My first impression and hands-on of Apple iOS 15 features so far

20210921_084859000_iOS-crop.png 

In case you missed it, iOS 15 has been released on 21 September at 1 AM. As a new software upgrade from iOS 14, this is quite a big file to download (approximately 3GB) so it's best to download and install it overnight. But anyway, I have taken the liberty to explore what's new and there are some impressive features to take note of.

 

iMessage Sharing

If you and your iPhone friends use this platform to chat, iMessage has been upgraded with some new features. Upon entering, the messaging app quickly lets you know that any content shared with you can appear in other apps. This includes Music, Photos, Safari and others which is pretty cool. Furthermore, you can pin those shared content if you don't want to miss it in a sea of messages.

message.png

It makes it more connected, I guess

 

Do Not Disturb and Focus

Focus is essentially an upgraded version of Do Not Disturb, so what's the difference this time? Well, Focus lets you "focus" (lol) on your work and other activities if you aren't able to reply to your friends and family. While Do Not Disturb does the same thing, one key factor that separates it is that Focus will notify your friends and family that you are busy and won't be able to reply at all.

From the images, you can set your Focus mode for as many hours as you want. You can do this for Personal (me time), Work, Sleep, and others such as gaming, exercising and more. However, you can still allow certain people to contact you so with this, it should minimize a misunderstanding on "Why haven't you reply my message yet?" from your clingy partner or mother, father..anyone really. 

focus.png

Now I can work or play my games in peace huehue

 

Notification Summary

Speaking of being busy, you can also set up a Notification Summary if you want to. We know how tiring it can be to scroll through a bunch of unread messages at the end of the day, so Apple came up with a new way to schedule a notification summary delivery at a specific time you have chosen.

Depending on which social app that you using the most, your iPhone already knows which app you need for the summary. From there, you choose whichever app and set a certain time for the first and second summary. Pretty neat.

notifcationsum.png

A super useful feature for those who are usually busy

notification.png

Btw, your notification on the home screen has a slightly new look to bundle all the messages from one platform

Camera Live Text

Yes, this is exactly like Google Lens but I have never really found myself using it much. For the iPhone camera, though, its Live Text feature is more simple than the former. How so? Well, you don't need to swipe to the right but rather, you just need to tap on your viewfinder on some text. After that, a mini Live Text icon will appear at the bottom right.

If you tap on it, the camera software will intelligently highlight the texts and allow you to copy, select, lookup (online), share and others. Heck, you can even directly translate the text on the spot as well as activating Live Text on other social apps as seen in the screenshots.

livetext.png

Live Text on iOS 15 is much better than Google Lens

camera.png

Also, you can check out your picture on the little details by swiping up

Safari's "new" look

If you are a Safari user, the first thing that you will immediately notice is the new search bar location. It's now at the bottom and while it may be weird at first, I actually find the user interface better for switching tabs and reaching to type in a new URL. The tab summary UI looks tidier than before too.

Of course, not everyone is a fan of the new bottom search bar. To switch back the tab bar to the original position, you can just simply visit Settings > Safari then scroll down to Tabs. Tap on Single Tab and you're good to go!

safari.png

The Tab Bar is now at the bottom

safarr.png

Here's how to switch back to the original look

 

FaceTime on Android

faceee.jpg

You can open the FaceTime link on your Windows PC too

FaceTime has always been a feature exclusive for iPhone users like iMessage, but Apple has decided to share FaceTime with Android users and it's so simple to do it. To share FaceTime with your Android friends, simply visit the FaceTime app and tap on Create Link. After that, just share the link with anyone and wait for them to join your room. Super easy, barely an inconvenience.

facetime.png

Creating a new FaceTime link and sharing

 

Honourable mentions - Weather, Apple Music, Maps, Wallet and others

Personally, I don't use the Weather app that much (because you can like...look outside?) but if you do, this app got a revamp. If you tap on the map at the bottom left, you can view how humid or cool is in your area or country. Apple Maps and Wallet got new updates too but they don't have much use in Malaysia yet so they aren't worth mentioning here.

wearther.png

New Weather app design

music.png

Wah...6 months for real

If you're not an Apple Music user yet, Apple is also now offering anyone 6 months of free Apple Music with your AirPods. That's a really long time compared to the original 1-week free trial (lol) but also remember, you get to have Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos for free too so it's a win for music lovers. For Notes and Reminders, you get to use hashtags and user-created tags for easier notes with friends and family.

 

That's it, folks. One feature that hasn't really made its debut on iOS 15 is SharePlay where you can share songs, watch a movie or TV show and others by sharing the screens via FaceTime (this works on the iPad and Mac too). Scheduled for a future release before the end of the year, SharePlay will be compatible with apps such as Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Fitness+, Disney+, HBO Max, TikTok, Twitch and many more.

Anyway, have you upgraded to iOS 15 yet? Let us know which new feature is your favourite in the comments below and stay tuned for more trending tech news at TechNave.com.