Apple Releases iOS 15 and iPadOS 15; Bringing Focus Modes, Live Text, and Enhancements to Multitasking, Notifications, FaceTime, Safari, Privacy, and More

By AppleVis, 20 September, 2021

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

Apple has today released iOS 15 and iPadOS 15.

iOS 15 brings a redesign of Notifications and a new Notifications Summary, a new Live Text feature that recognizes text in photos and across the operating system, a highly-customizable Focus Mode that helps reduce distractions by filtering notifications based on what you are currently doing, spacial audio and other improvements in FaceTime, privacy enhancements, and more.

iPadOS 15 brings enhancements intended to make multitasking easier to discover, easier to use, and more powerful. Widgets can now be placed among apps on your Home Screen, and App Library makes it possible to get to all of your apps from the dock. Quick Note gives you a fast and easy way to take notes over any app or screen. There are new translation features and a Translate app for iPad. Focus also comes to the iPad, as do the FaceTime enhancements.

AppleVis has the following iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 resources available:

Below are Apple's release notes for iOS 15 and iPadOS 15:

iOS 15 Release Notes

iOS 15 brings audio and video enhancements to FaceTime, including spatial audio and Portrait mode. Shared with You resurfaces the articles, photos, and other shared content from your Messages conversations in the corresponding app. Focus helps you reduce distractions by filtering out notifications based on what you are currently doing. Notifications have been redesigned and a new notification summary delivers a collection of notifications so you can catch up on your own time. Maps delivers a beautiful redesign with a new three-dimensional city experience and augmented reality walking directions. Live Text uses on-device intelligence to recognize text in photos across the entire system and on the web. New privacy controls in Siri, Mail, and more provide transparency and give you more control over your data.

FaceTime

  • Spatial audio makes people’s voices sound like they’re coming from the direction in which they’re positioned on the screen on Group FaceTime calls (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)
  • Voice Isolation blocks background noises so your voice is crystal clear (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)
  • Wide Spectrum brings all background noises into your call (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)
  • Portrait mode blurs your background and puts the focus on you (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)
  • Grid view displays up to six people at a time in Group FaceTime calls in the same-size tiles and highlights the current speaker
  • • FaceTime links allow you to invite your friends into a FaceTime call, even friends on Android or Windows devices can join from their browser

Messages and Memoji

  • Shared with You shows content sent to you by friends in Messages conversations in a new section in Photos, Safari, Apple News, Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, or the Apple TV app
  • Pinned content elevates the shared content you choose and makes it more prominent in Shared with You, Messages search, and the Details view of the conversation
  • Multiple photos sent in Messages are displayed as a glanceable collage or a swipeable stack
  • Over 40 Memoji outfit choices and up to three different colors to customize your Memoji stickers’s clothing and headwear

Focus

  • Focus lets you automatically filter notifications based on what you’re currently doing, such as fitness, sleep, gaming, reading, driving, work, or personal time
  • Focus uses on-device intelligence during set up to suggest apps and people you want to allow notifications from in a Focus
  • Home Screen pages can be customized to match your apps and widgets to a specific Focus
  • Contextual suggestions intelligently suggest a Focus based on your context, using signals like location or time of day
  • Status appears to your contacts in Messages conversations, indicating your notifications are silenced with Focus

Notifications

  • A new look displays contact photos for people and larger icons for apps
  • Notification summary delivers a helpful collection of your notifications daily, based on a schedule you set
  • Notifications can be muted from any app or messaging thread for the next hour or for the day

Maps

  • Detailed city maps display elevation, trees, buildings, landmarks, crosswalks and turn lanes, and 3D views to navigate complex interchanges, and more in San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York, and London, with more cities coming in the future (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)
  • New driving features include a new map that highlights details like traffic and incidents, and a route planner that lets you view your upcoming journey by choosing a future departure or arrival time
  • Immersive walking directions show step-by-step directions in augmented reality (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)
  • Updated transit experience provides one-tap access to departures near you, makes it easy to see and interact with your route using one hand, and notifies you when approaching your stop
  • Interactive 3D globe shows enhanced details for mountain ranges, deserts, forests, oceans, and more (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)
  • Redesigned place cards make it easy to learn about and interact with places, and a new home for Guides editorially curates the best recommendations for places you’ll love

