iOS 15: New Features! Everything You Need to Know

Earlier this year Apple announced its latest version of the iOS operating system, iOS 15 and now the beta version is here for you to enjoy.

iOS 15 boasts an array of new features, including redesigns for Maps, Safari, Weather, and other applications, notifications designed to reduce distractions, new features for Facetime calls, and more.

Let’s find out what’s new in the iOS 15 update!!!

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The Features of iO5 15

Notifications

The redesign of the notification app introduces a notification summary, a feather that gathers all the notifications together, orders them according to priority based on the user’s interaction with apps, and delivers them at a time deemed appropriate, all aimed to reduce the distraction that notifications generally carry.

Furthermore, there is now the option for the user to mute an app’s notification for a temporary period, the system will even suggest muting a thread if there is a lot of activity and the user is not taking part in it.

Focus

Focus is another added feature that can be used by the user to filter apps and their notifications based on their desire. When the Focus feature is switched on for one Apple device, it applies to all devices.

Users can build their own custom focus, but the update also comes with its inbuilt focus suggestions for specific occasions, such as work hours or winding down for bed.

Another added benefit of using the focus feature is that when it is switched on, the user’s status displays the same in the Messages, thereby informing others who might try to reach you during that time, there is also an option to set auto-replies for Messages when the Focus feature is on.

Spotlight

Spotlight’s update now allows it to be used for searching for photos through locations, texts, people, and even find texts in photographs. It boasts richer results for famous personalities and media content.

For contacts on the phone, enhanced results will display, shared photos, recent conversations, and location (Only if it has been shared through Find My.) Spotlight can now also be accessed from the Lock Screen, moreover, users can install applications from the app store through Spotlight.

SharePlay

SharePlay is a feature that allows users to share the experience of witnessing different media together, including songs from Apple Music, movies, and TV shows. The controls for the media during a SharePlay are available for everyone involved so anyone can play, skip or pause as required.

On SharePlay users can share their screen as when, so they can view the contents of the phone over a FaceTime Call. SharePlay can be integrated with other third-party apps as well inclined but not limited to Twitch, Tiktok, Disney+, HBO Max, Pluto TV, Hulu, Paramount+, and Masterclass.

Moreover, Share play works across other Apple devices, such as the Mac and Apple Tv, allowing users to use a bigger screen. The volume is controlled automatically, dynamically changing, so the users can hear others even when the media is playing.

Live Text

Live Text is another all-new feature that has been added to iOS15. Live text is an optical character recognition (OCR) feature integrated into iOS that converts text from images into a digital form that can be recognized and used by your device.

Once the text is scanned and recognized by the device, it can be used in various ways, from using it as a web search or simply copying and pasting.

Privacy

The Privacy updates include Mail Privacy protection that does not permit senders to know if an email has been opened or finding the IP address of the recipient. Moreover, Siri’s responsiveness has improved since requests are now processed directly on the iPhone.

Another feature is the App Privacy Report that displays how frequently the apps use the permissions that have been granted by the user.

New features of All the apps

Facetime

Facetime too has seen the addition of new features, such as SharePlay that permits the users to share media together during a Facetime call. Facetime also includes the Portrait mode, so that a user can be in focus and the background can be blurred.

Other updates include a grid view that allows users to view more faces at a time, voice isolation, and Spatial Audio to make the voice of the person come from where they are positioned on the screen.

Other audio updates include different microphone modes that separate the speaker’s voice from background noise and even include background if needed and a mute alert, so you are clearly notified when you are speaking on mute.

Now users with Android and Windows devices can be added to a FaceTime call through the shareable links that can be generated for a scheduled FaceTime call.

Photos

The highlight of the redesign of the Photos app along with a better interactive interface is the integration the app has with Apple Music. This integration through on-device intelligence will suggest songs for individualized memories.

Users will be able to customize these, by swiping, viewing various versions, each with a different atmosphere. There is now improved recognition for individuals.

There is also a more detailed info section that displays the camera types, shutter speed, file size, and the name of the person who sent the image. Users can now edit information as well.

Maps

Maps is another app that has gone through the redesign process. The new update includes improved Transit features, with notifications to disembark, directions for walking through AR, the option to pin favorite lines, and a night mode with a moonlit feature.

Other additions include a 3D view of cities that show heightened details, including showing bike lanes, buildings, and crosswalks. The redesign makes the app more interactive so users can find information about businesses and locations easily.

There are also options to filter results while looking for locations, by cuisine type, or closing times.

Wallet

The Wallet app now supports new key types, such as homes, offices, and hotel rooms. User’s in the US will also be able to add their state identification or driver’s license to the Wallet app sometime later this year.

It also supports keyless controls such as locking and unlocking the car, opening the trunk, honking the horn, and preheating the car.

The wallet app along with Ultra-Wideband allows the user to lock, unlock and even start the car without taking the phone out of the pocket.

Safari

The Safari app for iOS 15 presents a complete redesign. The priority is now given to the content of the webpage and the controls are displayed in such a way that they can be reached with one hand.

The start page and web extensions are now customizable for the very first time, and tab groups let users both save tabs and access them from multiple devices irrespective of the time.

