The best new features and changes in iOS 15 beta 2 & iPadOS 15 beta 2 - AppleInsider

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The second beta of iOS 15 enables SharePlay and provides a few UI tweaks across system apps. Here are all the changes in the second developer beta.

With a testing period of just over two weeks, many changes were incorporated — both big and small.

The most notable addition is SharePlay. SharePlay was introduced during the WWDC keynote, but not present in the first beta. Users can test SharePlay by jumping onto a FaceTime call and sharing their screen or watching a video together. Developers are able to integrate SharePlay deeper into their apps and we'll see much more of this as we approach the release of iOS 15.

Another feature shown on-stage at WWDC but not in the initial beta was invoking Quick Note with just a finger. In iPadOS 15, Quick Note can be opened with Apple Pencil — or now your finger — just by swiping up from the lower-right corner.

The new Maps icons

Apple altered the appearance of two system icons — Maps and Books. The Apple Maps icon reduces the size of Apple Park and changes the colors of some elements. We saw this in Apple's promo content so it was a matter of time before it arrived in the betas for iPhone and iPad.

The new Books icons

Books in the app now have less of an arc on the pages, and more rounded corners.

Memoji clothes and stickers

Users can now choose which clothes a Memoji wears when sharing stickers. Different styles of shirts, dresses, and robes are available with multiple color options.

Apple made some changes to the Weather app too. There is a splash screen when launching the app for the first time, and users can report issues or manage notifications from the bottom of the app.

Weather and Notes have new splash screens

Other changes include a new Notes splash screen, new Private Relay text in the selection menu, and changes to iCloud settings organization.

Move to Top of Music queue

In Music, when users long hold on a track, it presents the contextual menu with a new option to Move to the Top.

New Shortcuts action

There is also a new Shortcuts action that can use what's on screen as an input. This could prove very useful for users. As an example, if you were creating a custom sharing shortcut, you'd previously have to invoke this via the Share Sheet where it would pass a website's URL. This new Shortcut action however is able to automatically detect what is on-screen. Then if you run the shortcut via Siri or Spotlight, it will automatically detect the website you're at and pass it to the next action.

In Maps, Apple has changed the verbiage of "accident" to "crash" when reporting an incident en route.

New and old Weather widgets

The Weather widget was updated in beta 2 with new visual indicators of each day's temperature ranges.

Portraits face in watchOS 8

We saw the new Portraits face come to Apple Watch with the second beta of watchOS 8, but it requires users to configure the face on the Watch app on iPhone. By going to the Watch app users can select the face, choose up to 24 portrait photos, and set the two complications.

In Safari, the reload icon is back

Apple tweaked some UI elements across the system on iPad, as well, like changing Safari's sidebar to dark grey from black. There is a new option too when you long hold the URL to move your tab to a Tab Group. We also saw the return of the reload button in Safari. If using a mouse or trackpad, when hovering over the URL bar the reload glyph will appear.

In Messages, the active chat is now highlighted in blue on the sidebar to make it more clear which conversation you're currently in. This works for both pinned conversations as well as the list view. When presenting multiple windows, iPadOS can now use the camera. App Library also got new categories for Information & Reading as well as Health & Fitness.

After a factory reset, when setting up the device new from iOS 15, an option to set up with a beta install is available. This bypasses the previous method of having to perform a beta install before resetting the device again.

As always, this is a non-exhaustive list of the changes we've spotted so far. See any features not on our list? Let us know on Twitter @Andrew_OSU and we'll add them.

Keep up with everything Apple in the weekly AppleInsider Podcast — and get a fast news update from AppleInsider Daily. Just say, "Hey, Siri," to your HomePod mini and ask for these podcasts, and our latest HomeKit Insider episode too.

If you want an ad-free main AppleInsider Podcast experience, you can support the AppleInsider podcast by subscribing for $5 per month through Apple's Podcasts app, or via Patreon if you prefer any other podcast player.