Safari

  • Bottom tab bar is easier to reach and helps you move between tabs by swiping left or right
  • Tab Groups help you save and organize your tabs and easily access them across devices
  • Tab overview grid view displays your open tabs
  • Start page can be customized with a background image and new sections like Privacy Report, Siri Suggestions, and Shared With You
  • Web extensions on iOS help you personalize your browsing and can be downloaded through the App Store
  • Voice search lets you search the web using your voice

Wallet

  • Home keys let you tap to unlock a supported home or apartment door lock (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)
  • Hotel keys allow you to tap to unlock your room at participating hotels
  • Office keys allow you to tap to unlock your office doors for participating corporate offices
  • Car keys with Ultra Wideband help you unlock, lock, and start your supported car without having to take your iPhone out of your bag or pocket (iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 models)
  • Remote keyless entry functions on your car keys allow you to lock, unlock, honk your horn, preheat your car, or open your trunk on your supported vehicle

Live Text

  • Live Text makes text interactive in your photos so you can copy and paste, look up, and translate in Photos, Screenshot, Quick Look, Safari, and live previews with Camera (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)
  • Data detectors for Live Text recognize phone numbers, emails, dates, street addresses, and more in photos so you can take action on them
  • Live Text is available from the keyboard letting you insert text directly from the camera viewfinder into any text field

Spotlight

  • Rich results brings together all the information you’re looking for on contacts, actors, musicians, movies, and TV shows
  • Photos can be searched from your photo library by locations, people, scenes, text in the photos or other things in the photos, like a dog or a car
  • Web image search allows you to search for images of people, animals, monuments, and more

Photos

  • New look for Memories with a new interactive interface, animated cards with smart, adaptive titles, new animation and transition styles, and multiple image collages
  • Apple Music can be added to your Memories for Apple Music subscribers, and personalized song suggestions combine expert recommendations with your music tastes and what’s in your photos and videos
  • Memory mixes let you set the mood by selecting from different songs and a Memory look to match
  • New memory types include additional international holidays, child-focused memories, trends over time, and improved pet memories
  • Info pane now displays rich information about the photo like which camera and lens, shutter speed, file size, and more
  • Visual Look Up recognizes art, landmarks around the world, plants and flowers, books, and dog and cat breeds in your photos so you can learn more about them

Health

  • Sharing lets you choose health data, alerts, and trends to share with people important to you or those who are caring for you, including your healthcare provider
  • Trends lets you see how a given health metric is progressing over time and can notify you when a new trend has been detected
  • Walking Steadiness is a new metric that can assess your risk of falling and notify you if your walking steadiness is low (iPhone 8 and later)
  • Verifiable health records enable you to download and store verifiable versions of COVID-19 vaccines and lab results
  • Lab results can now be pinned for quick access and include highlights that show how your labs have changed over time

Weather

  • A new design shows the most important weather information for that location and includes new maps modules
  • Weather maps can be viewed in full-screen and show precipitation, temperature and air quality in supported countries
  • Next-hour precipitation notifications alert you when rain or snow is about to start or stop in Ireland, U.K., and US
  • New animated backgrounds more accurately represent the sun position, clouds, and precipitation (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)

Siri

  • On-device processing means audio of your requests does not leave your device by default, and means Siri is able to process many requests while offline (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)
  • Share items with Siri lets you send on screen items like photos, web pages and Maps locations to any of your contacts
  • Onscreen context can be used by Siri to refer to contacts on screen to send them a message or place a call
  • On-device personalization allows Siri speech recognition and understanding to improve privately (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)

