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Here are a bunch of iOS 15 features that Apple didn’t mention earlier As usual, some of the most intriguing changes weren't necessarily the biggest. New Maps interface. First image of article image gallery. Please visit the source link to see all images. As Apple's annual WWDC conference wraps up, we have a whole week of developer sessions and press briefings to look back on, plus a bunch of bullet points on Apple's various feature pages to sort through. The result? There are a bunch of interesting features coming to iPhones in iOS 15 that Apple didn't highlight during its public-facing keynote event on Monday. We're not going to list them all, as there are far too many little changes in the upcoming software updates. If you want to review the complete list, Apple has published detailed feature pages on its site. But we'll highlight some features below that we thought were particularly interesting. Some changes to Safari There are many tiny adjustments in Safari that may add up to be more than the sum of their parts. In addition to the tab groups feature talked about at length during Monday's keynote presentation, the tab bar is getting a major overhaul. It takes up less space and is placed in what Apple thinks will be an easier-to-reach spot. It also "seamlessly moves out of the way as you scroll and appears again with a tap." You can also move quickly between tabs by swiping left or right on the tab bar. Swiping all the way to the right opens a new tab. You can now use a pull-to-refresh gesture in Safari, like the one seen in the Chrome iOS app or Apple's own Mail app. You can set a background image for the start page, and there are new sections, like Privacy Report or Shared With You, that you can add or remove. As with Safari on macOS, Safari on iOS now automatically upgrades sites "known to support HTTPS from insecure HTTP." And as was mentioned in the keynote, the iOS version of Safari is getting web extension support. Spotlight gets more useful Perhaps the most notable change to Spotlight, iOS's system-wide search feature, is that it's now accessible from the lock screen and notification center. Previously, you could reach it only from the home screen or the widgets panel. Apple showed some of this action in screenshots during the presentation, but if you missed it, there are a number of enhancements to the results that Spotlight shows in response to your searches. Enlarge / Spotlight in the previous version of iOS, iOS 14. Samuel Axon Maps results that have corresponding App Clips (like big chain restaurants) will now show "action buttons" for menus, tickets, ordering, or reservations. Likewise, App Store results that are shown in response to your searches will now have a button you can tap to quickly install those apps without having to switch over to the App Store app. Many new widgets We were a little surprised at how few widgets there were for Apple-made apps when home screen widgets first arrived on the iPhone last year, but Apple has expanded the list quite a bit with iOS (and iPadOS) 15. A new sleep widget shows your sleep schedule and data about your sleep quality. Another for Mail shows your most recent messages in a selected inbox. A Contacts widget allows you to text, call, or email family or friends from the home screen. There's a similar widget for the "Find My" app, allowing you to check on devices or important personal contacts who are sharing location data with you. Game Center is getting a widget that shows recently played titles and games your friends are playing. And an App Store widget elevates stories, events, and collections from the App Store's Today tab to the home screen. Other stuff This list isn't comprehensive, but here's a grab bag of other interesting changes that didn't fit into the categories above: Voice Memos will let you quickly skip over silent parts of recordings There are new home screen widgets for apps, including Sleep, Mail, People, Find My, Game Center, and the App Store Find My, Game Center, App Store Today, Sleep, Mail, and People get Family Sharing integration You can now ask Siri to share whatever you're looking at You can now zoom with the rear camera on the iPhone when showing people that camera's view during FaceTime calls FaceTime will warn you if it detects you trying to talk while you're muted Your phone can now send you alerts if you accidentally leave behind something you are tracking with Find My, like another device or AirTag There's a new way to get iOS security updates, even if you want to hold off on updating to the latest major release Apple has overhauled the print panel in iOS 15 and added new options You can now receive push notifications to let you know in advance if it's about to rain in your area You can now manually adjust the time and data associated with a picture in Photos You can now drag and drop a file from one app to another using the app switcher Listing image by Samuel Axon Here are a bunch of iOS 15 features that Apple didn’t mention earlier (To view the article's image gallery, please visit the above link)

Apple brought back the beloved magnifying glass for selecting text in iOS 15 A rare but very welcome reversal Apple’s text selection magnifying glass has reappeared in the iOS 15 beta, and Apple’s own site confirms its return by listing it as a feature. Bringing the feature back is a reversal from when Apple made the decision to dump it in iOS 13, which is a bit of a rare occurrence: Apple doesn’t usually go back after it’s done away with something (bringing back scissor switches in its keyboards after years of butterfly switches is a notable exception). The return of the little pop-up is welcome, though: I can only speak for myself, but since iOS 13’s release, I’ve constantly been struggling without the helpful little magnifier. The new version of the text magnifier seems to be a bit smaller than the old one (in case you’ve forgotten what it used to look like, you can see a great demonstration here), but it’s at least better than the nothing that appears in iOS 13 and 14. The