Apple introduced in June 2021 the latest version of its iOS operating system, iOS 15, which is scheduled to be released in the fall. iOS 15 introduces new FaceTime calling features, tools to reduce distractions, a new notification experience, additional privacy features, a complete redesign of Safari, Weather, Maps, and more.
Notifications have been redesigned in iOS 15, adding contact photos for people and larger icons for apps. To reduce distraction, notification digest groups notifications together to deliver them at a convenient time and arranges notifications in order of priority.
Focus is a new feature that can filter notifications and apps based on what the user wants to focus on at a particular time. When a user's focus blocks incoming notifications, their status will be shown to others in messages. iOS will suggest focus for different occasions, such as working hours or relaxing to sleep, using on-device intelligence, but users can also create a custom focus. When the focus is set on one Apple device, it is automatically applied to other Apple devices.
Safari has an all-new design. It is now easier to access the controls with one hand and give more focus to the content of the web page. There is a new, compact tab bar that floats at the bottom of the screen so that users can easily scroll between tabs. Tab groups allow users to easily save and access tabs at any time across devices. There is also a customizable start page and web extensions for the first time.
Maps now offers a new 3D view of cities with greatly improved detail, showing buildings, footpaths, bike lanes, and more. There's a new city driving experience with added route details and improved Transit features, such as pinned favorites, get off notifications and augmented reality walking directions.
iOS 15 brings voice isolation and spatial audio to FaceTime calls so that voices sound as if they're coming from where the person on the screen is. FaceTime also supports portrait mode and offers a new retina view to see more faces at the same time. SharePlay is a new feature that allows users to share media together in sync during a FaceTime call. Users can also create shareable links for a scheduled FaceTime call, which can also be opened in Android and Windows devices.
iOS 15
The Weather app has been redesigned in iOS 15, showing more graphical representations of weather data, full-screen maps, and dynamic layouts that change based on weather conditions. All-new animated wallpapers can now accurately reflect the position of the sun and current precipitation, and there are notifications to highlight when rain or snow starts and stops.
Wallet adds support for new key types in iOS 15, such as homes, offices, or hotel rooms. Later this year, customers in participating US states will be able to add a driver's license or country ID to the Wallet app.
The Photos app features a major update to Memories with a new design and interactive interface. Memories How supports Apple Music integration, using on-device intelligence to provide song suggestions for personalized memories.
Live Text is a new feature that uses on-device intelligence to recognize text in an image that users can search, highlight, and copy. Spotlight can now search for images by location, people, scenes, objects, and text. Spotlight now offers web image search and richer results for actors, musicians, TV shows, and movies. The improved results for Contacts show recent conversations, photos shared, and even their location if shared through Find My.
iOS 15 also introduces new privacy measures, such as processing Siri requests directly on the iPhone, which has the added benefit of better response, Mail Privacy Protection to stop senders from knowing if an email has been opened and detecting the recipient's IP address, and the App View Privacy Report Shows how often apps use the permissions they were granted.
There are dozens of tweaks and changes to other apps, such as user-created tags, bookmarks, activity view in the Notes app, Trends, Walking Steadiness, and a new Share tab in the Health app, a feature shared with you system-wide to highlight content that's been created. Share it in message conversations, a new description for everyone in the TV app to suggest entertainment for the whole family.
iOS 15 is compatible with iPhone 6s and later, which means it works on all devices capable of running iOS 14, and it will be released this fall.
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How to download and install iOS 15
iOS 15 is currently only available in a developer preview beta. Registered developers can download the iOS 15 beta profile from the Apple Developer Center, and once the profile is installed, beta updates will be available over the air. It is better to install iOS 15 on a secondary device because this is an early version software that may have bugs or issues.
Over the course of the iOS 15 test period, which will last several months, Apple will work to improve the new features of the operating system and fix bugs before the software is released. Developers will also be able to use this beta testing period to support the new operating system and build new iOS 15 features in their apps.
A public beta will be available for iOS users to test in July at beta.apple.com.
current version
Apple has provided developers with one beta version of iOS 15. A public beta tester release will be available in July.
Notification redesign تصميم
iOS 15 introduces completely redesigned notifications. Notifications will now display photos of people's contacts and larger app icons for easier identification.
There is an all-new notification summary that groups non-urgent notifications together to be delivered at a more convenient time, such as morning or evening. Notifications in the summary are prioritized using on-device intelligence that analyzes user interactions with apps, with the most important and relevant notifications rising to the top. Urgent messages will continue to be delivered immediately.
Focus feature
iOS 15 features a new tool to help users reduce distraction called Focus. Focus can filter notifications and apps based on what users want to focus on at a given time. When a user's focus is currently blocking incoming notifications, their status is automatically shown to other people in messages, showing that the user is currently unavailable.
iOS will automatically suggest focusing on users using on-device intelligence to decide which people and apps to notify at certain times. Focus suggestions depend on users' contexts, such as working hours or relaxing to sleep. Users can also create a custom focus to show only certain notifications and home screen pages.
Spotlight
Spotlight can now use intelligence to search for photos by location, people, scenes or objects, and with the new Live Text feature, Spotlight can find text and handwriting in photos.
Spotlight also supports web image searches and richer results for actors, musicians, TV shows, and movies. Improved results for contact cards show recent conversations, photos shared, and location if shared through Find My.
confrontation time
In iOS 15, FaceTime provides spatial audio so that sounds in a video call appear to be coming from where the person is on the screen. There are also new microphone modes to separate the user's voice from background noise or to introduce background noise into the broad spectrum mode if desired.
FaceTime now features a Portrait mode for video calls, so users can blur the background and put themselves in focus, and mute alerts so it's even more visible when you're talking on mute. There's also a new grid view for group FaceTime calls, allowing participants to see more faces at the same time.