Privacy

  • Mail Privacy Protection protects your privacy by preventing email senders from learning about your Mail activity, your IP address or whether you've opened their email
  • Safari Intelligent Tracking Prevention now also prevents known trackers from profiling you using your IP address

iCloud+

  • iCloud+ is a cloud subscription service that gives you premium features and additional iCloud storage
  • iCloud Private Relay (beta) sends your requests through two separate internet relays and encrypts the internet traffic leaving your device so you can browse Safari in a more secure and private way
  • Hide My Email lets you create unique, random email addresses that forward to your personal inbox so you can send and receive email without having to share your real email address
  • HomeKit Secure Video supports connecting more security cameras without using your iCloud storage quota
  • Custom email domain personalizes your iCloud Mail address and allows you to invite family members to use the same domain

Accessibility

  • Image exploration with VoiceOver allows you to get even more details about people and objects, and learn about text and table data in photos
  • VoiceOver image descriptions in Markup let you add your own image descriptions that can be read by VoiceOver
  • Per-app settings allow you to customize display and text size settings only for the apps you want
  • Background sounds play balanced, bright, or dark noise, ocean, rain, and stream sounds continuously in the background to mask unwanted environmental or external noise
  • Sound actions for Switch Control enable you to control your iPhone with simple mouth sounds
  • Audiograms can be imported in Settings so you can customize Headphone Accommodations based on your hearing test results
  • New Voice Control languages include Mandarin Chinese (China mainland), Cantonese (Hong Kong), French (France), and German (Germany)
  • Memoji options including a cochlear implant, oxygen tubes, or a soft helmet

This release also includes other features and improvements:

  • Tags in Notes and Reminders help you quickly categorize your items to make them easy to find, and you can use custom Smart Folders and Smart Lists to automatically collect your notes and reminders based on rules you can define
  • Mentions in Notes enable you to notify others of important updates in shared notes, and an all-new Activity view displays all the recent changes in a note in a single list
  • Spatial audio with dynamic head tracking in Apple Music brings an even more immersive experience to Dolby Atmos music with AirPods Pro and AirPods Max
  • System-wide translation lets you select text throughout the system and translate it with a tap, even in photos
  • New widgets include Find My, Contacts, App Store, Sleep, Game Center, and Mail
  • Cross-app drag and drop function lets you pick up images, documents, and files from one app to another
  • Keyboard magnification loupe magnifies the text when moving the cursor
  • Apple ID Account Recovery Contacts lets you to choose one or more people you trust to help you reset your password and regain access to your account
  • Temporary iCloud storage grants you as much iCloud storage as you need to create a temporary backup of your data, free of charge, for up to three weeks when you buy a new device
  • Find My separation alerts notify you if you leave a supported device or item behind and Find My will give you directions to your item
  • Game highlights of up to the last 15 seconds of gameplay can be saved using game controllers like the Xbox Series X|S Wireless Controller or Sony PS5 DualSense™ Wireless Controller
  • App Store in-app events help you discover timely events within apps and games such as a game competition, a new movie premiere, or a livestreamed experience

This release includes even more features and improvements. For more information, please visit this website: https://www.apple.com/ios/ios-15/features/

For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit this website: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201222

iPadOS 15 Release Notes

Multitasking

  • The multitasking menu at the top of apps lets you enter Split View, Slide Over, or go full screen
  • A multiwindow shelf appears within apps giving you quick access to all the open windows
  • App Switcher now includes Slide Over apps and allows you to create Split View spaces by dragging one app over another
  • A new option to open a window centered on screen without leaving your current view in Mail, Messages, Notes, Files and supported third-party apps
  • Keyboard shortcuts enable you to create a Split View or Slide Over using an external keyboard

Widgets

  • Widgets can be placed among apps on your Home Screen
  • Extra large widget size designed just for iPad
  • New widgets include Find My, Contacts, App Store, Game Center, and Mail
  • Suggested layouts include widgets for the apps you use most arranged on your Home Screen
  • Intelligent widget suggestions automatically appear in your Smart Stack at the right time based on your activity