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June 25, 2021 at 11:39PM
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The best new features and changes in iOS 15 beta 2 & iPadOS 15 beta 2 - AppleInsider

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One of the best new features coming to iPhone this fall will help you regain control of your time - CNBC

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Apple WWDC21

Source: Apple

Apple's new iPhone software, called iOS 15, will be available this fall with lots of new features. But one of the features I've enjoyed most while toying around with the developer beta is called "Focus." It lets you block out all the noise — any notifications from apps and messages you don't care about — during certain times. Then you can catch up on all those notifications later.

It means I can feed my son, hang out with my family, watch a movie or read a book without seeing any new notifications on my phone. Right now, even in the Do Not Disturb mode that currently exists, I might still pick up my phone and see that I've received new messages, Slack alerts, news alerts and more — even if it isn't dinging me every time.

But Focus is way more extensive and customizable than Do Not Disturb. It gives you total control over what apps and people are able to reach you. And it's just a tap away. On iPhones with Face ID, you just swipe down from the top right of the screen in iOS 15 and tap a new button that says "Focus."

Apple's new Focus feature in iOS 15

Todd Haselton | CNBC

So, for example, I can set Focus to interrupt me if I get a text from my wife, but I won't receive an alert from anyone else. Even if I pick up my phone, I won't see a notification that I've received a text message, a Slack alert or anything else I've deactivated. Once i0S 15 is available to everyone, people will be able to push a message through to you if they see you're in Focus mode, though, which is good for emergencies.

IOS 15 will let you set different Focus profiles, which you can easily switch between. You might have one for "Personal" time, for example, which is what I turn on when I only want notifications from family members who are texting me. There are also "Sleep" and "Work" profiles that you can customize, and you can create others.

Apple WWDC21

Source: Apple

Even cooler, Focus can be applied to all of your Apple devices at the same time. So, when I turn on Focus mode on my iPhone, it automatically turns on for my Apple Watch, iPad and MacBook.

If you really need to see if you're missing a ton of incoming notifications that might be important, you can cheat and see a summary of the notifications you've received in Focus mode by swiping down from the top of the screen. But I've found this is a lot less tempting than seeing alerts pop up, and I usually don't even look. That helps me pay attention to what's going on around me instead.

There are other ways you can tweak Focus that I haven't toyed around with as much. You can set a custom home screen for personal use, for example, which might show your messaging, streaming and games. Or you can set a custom home screen for work, which might show your work chat app, video apps, email client and more.

IOS 15 has a lot of new changes that are exciting, such as big updates to FaceTime, the Safari web browser, Messages and more. But most people will find Focus is one of those less-talked-about features that will really impact how we use our phones — especially in times when we prefer to put them down.

The update will be available to everyone in the fall, but a public beta that will let people try the new features will launch sometime in July.

The Link Lonk


June 24, 2021 at 12:50AM
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Apple’s iOS 14.5 Boosted A Key Android App Profitability Factor By 2.5X - Forbes

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Advertising spend on iPhone and iPad has dropped 32% from its peak in 2021. While in early February advertisers split their spend 56% to 44% in favor of Android, in mid-June the split was 70% to 30%.

And as a result, Android apps are getting more profitable.

Apple’s recent iOS 14.5 update essentially deprecated the IDFA, Apple’s identifier for advertisers, by making it opt-in by consumers. That makes mobile advertising safer and more private, but it also makes it harder to measure and value. Based on a $1.5 billion slice of adspend that I studied last week for marketing measurement firm Singular, advertisers began shifting dollars to Android — which is still fully measurable — at just about the same time as Apple released iOS 14.5: the week of April 26. (Full disclosure: Singular is a consulting client.)

Ad spend on iPhone and iPad has been dropping in favor of Android since Apple released iOS 14.5.

Singular

As a direct result of the flood of additional marketing dollars, Android ad rates have caught up and eclipsed iOS ad prices for the first time ever, says AdLibertas. And that in turn has boosted monetization for Android apps significantly: 90-day predictive value of new users for Android apps are up 2.5X in June over April’s numbers, according to AdLibertas’ founder and CEO Adam Landis.

