There is big news in the tech world, Apple has unveiled the latest version of it’s iPhone Operating System, iOS 15. Even though the update will probably not drop until the fall, it’s exciting to know what’s coming soon. There are a few changes on their way to your iPhone and we’re here to let you know what to expect and what to be excited about!
Big Changes to FaceTime:
Many of us have relied on FaceTime to keep in touch with friends and family over the past year and Apple has noticed. In the new update, you can schedule FaceTime calls and create links in advance to send to your circle. FaceTime links can be accessed on Apple devices, or via a browser on Android phones and Windows computers, so even people without iPhones can hop on a FaceTime call.
There’s also a visual upgrade coming to FaceTime with a grid view and a portrait mode. Just like the portrait mode on your camera, FaceTime will now blur your background so you can feel more confident when chatting with friends, family, and co-workers.
Image Credit: Apple
There are also new tools to improve audio. FaceTime will now support spatial audio during calls which basically means that you will sound more natural over the call, giving the effect that the caller is in the room with you. Your microphone will isolate your voice or widen it’s pick up to the details in your environment. Essentially, if there’s any background noise (the TV or your kids playing) FaceTime will now isolate your voice so any other noise will fade out, pretty handy if you ask us.
One of the coolest FaceTime upgrades is what Apple is calling SharePlay which lets you share your screen, your music, or videos over a FaceTime call. For example, you can listen to a song over the call with your friends and family. SharePlay works with Apple Music, as well as video content from Apple TV Plus, TikTok, Disney Plus, HBO Max and Hulu, among others. It’s an amazing way to share content with the people you love!
Messages and Notifications:
Your messages are getting a makeover. Now, in an iMessage thread, photos are shown in a new collage design or, when there are many, in a photo stack. You can swipe through a photo stack just from the in-thread view or tap to open all of the photos into a separate screen.
There’s also a new feature called “Shared with You” which takes media that has been sent to you and organizes it into a tab in the corresponding app. If someone shares a news article with you, it will show up in your Apple News App as shared with you. Shared with You works in the following apps: Apple Music, Apple News, Apple TV, Safari, Photos and Podcasts.
The notifications on your phone are also getting revamped. Notification Summary is a new feature that lets you schedule when notifications get delivered. It will prioritize which ones are most important and bundle the rest for whatever time you choose.
If you get distracted easily there’s going to be a new tool called Focus to help you concentrate on certain things when you're using your phone. If you're at work, you can choose to be notified only by your coworkers for apps like Mail, Calendar or Slack. Other settings for the Focus tool include Do Not Disturb, Personal and Sleep, which you can schedule to come on when you set your bedtime. Basically, you choose when you get your notifications.
Live Text, Photos, and Maps:
Apple’s new Live Text in iOS 15 uses artificial intelligence to find text in photos or through your iPhone's camera viewfinder. You can now copy and paste text from a photo or a webpage. Also, in the Photos app, Live Text automatically creates photo tags to its search feature.
With a new feature called Visual Lookup, you search the word "lake" and the iPhone will display any photos that have a lake in them or were taken at a lake. This will make searching through your photos way easier.
That’s not all, Maps is getting a whole new look and now features globe view, significantly enhanced details, and a new 3D view for cities. Neighborhoods and cities are now displayed in amazing detail, alongside new road colors and labels, custom-designed landmarks, and a new night-time mode. You’ll also be able to see more road details such as medians, bike lanes, turn lanes, and crosswalks.
You’ll also be able to choose a time to arrive at your destination or leave your house and you can get commute lengths ahead of time. You will now be able to choose to get directions with a “leave at” or “arrive by” time that lets you select dates and times to leave or arrive by. Road trips will never be the same.
And if you’re walking in the city, directions will use new augmented reality technology. You’ll simply hold up your iPhone and the Maps app will generate your precise position to deliver more detailed walking directions using the camera. The future is now people.
Even More to Discover:
We can’t believe there’s more to even talk about but there is!
Safari - iOS bringing a redesign to it’s classic Safari web browser. Controls will be brought to the bottom of the screen so they are easier to reach with one hand. Plus, there is a new more compact tab bar that floats at the bottom of the screen so that users can easily navigate between tabs. New Tab Groups allow users to save their tabs in a folder and then easily access them across their iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Wallet - The wallet application will now support more types of keys. For example, home, office, corporate, or hotel room key cards (never lose that hotel key again). Users in participating U.S. states can also add their driver’s license or state IDs to their Wallet App, so convenient.
Weather - Finally, a new design in the weather app! It will now feature more graphical displays, a full screen map, and dynamic layout that changes based on the conditions outside. There will even be notifications to highlight when rain or snow starts and stops.
Health - There will be a new sharing tab that allows you to share your health data with family or caregivers and it can now detect trends, this will help you pay attention to changes in your personal health data.
Privacy - iOS 15 will come with even more new privacy controls to help protect your information. A new feature called Mail Privacy Protection can stop senders from knowing an email has been opened and hides IP addresses so senders are unable to determine a user's location or use it to build a profile on them. A new App Privacy Report will be available and offers a look of how apps use the access that you’ve given them. Showing how location, photos, camera, microphone, and contacts have been accessed in the last week and which domains have been contacted. All this is a lot of information, but basically means that you will have more information and control on how your phone is being used to track you across your activity.
MeMoji - iOS 15 will feature a wide range of new MeMoji outfits, glasses, multicolored headwear, support for two different eye colors, and new MeMoji stickers. This is the news we're here for, honestly.
Compatibility:
The exciting new update should be ready for download sometime this fall and if you have any of the following devices you will be ready to take advantage of all that iOS 15 has to offer:
- iPhone 12
- iPhone 12 mini
- iPhone 12 Pro
- iPhone 12 Pro Max
- iPhone 11 Pro
- iPhone SE (2020)
- iPhone 11 Pro Max
- iPhone 11
- iPhone XS
- iPhone XS Max
- iPhone XR
- iPhone X
- iPhone 8
- iPhone 8 Plus
- iPhone 7
- iPhone 7 Plus
- iPhone 6s
- iPhone 6s Plus
- iPhone SE (2016)
- iPod touch (7th generation)
We are sure that once it drops there will be even more fun things to discover in iOS 15. But for now, all that’s left to do is wait for the fall when we can finally download it to our phones to fully experience all the new updates iOS 15 has to offer!