apps. When you get a web link, photo, song, or podcast, it will now appear not only in Messages but also in the Shared with You section of the associated iOS app. Shared with You is available in Safari, Music, Podcasts, News, Photos, and TV, among other apps. The idea is that you may not always have time to look at what someone is sharing with you right now, but you will be glad you did when you do.
When your friends find an online item they think you’ll like, the link will appear in a Shared with You section of Safari’s start page, underneath frequently viewed sites, and over the browser’s privacy report. Similarly, images sent to you via text now have a Shared with You section on the Photos app For You menu. Moreover, you can also pin these articles in Messages to make them simpler to locate. Also, you can even respond to all of that shared content from within the applicable app. A reply box allows you to respond to web links that your friends send you or photos that you’ve received.
It’s a little difficult to reply to shared information from group messages. You have to tap the name of the person who shared it with you to bring up a reply box. The image in your Messages chat now has a save symbol next to it. You can click on it, and the image will be saved to your Photos library.
Although Photos doesn’t see a lot of changes in this upgrade, the improvements to the Memories feature are the highlight. Photos will still auto-assemble collections of photographs into a slideshow based on a date, place, vacation, or event. However, now you can even include songs from Apple Music as well. It will recommend songs based on your Apple Music listening history, which will sync with movies and photographs to provide a more personalized experience. When you swipe through a Memory you can customize it by selecting different tracks with a distinct pace and atmosphere. You may alter both the song that plays and the filter that appears on your photographs by tapping on the Memories as they play. After that, you can click on an icon that looks like a music note. Although, the icons have a habit of disappearing while you’re still trying to figure out everything.
There are now 12 Memory styles that add mood to photos and videos by evaluating and applying contrast and color correction for a consistent look. This dramatically improves the Photos app’s usability. There is some extra detail to the info panel that shows when you swipe up on an image to see when and where it was taken. The new information includes the lens used as well as the shutter speed. By selecting a Feature Less option, you can tell Photos to show certain persons or memories less frequently. The people recognition features have also improved and include a shortcut for entering the names of people who appear in your photos. Other improvements include additional international holidays, child-focused memories, trends across time, and better pet memories with the ability to recognise particular dogs and cats.
A bird’s-eye view of all the content from a Memory is also available. Also, the Watch Next section suggests relevant memories to watch. You can also change the date or location of the photo, add a caption, and learn more about the items that Visual Look Up has recognised. Also, you may select images in a certain order for sharing in the Photos image picker in the Messages app. When you allow access to certain content in the Photos library, third-party apps can also offer simpler selection methods. According to Apple, the sync of iCloud Photos on a new device is faster.
Even Notes does not have major updates, but you get new productivity-boosting additions. The Tagging Tool helps you manage notes by putting related tagged items together. Simply input a hashtag and the word of your choice, such as “#homework” for study notes. Also, there are new custom folders that automatically collect notes depending on tags. The Shared Notes has been available in Apple’s built-in note-taker for a while. You can now assign tasks to people simply by typing their name followed by a @ symbol. Furthermore, a brand-new Activity view shows the most recent edit history.
Using the Wallet app to store credit cards, arrange electronic passes, and manage Apple Pay is quite easy. Apple aims to transform this function into a genuine digital wallet that can store electronic ID cards and even digital keys. Moreover, it accepts more sorts of keys, including key cards for the home, business, corporate, or hotel accommodation. It is also adding support for automobile keys, allowing you to open, lock, and start your car without taking your iPhone out of your pocket utilizing Ultra Wideband.
Ultra-Wideband also provides exact spatial awareness. This means iOS will prevent you from locking your car while it is inside or starting it while it is outside. Remote Keyless Entry controls allow you to lock or unlock your car, honk the horn, pre-heat your car, or open your trunk. Expired boarding passes and event tickets can be automatically archived in the app. Instead of manually adding one pass at a time, Safari allows you to add multiple passes to Wallet in one step.
With Spotlight, you can now search for photographs by location, people, scenes, or objects. Moreover, it can even find text and handwriting in photos using the Live Text feature. It allows web image searches, which yields more information about actors, singers, TV series, and films. Contact cards with enhanced results display recent discussions, shared photos, and location if it’s shared via Find My. You can access it from the Lock Screen, allowing you to swiftly install apps from the App Store without having to leave Spotlight. The Action Button on the Maps results in Spotlight for businesses that support App Clips.
You can see the content sent to you via Messages in the “Shared with You” area. Photos, Safari, Apple News, Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, and the Apple TV app all have been Shared with You. Depending on how many pictures you received, they appear as a swipeable stack or a glanceable collage in Messages. You can even search for pictures sent via Messages using a contact’s name. On iPhones with Dual SIM, users can smoothly swap between phone numbers in the middle of an iMessage discussion. In iOS 15, Messages receives various localized enhancements. In Brazil, for example, unwanted SMS filtering is available, as are notification options in India and China, which allow users to disable notifications for specific categories of messages.
In iOS 15, the Weather app has more graphical representations for weather data. Also, a full-screen map and a dynamic layout that changes depending on outside circumstances are the new changes. The animated backdrops have been modified to more properly reflect the sun’s current position and precipitation conditions. There are also notifications that show when it starts to rain or snow and when it stops.