feature listing on Apple’s iOS 15 page. Did we not want to select exactly the text we wanted before? It will, at the very least, solve the biggest problem with the current selection system: that your thumb is covering the text you’re trying to select, which makes it a little difficult to see what’s being selected until you pick your thumb up from the screen. Then, if you’re like me, you’ll probably sigh seeing that the wrong thing is selected, then struggle with the text selection handles to try to highlight what you were actually going for (squinting at the small screen the whole time). It isn’t always this bad, but iOS 14’s text selection leaves something to be desired (and that something is a magnifier). iOS 15 is currently in early beta, so anything we see now is subject to change — Apple could always make the magnifying glass more prominent based on feedback, if it seems like a lot of people are still struggling. While this feature isn’t quite enough for me to risk downloading the first developer beta, I think it may be what gets me to immediately grab the first public beta when it comes out. Apple brought back the beloved magnifying glass for selecting text in iOS 15

A week ago Apple released iOS 15, and as is common with new operating systems, the update is being bug tested in the real world, and some issues are showing up already. Users who have handsets on iOS 15 are complaining of their battery draining rapidly, up to 30% in one hour, specifically when they are using the Spotify app. Spotify has confirmed the issue, saying: Thanks for your reports about battery drainage while updating from iOS 14.8 to .15 on both firmware versions during the past days. We’ve passed your info on to the relevant team and we can confirm they are currently looking into it. As they note above the company is still investigating and have not released a fix yet. They are recommending restarting your phone, a clean reinstall of the app, or disabling Background App Refresh: this can be found under Settings -> General -> Background App Refresh. Users who are complaining are however reporting that none of these steps is solving the issue, so it seems some more work needs to be done. Are any of our readers affected? Let us know below. via WinFuture, AppleInsider Your iOS 15 iPhone’s battery draining rapidly? This app may be responsible.

Refunds and subscription management As part of this week’s launch of iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and watchOS 8, Apple also introduced StoreKit 2, a set of APIs for in-app purchases and subscriptions. The new Swift-based tools could help developers better track and support the purchases their users make instead of relying on third-party solutions like RevenueCat. The kit introduces new APIs to “determine product entitlements and eligibility for offers, quickly get a user’s history of in-app purchases, find out the latest status of a subscription with one simple check,” and most importantly, offer a way for users to manage subscriptions and request refunds in-app. Apple is also updating the App Store server API and App Store server notifications so developers can know when a user’s subscription expires in real time and possibly offer a free extension. As RevenueCat notes in a blog post breaking down Apple’s changes, StoreKit 2’s features only work when on devices running newer software like iOS 15. Apps that still support older versions of Apple’s OS — and most of them will for quite a while — are encouraged to use the original StoreKit. This divide could grow over time: Apple is allowing users to stay on iOS 14 and just receive security updates, and given how long the company’s products last, there’s likely a lot of old iPads and iPhones kicking around. Luckily, StoreKit 2 and StoreKit are interoperable, “purchases made with the original StoreKit API will still be accessible through the new StoreKit 2 transaction and renewal info APIs,” Apple writes. These changes could make it a lot easier to offer traditional customer support for the purchases made inside apps. For Apple, they’re another small enticement for developers to provide some kind of in-app purchase or subscription, which financially benefits the company thanks to its increasingly contentious 30 percent cut. iOS 15 builds in better customer support for in-app purchases

iOS 15 launched today, and Google has taken the opportunity to announce some updates and improvements they have made to the iPhone and iPad apps so they take better advantage of the new operating system. Focus Mode Google has announced that their notifications will now work with focus mode, with important notifications coming though, but most other notifications being suppressed. For example, if you’re navigating somewhere with Google Maps, the app will still let you know when you need to make a turn or if there are changes to your route — like road closures or unexpected traffic. Focus mode won’t silence these helpful, timely reminders. Similarly, the Google Home app will let you know if there’s an unfamiliar face at your door. And if you set a reminder in Google Tasks that’s linked to a specific time, like “take the cupcakes out of the oven at 11:45,” Tasks will still notify you. But notifications that aren’t as urgent or don’t require immediate action will go right to the Notifications Center, where you can check them whenever is most convenient for you. The improvements will start rolling out in the coming weeks across Gmail, Meet, Tasks, Maps, Home and many other Google apps. Bigger widgets for iPad In the coming weeks, Google Photos and YouTube Music will roll out extra large versions of their popular widgets so you can easily access some of your best Memories and favorite music on your iPad Home Screen. Easier access to Google on iOS Starting today, if you search for your favourite song in Spotlight, you can start playing it directly in YouTube Music. Of course, to access these new features you need to be running iOS 15, which should be rolling out to your handset today. Google announce app updates to better support iOS 15

