iOS 14.5 Public Beta 5 Available As Apple Delays Public Release - Forbes

ios.indah.link

iOS 14.5 Public Beta 5

Anthony Karcz

Last week, everyone (myself included) was certain that iOS 14.5 would be launched to the public this week. They were also convinced that there would be an Apple event yesterday. 

Neither thing happened.

Instead, Public Beta program members can now download iOS 14.5 Public Beta 5. The absence of anything new in the public release notes signals that maybe Apple wasn't planning to hold on to iOS 14.5 past this week. 

Read on to find out what happened.

What's New

Some folks are reporting that dual-SIM 5G, an on-again, off-again feature that keeps popping up in iOS 14.5 betas, is back. Other than that, this release seems fairly identical to iOS 14.5 Public Beta 4. 

So what can everyone expect when iOS 14.5 finally does drop? 

• You can now give Siri directions as to what app you'd like to default to for certain media like podcasts and songs. This isn't the "default apps" feature that a lost of us (including me) thought it was, but it's a step in the right direction. 
• The Find My app has an Items tab! What's going there? Any Bluetooth finders you have, plus whatever Apple is revealing. 
• Emojis! Lots of emojis. 217 of them to be precise. 
• Unlock your iPhone with your Apple Watch (click here to see how).
• You can now swipe to add songs to your queue in Apple Music. 
• The Shortcuts app has a few new tricks to enable and disable orientation lock, change cellular modes, and take screenshots. 
• Now, when you launch an app that collects your activity data or tracks you around your iDevice, you have the option of disallowing that intrusion (as you should). Some companies, like Facebook, who've made their money off selling activity data that consumers unknowingly agreed to share in the legal agreements that no one ever reads are rather peeved. Personally, I fully support it as it gives folks who might not have realized what they were agreeing to a chance to change their minds. 
• The new Software Update splash screen (with the current iOS version as well as notification of when you last checked for a software update) has been tweaked slightly to remove the green check. 
• Testing on an iPad? iPadOS now has a horizontal boot screen when your iPad is connected to a Magic Keyboard. 
• For some carriers like T-Mobile, there's a 5G only switch (but only use it if you absolutely know what you're doing). 
• Worldwide dual SIM support is available with this release. This means that you can get 5G coverage when available even if you have both SIMs activated. 
• You can now add the Apple Music "Made for You" mixes to your library in the Music app. The Music app also now includes the exact release date for albums and tracks. And scrolling metadata for the Now Playing lock screen widget is back! 
• The Podcasts app also gets some love with a Music app-like redesign. That's most evident on the Search page. Also, tapping on a podcast entry will take you to the details page for the podcast rather than start playing immediately (there's now a dedicated smaller button for that). Extremely helpful for when you're trying to find a specific episode for a podcast with a long title (I'm looking at you Glass Cannon Network). Each podcast gets new headers in the library as well to make them really shine. 
• Fan of Apple News? There's now a dedicated search tab in the News app. 
• You can finally sort your reminders due date, creation date, due date, or a manual sort of your choosing in the Reminders app. You can now print reminders as well. 
• Have a PS5 or XBox Series X? Lucky you. Now those controllers will work with your iDevice. 
• Great news for those of you with a smart TV! Apple Fitness+ now has AirPlay 2 support. You won't see your live Apple Watch data like you do if you're connected via an Apple TV, but it's better than no support at all.
• Map app guides get a huge glow-up in iOS 14.5 with spiffed up images and headers and much more polished looking content. 
• Type to Siri no longer pulls you out of your current location when invoked, just like it does when you're not using the type interface. It's a nice bit of consistency. 
• Responding to a message with Siri has the same type of upgrade, maintaining context wherever you are when it's invoked instead of pulling you into a greyed out screen. 

What's Broken/What's Fixed? 

While some on AT&T are crowing about dual-SIM 5G finally being enabled, users on other networks like T-Mobile are reporting that 5G isn't working for them at all. Whatever's going on with this release, it seems that tweaking 5G is part of it, even if the official release notes don't list it. 

MORE FOR YOU

As always, report any issues you find via the Feedback app. 

What's Next?

Having been one of those convinced that we'd be off the iOS 14.5 beta cycle this week, I'm a little flummoxed at the delay. My best guess is that some hardware release was pushed back, be it the rumored M1 iMac refresh or AirTags. Either way, with AirTags being supported by iOS 14.5, holding the release until they can be announced makes sense. 

The rumors are now swirling around an early April press event. So it's likely we'll see a couple more iOS 14.5 beta releases between now and April 13th (ish). 

Of course, Apple could always decide to remove the Items tab from Find My and push iOS 14.5 out the door anyway. There's still plenty of features and the mask unlocking alone would have folks singing its praises. 

Whatever happens, I'll be back as soon as the next beta version drops!

The Link Lonk


March 24, 2021 at 06:58PM
https://ift.tt/3lTSHJW

iOS 14.5 Public Beta 5 Available As Apple Delays Public Release - Forbes

https://ift.tt/2ZaIe2Q
iOS