iOS 15 RC Released for Beta Testers

Apple has released iOS 15 RC and iPadOS 15 RC to users enrolled in the beta testing programs for the iPhone and iPad system software.

RC stands for Release Candidate, but given that Apple announced iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 will be released to everyone on September 20, it’s likely the RC build is also the GM.

How to Download iOS 15 RC / iPadOS 15 GM

If you’re currently running a beta of iOS 15 or iPadOS 15, installing the latest GM version is simply a matter of updating system software:

1. Open the “Settings” app
2. Go to “General”
3. Choose “Software Update”
4. Select to “Download and install” the iOS 15 / iPadOS 15 update

The iPhone or iPad is between 5GB and 6GB and the device must reboot to complete the software update.

Anyone can install iOS 15 public beta on iPhone, or iPadOS 15 public beta on iPad if they’re interested in doing so, but at this point with the final version coming next week, there’s not much reason to unless you want to be ahead of the crowd.

Always be sure to backup your device before installing system software. You can downgrade from iOS 15 beta, assuming backups from iOS 14 are still available for the device.

iOS 15 features, and controversies

iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 feature a variety of changes and improvements to the operating systems, including a revamped Do Not Disturb mode called Focus, Safari Extensions support, Safari UI changes, Safari tab groups, Private Relay for Safari to reduce ad tracking, Live Text for selecting text in images, redesigned Notifications, and various changes to built-in apps like Photos, Health, Music, Weather, Calendar, and more.

iPadOS 15 also some iPad specific features, like a revamped multitasking system, and the ability to place widgets anywhere on the iPad home screen.

The latest Apple system software also was planned to include controversial new surveillance functionalities. The surveillance features will automatically scan photos and messages for illegal content and report them to authorities if offending material is found, but the announced postponement suggests those capabilities are due in an upcoming system software update instead of the initial iOS 15 release. Users curious about this specific privacy topic can read more at the Electronic Frontier Foundation at EFF.org.

iOS 15 Release Date: September 20

Assuming no major problems or issues are found, the GM release available today (build 19A344) is likely to be the same build as what comes out next week when iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 are available for all users, on September 20.

iOS 15 GM / RC Release Notes

Release notes included with the GM/RC download are likely the same as the final version:

iOS 15 brings audio and video enhancements to FaceTime, including spatial audio and Portrait mode. Shared with You resurfaces the articles, photos, and other shared content from your Messages conversations in the corresponding app. Focus helps you reduce distractions by filtering out notifications based on what you are currently doing. Notifications have been redesigned and a new notification summary delivers a collection of notifications so you can catch up on your own time. Maps delivers a beautiful redesign with a new three-dimensional city experience and augmented reality walking directions. Live Text uses on-device intelligence to recognize text in photos across the entire system and on the web. New privacy controls in Siri, Mail, and more provide transparency and give you more control over your data.

For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit this website:
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201222

FaceTime
• Spatial audio makes people’s voices sound like they’re coming from the direction in which they’re positioned on the screen on Group FaceTime calls (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)
• Voice Isolation blocks background noises so your voice is crystal clear (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)
• Wide Spectrum brings all background noises into your call (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)
• Portrait mode blurs your background and puts the focus on you (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)
• Grid view displays up to six people at a time in Group FaceTime calls in the same-size tiles and highlights the current speaker
• FaceTime links allow you to invite your friends into a FaceTime call, even friends on Android or Windows devices can join from their browser

Messages and Memoji
• Shared with You shows content sent to you by friends in Messages conversations in a new section in Photos, Safari, Apple News, Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, or the Apple TV app
• Pinned content elevates the shared content you choose and makes it more prominent in Shared with You, Messages search, and the Details view of the conversation
• Multiple photos sent in Messages are displayed as a glanceable collage or a swipeable stack
• Over 40 Memoji outfit choices and up to three different colors to customize your Memoji stickers’s clothing and headwear

Focus
• Focus lets you automatically filter notifications based on what you’re currently doing, such as fitness, sleep, gaming, reading, driving, work, or personal time
• Focus uses on-device intelligence during set up to suggest apps and people you want to allow notifications from in a Focus
• Home Screen pages can be customized to match your apps and widgets to a specific Focus
• Contextual suggestions intelligently suggest a Focus based on your context, using signals like location or time of day
• Status appears to your contacts in Messages conversations, indicating your notifications are silenced with Focus