App Library

  • App Library automatically organizes the apps on your iPad into an easy-to-navigate view
  • App Library is available from an icon in the dock
  • Home Screen pages can be reordered or hidden to fit your needs

Quick Note & Notes

  • Quick Note lets you take a note from anywhere in iPadOS by swiping your finger or Apple Pencil
  • Links from an app or web page can be added to your Quick Note to create context
  • Tags let you easily categorize and organize your notes
  • The Tag Browser in the sidebar lets you tap any tag or combination of tags to quickly view tagged notes
  • Activity view gives a summary of updates since the last time you viewed the note, along with a day-to-day list of activity from each collaborator
  • Mentions let you notify a person in a shared note

FaceTime

  • Spatial audio makes people’s voices sound like they’re coming from the direction in which they’re positioned on the screen on Group FaceTime calls (iPad with A12 Bionic and later)
  • Voice Isolation blocks background noises so your voice is crystal clear (iPad with A12 Bionic and later)
  • Wide Spectrum brings all background noises into your call (iPad with A12 Bionic and later)
  • Portrait mode blurs your background and puts the focus on you (iPad with A12 Bionic and later)
  • Grid view displays up to six people at a time in Group FaceTime calls in the same-size tiles and highlights the current speaker
  • FaceTime links allow you to invite your friends into a FaceTime call, even friends on Android or Windows devices can join from their browser

Messages and Memoji

  • Shared with You shows content sent to you by friends in Messages conversations in a new section in Photos, Safari, Apple News, Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, or the Apple TV app
  • Pinned content elevates the shared content you choose and makes it more prominent in Shared with You, Messages search, and the Details view of the conversation
  • Multiple photos sent in Messages are displayed as a glanceable collage or a swipeable stack
  • Over 40 Memoji outfit choices and up to three different colors to customize your Memoji stickers’s clothing and headwear

Focus

  • Focus lets you automatically filter notifications based on what you’re currently doing, such as fitness, sleep, gaming, reading, driving, work, or personal time
  • Focus uses on-device intelligence during set up to suggest apps and people you want to allow notifications from in a Focus
  • Home Screen pages can be customized to match your apps and widgets to a specific Focus
  • Contextual suggestions intelligently suggest a Focus based on your context, using signals like location or time of day
  • Status appears to your contacts in Messages conversations that your notifications are silenced with Focus

Notifications

  • A new look displays contact photos for people and larger icons for apps
  • Notification summary delivers a helpful collection of your notifications daily, based on a schedule you set
  • Notifications can be muted from any app or messaging thread for the next hour, or for the day

Maps

  • Detailed city maps display elevation, trees, landmarks, crosswalks and turn lanes, 3D views to navigate complex interchanges, and more in San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York, and London, with more cities coming in the future (iPad with A12 Bionic and later)
  • New driving features include a new map for drivers that highlights details like traffic and incidents, and a route planner that lets you view your upcoming journey by choosing a future departure or arrival time
  • Updated transit experience provides one-tap access to departures near you
  • Interactive 3D globe shows enhanced details for mountain ranges, deserts, forests, oceans, and more (iPad with A12 Bionic and later)
  • Redesigned place cards make it easy to learn about and interact with places, and a new home for Guides editorially curates the best recommendations for places you’ll love

Safari

  • Tab Groups help you save and organize your tabs and easily access them across devices
  • Start page can be customized with a background image and new sections like Privacy Report, Siri Suggestions, and Shared With You
  • Web extensions on iPadOS help you personalize your browsing and can be downloaded through the App Store
  • Voice search lets you search the web using your voice

