Apple releases iOS 15 — Here’s everything that’s new
Apple has officially released iOS 15, bringing several major new features to iPhone, including SharePlay in FaceTime, redesigned Notifications, updates to iMessage, Maps, Weather and Siri, new privacy tools, a redesigned browsing experience with Safari, and more.
iOS 15 makes improvements to the iPhone’s core features. For the first time, FaceTime is now available on non-Apple devices, including Android. With iOS 15, users can generate FaceTime Links, allowing anyone to join FaceTime calls on the web. Other FaceTime features include a new grid view for group calls, Portrait mode, and spatial audio.
SharePlay, the new FaceTime feature that allows users to listen to songs, watch movies, share their screens, and view apps together during FaceTime calls, is not available with the initial release of iOS 15, with Apple confirming last month that a future iOS 15 update will enable the feature later in the year.
With iOS 15, Apple is introducing Focus – a new feature that filters notifications and apps based on what a user wants to focus on. For example, a user can set their device to help them not get distracted by notifications during certain times of the day. 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.
Notifications have been redesigned with iOS 15, adding contact photos for people and larger icons for apps. Apple says 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.
Like on iPad and Mac, 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 floats at the bottom of the screen, so users can swipe between tabs.
Tab Groups allow users to save tabs and 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.
Weather includes more graphical displays of weather data in iOS 15, full-screen maps, and dynamic layouts that change based on conditions. Redesigned animated backgrounds more accurately reflect the sun’s position and precipitation, and notifications highlight when rain or snow starts and stops.
iOS 15 also brings significantly enhanced details in cities for neighborhoods, commercial districts, elevation, and buildings in Maps, with new road colors and labels, custom-designed landmarks, and a new night-time mode with a moonlit glow.
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