Apple iOS 14.5 and iPadOS 14.5 start rolling out for all the supported devices this week. After being in beta for the past three months, the OS update is now official.
Anyone with the iPhone 6 or above can update their device to iOS 14.5. It is the next big update from Apple and it comes with many new features and bug fixes. Users can update their supported devices by going to settings, then the general option in settings, and then selecting software update. Here’s everything that will come with iOS 14.5 update.
iOS 14.5 new features:
Using Apple Watch to unlock the device:
This is most probably the biggest new feature in this iOS 14.5 update. Now, users can unlock their iPhone with the help of an Apple watch when they are wearing masks. This feature will work with iOS 14.5 and watchOS 7.4 which is also shipping this week. If your Apple Watch doesn’t have the latest watchOS 7.4 update then you won’t be able to use this feature.
For this feature, open the Settings app on the iPhone, select the Face ID and Passcode option. There you will see the option “Unlock with Apple Watch”, flip the toggle next to it to enable this option.
Once you enable this option, your iPhone will automatically get unlocked with your Apple Watch if you are wearing a mask. Users will also get a notification on their Apple Watch when they unlock their iPhone using this feature.
More Transparency in App Tracking:
There is also a new App tracking feature in this update. This feature will require an application to ask user’s permission if they want to track other apps and websites. With this, the users have information about which app is tracking their data and usage information. Many apps including some big ones, track other apps and user’s data for better advertising.
When you open an app that tracks your other app, a pop-up message will appear given the user’s two options. These two options are “Ask App not to Track” and “Allow”.
You can also see all the apps in the privacy section in the settings apps that are tracking your data and app usage.
Siri Enhancements:
Apple made significant enhancements in its voice assistant. The one big change in Siri is the option to choose more voices. In iOS 14.5 Siri doesn’t have only female voice which the previous update offers. Now the voice assistant offers more voices to choose from.
Apple also offers “source talent recordings that are then run through Apple’s Neural text to speech engine” in Siri. This makes the voice of the assistant more original like a human. As of now the new voices is only available in English-speaking countries.
Another new feature in Siri is that now you can set by default your preferred music app in iPhone. When the user asks Siri to play music, Siri will open the list of Music apps installed on your device. You can select the default app among the list and then Siri will play music from that app whenever the user asks them to play music.
New Emojis:
Emojis are a fun way to communicate with friends and family. With iOS 14.5 update users get 200 new emojis to choose from. These new emojis include new faces, skin tone color, heart emoji, and many other objects in emojis.
Apple News Update:
Apple news app also gets the overhaul in this new update. The app gets the new search tab and a new design of Apple News+. The new design will make it easier for Apple News+ subscribers to find magazines and newspapers they are looking for.
Other Features:
AirTag support: It allows users to keep track of their valuable and lost items using the newly launched AirTags.
Apple Podcasts: Podcast app also got a new design which makes it easy to start listening to podcasts. It also gives the option to save the episodes to listen to it later. All the saved episodes will automatically be added to the library.
(Source)
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