Translate

  • The Translate app for iPad is designed for conversations and can work completely offline so your conversations stay private
  • System-wide translation lets you select text and handwriting throughout iPadOS and translate it with a tap
  • Auto Translate detects when you start speaking and when you stop in a conversation, automatically translating your speech without tapping the microphone button
  • Face to face view allows each person to view the conversation from their own side

Live Text

  • Live Text makes text interactive in all your photos so you can copy and paste, look up, and translate in Photos, Screenshot, Quick Look, Safari, and live previews with Camera (iPad with A12 Bionic and later)
  • Data detectors for Live Text recognize phone numbers, emails, dates, street addresses, and more in photos so you can take action on them

Spotlight

  • Rich results brings together all the information you’re looking for on contacts, actors, musicians, movies, and TV shows
  • Photos can be searched from your photo library by locations, people, scenes, text in the photos or other things in the photos, like a dog or a car
  • Web image search allows you to search for images of people, animals, monuments, and more

Photos

  • New look for Memories with a new interactive interface, animated cards with smart, adaptive titles, new animation and transition styles, and multiple image collages
  • Apple Music can be added to your Memories for Apple Music subscribers, and personalized song suggestions combine expert recommendations with your music tastes and what’s in your photos and videos
  • Memory mixes let you set the mood by selecting from different songs and a Memory look to match
  • New memory types include additional international holidays, child-focused memories, trends over time, and improved pet memories
  • Info pane now displays rich information about the photo like which camera and lens, shutter speed, file size, and more
  • Visual Look Up recognizes art, landmarks around the works, plants and flowers, books, and dog and cat breeds in your photos so you can learn more about them

Siri

  • On-device processing means audio of your requests does not leave your device by default, and means Siri is able to process many requests offline (iPad with A12 Bionic and later)
  • Share items with Siri to send on screen items like photos, web pages and Maps locations to any of your contacts
  • Onscreen context can be used by Siri to refer to contacts on screen to send them a message or place a call
  • On-device personalization allows Siri speech recognition and understanding to improve privately (iPad with A12 Bionic and later)

Privacy

  • Mail Privacy Protection protects your privacy by preventing email senders from learning about your Mail activity, your IP address or whether you've opened their email
  • Safari Intelligent Tracking Prevention now also prevents trackers from profiling you using your IP address

iCloud+

  • iCloud+ is a cloud subscription service that gives you premium features and additional iCloud storage
  • iCloud Private Relay (beta) sends your requests through two separate internet relays and encrypts the internet traffic leaving your device so you can browse Safari in a more secure and private way
  • Hide My Email lets you create unique, random email addresses that forward to your personal inbox so you can send and receive email without having to share your real email address
  • HomeKit Secure Video supports connecting more security cameras without using your iCloud storage quota
  • Custom email domain personalizes your iCloud Mail address and allows you to invite family members to use the same domain

Accessibility

  • Image exploration with VoiceOver allows you to get even more details about people and objects, and learn about text and table data in photos
  • VoiceOver image descriptions in Markup let you add your own image descriptions that can be read by VoiceOver
  • Per-app settings allow you to customize display and text size settings only for the apps you want
  • Background sounds play balanced, bright, or dark noise, ocean, rain, and stream sounds continuously in the background to mask unwanted environmental or external noise
  • Sound actions for Switch Control enable you to control your iPad with simple mouth sounds
  • Audiograms can be imported in Settings so you can customize Headphone Accommodations based on your hearing test results
  • New Voice Control languages include Mandarin Chinese (China mainland), Cantonese (Hong Kong), French (France), and German (Germany)
  • Memoji options including a cochlear implant, oxygen tubes, or a soft helmet

This release also includes other features and improvements:

  • Spatial audio with dynamic head tracking in Apple Music brings an even more immersive experience to Dolby Atmos music with AirPods Pro and AirPods Max
  • Keyboard shortcut enhancements include more keyboard shortcuts, a redesigned compact look, and better organization by categories
  • Apple ID Account Recovery Contacts lets you to choose one or more people you trust to help you reset your password and regain access to your account
  • Temporary iCloud storage grants you as much iCloud storage as you need to create a temporary backup of your data, free of charge, for up to three weeks when you buy a new device
  • Find My separation alerts notify you if you leave a supported device or item behind and Find My will give you directions to your item
  • Game highlights of up to the last 15 seconds of gameplay can be saved using game controllers like the Xbox Series X|S Wireless Controller or Sony PS5 DualSense™ Wireless Controller
  • App Store in-app events help you discover timely events within apps and games such as a game competition, a new movie premiere, or a livestreamed experience

This release includes even more features and improvements. For more information, please visit this website: https://www.apple.com/ipados/ipados-15/features/

For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit this website: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201222

How to Update

iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 are available via Over-the-Air Update (Settings > General > Software Update) via Finder on a Mac with macOS Catalina or later, or via iTunes on a PC or Mac with macOS Mojave or earlier.

Before updating, we strongly recommend making a full and complete backup of your device (either locally or in iCloud, depending on personal preference). This will ensure that, in the unlikely event that something goes wrong during the update process, you will have a current backup on hand in case a device restore becomes necessary. Also, if using OTA update, we recommend plugging your device into a power source for the duration of the download/installation process, so as to prevent the unlikely event of your battery going dead during the update.

More information on how to update the software on your device is available on this Apple Support page.

We would love to hear your thoughts about these releases. What do you like? What do you dislike? Let us know by posting a comment below.

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Comments

By The Tetris monster on Friday, October 8, 2021 - 14:13

So, I installed iOS 15 on my iPhone 12. However, I’ve noticed something quite strange. First of all, I can’t seem to find the settings to adjust the FaceTime audio modes in the control centre, the FaceTime app or the settings app. Also, Siri does not seem to want to work offline. This is very strange, and it should work since I am running this on an iPhone 12. Does anyone else have this? Granted I probably should have waited, but I was a little too impatient for that.

By Siobhan on Friday, October 8, 2021 - 14:13

I have not updated yet because i'm waiting to see stories like this come up. I'm not sure how you updated, but if it was over the air, maybe try it through whatever you do to update. :) sorry I'm not more help. also, I'm sure you restarted the phone even after the update so i won't hurt your intellect. ;)

By The Tetris monster on Friday, October 8, 2021 - 14:13

Hi.
I didn't think of restarting tbh, but I did it anyway.
No, no changes here.
When trying to invoke siri without an internet connection, I get the siri is not connected to the internet notification.
I wonder if this is some messed up method of geo-blocking, since private relay doesn't seem to be available in South Africa at this time, but remember that it is still only a beta, but I'm wondering if this doesn't have something to do with it.

By Shawn T on Friday, October 8, 2021 - 14:13

Try setting Siri input language to English United states, Australia, British etc. I know New Zealand isn't supported either. My guess is the South African version of English doesn't support offline.

By Rob on Friday, October 8, 2021 - 14:13

Hi, I believe offline Siri currently only works with United States English Siri voice. You may want to change your Siri voice if this is the case and see if offline Siri works. HTH.

Sorry my advice didn't help. I wasn't aware you weren't in the U.S. sorry about that. I also suspect that with so many devices, siri's just having a hard time and it might fix itself overnight. Also, are you in a rural area with poor connectivity? Not suggesting you are, just giving you more food for thought.

By The Tetris monster on Friday, October 8, 2021 - 14:13

No, I’ve got pretty decent connectivity where I am. If only the United States voices are supported, I do think that Apple should have at least said something to this regard. I’ll give this a try, but I really hope Apple fixes it.

By John Lipsey on Friday, October 8, 2021 - 14:13

I often leave my phone on do not disturb. After tweaking it to account for the way focus behaves now, I have it basically looking as it did in iOS 14. However, I can't get the focus mode notification on my lock screen to just go away. I know I'm in a focus, I set it that way. In prior versions, I could flick up and there was an action in the actions rotor to dismiss this notification, but I don't see that any more. Anybody have any insights into a way to fix this?

