Apple details iOS 15 features: notification summaries, Live Text in photos, new ways to share in Messages, cross-app drag and drop, updates to Weather and Maps
in 35 seconds Adrian Kingsley-Hughes / ZDNet : Apple to tempt Android and Windows users with a taste of FaceTimeOliver Haslam / iMore : Snapchat and more can use iOS 15's portrait video and audio effects Christopher Baugh / iPhone in Canada Blog : Analysts React to Apple's WWDC 2021 Keynote Sam Spiller / Gearburn : Here are the new features arriving with iOS 15 Jessica Conditt / Engadget : Apple Wallet can hold driver's licenses in iOS 15 Todd Haselton / CNBC : Android and Windows users will be allowed to join Apple FaceTime calls this fall Steve Kovach / CNBC : Apple is encroaching on Facebook's territory like never before with new social features Lewis Painter / techadvisor.com : How to install the iOS 15 beta right now Pranob Mehrotra / XDA Developers : iOS 15 finally brings the beauty of Dark Sky to the Weather app Vaidyanathan Subramaniam / Notebookcheck.net : Apple previews iOS 15 with enhanced productivity and privacy features, will grace 20 devices this fall including iPhone 6S and iPhone SE 1st gen Tweets: Federico Viticci / @viticci : Using cross-app drag and drop on iPhone in iOS 15. Finally 🎉 #WWDC21 https://twitter.com/... Marco Arment / @marcoarment : This is HUGE: looks like APIs for developers to offer refunds and subscription cancellations. https://twitter.com/... Ryan Jones / @rjonesy : 🚨 No more ‘The Weather Channel’ logo. Apple Weather moved to their own Dark Sky API. https://twitter.com/... Neil Cybart / @neilcybart : Apple Maps will now have a globe to play with. https://twitter.com/... Jane Manchun Wong / @wongmjane : FaceTime for Web 😮 #WWDC21 https://twitter.com/... Benedict Evans / @benedictevans : Apple is killing email newsletter metrics. Yes privacy, but there are (as ever) pretty real entirely non-privacy business needs there as well. Guilherme Rambo / @_inside : Copying code from pictures of slides? No problem with iOS 15 😅 https://twitter.com/... Dare Obasanjo / @carnage4life : This is a great recap of the announcements from #WWDC21 but I can't figure out which of these are actual developer announcements (i.e. potential new features for apps) versus Apple using this event to announce new end user features to tech media. Do devs still matter to Apple? https://twitter.com/... Eli Dourado / @elidourado : Is this the end of physical wallets? https://www.macrumors.com/... Erik Brynjolfsson / @erikbryn : Better late than never: Apple today announced that some users will be able to add their driver's license or state IDs to the Wallet app. https://www.macrumors.com/... @sdw : Apple Maps' 3D redesign that looks better than most SimCity games, with gorgeous new full color landmark icons. https://twitter.com/... @blmohr : “Apple will no longer send Siri requests to its servers... The new feature comes two years after (it was) revealed that Apple staff regularly heard confidential details while carrying out quality control for the feature.” https://www.theguardian.com/ ... Ryan Jones / @rjonesy : iOS 15: Oh thank jesus, we can select text again. https://twitter.com/... Joe / @realjoseph123 : @MKBHD Apple does something, Android fanboys complain and then embrace it when it comes to Android. At least stand your ground. Patrick Moorhead / @patrickmoorhead : Apple Maps has improved considerably, but whenever anyone I know gets lost, I ask them which Maps they use. 90% of the time its Apple Maps. It does look great, though. #WWDC2021 ItsJake / @ohlookitsjake : @RealJoseph123 @MKBHD I will admit Android gets most features first, but Apple ensures they work right the first time Troy Osinoff / @yo : Apple vs Marketers 🤺 iOS 14 = attacking Facebook ads (allowed users to opt-out of being tracked) iOS 15 = attacking email marketing (will allow people to hide their real email address) iOS 16 = ??? Max Weinbach / @maxwinebach : I updated 5 iPhones and none said hi. I feel left out 🥲 https://twitter.com/... Miguel de Icaza / @migueldeicaza : @Carnage4Life The first keynote at wwdc is user focused, the developer keynote happens after this one “state of the union” @juliandik_ : Apple Maps looks like a game now. #WWDC21 https://twitter.com/... Simon B. Støvring / @simonbs : Swiping between tabs in Safari on iOS 15 feels great! I think I'll use this a lot. #WWDC21 https://twitter.com/... @ericagilbert777 : 👀 “Apple's announcements on Monday proved you don't need Facebook for a lot of the stuff you already do on FB. Why log into FB or Instagram & give up personal data when you can just as easily share photos, messages, and videos right there in iOS 15?” https://www.cnbc.com/... Max Weinbach / @maxwinebach : The iOS 15 improvements for FaceTime and iMessage are fantastic
The iPhone update arrived alongside iPadOS 15’s expanded widgets and multitasking, making drag-and-drop and sharing improvements part of a broader effort to standardize how Apple devices handle everyday work and communication.
First-order effects
iPhone users gain a consolidated notification workflow, text recognition in photos, cross-app drag and drop, and revised Apple Weather and Maps experiences; Apple also brings Dark Sky into Weather.
Android and Windows users can join FaceTime calls on the web, while email privacy tools immediately reduce the tracking data available to newsletter publishers and marketers.
Second-order effects
Apple’s web-based FaceTime access lets iPhone users invite contacts outside Apple’s device base without leaving FaceTime, strengthening the service’s role in their existing conversations.
Publishers and marketing teams that measure opens or identify recipients through email tracking must rely less on signals that iOS 15’s privacy features conceal.