Back in June, Apple announced the iOS 15 at WWDC 2021. The iOS 15 update comes with several new features including the much-improved FaceTime app, Live text, improved Notifications experience, advanced Spotlight search and more. After months of beta testing, Apple today released the final release of iOS 15 for iPhone 6s and later iPhones. You can find the full list of new features coming in iOS 15 from the list below. Improved FaceTime: FaceTime helps customers easily connect with those who matter most and with iOS 15, conversations with friends and family feel even more natural. With spatial audio, voices in a FaceTime call sound as if they are coming from where the person is positioned on the screen,1 and new microphone modes separate the user’s voice from background noise. Inspired by the stunning portrait photos taken on iPhone, Portrait mode is now available for FaceTime and designed specifically for video calls, so users can blur their background and put themselves in focus. While using Group FaceTime, a new grid view enables participants to see more faces at the same time. Users can now share experiences with SharePlay while connecting with friends on FaceTime, including listening to songs together with Apple Music, watching a TV show or movie from Apple TV+ and other streaming services in sync, or sharing their screen to view apps together. SharePlay works across iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and with shared playback controls, anyone in a SharePlay session can play, pause, or jump ahead. SharePlay even extends to Apple TV, so users can watch shows or movies on a big screen. Disney+, ESPN+, HBO Max, Hulu, MasterClass, Paramount+, Pluto TV, TikTok, Twitch, and many others are integrating SharePlay into their apps — creating entirely new ways to connect. FaceTime calls also extend beyond Apple devices with the ability to create a link from iPhone, iPad, or Mac, and share it through Messages, Calendar, Mail, or third-party apps, so anyone can join a FaceTime call from their web browser on Android and Windows devices.3 FaceTime calls on the web remain end-to-end encrypted, so privacy is not compromised. Tools to Find Focus: iOS 15 delivers powerful tools that help users focus and reduce distraction. Focus is a new feature that filters notifications and apps based on what a user wants to focus on. Customers can set their device to help them be in the moment by creating a custom Focus or selecting a suggested Focus, which uses on-device intelligence to suggest which people and apps are allowed to notify them. Focus suggestions are based on users’ context, like during their work hours or while they’re winding down for bed, and when Focus is set on one Apple device, it automatically applies to their other Apple devices. Users can create Home Screen pages with apps and widgets that apply to moments of focus to only display relevant apps and reduce temptation. When a user’s Focus is blocking incoming notifications, their status is automatically displayed to others in Messages, reflecting that a user is not currently reachable. New Notifications experience: Notifications have been redesigned, adding contact photos for people and larger icons for apps that make them even easier to identify. To help reduce distraction, a new notification summary collects non-time-critical notifications for delivery at a more opportune time, such as in the morning and evening. Using on-device intelligence, notifications are arranged by priority, with the most relevant notifications rising to the top, and based on a user’s interactions with apps. Urgent messages will be delivered immediately, so important communications will not end up in the summary, and it’s easy to temporarily mute any app or messaging thread for the next hour or for the day. Live Text, Spotlight search and more: Live Text uses on-device intelligence to recognize text in a photo and allow users to take action. For example, users can search for and locate the picture of a handwritten family recipe, or capture a phone number from a storefront with the option to place a call. With the power of the Apple Neural Engine, the Camera app can also quickly recognize and copy text in the moment, such as the Wi-Fi password displayed at a local coffee shop. With Visual Look Up, users can learn more about popular art and landmarks around the world, plants and flowers found in nature, breeds of pets, and even find books. Spotlight now uses intelligence to search photos by location, people, scenes, or objects, and using Live Text, Spotlight can find text and handwriting in photos. Spotlight now offers web image search and all-new rich results for actors, musicians, TV shows, and movies. Enhanced results for contacts show recent conversations, shared photos, and even their location if shared through Find My. Photos includes the biggest update ever to Memories, with a fresh new look, an interactive interface, and integration with Apple Music, which uses on-device intelligence to personalize song suggestions that bring memories to life. Redesigned Safari: Safari gets a new design that makes controls easier to reach with one hand and puts content front and center. The new tab bar is compact and lightweight, and floats at the bottom of the screen, so users can easily swipe between tabs. Tab Groups allow users to save tabs and easily access them at any time across iPhone, iPad, or Mac. New features, such as the customizable start page and web extensions on iOS, make Safari even more personal and powerful. Improved Apple Maps: Apple is committed to building the world’s best map, and iOS 15 takes Maps even further with brand new ways to navigate and explore. Users will experience significantly enhanced details in cities for neighborhoods, commercial districts, elevation, and buildings, new road colors and labels, custom-designed landmarks, and a new night-time mode with a moonlit glow. This is a whole new way of looking at the world through Maps. When navigating using iPhone or CarPlay, Maps features a three-dimensional city-driving experience with new road details that help users better see and