The new operating systems for iPhone, iPad, Macs and Apple Watch will be available in Fall 2021. Apple announced iOS 15, iPadOS 15, macOS Monterey, and watchOS 8 at its WWDC 2021 keynote earlier this week. There are dozens of new features, including improved FaceTime, improved Focus modes, and better use of on-device intelligence that enables offline Siri and Live Text, similar to Google Lens. macOS Monterey brings Universal Control that lets you drag and drop along with iPadOS 15. And watchOS 8 renames the Breathe app as Mindfulness and increases what you can do with the Wallet app.
Host Akhil Arora speaks with Gadgets 360 review editor Jamshed Avari and deputy review editor Roydon Cerejo on this week’s podcast episode of Orbital to find out what’s most interesting about iOS 15, iPadOS 15, macOS Monterey, and watchOS 8 — aside from ton of privacy announcements, especially with iCloud+.
Rather than give noticeable interface-level changes, unlike iOS 14, Apple seems to have designed iOS 15 more like a sequel. FaceTime now comes with spatial audio, support for portrait bokeh-style blur mode, and allows users on Android and Windows to participate in video calls. There is also a feature called SharePlay that will enable users to share videos, music, and even their screen with friends via FaceTime. For example, you can watch Apple TV+, Disney+, and Twitch with your friends.
In addition to the new FaceTime experience, Apple has introduced an improved Photos app with Memories. In addition, Share with You works system-wide to highlight content such as articles, music, and photos shared in message conversations. The aim is also to compete against Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp by providing improved integration with the native Messages app.
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iOS 15 also has a better Focus feature to filter out notifications and apps that aren’t useful at any given time. You can customize multiple Focus modes, and Apple will learn from your behavior to make suggestions. Outside of the machine learning part, the experience is somewhat similar to how some old Nokia phones allowed users to set distinctive notification alerts for their contacts or individual profiles for different groups of people.
Apple also showcased features like widgets and quick notes on iPadOS 15 to bring newer productivity experiences to iPad users. Universal Control, available on macOS Monterey, allows users to use the same keyboard and mouse configuration simultaneously and seamlessly on their MacBook or iMac and an iPad.
iCloud+ with new privacy features, unlimited support for HomeKit video cameras introduced
Beyond that, Siri now has offline support to fight the Google Assistant better better. Speaking of a better fight, Apple also showed us how it plans to grow its voice assistant separate from its internal hardware and bring it to connected third-party devices via HomePod.
We’ll cover all of this and much more of everything Apple announced at WWDC 2021. So don’t forget to listen to the full discussion by hitting the play button above. Follow the Gadgets 360 podcast on Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. Please rate us and leave a review.
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