By the end of, 2021, we are likely to see a total of four Apple events. Three of them have already happened and introduced new products (Spring Event, iPhone event) and updates to their operating systems. I want to talk about the latter in this post. In Summer, Apple had their WWDC and unveiled new software features. I’ll highlight some of the ones I’m looking forward to the most.
Favorite Upcoming Software Features
FaceTime Updates
Starting with FaceTime, the video call service will be getting a few notable changes very soon. The first will be the introduction of Portrait mode. This feature only existed while using the camera app but it has now made its way to FaceTime video. For those who are unfamiliar, Portrait mode blurs everything in the background putting a focus on the subjects.
Another cool feature in the upcoming software update, is the ability to use FaceTime even on non-Apple devices. This is achieved by sharing FaceTime links to other recipients. However, the call must be initiated on an Apple device.
The last feature I want to talk about is one called Share Play. With this feature, FaceTime users can play videos, musicals share their screens to others on the same call. Videos that are shared within the call can then be cast on Apple TV. There is a caveat to this feature though, in that third party app developers need to update their apps in order for the app to have full functionality
Sharing
The next feature update we’ll be seeing is within the ability to share. In the next software version, items shared within the iPhone ecosystem will appear in the source app. For example, if I were to share a News app article to someone, they would be able to see that article in Messages and now in the News app. This will be the case across all of Apple’s integrated apps, such as Music, Podcasts, Safari, etc. This should help organize messages, especially since messages can feel a bit cluttered at times.
Notifications
One of Apple’s themes in this event revolved around helping to organize your phone. Notifications are getting a welcomed changed and should minimize distractions while improving their effectiveness. App Notifications can now be organized by priority in something called Summary. This feature can be set either by the developer or the user and will display more “important” items first.
The second change to notifications will come in the form of Focus Modes. This allows users to create or select modes based on their activity. For example, if you are at work or studying you may choose to receive only essential notifications from messages or emails and silence everything else. Driving and Do Not Disturb mode are current features that will fall under this change when iOS 15 is released.
Live Text
Another cool feature coming that most people would find useful is the ability to select text from photos. Live Text lets users select text from photos that they’ve taken and can act intelligently with it. This is helpful with signs that include phone numbers, email addresses, or websites that can then be utilized directly from the photo. This feature works within the camera app as well; any selectable text will be highlighted on screen while the app is open. At launch, Live Text will support seven languages and will support more as Apple releases future updates
Spotlight
There are a couple ways to search for things on your phone, one of them being Spotlight. Spotlight is sometimes a nuisance rather than being helpful but with iOS 15 Apple promises better functionality. During the conference, Apple mentioned that Spotlight will include better search results when looking up topics, contacts, and even photos. Spotlight will also work with Live Text and search photos that may include the terms that you’re looking for. Overall, this feature definitely needed to catch up to its counterpart within the Mac ecosystem and it looks to do that in the next software update.
More iOS 15 Features
As mentioned before, the features I’ve highlighted are just a few that jumped out at me during WWDC. However, there are plenty of improvements coming to other areas such as Safari, Messages, and Maps. I encourage you to go ahead and check Apple’s website for a summary of these change before the update releases September 20th.
With 2021 almost in the books, we can expect one more Apple event happening in October or November. This event hasn’t been solidified but rumors are starting to circulate on what it will be about. For more on Apple’s past events check out my previous article on Apple’s Spring Event here or check out my review of Apple’s iPhone event here.