SharePlay
SharePlay is a new feature that allows users to share experiences with each other during FaceTime calls, including media such as Apple Music songs, TV shows or movies. Media plays synchronously for all participants and there are shared playback controls, so anyone in a SharePlay session can play, pause, or skip the content. SharePlay also gives users the ability to share their screen to view apps together in a FaceTime call.
Third-party apps like Disney+, ESPN+, HBO Max, Hulu, MasterClass, Paramount+, Pluto TV, TikTok, Twitch, and others have committed to SharePlay integration.
SharePlay extends to iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV, so users can watch shows or movies on a larger screen while connected via FaceTime.
FaceTime Links
Users can now create a link to a FaceTime call and share it via Messages, Calendar, Mail, or third-party apps.
New features in FaceTime
FaceTime links can be opened to use the FaceTime app on Apple devices, but they can also be opened through a web browser, bringing FaceTime to Android and Windows for the first time. FaceTime calls on the web remain fully encrypted to ensure privacy.
maps
Maps now feature a globe view and significantly improved detail in a new 3D view of cities. Neighborhoods, commercial areas, elevations, buildings, and more are now shown in detail, along with new road colors, custom-designed labels and landmarks, and a new "moonlit" night mode.
Maps also offers a new 3D city driving experience with route details such as turn lanes, intermediates, bike lanes, and pedestrian lanes that work on both iPhone and Apple CarPlay.
When using public transit navigation, travelers can now find nearby stations more easily and install their favorite lines. Maps will automatically follow along the selected transit route, letting users know when it's nearly time to get off.
There is also a new view of walking directions that uses augmented reality. Users simply hold their iPhone, and the Maps app will generate an accurate location to provide detailed walking directions using the camera.
Safari
iOS 15 brings a whole new design to Safari. The controls are placed at the bottom of the screen so they are easy to reach with one hand.
There is a new, compact tab bar that floats at the bottom of the screen so that users can easily scroll between tabs. Tab Groups allow users to save their tabs to a folder and easily access them across their iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices.
Safari also gains a customizable start page and mobile web extensions for the first time.
Wallet
Wallet supports additional types of keys in iOS 15, such as home, office, company, or hotel room key cards.
Starting later in 2021, customers in participating countries in the US will be able to add their driver's license or state IDs to the Wallet app. According to Apple, the Transportation Security Administration is enabling security checkpoints at airports where customers can primarily use their digital ID in Wallet.
weather
The Weather app has been completely redesigned in iOS 15. The Weather app now features more graphical displays of weather data, a full-screen map, and a dynamic layout that changes based on external conditions.
New weather app
Apple has also redesigned the Weather app's animated wallpapers to more accurately reflect the current location of the sun and precipitation conditions. There are now notifications to highlight when rain or snow starts and stops.
Health
In iOS 15, the Health app has a new sharing tab that allows users to share their health data with family or caregivers. Health can now detect indicators, drawing users' attention to meaningful changes in personal health metrics. The Health app also adds Walking Steadiness as a new metric to help manage fall risk.
Notes
Notes in iOS 15 features user-generated tags to easily sort and categorize notes in new ways. For shared notes, it's now possible to tag other users to notify each other about updates, and the all-new Activity view shows recent editing history.
Pictures
The Photos app has a big update to Memories, which now features a new design and integration with Apple Music. Memories will suggest song suggestions from Apple Music that sync with your videos and photos for a more personalized experience.
Find locations
Find My app introduces new capabilities to help locate a lost device that has been turned off or erased. A family member or friend who has chosen to share their location with you will now start a live broadcast of their location.
Apple is adding Find My Network support to AirPods Pro and AirPods Max, and there's a new Find My widget to quickly look at locations. New separation alerts have appeared to let a user know if they leave an AirTag, an Apple device, or the Find My Accessory network in an unfamiliar location.
siri
In iOS 15, Siri requests are processed on the device, which greatly increases security and enhances responsiveness.
Siri can also announce notifications on AirPods and users can ask Siri what's on their screen simply by asking.
Privacy
iOS 15 brings new privacy controls to help protect user information. In addition to processing Siri requests on the device, a new feature called Mail Privacy Protection can prevent senders from knowing if an email has been opened and hide recipient IP addresses so that senders cannot locate the user or use it to create a profile on them.
The new App Privacy Report provides an overview of how apps have used the access users have given them, showing how they accessed location, photos, camera, microphone, and contacts in the past seven days and which domains were connected.
Other Features
Live Text is a new feature that uses on-device intelligence to recognize text in an image and/or the camera app allows users to take action on it, such as highlighting it for copying. Users will also be able to search for images in Spotlight or the Photos app based on the recognized text.
iOS 15 features a wide range of new MeMoji costumes, new glasses, multi-colored headwear, support for two different eye colors, and new MeMoji stickers.
ios 15 new memoji
There is a new system-wide feature called Shared with You that highlights and highlights articles, music, TV shows, photos, and more that have been shared in Message conversations.
The TV app now has a new "For All of You" row to suggest a range of shows and movies based on the interests of specific people or the whole family.
Translate adds a new Live Translate feature that makes conversation flow naturally across languages, and system-wide translation allows users to translate text anywhere on the iPhone.
When setting up the iPhone, existing iPhone users can back up data to iCloud, even without a subscription, to easily transfer data to a new device. For new iPhone users, there is an improved “Move to iOS” experience to move photo albums, files, folders, and accessibility settings more easily.
Supported iOS 15 devices
iOS 15 is compatible with all the same iPhones as iOS 13 and iOS 14, including older devices like the original iPhone SE and iPhone 6s. iOS 15 compatible devices are listed below.
- 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)