understand important details like turn lanes, medians, bike lanes, and pedestrian crosswalks.4 Transit riders can find nearby stations more easily and pin favorite lines. Maps automatically follows along with a selected transit route, notifying users when it’s nearly time to disembark, and riders can even keep track on Apple Watch. With iOS 15, users can simply hold up iPhone, and Maps generates a highly accurate position to deliver detailed walking directions in augmented reality. Apple Wallet: Apple Wallet adds support for additional types of keys, making it possible to access everyday places with just a tap. Last summer, Apple introduced digital car keys, and BMW was the first car company to add its keys, allowing users to tap to unlock. This year, digital car keys get even better with support for Ultra Wideband technology, so users can securely unlock and start their supported vehicle without removing their iPhone from a pocket or bag.5 iPhone can also be used to unlock a user’s home, office, or even a hotel room — all through keys stored in Wallet. Later this year, customers in participating states in the US will be able to add their driver’s license or state IDs to Wallet. The Transportation Security Administration is working to enable airport security checkpoints as the first place customers can use their digital Identity Card in Wallet. Identity Cards in Wallet are encrypted and safely stored in the Secure Element, the same hardware technology that makes Apple Pay private and secure. New privacy features: iOS 15 introduces even more privacy controls to help protect user information. With on-device speech recognition, audio of Siri requests is now processed entirely on iPhone by default, and performance improves significantly. Mail Privacy Protection stops senders from learning whether an email has been opened, and hides IP addresses so senders can’t learn a user’s location or use it to build a profile on them. App Privacy Report offers an overview of how apps use the access that has been granted to location, photos, camera, microphone, and contacts in the last seven days, and which other domains are contacted. Updated Weather and Notes apps: Weather includes more graphical displays of weather data, full-screen maps, and dynamic layouts that change based on conditions. Beautifully redesigned animated backgrounds more accurately reflect the sun’s position and precipitation, and notifications highlight when rain or snow starts and stops. Notes adds user-created tags that make it easy to quickly categorize notes, and mentions allow members of shared notes to notify one another of important updates. An all-new Activity view shows the recent history of a shared note. Additional Features: Siri adds Announce Notifications on AirPods, the ability for users to share what’s on their screen just by asking, and more. Shared with You works across the system to find the articles, music, TV shows, photos, and more that are shared in Messages conversations, and conveniently surfaces them in apps like Photos, Safari, Apple News, Music, Podcasts, and the Apple TV app, making it easy to quickly access the information in context. iCloud+ combines everything users love about iCloud with new premium features, including Hide My Email, expanded HomeKit Secure Video support, and an innovative new internet privacy service, iCloud Private Relay, at no additional cost.9 Current iCloud subscribers will be upgraded to iCloud+ automatically this fall. All iCloud+ plans can be shared with people in the same Family Sharing group, so everyone can enjoy the new features, storage, and elevated experience that comes with the service. The Health app gets a new sharing tab that lets users share their health data with family, caregivers, or a care team, Trends gives users a way to focus attention on meaningful changes in personal health metrics, and Walking Steadiness is a new metric that empowers people to proactively manage their fall risk. HomeKit accessory makers can now enable “Hey Siri” in their products, allowing customers to talk to and get responses from Siri on third-party devices. “Hey Siri”-enabled accessories will relay requests through HomePod or HomePod mini and will support features such as Personal Requests, Intercom, timers, and alarms. Starting today, smart home device manufacturers can begin working with Apple to integrate Siri into their accessories. Find My introduces new capabilities to help locate a device that has been turned off or erased, as well as live-streaming locations for family and friends who choose to share their location. Separation Alerts notify a user if they leave an AirTag, Apple device, or Find My network accessory behind in an unfamiliar location, and the Find My network now supports AirPods Pro and AirPods Max. A new Find My widget offers an at-a-glance view directly from the Home Screen. Translate adds a new Live Translate feature that makes conversation flow naturally across languages. Systemwide translation allows users to translate text anywhere on iPhone. The Apple TV app now features a new row titled “For All of You” — showcasing a collection of shows and movies based on the interests of selected people or an entire household — perfect for movie nights. New iPhone setup makes it more seamless than ever to get started with iPhone. Existing iPhone users can temporarily back up data to iCloud — even without a subscription — to easily transfer their data to a new iPhone. For those moving to iPhone for the first time, an improved “Move to iOS” experience easily transfers photo albums, files, folders, and Accessibility settings, so iPhone feels personal right from the start. Accessibility across iPhone expands with new features for VoiceOver that enable users to explore even more details about the people, text, table data, and other objects within images. In support of neurodiversity, new background sounds help minimize distractions, and for those who are deaf or hard of hearing, Made for iPhone supports new bidirectional hearing aids. Sound Actions customizes Switch Control to work with mouth sounds, and users can now customize display and text size on an app-by-app basis. Apple is also bringing support for recognizing imported audiograms — charts that show the results of a hearing test — to Headphone Accommodations. Source: Apple Apple iOS 15 now available for download for iPhone 6s and later devices

