Apple apparently intends to launch a promised Legacy Contacts feature in the upcoming iOS 15.2 and the iPad equivalent. This will allow friends or family members to access your data after you die.
It will prevent pictures and phone numbers from being permanently locked on an iPhone or iPad if someone passes away without giving out their passcode.
Apple’s new iOS 15.2 beta gives iPhone and iPad users the option to scan for nearby AirTags and Find My devices that may be tracking their movements.
The beta adds a new “Items That Can Track Me” button to the Find My app. Tapping it will display a list of “Unknown Items” — if there are any nearby. The app then provide users with instructions on how to disable anything that shows up.
Starting with iOS 15.2, iPhones will be able to detect if an iPhone or iPad user gets or sends a text with sexually explicit photos. The goal is to protect children from sexual predators.
The feature is optional and uses on-device machine learning so that Apple does not have access to the images.
There’s not much Apple’s rivals would want to steal from Safari 15 — it’s not exactly the company’s finest (or most popular) browser update. But in true Samsung style, the South Korean firm found one thing worth swiping for its own mobile devices.
The latest version of the Samsung Internet browser gives Galaxy smartphone users the ability to shift the address bar to the bottom of the screen, making it a little more accessible — especially during one-handed use.
iOS 15.2 beta 1 and iPadOS 15.2 beta 1 have been seeded to developers. When available to everyone, the updates will bring an App Privacy Report for tracking what third-party application are doing. It’ll show users, each app’s sensor, data and internet usage in a simple chart.
These beta releases come only two days after iOS 15.2 and the iPad equivalent were released to the general public.
Apple rolled out iOS 15.1 and iPadOS 15.1 on Monday with the anticipated inclusion of SharePlay, a feature missing from the recent iOS 15 release. Today’s update also brings camera improvements for iPhone 13 Pro models, enables adding COVID-19 vaccination records to Wallet, and includes a bunch of other features.
If you’re in the upgrading mood, you can download iOS 15.1 and iPadOS 15.1 now. (Note for Mac owners: macOS Monterey is now available as well.)
Apple Fitness+ added group workouts and meditation sessions Monday, letting users communicate in real time with up to 32 other people. The new capability taps FaceTime’s new SharePlay feature, which works on iOS devices now and comes to macOS Monterey later this fall.
“It’s a really fun way to connect with friends and family, even trade some words of encouragement or friendly smack talk, while also making progress toward closing their rings,” said Jay Blahnik, Apple’s vice president of fitness technologies, in a press release.
Among the cool updates iOS 15 brought in September is an upgraded Weather app with some interesting and useful features. One of those is a new Precipitation map that’ll show you exactly where it is, and will be, raining (or snowing or sleeting) in your area — or anywhere.
You can also view Temperature and Air Quality maps in the same way. We’ll show you how.
Apple seeded Release Candidates for iOS 15.1, iPadOS 15.1 to developers on Monday, adding the long-awaited SharePlay feature. The release candidates for watchOS 8.1 and tvOS 15.1 were also seeded. This means the beta testing process for all of these is almost over.
In addition, developers also got access to the macOS Monterey Release Candidate. Apple promised to introduce the final version to Mac users on October 25.
Suppose you glance around in class and notice the person in front of you is taking way better notes than you are. An iPhone running iOS 15 makes grabbing a copy easy as pie without the hassle of asking permission — thanks to the magic of Live Text.
A video of this happening in the real world that was posted on Twitter is going viral. Watch it now.
Many Floridians will soon be able to leave home with just their iPhone… no wallet necessary. Florida is working with Apple to display its residents’ digital driver’s licenses in the Wallet app.
When the feature becomes available, residents of the Sunshine State plus eight other states will be able to store and display digital versions of their driver’s licenses on their iPhone and Apple Watch.
iPhone users should install the latest system software update because it fixes a collection of bugs. Monday’s release of iOS 15.0.2 takes care of images that couldn’t be deleted, problems with AirTag and iPhone Leather Wallet, and more. More significantly, it (and a related iPadOS update) deals with a device restore/update issue with iPhone 13 and the new iPad mini.