Meanwhile, 90-day predictive value of iOS users has dropped about 50%.

June cohorts of Android app users are worth up to 2.5X more than April cohorts, says AdLibertas.

AdLibertas

It’s hard to over-estimate how big a deal this is, even if it’s temporary.

One of the most basic assumptions in mobile over the past decade is that marketing on iOS is more expensive because iPhone and iPad users and customers are worth more than Android users. At least at this moment in history, that’s no longer true.

There are some caveats to mention here.

It’s likely there was a run-up in iOS marketing before the launch of iOS 14.5. App developers and marketers knew the “free IDFA party” was ending soon, and likely spent more freely in early 2021 than they would have otherwise. And, as marketers adjust their growth technologies to account for new ways of measuring and valuing mobile users that take advantage of Apple’s SKAdNetwork framework and other tools, the pendulum is likely to swing back in iOS’ favor.

It’s simple math: the average iPhone buyer spends easily $400 more for a device than the average Android owner.

Ergo: they’re wealthier and more valuable to advertisers.

If, however, this signals a sea change in marketing costs and profitability per platform — even if the balance swings back somewhat to iOS — that could have long-term impacts on developer investments on Android and iOS. In other words: if you can make more money on Android than on iOS, you’re more likely to release apps on Android. Even a small shift that just boosts Android profitability by 20% or so will have some bearing on where app developers and publishers invest.

And over time, a platform is only as good as the apps it supports.

This shift will likely stabilize and somewhat reverse itself. But it’s a warning flag to Apple that the developers it says it supports — 76% of whom depend on ad revenue — are at least at the moment earning significantly more on Android.

And opt-in rates to IDFA?

Globally, they’re tracking at only 23.64%. Since for effective measurement marketers need dual opt-in (advertised app and advertising app), that essentially means that full trackability a la 2010 to 2020 is only available for a vanishingly small percentage of their mobile users.

IDFA opt-in rates for top countries globally in iOS 14.5

Singular

With iOS 14.5 global update rates at about 52% and climbing rapidly, iOS developers could be in for significantly more pain over the coming weeks and months. Ultimately, iOS monetization will likely return, with some degree of impairment, however.

The Link Lonk


June 25, 2021 at 10:22PM
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Apple’s iOS 14.5 Boosted A Key Android App Profitability Factor By 2.5X - Forbes

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Here’s what’s new in iOS 15 beta 2 and iPadOS 15 beta 2 - 9to5Mac

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Apple today introduced iOS 15 beta 2 and iPadOS 15 beta 2 to developers, which are the first updates since the initial release at WWDC 2021 earlier this month. Now that we have the new betas in our hands, here’s a look at what’s new in today’s updates.

Not available for some devices

According to the iPadOS 15 beta 2 release notes on the Apple Developer website, today’s release cannot be installed on the Wi-Fi + Cellular version of the 9.7-inch iPad Pro. The reason is unknown, but probably Apple found some serious issue and chose to skip this release for the affected iPad models.

Bug fixes for iCloud Private Relay

iCloud Private Relay makes web browsing more secure for iCloud subscribers, but this feature was causing some problems for users in beta 1. According to Apple in today’s release notes, iOS 15 beta “resolved an issue that caused iCloud Private Relay to function unexpectedly.”

New Maps icon

Apple revealed a new icon for its Maps app at WWDC 2021, but it was not included in iOS 15 beta 1. Now with beta 2, the new Maps icon is there. It also shows animated driving directions within the app.

Memoji outfit

Apple also mentioned earlier this month that Memojis would be updated with new looks, including the option to set a custom outfit. These options are now available with iOS 15 beta 2.

Welcome screen in the Weather app

When you open the Weather app in iOS 15 beta 2 for the first time, you will now see a welcome screen highlighting its new features and refreshed design.

Quick Note on iPad

Quick Note was already available in iPadOS 15 beta 1, but now with beta 2 users can swipe from the bottom right corner to trigger Quick Note.