Apple also pushed out new versions of iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS. As announced previously, Apple today released iOS 15 for the iPhone, iPadOS 15 for the iPad, watchOS 8 for the Apple Watch, and tvOS 15 for the Apple TV. Apple has also announced a major annual update to the Mac operating system called macOS Monterey, but that is not one of today's releases. iOS 15's major new feature addition is Focus, whereby a user can set profiles like "work," "sleep," or "home" that display different apps and notifications depending on what the user is doing. It also redesigns notifications and adds numerous new features to Messages and FaceTime, among other things. iPadOS 15 includes those same features, and it also brings iOS 14's application library view and anywhere-widgets to the tablet. watchOS 8 and tvOS 15 are smaller updates by comparison. The bigger of the two—the one for the Apple Watch—puts some emphasis on photos, adding photos-related watch face options and new ways to share photos via the Watch. It also supports the aforementioned Focus mode and improves the Messages experience. tvOS serves up improved HomePod mini integration, a slightly updated TV app, and spatial audio capabilities with supported headphones. All of these updates are already available globally on supported devices. Apple usually times its major version number OS releases with new hardware launches, and this was no exception. Two new iPads and four new iPhones begin shipping next week. However, the new Apple Watch still has no firm release date. Find Apple's release notes for iOS 15 below. FaceTime Spatial audio makes people’s voices sound like they’re coming from the direction in which they’re positioned on the screen on Group FaceTime calls (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later) Voice Isolation blocks background noises so your voice is crystal clear (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later) Wide Spectrum brings all background noises into your call (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later) Portrait mode blurs your background and puts the focus on you (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later) Grid view displays up to six people at a time in Group FaceTime calls in the same-size tiles and highlights the current speaker FaceTime links allow you to invite your friends into a FaceTime call, even friends on Android or Windows devices can join from their browser Messages and Memoji Shared with You shows content sent to you by friends in Messages conversations in a new section in Photos, Safari, Apple News, Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, or the Apple TV app Pinned content elevates the shared content you choose and makes it more prominent in Shared with You, Messages search, and the Details view of the conversation Multiple photos sent in Messages are displayed as a glanceable collage or a swipeable stack Over 40 Memoji outfit choices and up to three different colors to customize your Memoji stickers’s clothing and headwear Focus Focus lets you automatically filter notifications based on what you’re currently doing, such as fitness, sleep, gaming, reading, driving, work, or personal time Focus uses on-device intelligence during set up to suggest apps and people you want to allow notifications from in a Focus Home Screen pages can be customized to match your apps and widgets to a specific Focus Contextual suggestions intelligently suggest a Focus based on your context, using signals like location or time of day Status appears to your contacts in Messages conversations, indicating your notifications are silenced with Focus Notifications A new look displays contact photos for people and larger icons for apps Notification summary delivers a helpful collection of your notifications daily, based on a schedule you set Notifications can be muted from any app or messaging thread for the next hour or for the day Maps Detailed city maps display elevation, trees, buildings, landmarks, crosswalks and turn lanes, and 3D views to navigate complex interchanges, and more in San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York, and London, with more cities coming in the future (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later) New driving features include a new map that highlights details like traffic and incidents, and a route planner that lets you view your upcoming journey by choosing a future departure or arrival time Immersive walking directions show step-by-step directions in augmented reality (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later) Updated transit experience provides one-tap access to departures near you, makes it easy to see and interact with your route using one hand, and notifies you when approaching your stop Interactive 3D globe shows enhanced details for mountain ranges, deserts, forests, oceans, and more (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later) Redesigned place cards make it easy to learn about and interact with places, and a new home for Guides editorially curates the best recommendations for places you’ll love Safari Bottom tab bar is easier to reach and helps you move between tabs by swiping left or right Tab Groups help you save and organize your tabs and easily access them across devices Tab overview grid view displays your open tabs Start page can be customized with a background image and new sections like Privacy Report, Siri Suggestions, and Shared With You Web extensions on iOS help you personalize your browsing and can be downloaded through the App Store Voice search lets you search the web using your voice Wallet Home keys let you tap to unlock a supported home or apartment door lock (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later) Hotel keys allow you