All the Best New IPhone and Mac Features Worth Knowing About

Posted on by

Today, Apple released the latest updates for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. These Pi-Day updates—for iOS 15.4, iPadOS 15.4, and macOS 12.3—are full of awesome new features, and you’ll want to update as soon as possible to try them all out. However, while you’re waiting for updates to download, check out what’s new.

As Apple blurs the lines between these three devices, many of the features across all three updates are identical. Thus, we have considered all systems as one in this post. Every time there’s an exclusive feature for iPad or Mac, we’ll make sure to celebrate it.

Universal Management (iPadOS 15.4 and macOS 12.3)

Without a doubt, one of the biggest features of this update cycle is Universal Control. It’s finally here, giving users the ability to easily work between their Mac and iPad at the same time.

It works like this: you put an iPad running iPadOS 15.4 next to a Mac running macOS 12.3. As long as both devices are connected to Wi-Fi and both are signed in to the same Apple account, you can drag the cursor from one display to the other, allowing you to control the two devices with a single mouse and keyboard.

Sounds too good to be true, but it actually works without the need for cables, connections, or any kind of setup. To be clear, this is an iPad/Mac feature, not an iPhone feature, which isn’t a huge surprise. However, it would be great to be able to switch to an iPhone with a physical keyboard. Perhaps someday Apple will add this feature.

Unlock your iPhone with Masked Face ID (iOS 15.4)

Now let’s focus on the big iPhone updates and this is a huge update. With iOS 15.4 , you can now unlock your iPhone with Face ID by putting on a mask , eliminating the annoying feature of pandemic life.

Now, Apple has tried to solve this problem in the past by allowing us with the Apple Watch to use these wearables to unlock our masked iPhones. However, this feature has excluded many iPhone users who don’t have an Apple Watch, so this update is a welcome addition.

However, it’s only available for iPhone 12 and newer, which is a shame. Of course, some increased processing power is required to implement such a feature, but I find it hard to believe that the iPhone 11 can’t handle it.

Use Apple Pay and mask autofill (iOS 15.4)

Similarly, you can now use both Apple Pay, App Autofill, and Masked Safari if you have an iPhone 12 or newer. It may be limited to a small pool of iPhones, but for those iPhones, it’s a huge convenience improvement.

Lots of new emoticons

I admit it; I am a fan of the new emoji. Apple’s latest updates give us 37 new icons to choose from, including “Melting Face” (for sure it will be widely used in 2022), “Peeking Eye Face”, “Diagonal Mouth Face”, as well as gender consistency updates, multiracial handshakes and more. .

For a more detailed look at all the new emojis and changes to existing emojis , check out the Emojipedia blog post here .

SharePlay integration with support apps (iOS 15.4)

This latest update brings SharePlay integration with supported apps. This change allows you to start a SharePlay session from the app itself instead of from a FaceTime call. This way you don’t have to start a conversation, argue with your friends, and then trigger the SharePlay action; you can initiate SharePlay right from the start.

Spatial Audio updates coming to M1 Mac (macOS 12.3)

If you have a Mac with an Apple silicon chip (M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max and soon to be M1 Ultra), you can take advantage of dynamic head tracking in the Music app. With this feature, supported tracks will “follow” your head as you move, as if the sound was coming from your Mac. If you turn your head to the side, the source of the sound will appear to change, as opposed to the traditionally stationary sound you may be used to.

In addition, you’ll find spatial audio controls (Off, Fixed, and Head Tracking) in the Control Center for supported AirPods.

MacBook battery readings are now more accurate (macOS 12.3)

Your MacBook’s battery capacity is a measure of how much charge it can hold compared to when it was new. Knowing this information is useful: when the battery reaches a certain age (usually 1000 cycles or when it holds less than 80% of the charge from the previous one), you should think about replacing it.

Apparently, Apple’s previous battery capacity readings weren’t as accurate as they could be. This changes with macOS 12.3. I didn’t know this was a problem before, but it will be interesting to see if my MacBook Pro’s battery capacity changes after the update.

Has a new Siri voice

While the original Siri voice may be iconic, the digital assistant has gained many new ones over the years. This last option is less overtly masculine or feminine than the previous options, increasing the representation of Siri voices available to users.

Siri now works even better offline (iOS 15.4 and iPadOS 15.4)

Speaking of Siri, you will now be able to query date and time information offline. Previously, this data was only available when Siri was connected to the Internet. Now, if you have an iPhone XS or later or an iPad Pro with A12Z Bionic or later, you can query the date and time wherever you are.

EU COVID digital certificate support (iOS 15.4)

The Health app now supports the EU COVID Digital Certificate. With it, you can download vaccination and recovery records, as well as laboratory results. However , Apple Wallet still lacks the ID support that Apple promised in the initial release of iOS 15 .

Enter notes on saved passwords

If you’re using Apple’s iCloud password manager, you might find this feature useful. With the latest update, you can now add notes to your saved passwords: any other information that might come in handy when referring to this password, you can enter here.

Add text to notes and reminders from the camera (iOS 15.4 and iPadOS 15.4)

Live Text is one of the most useful features of iOS 15. Apple’s latest updates build on this by allowing you to type into Notes & Reminders using the keyboard camera. In a note or reminder, tap the camera, then hover over the text you want to move into the document. If you’re used to entering information from real items into notes and reminders, this feature should save you a lot of time.

Smaller Features

In addition to the big features and changes you’ll notice right away, Apple tends to add small changes with every update. Here are some of them:

  • Safari Web Page Translation adds support for Italian and Chinese (Traditional).
  • The Podcasts app adds episode filters by season, played, unplayed, saved, or downloaded episodes.
  • Custom iCloud email domains can be managed in Settings.
  • News offers improved detection of audio content in the Today feed and the Audio tab.
  • Labels now support adding, removing, or requesting tags via reminders.
  • SOS emergency call settings changed to use call on hold for all users. The 5 tap call is still available as an option in the emergency SOS call settings.
  • The Close-up Zoom feature uses the ultra wide-angle camera on iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max to help you see small objects.
  • The volume controls can be set to adjust when iPad is rotated on iPad (5th generation and later), iPad mini (4th and 5th generation), iPad Air 2, iPad Air (3rd and 4th generation), and iPad Pro.

Error correction

Apple software is generally a solid experience, but it still has a lot of bugs to run into. According to the company, you shouldn’t experience any of the following errors after updating your iPhone, iPad, or Mac:

  • The keyboard can insert a period between the dialed digits.
  • News widgets in Today view may not open articles when tapped.
  • Photos and videos may not sync to iCloud Photo Library.
  • The Speak Screen Accessibility feature may quit unexpectedly in the Books app.
  • Live Listen may not turn off when disabled in the Control Center.
  • Audio may sound distorted when watching videos in the Apple TV app (macOS).
  • Some photos and videos may be inadvertently moved when organizing albums in Photos (macOS).

More…

0
Apple

Leave a Reply