As of iPadOS 15b2, you can now use your finger to swipe from the bottom right corner to trigger Quick Note. Still can't switch which side is which, but maybe in a future update. (I filed FB9187398 for any interested parties.) https://t.co/DmlBRvKXxn

— Dan Moren (@dmoren) June 24, 2021

SharePlay

SharePlay is a new feature to let users share a song, video, or even the screen of their devices during a FaceTime call. This feature is now working with iOS 15 beta 2.

• 

• 

Lossless on HomePod removed

Apple has removed the option to enable Lossless audio on HomePod with iOS 15 beta 2. Previously there was an option to stream Lossless songs on HomePod within the Home app. Most likely this option has been temporarily removed due to some issue and will return in a future release.

Safari

Apple has brought back the Refresh button for the Safari address bar, but it only shows up when using a mouse or trackpad.

They also added a refresh button to the Safari toolbar (on iPadOS), but the downside is it’s only available if you hover over that right side area with the cursor. pic.twitter.com/YMsUvdHkzj

— Owen Donckers (@odonckers) June 24, 2021

Shortcuts improvements

The Shortcuts app can now see what is displayed on the screen for receiving input from an app without the share sheet.

Also new in iOS/iPadOS 15 beta 2: Shortcuts, like Siri, can see what's displayed on screen.

There's a new 'Receive What's On Screen' option for Shortcuts. Enable this, and a shortcut will receive input from an app without the share sheet. Right now, it works in Safari. pic.twitter.com/wxrzDlavbY

— Federico Viticci (@viticci) June 24, 2021

If you spot any changes in the iOS 15 beta or the other new releases from Apple today, let us know in the comments below or on Twitter @9to5Mac. Stay tuned for our full hands-on coverage with the new releases right here at 9to5Mac today and throughout the rest of the week.

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June 25, 2021 at 04:52AM
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Apple releases iOS 15 beta 2 and iPadOS 15 beta 2 to developers - 9to5Mac

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Two weeks after unveiling iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 to the public at WWDC 2021, Apple is rolling out the second developer betas. iOS 15 beta 2 and iPadOS 15 beta 2 are now available to registered developers ahead of a public beta release in July and a release to everyone in the fall.

iOS 15 beta 2 details

iOS 15 beta 2 and iPadOS 15 beta 2 are available to developers via an over-the-air update in the Settings app. As usual, if the update does not immediately appear for download, keep checking, as it sometimes takes a few minutes to roll out to all registered developers. The build number for today’s iOS 15 beta 2 release is 19A5281h .

Apple’s new software version won’t be complete until the fall, at which point it will be released to the general public. Testers should still expect performance and stability issues when running the iOS 15 beta on primary devices for the time being.

Learn more about what’s new in iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 in our coverage below:

In addition to the second developer betas of iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, Apple is also releasing tvOS 15 beta 2 for Apple TV and HomePod and watchOS 8 beta 2 for Apple Watch. The second beta of macOS Monterey is not yet available.

If you spot any changes in the iOS 15 beta or the other new releases from Apple today, let us know in the comments below or on Twitter @9to5Mac. Stay tuned for our full hands-on coverage with the new releases right here at 9to5Mac today and throughout the rest of the week.

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June 25, 2021 at 03:39AM
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Headlines iOS app update brings smarter widgets, iPad UI improvements, more - 9to5Mac

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The simple and clean news reader Headlines for iPhone and iPad is out today with a nice update that makes its widgets more useful, brings iPad UI enhancements, offers smart group management, and more.

Headlines for iOS is a news reader that offers seamless feed discovery and management and useful features like iCloud sync, dark mode, and 6 widgets to choose from.

Version 2 of the app launched today and one of the most interesting new features is the ability for widgets to hide articles that you’ve already read.

Along with that, Headlines 2 brings in-app article browsing, the option to manage smart groups, feeds, and tags, a better UI for iPad, and more.