to tap to unlock your room at participating hotels Office keys allow you to tap to unlock your office doors for participating corporate offices Car keys with Ultra Wideband help you unlock, lock, and start your supported car without having to take your iPhone out of your bag or pocket (iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 models) Remote keyless entry functions on your car keys allow you to lock, unlock, honk your horn, preheat your car, or open your trunk on your supported vehicle Live Text Live Text makes text interactive in your photos so you can copy and paste, look up, and translate in Photos, Screenshot, Quick Look, Safari, and live previews with Camera (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later) Data detectors for Live Text recognize phone numbers, emails, dates, street addresses, and more in photos so you can take action on them Live Text is available from the keyboard letting you insert text directly from the camera viewfinder into any text field Spotlight Rich results brings together all the information you’re looking for on contacts, actors, musicians, movies, and TV shows Photos can be searched from your photo library by locations, people, scenes, text in the photos or other things in the photos, like a dog or a car Web image search allows you to search for images of people, animals, monuments, and more Photos New look for Memories with a new interactive interface, animated cards with smart, adaptive titles, new animation and transition styles, and multiple image collages Apple Music can be added to your Memories for Apple Music subscribers, and personalized song suggestions combine expert recommendations with your music tastes and what’s in your photos and videos Memory mixes let you set the mood by selecting from different songs and a Memory look to match New memory types include additional international holidays, child-focused memories, trends over time, and improved pet memories Info pane now displays rich information about the photo like which camera and lens, shutter speed, file size, and more Visual Look Up recognizes art, landmarks around the world, plants and flowers, books, and dog and cat breeds in your photos so you can learn more about them Health Sharing lets you choose health data, alerts, and trends to share with people important to you or those who are caring for you, including your healthcare provider Trends lets you see how a given health metric is progressing over time and can notify you when a new trend has been detected Walking Steadiness is a new metric that can assess your risk of falling and notify you if your walking steadiness is low (iPhone 8 and later) Verifiable health records enable you to download and store verifiable versions of COVID-19 vaccines and lab results Lab results can now be pinned for quick access and include highlights that show how your labs have changed over time Weather A new design shows the most important weather information for that location and includes new maps modules Weather maps can be viewed in full-screen and show precipitation, temperature and air quality in supported countries Next-hour precipitation notifications alert you when rain or snow is about to start or stop in Ireland, U.K., and US New animated backgrounds more accurately represent the sun position, clouds, and precipitation (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later) Siri On-device processing means audio of your requests does not leave your device by default, and means Siri is able to process many requests while offline (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later) Share items with Siri lets you send on screen items like photos, web pages and Maps locations to any of your contacts Onscreen context can be used by Siri to refer to contacts on screen to send them a message or place a call On-device personalization allows Siri speech recognition and understanding to improve privately (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later) Privacy Mail Privacy Protection protects your privacy by preventing email senders from learning about your Mail activity, your IP address or whether you've opened their email Safari Intelligent Tracking Prevention now also prevents known trackers from profiling you using your IP address iCloud+ iCloud+ is a cloud subscription service that gives you premium features and additional iCloud storage iCloud Private Relay (beta) sends your requests through two separate internet relays and encrypts the internet traffic leaving your device so you can browse Safari in a more secure and private way Hide My Email lets you create unique, random email addresses that forward to your personal inbox so you can send and receive email without having to share your real email address HomeKit Secure Video supports connecting more security cameras without using your iCloud storage quota Custom email domain personalizes your iCloud Mail address and allows you to invite family members to use the same domain Accessibility Image exploration with VoiceOver allows you to get even more details about people and objects, and learn about text and table data in photos VoiceOver image descriptions in Markup let you add your own image descriptions that can be read by VoiceOver Per-app settings allow you to customize display and text size settings only for the apps you want Background sounds play balanced, bright, or dark noise, ocean, rain, and stream sounds continuously in the background to mask unwanted environmental or external noise Sound actions for Switch Control enable you to control your iPhone with simple mouth sounds Audiograms can be imported in Settings so you can customize Headphone Accommodations based on your hearing test results New Voice Control languages include Mandarin Chinese (China mainland), Cantonese (Hong Kong), French (), and German () Memoji options including a cochlear implant, oxygen tubes, or a soft helmet This release also includes other features and improvements: Tags in Notes and Reminders help you quickly categorize your items to make them easy to find, and you can use custom Smart Folders