By Blind angel 444 on Friday, October 8, 2021 - 14:13

I just updated my iPad and I don’t know how to change the location to my state. Also how do you hide widgets? I can get them now.

By Holger Fiallo on Friday, October 8, 2021 - 14:13

I think works for iPhone X and up.

By Kerby on Friday, October 8, 2021 - 14:13

Some focuses won’t turn on and off automatically. Anybody having this issue? Ideas? I did the automation thing correctly. I’m not sure what the deal is.

By Jo Billard on Friday, October 8, 2021 - 14:13

I'm loving it. I've set up some focuses, had a bit of trouble setting up a custom focus but figured it out. One of my automated focuses worked perfectly and shut off when it was supposed to, but it kept turning off if I hit the screen by mistake. I resolved it by just doing it the old way and setting it to turn off after my meeting was over. I wish you could set automations with more than one app. Gaming, for instance, well, I have 14 games and I can only choose one of them for the focus to open automatically. I have an 8+ and this year I'm really feeling the lack of features I can't get. I can set up a link for Facetime, but I think that's about it, and of course there's live text and all that goes with that.

By Ekaj on Friday, October 8, 2021 - 14:13

I upgraded to iOS 15 last night, and I'd say the entire process took just under an hour. I got up a bit ago this morning, and had a brief look at it and it looks pretty good. I sampled one of the background soundscapes, and it was neat. I couldn't quite figure out how to stop the sample, so I pressed the Home button once, and that did it. I will no doubt have at least a bit more time later to play around with the new features, but thus far I'm impressed. It'd be cool if those of us with older devices were given the opportunity to sample the features which are only available on the newer models, but I'm good with what I've got for now.

By Clare Page on Friday, October 8, 2021 - 14:13

Hi! I've set up a few focuses on myh iPhone SE 2020 since I installed iOS 15 earlier today. For that reason I can tell you that, if you want a focus to start when you're playing games, this is not limited to one game at a time, you can add as many as you like: this can be a long process if you have lots of games like I do, as you have to add them one after another, but I got mine done eventually, and the automatic switching on and off has worked for that focus so far, as well as for the other ones I've set up.

When I tried to set up a games focus, it would only show me one of my games. If Iunderstand you correctly, I'm going to have to set up several games focuses.

By Holger Fiallo on Friday, October 8, 2021 - 14:13

I do not know how this happen, or what I did. I can not get voiceover read messages. I know I get one due to the haptic in my watch. How can I get voiceover to read them when I get them? Help.

By Darrell Bowles on Friday, October 8, 2021 - 14:13

Hello,
I am using an Iphone XR. No matter what method I try, I am unable to download IOS 15. I am stuck on IOS 14.7.

By Yvonnezed on Friday, October 8, 2021 - 14:13

Regarding getting rid of the focus name on the lock screen, as I understand it it's not a notification. I think whatever focus you're in gets automatically displayed on the lockscreen, along with a couple of other places I can't remember right now. Obviously this includes do not disturb.

By Yujin on Friday, October 8, 2021 - 14:13

Hi, I faced the same issue. Apparently the device needs to connect to wi-fi in order to download the needed data for offline support. I mostly use mobile data, so only notice the wi-fi requirement when checking the SIRI settings.

As you are still on 14.7, you should have two options presented to you on the Software Update screen: install 14.8 or install 15.0.

These will be located near to the bottom of the screen.

This is a change to how things used to be, as now if there are multiple update options available, you get to choose which one you want, whereas previously you would only have the option of updating to 15.0.

If you are expecting the previous behavior - so expecting the screen to be full of information about 15.0 - is it possible that you missed the two options I mention?

