iOS 15 best features: How Focus mode improved my iPhone
Phones
Speaker 1: After multiple beta versions, months of testing and tweaking iOS 15 will be available for you to download on Monday, September 20th. And there are a lot of reasons that you should let's check out some of the biggest changes and best features,
Speaker 1: Whether you're getting an iPhone 13 or have an iPhone 11 or even something older, your iPhone can run. Apple's latest version of software [00:00:30] iOS 15. I spent the summer using it and have some thoughts, which I'm gonna share. And also some of my favorite features. But if you want a deeper dive on more features, as well as some six on how to use them, check out my iOS, 15 hands on video on the whole iOS 15 feels like a continuation of iOS 14, which felt like a continuation of iOS 13. If these OS were movies, this would be a series like [00:01:00] Lord of the rings, but with less ORs. And what do I mean by this? Well, as with the last two major updates to iOS, the changes in iOS 15 aren't necessarily forced upon you. You have the ability to enable and disable most things. So if you don't like having the tab bar at the bottom of the screen for safari, you can go into settings, turn it off and, it's back at the top.
Speaker 1: IOS 15, doesn't [00:01:30] alter the way your phone looks, or at least in a big way, iOS seven, this is not iOS 15. Isn't defined by just one or two giant features. Instead it's made of hundreds of small and medium additions and updates. Some are significant like being able to send your friends on Android phones or windows PCs, a web link so they can join a FaceTime call. Other features are small, but welcomed like [00:02:00] the ability to pin conversations to the top messages or customize your emoji with more clothing styles and Maji sticker poses. iOS 15 is available on the iPhone six S in newer. And that includes both the original se and the new one released last year. And when we talk about iOS and Android, the number of years, apple offers support and backwards compatibility is simply unmatched by Google, Samsung and Huawei. [00:02:30] For example, there won't be an Android phone from 2015 that can run the upcoming version of Android 12.
Speaker 1: If you do have an older iPhone and want to install iOS 15, I recommend waiting a bit before downloading to see if other people have issues also for anyone upgrading to iOS 15, make sure you back your phone up first with all that outta the way, let's get into a few of my favorite features. And the first one is focus mode. I've heard so many colleagues [00:03:00] describe focus mode as it's do not disturb mode on steroids. And what does that mean? Exactly? Well focus lets you filter notifications based on what you're currently doing and organize apps and widget pages on your home screen to match your activity or state of being when you're used focus, your status is automatically displays and messages. So others know not to interrupt you. Also third party developers will also be able to update their messaging apps to show this status.
Speaker 1: [00:03:30] If they choose, look, I set up a handful of focuses, but let me give you an example. If I go into my work, focus, notice how I set it up so that I I'm only left with one page of apps that I use for work. Instagram and Twitter are hidden, so I'm not tempted to use them, but I do have access to all of my apps. If I need them in my app. Library, focus has improved how I use my phone so much. I have focuses for cooking work fitness among other things and setting up, focus up or editing. And one is [00:04:00] very easy. You just go into settings, focus and follow the prompts. You can schedule a focus to start and end at a certain time or you can use control center to toggle them on and off at will. Oh, and don't worry.
Speaker 1: Do not. Disturb mode is still there. If that's your jam. Another favorite feature is using portrait mode and FaceTime calls. I use this all the time. Portrait mode gives your call an artistic blurry background and is kind of like when you use portrait mode for photos, [00:04:30] portrait mode and FaceTime looks so much better and more natural than the wall of blur on a zoom call. There isn't that jagged cutout or weird halo you get sometimes had friends on FaceTime calls, ask if I've gotten a new phone because portrait mode looks so good. And also it's very easy to turn on and off.
Speaker 1: My next favorite feature is notifications. Summary. Think of this as your own personalized dossier or newsletter filled with notifications [00:05:00] that aren't timely or urgent next to focus mode. Notification summary has really changed my relationship with my phone instead of constantly being interrupted or distracted, even for a second notification summary collects notifications from apps that I'm interested in, but that are not urgent and then delivers them to me as a sheet. Look, I don't need the New York times crossword app bothering me. But when I look at notification summary, I could see if there's a new puzzle or [00:05:30] a new episode of a show on Disney plus or Netflix. The last feature I wanna mention is live text. When this first came out, I was like, oh, it's like Apple's version of Google ins. But yeah, they live on the same plane, but are a little bit different.
Speaker 1: You can use live text in real time with your camera to identify text, make phone calls, go to a website and translate from one language to another. You can also use live text in photos on your phone or on the web. [00:06:00] By tapping the live text icon live text can identify printed text and handwriting. The interface is so clean and easy to use. And one of my favorite examples was, uh, in a photo I'm wearing a t-shirt and it has wrinkles and live text was able to identify the text on it long live Tom waits. Anyway, there are a bunch more significant features in iOS, but I want to quickly mention two features that are exciting, but won't be available at launch. One is the ability to add IDs like [00:06:30] your driver's license to your iPhones wallet app, and the other is share play. When you're in a FaceTime call share play let's you listen to music together, watch a movie or TV show in sync with your friends and family. You could also share the screen of your iPhone. I tried share play out in an early beta version and was impressed with the potential. At the end of the day, iOS 15 is an update that didn't disrupt the status quo on my iPhone. And in many ways is made it better. But now I wanna [00:07:00] hear from you. What do you think of iOS 15? What's your favorite feature so far? And if you're watching this video after iOS 15 came out, what's your experience been like on your iPhone? Throw your thoughts in the comments.