Tablet users can install iPadOS 15.0.2, which also came out Monday.
Apple on Wednesday rolled out its third iOS 15.1 beta, bringing ProRes video recording to iPhone 13 Pro for the first time since it made its debut. The feature can be enabled inside the Settings app.
But be warned: ProRes video takes up a lot of storage space. Apple says just one minute of footage shot in 1080p weighs in at approximately 1.7GB, and switching to super-sharp 4K will balloon that file size to a whopping 6GB.
If you’re having trouble with one of your favorite apps in iOS 15, it’s now possible to “report a problem” through the App Store. Apple removed this feature a couple of years ago but iOS 15 brings it back, and it’s now even better.
Here’s what has changed.
iOS and iPadOS 15 have been out for a couple weeks now, and as with most new iOS releases, they usher in plenty of new apps to take advantage of the latest features. This week, we’re talking all about iOS and iPadOS Safari extensions.
Apple on Friday released an update for iOS 15 that takes care of a bug that disabled Unlock with Apple Watch on the iPhone 13 series. This patch — dubbed iOS 15.0.1 — has other bug fixes too, including one that incorrectly told users their storage was nearly full.
The new version is accompanied by iPadOS 15.0.1 with its own bug fixes.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: After a week with the new iPhone 13 Pro, what features are knocking us out — and what’s registering a big “meh”? It’s time for some frank talk.
Also on The CultCast:
Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video livestream, embedded below.
The long list of problems that have surfaced in iOS 15 continues to grow as iPhone 13 owners report new issues with CarPlay.
Some say they are unable to play tracks in Apple Music or third-party apps like Spotify without the system crashing completely. There are some fixes you can try, like disabling the equalizer if it’s active, that may solve the problem.
Siri is widely considered the dumbest of the smart assistants (although I would argue that Samsung’s Bixby easily takes that crown) and it just got a little dumber. Apple has removed a whole bunch of useful Siri features that iPhone users — particularly those with vision impairment — relied on.
Siri can no longer play your voicemail messages, check your call history, send an email, and more. “Sorry, I can’t help with that” is the response that greets iPhone users who attempt to use the features that were available before iOS 15 made its public debut almost two weeks ago.
Some iPhone models are being plagued by touchscreen issues under Apple’s newest iOS 15 firmware. The problem, which seems to affect iPhone 13 owners most, causes devices to not respond to touch inputs.
A restart temporarily fixes the issue, though it does appear to resurface again soon after. Some say that repeated touches can get the screen working normally again, though.
Apple updated its iWork suite of productivity apps — Keynote, Pages and Numbers — with new features Tuesday that enable users to make presentations in new ways and help them work better with documents on the go.
This iOS repair post is brought to you by Tenorshare ReiBoot for Mac.
Apple’s iPhones and other devices are known for their reliability, yet from time to time one of them gets stuck on the Apple logo while the device is starting up. This happened recently with people testing beta versions of iOS 15 software prior to its launch.
With iOS 15’s biggest-ever update to Apple Maps, the Cupertino tech giant said users in several major cities can experience a 3D view with rich detail, enhanced navigation, immersive walking directions and more.
Spotify says it is looking into complaints regarding increased battery usage under iOS 15 and iOS 14.8. A growing list of users are reporting that the Spotify app has been draining their battery life since they updated their devices.
“We’ve passed your info on to the relevant team and we can confirm they are currently looking into it,” the music streaming giant told one customer.
Apple warned owners of iPhone 13 and its newest iPad models on Friday that restoring their device from an earlier backup can cause problems in Apple Music. A bug prevents some users from accessing the Apple Music catalog and settings, and from using Sync Library on their new device.
The problem affects only iPhone 13, the 2021 iPad mini and the new ninth-generation iPad. Installing a software update fixes the problem.
