iOS 15 & friends - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

[Alli]

I thought you said you wanted one. Was it the widgets that you wanted? Go to the Home Screen, then hold your finger on one of the icons - it will pop up a menu asking to edit the Home Screen. There will then be a plus button in the top left of the screen. This will allow you to add widgets.

I got the widgets down. It was the groups. Adding a group behaves like a separate iteration of Safari. It’s maddening.

Updated before I went to bed after Dune. I’m swiping to close just like before, or pressing the reasonably big X if I feel adventurous. Did anything change there?

After install, I had 3 groups. Couldn’t just open a new tab, but that seems to be sorted now. I hate the groups!

 

[Clix Pix]

Since I was up earlier than usual today, after quickly checking on MR (and here) to see if there were any threads screaming "iOS 15 BRICKED my iPhone! [Or iPad]", and seeing nothing of the sort, took the plunge, figuring that this morning would be a good time to do it while people on the East Coast were just getting ready to go to work or were in the car or other transportation commuting to work and people on the
West Coast hadn't yet arisen to begin their day. So, both iPads done, the iPhone 12 Pro done and the iPhone 11 Pro is just starting the installation process now......

I haven't really fiddled too much yet with any of it, just quickly removed the two widgets that I didn't need or want from my home page on the iPads and tinkered with the tabs thing for a moment or two, and later will spend more time with the new setup. Many of the new improvements I won't even be using anyway so am not concerned about them one way or the other.

 

[SuperMatt]

I got the widgets down. It was the groups. Adding a group behaves like a separate iteration of Safari. It’s maddening.

After install, I had 3 groups. Couldn’t just open a new tab, but that seems to be sorted now. I hate the groups!

I haven’t used the tab groups. I read about them, played with them for a minute, and decided the feature wasn’t useful to me for now.

 

[Pumbaa]

I haven’t used the tab groups. I read about them, played with them for a minute, and decided the feature wasn’t useful to me for now.

I’m not thrilled with the extra steps needed for switching to/from private mode now.

Other than that I don’t mind the tab groups even if I probably won’t use them for a while. Probably will later.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

I've never used widgets, don't quite get it and it looks like a design eyesore. All the apps I use regularly fit on the first screen with the exception of a folder with all my streaming apps. Opening that folder is kind of a first world problem pain when I'm driving. Can widgets somehow make that less so?

 

[Herdfan]

All I want out of a new iOS is the ability to close all open apps with 2 presses like Android.

 

[SuperMatt]

All I want out of a new iOS is the ability to close all open apps with 2 presses like Android.

Public Service Announcement: You Should Not Force Quit Apps on iOS

The single biggest misconception about iOS is that it’s good digital hygiene to force quit apps that you aren’t using.

daringfireball.net

 

[Runs For Fun]

All I want out of a new iOS is the ability to close all open apps with 2 presses like Android.

But they’re not actually running. They’re frozen and you shouldn’t close them. It takes more resources to load the entire app than to unfreeze it.

 

[Eric]

Public Service Announcement: You Should Not Force Quit Apps on iOS

The single biggest misconception about iOS is that it’s good digital hygiene to force quit apps that you aren’t using.

daringfireball.net

^ This. There is absolutely no need to kill apps as they are not actually running (as @Runs For Fun mentioned), you're really just looking at snapshots. The only time this would be an issue is if you choose to have an app running in the background but since you have to opt in on those you're usually aware of which ones they are.

 

[Runs For Fun]

^ This. There is absolutely no need to kill apps as they are not actually running (as @Runs For Fun mentioned), you're really just looking at snapshots. The only time this would be an issue is if you choose to have an app running in the background but since you have to opt in on those you're usually aware of which ones they are.

IIRC the only apps that are allowed to run in the background are media apps (which will eventually get frozen if they’re not actively playing something) and navigation apps.

 

[Pumbaa]

Well, heck, I did get my iPhone X updated to 15, and I was wondering why the Live Text wasn't working ...


You'll need an iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR, or newer for these iOS 15 features:

• Portrait mode in FaceTime, which blurs your background and puts the focus on you.
• Spatial audio in FaceTime, which makes voices sound like they're coming from the direction in which the people are positioned on the call.
• Voice Isolation mode in FaceTime, which uses machine learning to block out ambient noises like a leaf blower outside or a dog barking in the next room during calls.
• Wide Spectrum mode in FaceTime, which amplifies ambient noises during calls.
• An interactive 3D globe of Earth in the Maps app.
• Immersive walking directions with step-by-step directions shown in augmented reality in the Maps app.
• More detailed maps in cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and London in the Maps app.
• Live Text for copying and pasting, looking up, or translating text within photos.
• On-device speech processing of Siri requests.
• The ability to make Siri requests offline without an internet connection for timers, alarms, phone calls, messaging, sharing, launching apps, controlling audio playback, and opening settings.
• The ability to swipe up or down while taking a QuickTake video to zoom in or out.
• The ability to add home, hotel, and car keys to the Wallet app.
• On-device keyboard dictation that performs all processing completely offline.
• Continuous keyboard dictation, rather than a limit of 60 seconds per instance.
• New animated backgrounds in the Weather app that more accurately represent the sun position, clouds, and precipitation.