and Smart Lists to automatically collect your notes and reminders based on rules you can define Mentions in Notes enable you to notify others of important updates in shared notes, and an all-new Activity view displays all the recent changes in a note in a single list Spatial audio with dynamic head tracking in Apple Music brings an even more immersive experience to Dolby Atmos music with AirPods Pro and AirPods Max System-wide translation lets you select text throughout the system and translate it with a tap, even in photos New widgets include Find My, Contacts, App Store, Sleep, Game Center, and Mail Cross-app drag and drop function lets you pick up images, documents, and files from one app to another Keyboard magnification loupe magnifies the text when moving the cursor Apple ID Account Recovery Contacts lets you to choose one or more people you trust to help you reset your password and regain access to your account Temporary iCloud storage grants you as much iCloud storage as you need to create a temporary backup of your data, free of charge, for up to three weeks when you buy a new device Find My separation alerts notify you if you leave a supported device or item behind and Find My will give you directions to your item Game highlights of up to the last 15 seconds of gameplay can be saved using game controllers like the Xbox Series X|S Wireless Controller or Sony PS5 DualSense™ Wireless Controller App Store in-app events help you discover timely events within apps and games such as a game competition, a new movie premiere, or a livestreamed experience This release includes even more features and improvements. For more information, please visit this website: https://www.apple.com/ios/ios-15/features/ For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit this website: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201222 Apple releases iOS 15 with Focus mode and more

Apple announced iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 on June 7th, 2021 at its annual WorldWide Developers Conference (WWDC 2021). Three months later, the new operating system is graduating from beta, iOS 15 is releasing on September 20th for all users. The tech giant unveiled the final version of iOS 15 on stage during the launch of its newest devices, including the iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPad 9th gen and iPad Mini 6th gen. IOS 15 adds a slew of new features including SharePlay, which allows you to FaceTime with your friends while watching shows and movies, listening to music. It's sort of like Teleparty (formerly Netflix Party), in that you can watch movies in sync with your group. The new feature also supports screen-sharing. Toggle Focus mode to work on a particular task, without being distracted by notifications. Speaking of notifications, iOS 15 improves alerts by adding contact photos and app icons on the lock screen. The improvements added to Safari in iOS 15 are quite good too, the browser's tab bar has been moved to the bottom, which makes switching between tabs easier. The Tab Groups feature allows you to save your tabs in groups, and also syncs across devices. iOS 15 also brings support for Safari extensions. Don't get your hopes up for using uBlock Origin on iOS 15, Safari does not allow web extensions to access blocking requests. App Privacy Report helps you analyze how apps are accessing your permissions, and how they connect to third-party servers, i.e. to track you. The Mail app's privacy protection hides your IP address, and also prevents senders from knowing if you've opened the message. IPadOS 15 improves multi-tasking with a new menu, that lets you switch to full screen mode, slide over and Split View (side-by-side) modes. The layout is customizable, so you may choose which apps you want to work with. Jump between open windows by tapping the shelf, which is like the Windows Taskbar or Task View. While we're on the topic of switching apps, you can use Split View in the App Switcher screen too. If you like Widgets, you're in for a treat. iPadOS 15 lets you place widgets on your home screen, and there are plenty to choose from. The operating system introduces a new gesture, where you swipe up from the corner, to bring up the Quick Note panel, that you can use to jot down notes, it also supports the Apple Pencil. If you're wondering whether your iPhone or iPad will get the latest OS update, we've got you covered. List of iPhones eligible for the iOS 15 Update iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus iPhone X, XR, XS, XS Max iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max iPhone SE 1st and 2nd gen iPod Touch 7th gen List of iPads that will get iPadOS 15 iPad Air 2 iPad Air (3rd and 4th gen) iPad (5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th gen) iPad Mini 4 iPad Mini (5th and 6th gen) iPad Pro (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th gen) In case you missed it, Apple rolled out an emergency update for iOS and MacOS devices yesterday, to fix an exploit related to the Pegasus spyware. References and Image Credits: Apple 1, 2 Apple has been really impressive when it comes to OS updates. OS Fragmentation has always been a thorn in Google's side, thanks to the difference in hardware in Android devices. But Android OEMs are playing catch up, a few have promised to deliver 3 major OS upgrades, but even that's limited to flagship devices. iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 to release on September 20th; here are the list of devices that will get the update