Third-order effects
If Apple continues to place communication, privacy, mapping, and productivity functions at the OS level, third-party apps face a product-design constraint: differentiate around Apple’s defaults rather than assume those capabilities remain separate markets.
The paired iOS and iPadOS releases point toward Apple treating shared interaction patterns—such as sharing, multitasking, and notification management—as ecosystem features rather than device-specific additions.
The trend: Apple is using annual OS releases to make its native communication, privacy, and utility services more central across its device ecosystem while selectively extending access beyond it.
👀 “Apple's announcements on Monday proved you don't need Facebook for a lot of the stuff you already do on FB. Why log into FB or Instagram & give up personal data when you can just as easily share photos, messages, and videos right there in iOS 15?” https://www.cnbc.com/...
This is a great recap of the announcements from #WWDC21 but I can't figure out which of these are actual developer announcements (i.e. potential new features for apps) versus Apple using this event to announce new end user features to tech media. Do devs still matter to Apple? ht…
“Great - new iMessage features! Oh wait, it's still not compatible with Android or web? Go Apple for privacy - more reason to use Facebook apps because there is no popular alternative to compete Apple.” Privacy - but only if your entire social circle comprises Apple users! https:…
Apple Maps has improved considerably, but whenever anyone I know gets lost, I ask them which Maps they use. 90% of the time its Apple Maps. It does look great, though. #WWDC2021
Apple vs Marketers 🤺 iOS 14 = attacking Facebook ads (allowed users to opt-out of being tracked) iOS 15 = attacking email marketing (will allow people to hide their real email address) iOS 16 = ???
This is legitimately really impressive. I've been saying for a few years that I thought the future of maps and geo visualization was likely to go 3D, but this is sort of the first major product I've noticed using it. https://twitter.com/...
I love the rounded, cartoony style Apple is using for all its new Apple Maps stuff in iOS 15. Everything feels soft and friendly https://twitter.com/...
“It seems that with iOS 15, the phone is not really fully ‘powered off’, it stays in a low-power state and acts like an AirTag, allowing any nearby iOS device to pick up the Bluetooth signal and send back its location.” https://twitter.com/...
Having played around with Charles Proxy to see what's talking to what, I can state with a certainty that Amazon's iOS app team is about to have its shit rocked. That thing eats bandwidth like it's free. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Today we introduced new privacy protections to help users have more transparency and control over what happens with their information. https://www.apple.com/...
4/ Note that Apple, in its news release about WWDC privacy announcements, refers to ITP functionality that seems to function similarly to what it announced for its paid iCloud+ Private Relay feature. Its unclear to me how these implementations differ https://www.apple.com/...
So Apple continues to allow fingerprinting... In an email seen by the Financial Times, one vendor told its clients it had managed to continue collecting data on more than 95% of its iOS users by gathering device and network information https://www.ft.com/...
Apple's Walking Steadiness metric is similar to Amazon's Movement and Health metric. Will we get peer-reviewed studies of these algorithms for clinical accuracy? Otherwise, this is more digital snake oil.
🆕Apple has just announced a walking steadiness algorithm to assess the risk of falling by putting your iPhone in your pocket. They are conducting the largest study in the topic with 100.000 participants. The future of health is mobile! ❤️📲https:// www.apple.com/...
Walking Steadiness Apple will let you know if you are at a higher risk of falling while walking at some point over the next 12 months. Incredible stuff here.
Apple opening up FaceTime to Android users for the first time is a very intentional, strategic decision. Seems designed to further hurt Facebook, which operates the most used video calling apps globally https://www.theverge.com/...
Holy shit. iOS 15 just made my $550 Apple headphones WAY WAY WAY better when playing Apple Music TV. Spatial Audio on the new OS, coming this fall, is sick. What is really sick is the biggest quality boost is still to come in 2022. Apple will own the human experience.
I think I am most interested in the airpods improvements (I am always losing them at home). Plus conversation boost sounds interesting (but having convos with your airpods in still seems odd). https://www.theverge.com/...
A small step toward better experiences. The keynote sounded amazing in Spatial Audio in my Airpods Max. Christmas will be fun this year and next. https://twitter.com/...
Fun fact: iOS 15 will run on every device that runs iOS 14. Yes, your 6-year-old iPhone 6S will be getting the latest version of iOS. Extraordinarily cool and yet another reason buying an iPhone is actually a great value.
“Apple will no longer send Siri requests to its servers... The new feature comes two years after (it was) revealed that Apple staff regularly heard confidential details while carrying out quality control for the feature.” https://www.theguardian.com/ ...
Apple is adding identity cards to Apple Wallet with #iOS15. Your ID will be encrypted, and Apple says TSA is working to enable checkpoints as the first place where you'll be able to show your digital ID. #WWDC21 https://twitter.com/...
Oh, hey, an Apple event! Looks like Apple Wallet is adding the ability to unlock doors and hold your government ID, realizing my dream of only having to lose a single device to lock myself out of my hotel, home, and office and put myself on a no fly list.
Better late than never: Apple today announced that some users will be able to add their driver's license or state IDs to the Wallet app. https://www.macrumors.com/...
Adding an ID to your phone is tech cool, but it's IMPERATIVE we sort out issues w/ biometric security, digital privacy, and law enforcement. If a LEO asks for your info, and you unlock your phone to give it to them, what else will they be allowed to see? https://www.macrumors.com…
Glad someone else felt this way. It's akin to Visa saying they paid out billions to business owners. No, the customers paid. The middle man (bank, CC, Apple, etc) took their cut and the business owner (developer) received the proceeds $ sale minus their fees. https://twitter.com/…
Instead of “Apple has paid out over $230 billion to app developers,” it's more like “app developers have paid out more than $69 billion to Apple.” https://twitter.com/...