Saw this and confirmed that it wasn‘t working on my iPhone 8 Plus. Didn‘t think more about it afterwards since I got a new phone on preorder, like just a matter of time until I get to use it.

A few moments ago, however, I unexpectedly tested Live Text anyway. I was going to copy an image posted by @JayMysteri0 in the COVID Stupid thread to send to a friend when I accidentally selected the text on the image instead of the image. I totally forgot about my iPad Pro.

Granted, that image was almost the best possible scenario for OCR, but the feature worked perfectly and was straightforward to use this time. Just as selecting any other piece of text. Thumbs up!

 

[DT]

Saw this and confirmed that it wasn‘t working on my iPhone 8 Plus. Didn‘t think more about it afterwards since I got a new phone on preorder, like just a matter of time until I get to use it.

Yeah same, it was more of an FYI for people, I have my 13 Pro Max coming Friday, so I'll have access to all those (and Wife/Daughter have 11 Pro / 11R so they'll have access as well).

Heck, I'm kind of semi-excited about having the more granular Find My tech for our AirTags, with my X, it just kind of localizes to the house vs. the wife's 11 Pro that locates __in__ the house.

I did check out the Live Text on the iPad Pro, it's pretty amazing.

 

[JayMysteri0]

The reviews for everything coming out Friday started dropping yesterday.

I watched the Verge's video yesterday on the iPhone 13. Pretty much said what I expected, great phone if you are are coming from iPhone 11 or earlier, pass if you have 12. Great camera. Blah Blah



What did interest me was a review on the iPad Mini. I have no desire for one, but I have always loved the device. The review here is from someone who pretty much works exclusively on iPad. It's a long vid, but the gist is covered in the first 6 minutes.



I hadn't seen this one at the time I posted, for @Eric



Reviews by a pro artist, who focuses on the art aspects

 

[Huntn]

I’ve got my iPad updated to 15 so far so good.

 

[Yoused]

There is absolutely no need to kill apps

That is almost true. I use an alternate to FB, which includes private messaging within the app. It is kind of a clunky interface, but usable and reduces ad posts somewhat (less than it used to). Sometimes the nav bar at the bottom goes away and I cannot get it back except through assassination. I believe I have a few others that go wonky after a while, so "absolutely no need" is not correct.

 

[SuperMatt]

That is almost true. I use an alternate to FB, which includes private messaging within the app. It is kind of a clunky interface, but usable and reduces ad posts somewhat (less than it used to). Sometimes the nav bar at the bottom goes away and I cannot get it back except through assassination. I believe I have a few others that go wonky after a while, so "absolutely no need" is not correct.

Agreed. Force-quitting apps is sometimes necessary, but it should be reserved for when an app is actually malfunctioning.

However, the habit of many - going through and closing every app in the app switcher - is not useful, and actually makes it take slightly longer to open apps.

 

[Thomas Veil]

I'll probably be one of the last on here to upgrade. Going to 14 sent my iPhone into a continuous boot loop, so I've been really cautious since then.

The OCR technology sounds cool, though.

 

[DT]

My DAC appears to have stopped working on iPadOS 15 ... hmmm ...

*restarted*

Working now

 

[Yoused]

Ok, this is weird. For several years, I have chosen to have one home screen, putting large numbers of apps into folders. This one folder, "Seuratte" has fifteen apps, mostly related to graphic editing, but also a couple audio editors, and I moved Camera in there off the home screen. For some reason, it is now badged "22". None of the apps in it can post notifications (if they could, I turned them off). So why would this happen?

 

[Runs For Fun]

Ok, this is weird. For several years, I have chosen to have one home screen, putting large numbers of apps into folders. This one folder, "Seuratte" has fifteen apps, mostly related to graphic editing, but also a couple audio editors, and I moved Camera in there off the home screen. For some reason, it is now badged "22". None of the apps in it can post notifications (if they could, I turned them off). So why would this happen?

I’ve got the same thing with a folder. It’s got a “3” on it but when I go into it none of the apps have a notification badge.