iOS 14.5 is the next version of iOS, and it's almost here, as the company has confirmed that it will roll out from sometime next week (the week starting April 26).
While it won’t be as big an update as iOS 15, which isn’t expected to land in finished form until September, it’s still set to add a bunch of new features and improvements.
We know this because iOS 14.5 is already in beta, so developers and members of the public have turned up all sorts of interesting additions. Some of these are handy upgrades, like an alternative to Face ID that lets you unlock your iPhone by wearing an Apple Watch.
iOS 14.5 beta 6 arrived with another pair of promising features – new Siri voices (and no more default voice), and recalibrating your iPhone's battery life estimates to correct faulty readings. Unfortunately, that second feature's only for the iPhone 11 range at first, though we can't imagine why it won't come to other Apple phones.
Below, we’ve highlighted the seven best things we’re expecting in iOS 14.5. It’s worth noting that there’s a chance some of these things won’t turn up, as occasionally features in beta don’t make it to the finished release, but we’d certainly expect most of them.
Apple has announced that iOS 14.5 will start rolling out next week (the week commencing April 26). It broke the news following its April 20 Apple event where we'd thought the software might land, but instead we saw the iPad Pro 2021, AirTags and other hardware.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? The next upgrade for your iPhone
- When is it out? The week starting April 26
- How much will it cost? It will be free
iOS 14.5 release date and beta
Apple's April 20 Spring Loaded event has been and gone without iOS 14.5, but the company did at least announce a launch window for the software, and it's soon, as iOS 14.5 will begin rolling out next week (the week beginning April 26).
That makes sense, as it’s already available in both public and developer betas, which itself suggested the software would arrive soon.
And while iOS 14.5 didn't land at the latest Apple event, lots of other stuff was announced, including the iPad Pro 2021 and the long-awaited AirTags.
Seven things iOS 14.5 will bring to your iPhone
We’re expecting a bunch of updates as part of iOS 14.5, but below we’ve listed the seven most interesting ones that we’ve heard about so far.
1. Mask support for Face ID
Face ID was great until we all started wearing masks, but with iOS 14.5 Apple is making it great again, at least for Apple Watch owners.
That’s because as long as your Apple Watch is unlocked, you’ll now be able to use it to authenticate your identity on your phone, meaning you can simply raise your phone as if to use Face ID, and it will unlock, with a buzz on your wrist to tell you your watch has done the heavy lifting.
However, while this will work for unlocking your iPhone, it doesn’t currently work for other things that rely on Face ID, such as authenticating purchases. Still, it's a handy workaround for users who have had facial recognition blocked when wearing face masks – and given the feature arrived in iOS 14.5 beta 2 for developers, we'd expect this to land in the full release.
2. A change to your music players
Previously, we'd thought this change meant that you'd be able to change your default music player in iOS 14.5. A new update from Apple has confirmed that it won't work in the exact way we had expected though.
A new feature will allow you to better use your own choice of music players rather than your iPhone defaulting to Apple Music, but it isn't a specific change you can make within a Settings menu.
Instead, Siri will use its learning of how you listen to music, audiobooks and podcasts. When you ask it to play a specific piece of audio, it'll then ask you where you want to listen to it.
Then it'll gently integrate that into your future listening, and that likely means that in the future your iPhone will learn you listen to music on Spotify and podcasts on the Apple Podcasts app.
3. App Tracking Transparency
iOS 14.5 is also expected to include a big new privacy feature called App Tracking Transparency. This will require apps to get your permission before sharing your activity and data with websites and apps owned by other companies.
This sharing of data is often used for adverts, with Facebook for example making big use of it, but with App Tracking Transparency you’ll be able to opt out if you’d prefer, and Apple is insisting that users still have full access to apps even if they do opt out of this.
4. PS5 and Xbox Series X controller support
If you’re a gamer then you’ll probably appreciate the addition of support for PS5 and Xbox Series X controllers as part of iOS 14.5. The Verge reports that this feature has been found in the public beta, and it should be a handy upgrade for anyone who owns one of these consoles, especially those who also make use of Apple Arcade.
Arguably this would be even more useful for gaming on an Apple TV, and while the feature isn’t yet confirmed for tvOS, we’d expect it will soon be added to that too.
5. Crowdsourced alerts in Apple Maps
Many of us aren’t really going anywhere at the moment, but for those who do have much use for Apple Maps, there’s a potentially handy new feature in the iOS 14.5 beta.
MacRumors reports that you can now report accidents, hazards, and speed checks on your journey, and presumably if enough people flag the same thing a warning about it will appear on Apple Maps – though with so many people staying at home and the feature still being in beta, it’s not getting enough use for that to have been confirmed as far as we can see.
6. No more default voice for Siri
For years Siri has been defaulting to a female voice (or a male one in a few countries), but with iOS 14.5, you'll be prompted to select which voice you want when first setting up your phone, with no default pre-selected.
This change also comes alongside two new voices for English-speaking users to choose from.
7. Battery calibration
iOS 14.5 also lets you recalibrate your phone's battery, so your phone can provide more accurate readings as to the remaining life. If you find the readings currently seem off, this could be worth doing.
Oddly this feature only seems to be supported by the iPhone 11 range right now, but we'd expect it would make its way to other models too.
The Link LonkApril 21, 2021 at 01:31AM
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iOS 14.5 release date, beta and every new feature the update brings to your iPhone - TechRadar
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