Headlines is a free download for iPhone and iPad with an in-app purchases available to unlock unlimited feeds, mute filters, alternate icons, instant translation, and tags for $1.99/month, $9.99/year, or $24.99 for a lifetime license.

Release notes:

Say hello to Headlines 2! Here’s what’s new:

• In-app article browsing.

• Manage smart groups, feeds and tags from the new home screen.

• Widgets can now hide articles you’ve already read.

• iPad user interface improvements.

• You can now open articles in your default browser (e.g. Safari).

• Alternate icons for Headlines+ users.

• Default theme overriding.

• Bug fixes and memory management improvements.

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June 24, 2021 at 04:33AM
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iOS 14.7 will give the iPhone a few cool new features. Here's what we know about it - CNET

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iOS 14.7 will give the iPhone a few cool new features.

James Martin/CNET

Apple's iOS 14.6 update arrived in late May with new features, including another way to locate lost AirTags trackers and high-fidelity Apple Music support. But we're already looking ahead to iOS 14.7, which is currently available as a public beta. 

iOS 14.7 appears to be another small update, which is not a surprise. The big update arrived with iOS 14.5 in April, which includes the ability to unlock your iPhone with Face ID while wearing a mask, stop apps from tracking you for advertising purposes and choose from four Siri voices. 

Here's what we know about iOS 14.7 so far. Plus, check out everything to know about Apple's upcoming iOS 15 update. 

Read more: iOS 14.6's best new iPhone features

iOS 14.7 is now available as a developer beta. 

Patrick Holland/CNET

When will iOS 14.7 be available for download? 

iOS 14.7 is currently available as a public beta. But be careful: Betas are often buggy and should only be downloaded on a tester device, not your primary phone. We recommend waiting until the final release before downloading. We expect to see a general release in late June or early July.

How can I download iOS 14.7 once it's generally available? 

Once Apple releases iOS 14.7 to the public, you should get a prompt telling you that iOS 14.7 is now available and asking if you'd like to download it. Or you can do the following: 

1. Open the Settings app.

2. Select General.

3. Tap Software Update. 

Your device will connect to Apple's servers and prompt you to download and install the update. Follow the prompts to complete the installation. When your device reboots, it will be running iOS 14.7. (Check out our full instructions on preparing your phone and downloading iOS 14 here.)

CNET Apple Report

Stay up-to-date on the latest news, reviews and advice on iPhones, iPads, Macs, services and software.

What devices will iOS 14.7 work on?

iOS 14.7 will be compatible with all the same devices as iOS 14. Generally, these include the iPhone 6S all the way up through the iPhone 12, along with the iPhone SE and the seventh-gen iPod Touch. For the full list of devices compatible with iOS 14, click here. 

You'll be able to download iOS 14.7 on the iPhone 6S through the iPhone 12, pictured here.

Sarah Tew/CNET

What new features will iOS 14.7 include?

The latest operating software update appears to be smaller, and focused on under-the-hood changes. Here's what we've seen in the beta version of the software so far. 

Set timers on your HomePod using the Home app

While you've been able to set timers on HomePod for a while, you previously needed to do this using Siri. In iOS 14.7, you can set a timer for your HomePod through the Home app without having to ask Siri, as 9to5Mac found in the developer beta code. The new option is located below HomePod alarms. 

In iOS 14.7, you'll be able to set a timer for your HomePod through the Home app.

Chris Monroe/CNET

Weather app air quality feature expanding to more countries

iOS 14 added the ability to see air quality measures in the Weather app, but only in a few regions. In the iOS 14.7 developer beta, this feature appears to be expanded to more countries, 9to5Mac spotted. 

Battery drain bug fix

Several people have reported an issue with their iPhone battery draining quickly since updating to iOS 14.6. Apple has yet to address the issue, but it seems possible it could be fixed in iOS 14.7. 

For more, check out some of the best hidden iPhone features we've found in iOS 14. And before you make any OS updates, make sure your iPhone and iPad are ready to do so. 

The Link Lonk


June 24, 2021 at 03:40AM
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