These iOS 15 features aren’t coming to older iPhones
This fall you can download iOS 15, but the question is whether you can use all the improvements. Older iPhones do not get all the new features of iOS 15. An overview.
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Older iPhone and iOS 15: These features are skipped
The 2021 iPhone update will add all kinds of new functions, but you may not be able to use all of these on your phone later. Website 9to5Mac has found out that certain functions only work if your device has an A12 Bionic or newer chip. This comes down to the following devices:
Do you have one of these phones? Then you will soon be able to use the following exclusive iOS 15 functions. When you have an older model, these innovations pass you by.
→ Also read: Overview: These iPhones and iPads will get iOS 15 and iPadOS 15
1. Exclusive FaceTime Features
FaceTime is greatly improved in iOS 15 and will include Spatial Audio. When someone is sitting in the top left of your screen during video calling, the sound of that person also comes from this angle.
Also new in FaceTime: Portrait mode. With this function you can blur your background during video calling. This puts the focus on you, instead of your living room, kitchen or office.
2. Detailed Apple Maps
Apple has given its Maps app a major update, adding accurate 3D images of mountains, deserts, forests and landmarks, for example. This capability is not coming to older iPhones.
Apple Maps’ built-in route navigation will also only be available on relatively new models. The company showed this feature during the iOS 15 announcement. For example, as soon as you get off the metro and don’t know where you are, you can scan the area with your iPhone. Your phone will then let you know exactly where you are, so as long as you have a new model.
3. Live Text in Photos
Apple has brought the main feature of Google Lens to iOS 15. With Live Text you can copy texts from photos. For example, you can take notes and save these notes immediately, without having to type yourself.
Another new feature in the Photos app that’s been missing from older iPhones: the ability to instantly search for information from a snapshot. On new models, you can press the information button next to a photo to, for example, get more details about the environment where the picture was shot, including any points of interest.
4. Animations in the Weather app
The Weather app is completely revamped in iOS 15. For example, there are now thousands of interactive wallpapers that show exactly what the weather is like right now, as long as you don’t have an older iPhone.
5. Keys in the Wallet App
The last iOS 15 feature to skip older iPhones is the ability to add house keys, hotel passes, and car keys to your iPhone’s Wallet app. This is only possible on iPhones from the list above.
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You can download this fall
You can download iOS 15 this fall. The update is now available to app developers and the public test version will follow in July. From that moment on, everyone can get started with the latest iPhone update. That version may be unstable, because it will be significantly improved until the final rollout this fall.
