The iOS 15 was presented on Monday (7) at WWDC 2021, the annual event from Apple, and brought many new features for the iPhone. Updates on FaceTime, new notifications interface, more interactive maps and the Focus function are some of the items of the new Apple system. The official release of iOS is scheduled for September or October, after the announcement of the iPhone 13.
iOS 15 will be available for iPhone 6s and later versions, but the user will be able to choose whether to install the update on the smartphone or not. Check out, below, ten functions that debut in the new operating system.
1. What’s New in FaceTime Calls
The iPhone video chat tool has received many updates. The “spatial audio” function is designed to make conversations more realistic, making it sound as if the person’s voice comes from where they are positioned on the screen. Apple has also invested in a grid view that shows everyone present in the call to the same time, and in portrait mode that blurs the background, just like in competitors Google Meet and Zoom.
The microphone now uses machine learning to isolate the user’s voice and lower outside noise. Another great new feature is the option of an invitation link for video calls on FaceTime, which can be shared via message, calendar or email, and accessed through the web browser by users of Android and other systems.
FaceTime will bring preview grid function on iOS 15 — Photo: Apple
2. SharePlay
Following the same line of TeleParty and Google’s screen presentation, Apple created SharePlay. The mechanism allows the user to share simultaneous experiences with friends via FaceTime, such as listening to music, watching movies and TV shows or sharing the smartphone screen to view the apps.
Playback controls are shared, so everyone in the session can play, stop, or fast forward content. SharePlay is available for iPhone, iPad, iMac and extends to Apple TV. Several programs and applications are integrated with the new function, such as Disney+, HBO Max, Paramount, ESPN+, Hulu, TikTok and Twitch.
SharePlay lets you watch videos with friends — Photo: Apple
3. New Focus mode
The new iOS Focus mode is designed to help the user reduce online distractions. The feature filters app notifications based on user context such as desktop or bedtime. Focus can be suggested by the smartphone with artificial intelligence, or manually customized by the user, who chooses which apps to notify.
With the function, you can create a home screen page with only apps and widgets allowed by the Focus mode, to check only relevant content at the moment, reducing the temptation to check some social network on time during a college class, for example. Focus created on one device automatically applies to others on the apple.
New Focus Mode available for iPhone on iOS 15 — Photo: Apple
4. Notifications with new interface
In the same vein, iOS 15 also brings the “Notifications Summary”. The tool is a new way to display personalized notifications from devices. The idea is to rank alerts according to the importance of information and frequency of use of the app, showing the most relevant ones at the top.
As another way to reduce user distraction, the new feature collects notifications that are not very relevant and delivers them at more opportune times, outside business hours, for example. The design has also been modified, and notifications will bring contact photos for people, and app icons for better identification.
iPhone Notifications Summary available on iOS 15 — Photo: Apple
5. Live Text
Live Text extracts texts from photos and transcribes them to smartphone notebook. The camera application can also recognize and quickly copy the text, or search on what is displayed on the image with Visual Look Up technology, such as plant species or breeds of animals, as well as the app Lens of Google.
The Live Text function will be compatible with Portuguese, being able to perform simultaneous translations of the texts that are in the photos. The feature is also available in the photo gallery, allowing you to search for handwritten images or save a store’s phone number.
iPhone Live Text function available on iOS 15 — Photo: Apple
6. Search for photos in Spotlight
The iOS search tool gains the image search function. Spotlight will now be integrated with the mobile phone’s photo gallery, enabling the user to search the web using photos saved in the gallery, or the device’s camera to recognize people, movie scenes, objects or locations. Spotlight will also be linked to Live Text to search for images from the texts present in them. When searching for contacts using images, recent conversations, shared photos, and locations will be displayed.
Spotlight Search now retrieves images on mobile — Photo: Apple
7. More interactive maps
The maps has been enhanced to show the most significant details of the three-dimensional way locations, making the most realistic routes. The app on the iPhone or CarPlay will bring you information such as elevations, bridges, road signs, bike paths, medians, crosswalks, landmarks and a moonlight night mode.
Those using public transport will be able to find bus stops more easily, and mark the most important ones in the app. By marking the bus route, Maps will notify the user when it is time to disembark, and the route can be followed by the Apple Watch . On iOS 15 the location will be highly accurate to provide more realistic walking instructions.
The Maps function will have more details in iOS 15 — Photo: Apple
8. New interface and functions in weather app
The Weather tool also gained improvements and a more realistic design. Weather will show graphical weather data functions, full screen maps and dynamic layouts that change to match local weather conditions. Display animations, such as the position of the sun, will be more accurate, and the user will be notified when it starts to rain or snow.
Time function will have more tools available on iOS 15 — Photo: Apple
9. New Wallet Keys
Wallet, Apple’s virtual wallet, is integrated with more digital keys. The feature was announced in iOS 14.5, but it only worked on a specific model of BMW car. Now it will also be possible to use your iPhone as a key to homes, offices, buildings and hotel rooms, expanding the possibilities.
With support for Ultra Wideband technology, Apple Wallet has made it possible to enter your home, unlock and start vehicles with just a touch, without having to take your cell phone out of your pocket. In countries like the United States, Wallet will allow you to save your identity document on your smartphone.
Wallet function will bring more digital keys available on iOS 15 — Photo: Apple
10. Changes to mobile privacy and security
With each update Apple improves the transparency functions of the devices. New to iOS 15 is the Privacy Report, a section that lets you know which programs have been granted access to the location, camera and microphone, or other areas of the phone, in the past seven days. The security function is very similar to that of Android 12 , which also shows which services accessed cell phone commands and for how long.
After the controversy surrounding Siri’s storage of user voice recordings, voice recognition for virtual assistant requests is now done entirely within the iPhone, significantly improving function performance and protecting user information.
iOS 15 debuts privacy features — Photo: Apple
Similarly, Apple also launched Mail Privacy Protection, which prevents the sender from knowing if the outgoing email was opened and hides the IP addresses so that it is not possible to know the user’s location or any other personal information. Apple ID has also gained a new function, and it is now possible to add contacts to help with the account recovery process or select who will be allowed to access account data in the event of a death.