iOS 15 beta 4 upgrades Shortcuts, Safari, and MagSafe Battery Pack interactions Apple released public beta 4 for iPadOS 15, watchOS 8, macOS Monterey, and tvOS 15 Apple has released iOS 15 beta 4, along with the fourth rounds of the public betas for iPadOS 15, watchOS 8, macOS Monterey, and tvOS 15. If you’ve installed previous versions of the beta software, you can download this latest update for free. Each new round of public beta versions brings new features that are expected to come in full release versions of each software slated to release later this year. For iOS 15 beta 4, expect a variety of minor tweaks as pointed out by 9to5Mac, like updated icons – like, say, with the new MagSafe Battery Pack, which has a novel new icon in the battery widget – along with a new ‘Return to Home Screen’ Shortcut, Memory sharing in the Photos app, and the ability to turn off notifications while ScreenShare is on. Safari also has a couple slight alterations, like a rearranged ‘reload’ button that permanently sits on the bottom (in a tiny bar or in the navigation bar when it’s visible). In other words, not too much has changed, and the alterations are likely too small to notice - but collectively, we’re inching toward the dynamic changes coming in the next big OS versions that will probably arrive in September or October. And while these updates are arriving slowly, they’re also possibly giving Apple a chance to get feedback on big changes – the iPadOS 15 beta 4 allows users to choose between the all-in-one Safari navigation bar that collapses URL navigation and tabs into one bar, or to split them for a permanently-visible address bar atop tabs. It’s a subtle tweak, but a nice one for traditionalists who weren’t fans of Apple’s most radical change to Safari in years. (Image credit: Future) Analysis: iOS 15 isn’t big, but it is better While we all can’t wait to get our hands on the full versions of iOS 15 and other OS updates, we’re pleased with what we’ve tested of the iOS 15 beta so far. Hours after the first iOS 15 public beta dropped in June (just weeks after it was announced at WWDC 2021), we found plenty of fun new iOS 15 features we didn’t expect to see until the final version arrived in full alongside the iPhone 13 in September or October. Live Text analysis in the camera mode, Safari upgrades, translations in Messages, and even mundane but helpful improvements to Notifications were the big improvements up front, but in the weeks that followed, we’ve seen even more about iOS 15 that we’ve liked. If you click a link from a text message with a Contact that opens up in Safari or another app, there’s now a discreet little bar at the top-left that reminds you who sent it - perfect for the scatterbrained among us (like this writer) who become enraptured with an article and forget who sent it to us. The ability to fine-tune which notifications keep bugging you directly from the lock screen is also extremely helpful so users don’t have to dig into Settings to change them. We expect to find even more to like about iOS 15 public beta 4 and the other software previews in the weeks to come while we wait for the full versions to launch later this year. iOS 15 beta 4 upgrades Shortcuts, Safari, and MagSafe Battery Pack interactions

The latest iOS 15 developer beta is out, and it’s fixed a controversial Safari change One the iOS 15 beta’s most interesting changes is a radical redesign of the Safari interface to put the URL bar on the bottom of the page and cram the usual browser navigation tools into it. As you could expect, this has been a controversial change. But the latest iOS 15 developer beta 6 has reportedly rolled back these Safari changes to a degree, and even lets you reset the web address bar to the top of the screen. MacStories EIC Federico Viticci tweeted out an image showing the new Safari layout: iOS beta 6 adds Safari’s gray bottom navigation bar to the bottom, and the URL bar is stickied to the bottom by default, though there’s an option to place it at the top of the screen, like usual, as MacRumors reporter Sami Fathi confirmed in a tweet. Instead of the URL bar floating above a web page (and disappearing while scrolling), the new layout has the web address in a white field on a gray background, with other white fields peeking in from other sides – looking a lot like the clean tab layout coming in iPadOS 15. While this is only in the just-released iOS beta 6 for developers, it’s possible the feature is also in the iPadOS 15 beta 6 developer update, which became available at the same time. Also, this feature is debuting in the developer beta, which gets the first new tweaks – it may not come in the public beta for some time. iOS 15 beta: Safari safe at last? While the Safari redesign was one of several new changes in the iOS 15 beta that have come so far, it’s been the most jarring. Apple clearly wants to put the URL bar closer to user thumbs, but it took some getting used to, especially having it float above a page and disappear/reappear while scrolling. The backlash to the redesign isn’t unexpected, but it does show how ardent users are about consistency in their UI. The walked-back Safari version in iOS 15 beta 6 for developers feels like simply returning to the design in iOS 14, but at least it gives users the opportunity to try out putting the URL bar at the bottom and incrementally relocate more controls near the bottom (like it did with Apple Maps’ directions). Given it’s a beta, there’s no guarantee that Apple will use one version or the other, though it certainly seems like the company listened to beta users in not sticking to its floating URL bar idea. We’ll see whether that radical redesign makes a comeback in later beta versions as we anticipate iOS 15’s full release in September. Latest iOS 15 beta for developers walks back radical Safari URL bar redesign

Like any new operating system, iOS 15 has had its share of bugs, including an annoying one which prevented users from unlocking their smartphone with their Apple Watch, a very useful feature in these days of masks which renders FaceID useless. iOS 15.0.1 includes 3 specific fixes, the first being the fix for the Apple Watch unlock problem. It also fixes a much less significant issue – the unexpected start of workouts in audio meditation on Apple Watches for Fitness+ subscribers. Lastly, it fixes an issue with the Settings app where a full storage alert was erroneously displayed for a number of iPhone users. If you are having any of these issues, you can update to the latest public release of iOS 15 by checking for updates in Settings. via PhoneArena Apple release iOS 15.0.1 with Unlock with Apple Watch fix, more