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iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and watchOS 8 now available for download
Editor's Team0 99 17 minutes read
Apple has just released the final version of iOS 15, the next major version of the operating system for the iPhone to the public. The iOS 15 update features Live Text — extracting text directly from your Camera, Focus mode, redesigned notification system, and more. Along with iOS 15, Apple has also released iPadOS 15 and watchOS 8 for compatible iPad and Apple Watch models.
iOS 15 is a free download and works with all the iPhones compatible with iOS 14, i.e., the iPhone 6s or later, both generations of iPhone SE, and the most recent iPod touch model. Likewise, iPadOS 15 is compatible with all the iPads that supported iOS 14. These include all the iPad Pro models, basic iPad 2017 and newer, and a few others. Check out the compatibility list here.
iOS 15 brings a whole lot to the iPhone. Redesigned Safari and FaceTime apps, improved Spotlight search, offline Siri, Focus mode, and much more. Click here to know everything about iOS 15. iPadOS 15 brings new features like redesigned Home Screen, Quick Notes, all-new Safari, and much more. Click here to know everything about iPadOS 15.
How to Download and Install iOS 15 and iPadOS 15
All the updates released today – iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and watchOS 8 — are free downloads. To install iOS 15 on your iPhone, follow these steps:
- Open Settings on your iPhone.
- Next, select General → Software Update.
- Wait for the iPhone to check for the update.
- Tap Download and Install.
- You should now see Update Requested… This means you’re in the queue and the iOS 15 download should start soon.
The updates have just been released so if it isn’t available just yet, keep checking the Software Update section in your iOS or iPadOS settings. If you’re getting slow download speeds, then you’ll have to wait for some time as this is a big update (over 5GB) and a lot of people must be hitting Apple’s servers right now.
iOS 15 Features
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 Features
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
Sanuj Bhatia
An engineer by degree, news reporter by profession, and an avid sports lover. You’ll find me scrolling Football Twitter when I’m not writing about cutting-edge technology. Have a tip? Noted a mistake? You can reach out using the email given below.
Contact: [email protected]