Another redesign to the app is the tab bar, which is now compact and displayed at the bottom of the screen so users have easy access to move from tab to tab, by simply swiping.

Messages

With the new update, content that is shared with you in the Messages app appears on the section titled “Shared with You” in the corresponding app. This facility is available in apps such as the Apple TV app, Apple News, Apple Podcast, Photos, Safari, and Apple Music.

The facility to pin content is also available making it easier to access in the details view of the conversation, the Shared with your section, and in search. Photos sent in a group are displayed as a collage or a stack that can be swiped through. Users can also find shared images by the contact name.

Weather

Full-screen maps, layouts that alter based on changing weather, more graphical displays of weather data are the additions that come with the redesign of the Weather app. The present precipitation and the position of the sun are more accurately displayed due to the animated backgrounds.

Additionally, the start or stop of rain and snow are now highlighted through notifications.

Health

The health app now comes with the facility to share selected data about their health with family members or caregivers. Lab results now can be pinned for quicker access and have enhanced descriptions and highlights.

Through the app, users can manage their COVID-19 test results and immunization results through a QR code provided by the healthcare facility. It also detects trends thereby highlighting important changes in personal health metrics to the user.

Find My Device

New abilities include the feature to a device that has been turned off. Users who choose to share their location can now continuously Livestream their location, allowing others to gauge the direction and speed of movement.

The Find My network now supports AirPods Pro and AirPodsMax and a Separation Alert that notifies the user if they have left behind an apple device or AIrtag in a location that is not familiar.

Notes

The new feature in Notes comes with tags that can be created by the user to categorize and sort notes according to their preference. Notes with the same tags are automatically collected in folders and there is also a Tag Browser, that allows you to find notes by tapping on tag combinations.

For notes that are shared, users can notify each other of updates, and the Activity views allow one to view the recent edit history.

Reminders

Similar to Notes, Reminders now can be tagged and searched based on filters based on tags. Reminders with the same tags are organized into smart lists. There are quick-access opinions that are available that allow users to delete reminders that are completed and add a variety of attributes such as priority, flags, and so on.

Siri

The new features of Siri allow it to share on screen items included but not limited to photos, web pages, and content from various apple websites. Siri now has the added ability to use the content on screen to call or send a message. Siri can also manage to continue a conversation with the ability to maintain the context so users can refer to what they said a while ago.

In Apple CarPlay and on AirPods, Siri can be asked to announce what is on the phone screen and other notifications such as Reminders. Now Siri includes more languages, including Danish, Spanish, and Norwegian. There is also language support for various Indian languages, such as Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, etc.

Expected Release date of iOS 15

The release of iOS 15 is scheduled for later this year, most probably between the months of September and November.

Supported Devices

The iOS 15 is compatible with all the devices that had iOS 13 and iOS 14. The list of device compatible are as follows

• All iPhone 12 models
• All iPhone 11 Models
• iPhone XS and XS Max
• iPhone XR
• ‌‌iPhone‌‌ X
• ‌‌iPhone‌‌ 8 and ‌‌iPhone‌‌ 8 Plus
• ‌‌iPhone‌‌ 7 and 7 Plus
• ‌iPhone SE‌
• iPhone‌‌ 6s and 6s Plus
• iPod touch (7th-generation)
• The iPads that are compatible with iPadOS are listed below.
• All iPad Pro models
• iPad Air 2
• iPad Air 3
• iPad Air 4
• iPad 5
• iPad 6
• iPad 7
• iPad 8
• iPad mini 4 and 5

How to Update your device to iOS 15? Quick Guide

Currently, iOS 15 is only available as a preview beta release for developers and public beta testers. Users who are registered developers can download the iOS 15 beta profile from the Apple Developer Center, the beta updates will be available over the air after the profile is installed.

The public beta version of iOS 15 is available at beta.apple.com for testing. Follow the following instructions to download the public beta version.

1. On the iOS device that you want to install the beta version, open Safari

2. Go to the website for the Apple Beta Software Program.

3. If you have signed up for a beta test for previous updates use your Apple ID to sign in. If this is the first time, sign in using your Apple ID credentials.

4. On signing in, a guide for Public Betas will be displayed on the screen. Read through the instructions thoroughly.

5. Click on the section titled Get Started and choose “enroll your iOS device”

6. Scroll and click on the Download profile button displayed at the bottom of the screen.

7. Click allow on the popup that is displayed that notifies you that the website is trying to download a configuration profile.

8. Open the Settings app and click on the section titled Profile Downloaded. This will be displayed right below your Apple ID information.

9. Click Install. Enter the passcode and click on install again. If you have installed a beta profile previously, you will be required to remove it at this point. If not, read all the terms and conditions and click on agree again.

10. Select done. The phone will now prompt a restart. Once the phone switches back on again, go to the Settings app.

11. Click on General, then click on Software Update and then, click on Download and Install.

12. The update will take some time to download. Once that is done, click on the option, titled Install now. The phone will then install the software and restart. Once that is done the iOS15 will be running.

Please note that since this is a beta version, the software could have bugs and other issues. Though these will be fixed over the course of the testing period, it is safe to install iOS 15 on a secondary device. Also, ensure that you have a backup of the iOS 14 for you to revert back to if required.