WWDC21: What the announcements mean for iPhone users

You may have seen numerous articles mentioning WWDC21 all over the internet. WWDC is Apple’s annual software announcement. Their presentation includes previews of all the new software they plan to release in the fall, such as updates to iOS, iPadOS, tvOS macOS and watchOS. There was SO much information shared about the latest releases, it can be hard to make sense of it all! This article will help break it down into the major features likely to impact most iPhone users.

iOS: What to know

In case you don’t know what iOS even is, it is the platform that all iPhones run on. Every year, at the WWDC (Worldwide Developer’s Conference) all the new software Apple plans to release in the fall is shown, including iOS. This year, it was iOS 15.

Features you’ll likely use

During the presentation for iOS 15, plenty of new features were shared about, but there were definitely some ones that stood out more than others. I’ve compiled a list below of all the major new features that Apple plans to release in iOS 15.

• SharePlay: Share media with others on a FaceTime call
  • Share entertainment like shows, music and your screen
  • Everything is in-sync, even if you pause or skip
  • Volume adjusts as you speak, so you won’t be drowned out by whatever you are sharing
• Shared with you: See content that was texted to you in relevant places
  • See articles shared with you in news, photos shared with you in the Photos app, songs shared with you in the Music app and much more
  • Respond to the shared content within the app it shows up in
• Focus modes: Quickly set up and activate custom “Do not disturb” modes
  • Click the Driving mode and customize it for your liking, for example, whenever you click “Driving” it will disallow news and texts, but allow texts and calls from your spouse
  • Plenty of modes like “School,” “Work,” and “Personal.” Plus, set up additional modes like “Gaming” or “Reading” so you aren’t locked in to specific modes
  • Let people know that you have a focus mode on, so that they won’t think that they are being ignored
• Better navigation: Graphics that depict landmarks around you
  • You won’t be confused with complicated interchanges, because the navigation will show all the lanes to show you the one you should be in
  • Know before you go: look at the map with “driving” mode on. It will show current traffic conditions and accidents so you won’t accidentally take a more congested route
• Live text: easily convert text in images to interactive text
  • Take a photo of a recipe card and wish you could make it easier to read? Highlight the text in the photo and paste the text into a note
  • Translate signs in real time, helpful when traveling

Conclusion

There may be many more features added in iOS 15, but these were the ones that I used the most when testing the beta version. I hope this article helped get you excited for some of the new features and thanks for reading!

Find out more about iOS 15 at apple.com/ios/ios-15-preview/, view the full list of features at apple.com/ios/ios-15-preview/features/ and sign up for the public beta at beta.apple.com/sp/betaprogram/.