After a summer usually dedicated to previews of the public beta open to all, Apple released the final version of iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 as a free update for all of its phones and tablets that used release number 14.
The new features are numerous, but not all of them are available since this first version. The main ones concern FaceTime, the Meteo, the new Focus function to have customized preferences for each screen and then other changes, while SharePlay will be missing and the new version of Safari will have a less radical interface than the first version, presented during the keynote last July for the Apple Developer Conference, but there is the expected enhanced privacy protection.
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What changes in the iPhone operating system
With the arrival of the new ones iPhone 13 e 13 Pro, and of the two updated iPads (the basic bestseller and the Mini), the new version of the operating system also arrives as tradition. The new iOS 15 updates FaceTime, Messages, Notifications, Photos app, Wallet app, Weather app and Maps. The changes below apply to both iPhone and iPad, except where noted.
Let’s start with FaceTime, which allows you to have spatialized audio for videochat, links to create appointments to calls and the Web Join FaceTime function, which also allows you to connect people with Android and Windows. On the other hand, the SharePlay function is delayed, which will allow you to share screen, music and more during connections (to watch a movie on Apple TV + together, but at a distance).
L’app Weather forecast it is the one that has the greatest aesthetic changes with more data and with an even more pleasant and impactful interface. It is singular that, 11 years after the debut of the first iPad, the Weather app is only for iPhone: on the tablet there is the widget (also updated), but then it connects to the Weather web page (bought by IBM) , which provides part of the data for forecasts.
Even the Maps Apple change, adding features internationally. The new Look Around interface, which also allows you to see photographs of the street and move around like in Google’s StreetView (but the effect is more fluid) has actually already arrived. There are improvements (in the US) for additional information on shops, traffic, public transport.
The Wallet (which is not present in iPads) allows you to better manage virtual keys with NFC to operate smart locks for home or office in contactless mode, increases compatibility with hotel room keys of some international chains and in some States of the USA it is now possible to load the driving license and the identity card in the Wallet following an international standard.
Photo and Messages have a number of interesting changes and additions. Messages continues its long transformation to become a chat app and not just text messaging, it adds the ability to connect content directly from the News app (which is not available in Italy), while Photo allows you to manage smart albums and search for content thanks to artificial intelligence (identified text, but also types of objects and creatures), as well as saving and managing images shared through Messages more efficiently. The strongest novelty of Photos, however, is the system for recognizing the text contained in the photos automatically and in real time, and when you search with Spotlight now the results from Photos also appear. Finally, the Memories (collections of photos automatically chosen by the system and combined with a series of types of events considered memorable) have been enhanced and are now also interactive.
the notificationsfinally, they acquire new features (they can be delayed or postponed), they have a new design, you can create a Do Not Disturb state that is also seen on Messages and finally you can create different Focus states that allow you to change the structure of the main screen your phone, the types of notifications that appear, and more.
The privacy increases with a series of iCloud functions available only through iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 in the paid version (i.e. when purchasing iCloud services) that allow you to protect users from spyware, advertising tracking even in emails and other related features.
Here’s what changes for iPadOS
IPads gain a new widget system that can now be moved anywhere, like on iPhones as early as iOS 14, and they are increased the types of widgets available, which on the big screen of the tablet make more sense than on the phone.
Furthermore, as with iOS 14 on phones, now also on iPad it is possible to organize the App Library that it shows all installed apps divided automatically by category. Unlike the iPhone, which exposes it as the last swipe to the right, from the iPad it can be reached immediately starting from the dock.
The app Note gains both tags (and thus tag-based smart folders) and the Snapnote feature which can be created on top of any application. Quick Notes are also visible and editable on Mac and iPhone, but cannot be created. This is one of the features that enhance iPad multitasking, considered so far not up to the power of the device: a step forward compared to the simple Split View and Slide Over system also thanks to the possibility of saving pairs of apps in Split View mode. sideways. Additionally, apps can be paired by picking and merging them directly on the Mission Control screen.
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What is missing for now?
Apple has postponed the functionality of Universal Control, which would have allowed the same pair of keyboard and mouse (or keyboard and trackpad) to be used to alternately control Mac, iPad and iPhone. This wireless Kvm system, which also allows you to move documents from one device to another (then start writing an email on the Mac and move it to the iPad by simply dragging it to the edge), will be released later.
Safari had a new interface that moved the address bar down and made any buttons and functions disappear, but during the public beta Apple changed the design of its browser several times until it returned to a state very similar to the current one, leaving only some of the new interface features as an option. Fortunately, the grouping function of the Safari tabs arrives, which are now visible in shared mode between all the devices connected to the same Apple ID account.
The curiosity
Apple has also updated Swift Playground to version 4: the app, which allows you to learn how to program in the open source language created by Apple and which is used above all to create the iOS, iPadOS and macOS apps (and other company devices equipped with an autonomous operating system such as Watch and Tv, which among other things will receive an update of the operating system) is now also able to create complex apps and save them in projects compatible with Xcode, Apple’s integrated development environment for macOS. Swift Playground 4 doesn’t have all the features of Xcode, but it’s a first step in turning the iPad into a developer-friendly tool.
Compatibility and how to check it
In conclusion, here are the devices compatible with iOS 15 and iPadOS 15: all iPhones later than 6S and 6S Plus included, therefore also the first generation of iPhone SE and the seventh generation iPod Touch. Compatibility with iPads is less simple, because there are different versions of iPad with different processors: iPads from the fifth generation are compatible, the Mini from the fourth, the Air from the second, the Pro 9.7, 12.9 and 11 inches from the first generation, and the Pro 10.5 ”from the second generation.
If you are confused or doubt which generation of your iPad or other Apple product is, there is the free Mactracker app for Mac and iOS, which contains the updated database of all Apple products and which, if installed on a device, recognizes it and indicates which model it is.
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