By Ekaj on Friday, October 8, 2021 - 14:13

Hi everybody. I've been checking everything out briefly in iOS 15 and like it a lot so far. But one feature which I'm particularly enjoying is the background sound schemes. As I write this on the MBA I have the Stream playing on my iPhone in the kitchen. I started it just a bit ago when I woke up, and meditated briefly. For those who have yet to discover this feature, it seems to be fully accessible with VoiceOver. In addition, it is just nice to listen to and I hope it is expanded over time. Thanks Apple for another great release!

By Blind angel 444 on Friday, October 8, 2021 - 14:13

How do you turn them on and off on your iOS device? I would love to have a fireplace and campfire sound added to.

By Jo Billard on Friday, October 8, 2021 - 14:13

Having trouble with focus mode. I have several set up to turn on with various apps, but whenever I lock my screen, or it locks itself, focus turns off and nothing works. I spent all afternoon with Apple and they couldn't help me resolve it.

Open settings, accessibility and tap on audio/visual.
From there tap on background sounds.
Hth

By WellF on Friday, October 8, 2021 - 14:13

I've noticed that now I can use my abreviations, I.E, typing dd expands to my email, in BSI. It wasn't possible before iOS 15.
So far iOS 15 is being bug free. Apps are crashing way less than before, I stayed with 14.4 or so until iOS 15 was released.

By Adil Uralbaev on Friday, October 8, 2021 - 14:13

Hello. I wrote about this to Apple's accessibility service and would like to post here. After updating to iOS 15, weirdness occurs with the volume of the device. For example, after I recorded a voice message in WhatsApp and Let go of my finger, the end-of-voice message sounds at maximum volume. And it also happens when sending voice messages in the Telegram app. Surprisingly, when VoiceOver is turned off, I don't see such problems.
I hope that this problem, like all others, will be fixed in the next iOS releases.

By Brian Giles on Friday, October 8, 2021 - 14:13

I'm liking 15 for the most part. My phone feels snappier than it did on 14.

I was hoping with the Siri offline stuff that Apple would let us use the neural TTS voices with VoiceOver. Those voices seem to be a lot smaller though. The voices that Siri and spoken content use look like they're less than 100MB each, but the ones you have to download to use with VO are still almost 500MB.

For the moment I've gone back to compact Samantha and sped it way up, and using one of the new Siri voices with speak screen if I want to read something at a more leisurely pace. I wonder if they've fixed some of the weird pronunciation issues that the siri voices have when used with VO.

By Kerry Fielding on Friday, October 8, 2021 - 14:13

Hi all. Got to be honest, I haven’t really sat down and got my head around all these widgets and things. What I do know is that I updated my iPad to iPadOS 15 and I’m really struggling with it. I wanted to look at the new updates to the weather app, but all I can seem to do is find the widget which is showing my wrong city and I honestly have no clue about what to do. Is there a comprehensive iOS 15 tutorial or something that I can work my way through? I do feel that the focus information would be really beneficial to me though I haven’t updated my iPhone as yet, because I have multiple cards and don’t want any issues when changing which one I want to use when making Apple Pay purchases. Thanks.

By Sam on Friday, October 8, 2021 - 14:13

I’m posting this in hopes that someone else has experienced what I’m experiencing and may know how to advise me (And perhaps help someone else who may be dealing with these issues). I’m not that great at the iPhone and perhaps these issues I’m having have to do with my specific situation; my apologies if this doesn’t help work through the issues in iOS 15 which affect the majority of users.
I’ve noticed today that I can no longer select email messages in Gmail, and sometimes I can’t access the messages at all. After updating to iOS 15.01 I seem to be able to access the emails, yet the problem with selecting emails remains.
Also I noticed when sliding my finger from the main portion of the iPhone to the status bar thatwhen i enter the region of the status bar my phone starts vibrating with haptic feedback. I’m not quite sure how to explain this. This may be a setting on my phone; Something to do with screen sensitivity or 3D Touch etc.
Thanks for your input and your patience; like I said I’m new here and hope that this won’t get in the way of useful conversation regarding workarounds for these (and other) issues.