With WWDC 2021 less than a month away, now is the ideal time to look at all the potential new features Apple could debut in iOS 15. Last year’s iOS 14 was a significant release that added several new features, including widget support for the home screen. With iOS 15 this year, the expectations are even higher. Thanks to leaks, we have a fair idea of what new features to expect from iOS 15. Going by Apple’s release schedule, it is likely that iOS 15 will feature more under-the-hood changes than user-facing ones. Some significant changes will likely come to iPadOS 15, with iOS 15 getting some UI enhancements, new privacy features, and more. Below is a roundup of all the confirmed iOS 15 elements based on leaks.
Confirmed iOS 15 Features Based on Leaks
Improved Notification Management
Apple is going to make improvements to notification management on iOS 15. It will allow you to set different notification preferences and create custom notification categories depending on what one is doing. This will be similar to the Nokia phones’ profile feature back in the day. For example, one can set their iPhone to mute all notifications when driving or sleeping automatically. Depending on the category set, replying to messages automatically will also be an option.
Lock Screen Enhancements
iOS 15 will enhance the lock screen experience on iPhone by allowing you to select the different notification categories. Other improvements will likely be made, but they have not been detailed yet.
New Privacy Features
Apple tends to introduce new privacy features with every major new release of iOS. With iOS 15, the company will launch a new privacy feature showing the list of apps silently collecting user data. Such name-and-shame tactics from Apple have worked wonders in the past and provide a clear picture of what apps and developers they should trust.
iMessage Updates
Apple is also working on some iMessage updates to ensure it can compete against WhatsApp and Messenger. However, there are no details on what these changes could be. Apple could defer iMessage improvements to a later point release of iOS 15 if the enhancements are not yet ready by WWDC.
Widget Support on iPadOS 15 Home Screen
Apple added widget support to the iPhone’s home screen with iOS 14 last year. However, it did not bring the same feature to iPadOS. This year, Apple will fix this by adding widget support to the iPad’s home screen with iPadOS 15. This will allow you to place widgets anywhere you like on your iPad’s home screen and stack them on top of each other. There will be other significant improvements to iPadOS 15, but not much has leaked so far about it.
iOS 15 Could Drop Support for iPhone 6s and iPhone SE
Multiple leaks have claimed that the iPhone 6s and the original iPhone SE will not support iOS 15. The A9-powered iPhone 6s was released in 2015 with iOS 9, so Apple has provided it with five major OS updates over nearly six years. Since the same A9 chip also powers the original iPhone SE, Apple is also expected to drop support for it with iOS 15. What improvements would you like to see Apple make in iOS 15? Could you drop a comment and let us know?
