IOS 15 System Review and Its New Features

Apple, In June 2021, announced the latest version of its iOS operating system, iOS 15, released on September 20, 2021. iOS 15 introduces new features for FaceTime calls, tools to reduce distractions, a unique notifications experience, added privacy features, complete redesigns for Safari, Weather, and Maps, and more.

Focus tool

iOS 15 introduces Focus, a new feature that reduces distractions. It filters notifications and apps, depending on what a user wants to focus on. There are in-built Focus Suggestions based on users’ content, like their work hours and sleep timings. Users can create their custom Focus schedules to show limited notifications and Home Screen pages.
When Focus is set on one Apple device, it routinely applies it to the user’s other Apple devices. When a user’s Focus is set to block incoming notifications, their status is automatically displayed to others in Messages, reflecting that a user is not currently reachable.

FaceTime

iOS 15 enhances the FaceTime experience. With the new Spatial Audio feature, voices in a FaceTime call sound like they are approaching from where the person is positioned on the screen. There are also new microphone modes that separate the user’s voice from background noise. Users can now also blur their background and put themselves in Focus with the FaceTime Portrait Mode. Apple has also introduced a new grid view to see more faces while using Group FaceTime.
SharePlay allows users to share experiences during FaceTime calls, including media like Apple Music songs, TV shows, or movies. Media is played in sync for all participants, and there are shared playback controls, so anyone in a SharePlay session can play, pause, or skip content. SharePlay also gives users the capability to share their screen to view apps together in a FaceTime call. SharePlay extends to the iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV, so user’s can watch movies on a bigger screen while connecting over FaceTime.

Safari

iOS 15 also brings a new redesigned Safari. Controls have moved to the bottom of the screen so users can easily use them with one hand. Apple has also introduced a new compact tab bar that hangs at the bottom of the screen so that user’s can quickly swipe between tabs. Tab Groups allow user’s to save their accounts in a folder and easily access them across their iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Safari also gains a customizable start page and mobile web extensions for the first time.

New Privacy Features

iOS 15 introduces even more privacy controls to protect user information. Siri requests are now processing entirely on the iPhone with on-device speech recognition. Mail Privacy Protection stops senders from learning whether an email has been opened. It also hides IP addresses, so senders can’t find the user’s location. The new App Privacy Report feature offers an overview of how apps use the access that users have granted them, showing how location, photos, camera, microphone, and contacts have been accessed over the last seven days and which domains have been contacted.

Redesigned notifications

Apple has completely redesigned the way notifications look on iOS 15. The notification pane is more modern, and it lets you categorize notifications as per your priority. iMessage now displays contact photos for people, and app icons are also larger for easy identification.
Apple has also introduced an all-new Notification Summary feature, that collects non-urgent notifications and delivers them at a more appropriate time, such as in the morning or evening. It analyses user’s interactions with apps and shows the most important and relevant notifications on the top.

Will you get all the new features?

Sadly not all users will get all the features that have been announced as part of iOS 15. That’s mostly down to the technology found on the device rather than Apple’s keenness to limit what you can do.
Apple has confirmed that the Siri on-device feature will only be available on iPhones or iPads featuring the A12 processor or above. The Apple A12 processor first appeared in the iPhone XS in 2018, the 2019 versions of the iPad Air and iPad Mini, and the iPad (2020).
Although the A12 is available on the new Apple TV 4K (2021), it currently won’t be getting the new feature.

How do you download iOS 15?

Now that iOS 15 is generally available, you likely got a notification from Apple letting you know you can update. Or you can do it manually, by going to the Settings app > General > Software Update and under the Also Available section, tap Upgrade to iOS 15.
If you have already installed the iOS 15 beta on your phone, you can delete it before downloading the main version of the OS. Here’s why you might want to wait before installing the full release of iOS 15 system.

iOS 15 System Review: Conclusion

As we’ve mentioned numerous times in this piece, iOS 15 isn’t as groundbreaking as iOS 14 was, and. It doesn’t introduce a flurry of new features. And the very fact that Apple makes this update non-compulsory might put off some dedicated iPhone fans from updating to iOS 15, but I personally feel that nobody should abstain from updating their iPhone to iOS 15 and benefitting from all the new and improved features. Certainly, the improvements aren’t that major, but they are improvements nonetheless.