Apple’s annual iPhone software update, iOS 15, is now available. It brings a mix of big new features and tweaks.
This year, FaceTime is making calls to Windows and Android phones, and the Messages app has new sharing capabilities. There are also improvements for multitasking, like better controls for split-screen apps and a floating sidebar.
Visual Lookup
Visual Lookup is a feature that uses the camera to identify objects or subjects and provide information. It’s Apple’s version of Google Lens, and it works in photos in the Camera app, as well as images in Safari, Messages, Mail, and more.
To use it, simply swipe up on a photo to reveal the “i” icon with sparkly stars around it. Tap the icon to see a pop-up with relevant information about the subject. The feature can help you learn more about a plant, animal, landmark, or book. It can also search for similar images on the web. It’s a handy tool when you’re on vacation and want to know more about a statue or monument, or when you’re at a friend’s house and you’re trying to figure out what kind of plant is on their table or artwork on their wall.
There are a few reasons why Visual Lookup may not be working properly. First, it might be disabled in your iPhone or iPad’s settings. To enable it, go to Settings General Language & Region and make sure that the switch next to Show in Look Up is on.
Another possibility is that the image you’re trying to look up has too many objects or is covered by other things. In that case, the feature might not be able to recognize it and will display an error message.
Memories
One of the more interesting features that Apple is touting in ios 15 is the memory feature, which automatically curates photos and videos into a slideshow, complete with music. In the past, Apple has chosen songs to accompany the montages — which may not always have been to your liking — but now you can choose your own backing tracks. If you have a subscription to Apple Music, the app will suggest music that it thinks matches the mood of your memory (though you can also use your own Apple Music library). It’ll even let you audition Memory Looks, which are essentially color filters that may pair well with certain photos.
The Memories feature in the Photos app uses intelligent analysis of objects and faces, along with date and location data to organize photos into algorithmically curated collections. It’ll display memories from vacations, birthdays, holidays, and other significant events, as well as those of your children or pets. And now, you can edit individual memories by removing or changing photos and adding new ones.
You can also change the title of a memory and set it as your wallpaper or lock screen background. You can also tap the Share button while a memory is playing to send it to Messages, Mail, or another app. And if you want to download the full memory, you can do that as well by tapping the More button.
Messages
Apple has been beating the local machine learning drum for years, and iOS 15 delivers a couple of notable improvements. Notifications have been redesigned with contact photos for people and larger icons for apps, while Focus lets you block notifications from specific apps during specific times (like winding down for bed) using on-device intelligence.
Messages also gets some cool integration. A new feature called SharePlay lets you send links that play video and audio content from supported apps, including TikTok, ESPN, Disney+ and more. They’re accessible from a group chat, and can even be copied into other apps like Apple News, Safari and Music.
In another nod to social media, messages will detect nudity in photos and let children know they may need parental permission to see them. Parents can also review a child’s photo stream with a password before giving them full access to the app.
Apple has added drag and drop in Files, along with the ability to edit a sent message within 15 minutes, and the ability to mute a group chat for an hour or day – similar to how WhatsApp works. If you’re looking to protect your texts, try Decipher TextMessage, which enables iPhone users to save all their important text messages and iMessages to a desktop computer, keeping them private and locally stored.
Notifications
With iOS 15, Apple has introduced a set of tools to help users manage their notifications. The most noteworthy of these are new ways to control the frequency of alerts and a notification summary that can be delivered at a set time in a day. The update also includes a ‘Focus mode’ that aims to reduce distractions by filtering out notifications from specific apps.
This feature is similar to the old ‘Do Not Disturb’ setting, but with more customization options. It allows users to create a list of people and apps that they do not want to receive notifications from during a certain period of the day, and it even comes with preset modes for work, sleep and other scenarios like workouts.
Another notification-management tool in iOS 15 is ‘Focus mode’, which can be used to mute all app notifications for a specific amount of time or even during the entire day. It can be enabled by tapping the bell icon in the lock screen or in the notification center. Users can also choose to allow ‘Time Sensitive’ notifications, which will break through the Focus mode and be displayed as usual.
App developers can now design their notifications to be included in the notification summaries by using a new API that provides an on-device relevancy score for each push notification. The higher the relevance score, the more likely the notification will be included in the summary digest.