The Health app now features a new Sharing Tab that allows you to share your health data with family or anyone else. Descriptions, highlights, and the ability to pin results for quick access are now present in lab results. Trends can be detected by Health, alerting users to significant changes in their personal health parameters. Walking Steadiness assists reduce fall risk. COVID-19 vaccinations and test results can be saved in the Health app with a QR code from a healthcare provider. Blood glucose highlights now include interactive charts and show levels throughout sleep and exercise.
New features have been added to the Find My app to aid in the recovery of a lost device that was turned off or deleted via the Find My network. A family member or friend who chooses to share their location with you will now be able to provide you with a sense of direction and speed by continuously live-streaming their location. The company has added Find My network to the third-generation AirPods, AirPods Pro, and AirPods Max. Also, the new Find My widget gives a quick glimpse of where you are. Separation Alerts alerts you if someone leaves an AirTag, Apple device, or Find My Accessories network behind.
Tags in Reminders help with organizing. You can use these tags to search and filter reminders. A new Tag Browser allows you to rapidly view tagged reminders by clicking on combinations of tags. There are also new personalized smart lists that group reminders together automatically based on tags. Natural language support was improved with quick-access options for deleting completed reminders.
The Neural Engine in iOS 15 is used to interpret Siri requests on the device. This improves security and responsiveness while eliminating the need for an internet connection. The on-device voice recognition and interpretation increase as you use your smartphone. To deliver better responses, Siri can also learn about the contacts you connect with the most, new phrases you write, and topics you read about. Now you can even send a screenshot with the help of Siri. Or you can share onscreen elements like images, web pages, content from Apple Music or Apple Podcasts, Apple News stories, Maps locations, and more in a Message. Furthermore, Siri also can send a message or make a phone call based on the information displayed onscreen.
Siri has improved its ability to keep context between requests. Thus, allowing you to refer to what you asked earlier in a conversation. Siri can also be asked to control a HomeKit gadget at a given time or even under certain circumstances. On AirPods and in Apple CarPlay, Siri may also Announce Notifications, like Reminders. Moreover, you can also ask Siri what’s on your screen. In the update, Siri has added more languages to its neural text-to-speech voice, including Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and Finnish. Siri also supports native Indian languages, as well as Mixed English, Indic, and a mix of Indian English and a native tongue.
Apple has teased new child-safety measures that will be available in future software upgrades for its devices. The functionalities will initially be available solely in the United States.
The iPhone, iPad, and Mac versions of the Messages app will get a new Communication Safety feature. This will alert children and their parents when they receive or send sexually inappropriate photographs. According to Apple, the app will assess image attachments using on-device machine learning. If a photo is discovered to be sexually explicit, it will be obscured right away, and the child will be informed. When a kid tries to see a sensitive photo, they will receive a warning that the photo may reveal private body parts and that it could be harmful.
Parents will also have the option of being notified if their child sees the sensitive picture. They will receive notification if the child chooses to share a sexually explicit photo with another contact after the warning. This will depend on the child’s age. End-to-end encryption will continue to protect iMessage chats, ensuring that Apple will be unable to access private messages.
Apple will be able to detect known Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) images stored in iCloud Photos using a new feature. This will allow the company to report these instances to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
Apple will provide more resources in Siri and Spotlight Search across devices to assist children and parents stay safe online and receiving help in dangerous situations. If someone asks Siri how to report CSAM or child exploitation, it will direct them to resources that explain everything.
The Find My widget displays where friends and personal stuff are located. With the Contacts widget, you can reach your family and friends via Phone, Messages, FaceTime, Mail, or Find My. Additional options, such as approving transactions or requesting Screen Time, are available with Family Sharing. The Continue Playing widget shows you the most recently played games across all of your devices. Whereas with the Friends Are Playing widget you can see the games your friends are playing. App Store widget displays Today tab news, collections, and app events. The Sleep widget will show you information about your sleep patterns and allows you to review your sleep schedule. Moreover, the Mail widget displays your most recent emails and allows you to quickly access one of your mailboxes.
When you first upgrade to iOS 15, you’ll see a new default layout with widgets from the apps you use the most arranged in Smart Stacks. Intelligent widget suggestions are based on your previous activity. You can add the widget to your stack as an option to keep it there indefinitely. With new controls, you can more easily reorder the widgets in their Smart Stacks right from the Home Screen.
Apple has published a couple of point-release upgrades since the debut of iOS 15. iOS 15.1.1 resolves a fault in iOS 15.1 that caused calls to drop on iPhone 12/13. The upcoming year is expecting more updates to iOS 15, even though most of the features are already here. That’s because iOS 15.2 is now ready for download. It includes an array of new features, the most notable one is the app privacy report. In iOS 15.2, you may also choose legacy contacts to receive your iCloud information. Also, the Settings app also has a Parts & Services section for tracking repairs and ensuring that parts used meet Apple’s standards.
Apple has statistics on how many people migrate to its OS updates, and it’s a much higher percentage than Android. The latest features are worth upgrading to iOS 15. Even though there have been allegations that iOS 15 is hurting AirPods audio and pairing. It’s not something many have noticed. Moreover, Spotify has also acknowledged that its iOS app drains the battery on iOS 15 devices. It is expected the security patches for the upgrades will be released soon to curb these issues. With iOS 15, you’ll have plenty of new features to enjoy regardless of when you upgrade. These features range from revamped apps to minor additions that prove as a big help in your iOS devices.
Have you upgraded to iOS 15 yet? Tell us in the comments section below.
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