Time to Update your iPhone.

iOS 15 is officially released!

It’s that time of the year again; the trees are preparing to show some autumn colors, the birds are migrating, and Apple just released the latest and greatest iOS.

A short introduction of the best updates this year:

Much better Notifications.

The notifications got a significant overhaul this year-round. The notifications themselves got redesigned with more prominent app icons and contact photos (also for third-party apps, not just messages). It makes them much easier to identify in the wall of notifications one can have during the day.

Notification Summaries
I’m a big fan of this feature; it lets you pick a couple of times in the day and groups the notifications. Then it gives you an excellent bundled package of notifications at the selected times. You specify which apps go into the summaries. It’s handy for apps that don’t need your attention straight away.

Focus Modes

The focus feature has to be my most used of them all since it lets you put your phone in different modes based on what you’re doing at that time. For example, I have a mode for work that only allows notifications from my work contacts through and the apps I use for work. That way, I don’t get distracted during work time, and as a bonus, you can even customize the home screen per focus mode so you can have only the apps and widgets you need at a specific time. You can make a Focus mode for pretty much anything. It also can trigger a shortcut to be run for some pretty incredible automation as well.

Let your contacts know about your focus.
The focus feature also adds the ability to let your contacts know about a focus mode you selected. Reporting focus status works in messages and other apps as soon as they add support for it.

Visual Lookup and Live Text

Apple made their version of Google Lens, which lets anyone look up objects in their pictures. Think about dog breeds, plants, places, and landmarks. It’s all powered by Siri knowledge.

Text from your camera
Live Text has to be the handiest way of entering text into your phone ever. It lets you use your camera and then select text anywhere and enter it into a text field on your phone. You access it by holding down on a text field, like you would copy/paste, and then selecting the Live Text icon.

Facetime

The coronavirus forced a bunch of us to work, and in fact, do most of our activities at home. Apple has picked up on this and introduced SharePlay. It lets you share almost anything on your screen through Facetime with others. It’s not just screen sharing; however, it actually can integrate with apps.

Mic modes
The voice isolation mode has to be the most impressive; I’ve used it while blending up some fruit, and everyone could still hear me speak very clearly while they could not hear the blender at all. You can also set it to the standard mode you’re used to from FaceTime and a wide-spectrum mode that lets others hear the entire room's ambiance.

Portrait mode
During calls, you can now blur out your background with the same tech used in your camera when taking a Portrait picture.

Facetime Links
When setting up a meeting, you can now generate links to use later. Anyone that is not in the Apple ecosystem can join the link through a browser.

Improved Privacy

App Privacy Reports
You can now see how apps are using the permissions you granted them in a neatly summarized report within the Settings app. However, this feature will be coming with a later incremental update to iOS 15.

Mail Privacy Protection
The default mail app on iOS now hides your IP address, so you cannot be tracked, and no one can see when you opened the email either.

Siri Audio on Device
The audio recorded by Siri now doesn’t leave your device anymore.

Hide My Email
When you fill in a form and need to leave an email address, you can now give them a generated address that relays your emails to your actual email address. That way, you never have to give anyone your real email address unless you want to, of course.

iCloud Private Relay
Private Relay is an Apple-managed VPN with some nifty features like Apple cannot see who or where you are either. It encrypts your data while browsing the internet, preventing anyone from seeing your actual IP address and browsing activity.

There are many more features that did not fit in this article, but here are the most prominent ones that did not make the article:

• Better maps with much greater detail, putting in strong competition with Google Maps, contrary to recent years.
• ID Cards in Apple Wallet (selected US states)
• Keys in Apple Wallet (for homes, hotel rooms, and workplaces)
• Improved Spotlight with richer design, showing more information
• Photos now get interactive memory videos integrated with Apple Music
• New Weather app with maps and hourly forecasts
• Translate app works throughout the entire system
• Find My now works with iPhones even if they have been erased, and when they are off for up to 24 hours.

For even more feature details, visit:
https://www.apple.com/ios/ios-15/

How to update.

Now it’s time to update to iOS 15. In case you don’t know how to, I promise it’s straightforward. You don’t have to be hesitant to update either. I’ve been using this version of iOS for a while as a developer, and I’ve noticed it improved my iPhone's performance.

To update, you have to go to the Settings app, tap on “General,” then tap on the “Software Update” option; a spinner should appear. Your iPhone is now looking for an update. After a couple of seconds to minutes, you should see an update for “iOS 15” pop-up, with the “Install Now” button at the bottom of the page. Tap that button and then follow any required instructions on-screen to continue with the update.