6 votes

iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 review: Foundational fixes

11 comments

  1. [6]
    stu2b50
    Link
    iOS 15 just dropped today. I have not used the beta, so it's all new to me. So far, in order of most seemingly useful Focus Modes - these seem great. I'm on the one phone life (as opposed to also...

    iOS 15 just dropped today. I have not used the beta, so it's all new to me. So far, in order of most seemingly useful

    • Focus Modes - these seem great. I'm on the one phone life (as opposed to also having a work phone) and before I would manually turn off gmail notifications on the weekends. Slack has a feature where you can silence notifications after your work schedule, but it still shows the red number on the app icon (whereas the focus mode can remove those too). You have pretty solid granular control over things like when it activates (you can do time based, location based, or app based), and what apps are allowed in.

    So now I have a work mode, which is mostly the same thing but with some frivolous apps silenced, and more importantly I have the personal mode set to silence slack/gmail/gcal after 6pm on weekdays and all day on weekends.

    • New Safari - a lot of controversy in the beta, which I lightly followed, but honestly after they affixed the floating URL bar I quite like the new one. I think the tab screen is much nicer - the cards look cool but are obnoxious to control. URL bar on the bottom takes some getting use to but it is genuinely somewhere closer for your fingers.

    • New Safari - extensions. Apparently Safari iOS has extensions now? Haven't had much time to try it out but heard there's an adblocker đź‘€

    • Image text recognition - It's pretty cool, I think it's the kind of thing that as long as you remember will be useful. Of course it's not something you'd just have an ad hoc use for on the spot. Did a test on some images in my album.

    7 votes
    1. [3]
      Weldawadyathink
      Link Parent
      Just FYI iOS safari has supported ad blockers since iOS 9. They are called content blockers. I use both AdGuard and Hush. The iOS 15 extensions are for more fully featured extensions, like...

      Just FYI iOS safari has supported ad blockers since iOS 9. They are called content blockers. I use both AdGuard and Hush.

      The iOS 15 extensions are for more fully featured extensions, like 1Password.

      I found a new safari extension app called Amplosion. It is made by the same person who makes the amazing Apollo app. It redirects amp links to the real link.

      8 votes
      1. [2]
        autumn
        Link Parent
        Thank you for these recommendations! Just grabbed all three of them.

        Thank you for these recommendations! Just grabbed all three of them.

        1 vote
        1. NoblePath
          Link Parent
          I prefer Ka-Block! As a content blocker, more the spirit of ubo.

          I prefer Ka-Block! As a content blocker, more the spirit of ubo.

          1 vote
    2. EgoEimi
      Link Parent
      I was initially skeptical of the new Safari after seeing the preview images. But now having used it I love it. It's a much neater experience. I like how it automatically detects sticky top nav...

      New Safari - a lot of controversy in the beta, which I lightly followed, but honestly after they affixed the floating URL bar I quite like the new one. I think the tab screen is much nicer - the cards look cool but are obnoxious to control. URL bar on the bottom takes some getting use to but it is genuinely somewhere closer for your fingers.

      I was initially skeptical of the new Safari after seeing the preview images. But now having used it I love it. It's a much neater experience. I like how it automatically detects sticky top nav bars and pulls their background color into the notch corners.

      Image text recognition - It's pretty cool, I think it's the kind of thing that as long as you remember will be useful. Of course it's not something you'd just have an ad hoc use for on the spot. Did a test on some images in my album.

      This feature is personally super useful for me. My photos are pretty much memos. I take photo of everything and revisit them later to act on them.

      4 votes
    3. thundergolfer
      Link Parent
      Thanks for your comment. Interested in focus mode, so downloading the update now.

      Thanks for your comment. Interested in focus mode, so downloading the update now.

      1 vote
  2. [5]
    kwyjibo
    Link
    I installed it on my iPhone SE (1st gen) yesterday and it doesn’t run that differently than 14. Which is to say you can feel the device’s age in some areas (multitasking and some apps like Spotify...

    I installed it on my iPhone SE (1st gen) yesterday and it doesn’t run that differently than 14. Which is to say you can feel the device’s age in some areas (multitasking and some apps like Spotify that are badly optimized) but other than that it runs much better than you’d expect. It’s incredible that they still support this device.

    Safari extensions is my favorite addition so far. Using 1Password feels just like on the desktop instead of that clunky password fill in thing. (Which they still have and you have to use because you need to fill in your credentials in apps too but I don’t expect Apple to support that kind of integration between apps anytime soon, if ever.)

    I’ll also echo what @stu2b50 said about Safari. I too followed its development saga during the betas and all the nerdy drama that surrounded it but I actually like the changes Apple has made. Despite using a phone with a 4-inch screen, having Safari tabs below is pretty good because it enables me to change tabs with just a swipe. I liked it so much that I made it my default browser again from Firefox.

    6 votes
    1. [4]
      autumn
      Link Parent
      I did the same thing!

      I liked it so much that I made it my default browser again from Firefox.

      I did the same thing!

      3 votes
      1. [3]
        kwyjibo
        Link Parent
        Nice! I feel bad about leaving Firefox behind, but there are advantages Safari has over 3rd party browsers. Unfortunately that's just a fact of life on iOS. I don't know if 3rd party browsers can...

        Nice! I feel bad about leaving Firefox behind, but there are advantages Safari has over 3rd party browsers. Unfortunately that's just a fact of life on iOS. I don't know if 3rd party browsers can support extensions (I'm sure it's technically possible, since all browsers on iOS are WebKit, but whether Apple would allow it is another story), but if they do at some point, I'd love to go back. I've always had nitpicks about Firefox's design language as well, but those can be overlooked and/or get used to as long as there's no missing functionality.

        3 votes
        1. [2]
          NoblePath
          Link Parent
          My biggest complaint ablout ios firefox is you can’t adjust text size.

          My biggest complaint ablout ios firefox is you can’t adjust text size.

          4 votes
          1. kwyjibo
            Link Parent
            I hadn't known that. That's crazy. It's such a basic accessibility feature.

            I hadn't known that. That's crazy. It's such a basic accessibility feature.

            3 votes