Notifications
• A new look displays contact photos for people and larger icons for apps
• Notification summary delivers a helpful collection of your notifications daily, based on a schedule you set
• Notifications can be muted from any app or messaging thread for the next hour or for the day

Maps
• Detailed city maps display elevation, trees, buildings, landmarks, crosswalks and turn lanes, and 3D views to navigate complex interchanges, and more in San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York, and London, with more cities coming in the future (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)
• New driving features include a new map that highlights details like traffic and incidents, and a route planner that lets you view your upcoming journey by choosing a future departure or arrival time
• Immersive walking directions show step-by-step directions in augmented reality (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)
• Updated transit experience provides one-tap access to departures near you, makes it easy to see and interact with your route using one hand, and notifies you when approaching your stop
• Interactive 3D globe shows enhanced details for mountain ranges, deserts, forests, oceans, and more (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)
• Redesigned place cards make it easy to learn about and interact with places, and a new home for Guides editorially curates the best recommendations for places you’ll love

Safari
• Bottom tab bar is easier to reach and helps you move between tabs by swiping left or right
• Tab Groups help you save and organize your tabs and easily access them across devices
• Tab overview grid view displays your open tabs
• Start page can be customized with a background image and new sections like Privacy Report, Siri Suggestions, and Shared With You
• Web extensions on iOS help you personalize your browsing and can be downloaded through the App Store
• Voice search lets you search the web using your voice

Wallet
• Home keys let you tap to unlock a supported home or apartment door lock (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)
• Hotel keys allow you to tap to unlock your room at participating hotels
• Office keys allow you to tap to unlock your office doors for participating corporate offices
• Car keys with Ultra Wideband help you unlock, lock, and start your supported car without having to take your iPhone out of your bag or pocket (iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 models)
• Remote keyless entry functions on your car keys allow you to lock, unlock, honk your horn, preheat your car, or open your trunk on your supported vehicle

Live Text
• Live Text makes text interactive in your photos so you can copy and paste, look up, and translate in Photos, Screenshot, Quick Look, Safari, and live previews with Camera (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)
• Data detectors for Live Text recognize phone numbers, emails, dates, street addresses, and more in photos so you can take action on them
• Live Text is available from the keyboard letting you insert text directly from the camera viewfinder into any text field

Spotlight
• Rich results brings together all the information you’re looking for on contacts, actors, musicians, movies, and TV shows
• Photos can be searched from your photo library by locations, people, scenes, text in the photos or other things in the photos, like a dog or a car
• Web image search allows you to search for images of people, animals, monuments, and more

Photos
• New look for Memories with a new interactive interface, animated cards with smart, adaptive titles, new animation and transition styles, and multiple image collages
• Apple Music can be added to your Memories for Apple Music subscribers, and personalized song suggestions combine expert recommendations with your music tastes and what’s in your photos and videos
• Memory mixes let you set the mood by selecting from different songs and a Memory look to match
• New memory types include additional international holidays, child-focused memories, trends over time, and improved pet memories
• Info pane now displays rich information about the photo like which camera and lens, shutter speed, file size, and more
• Visual Look Up recognizes art, landmarks around the world, plants and flowers, books, and dog and cat breeds in your photos so you can learn more about them

Health
• Sharing lets you choose health data, alerts, and trends to share with people important to you or those who are caring for you, including your healthcare provider
• Trends lets you see how a given health metric is progressing over time and can notify you when a new trend has been detected
• Walking Steadiness is a new metric that can assess your risk of falling and notify you if your walking steadiness is low (iPhone 8 and later)
• Verifiable health records enable you to download and store verifiable versions of COVID-19 vaccines and lab results
• Lab results can now be pinned for quick access and include highlights that show how your labs have changed over time

Weather
• A new design shows the most important weather information for that location and includes new maps modules
• Weather maps can be viewed in full-screen and show precipitation, temperature and air quality in supported countries
• Next-hour precipitation notifications alert you when rain or snow is about to start or stop in Ireland, U.K., and US
• New animated backgrounds more accurately represent the sun position, clouds, and precipitation (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)

Siri
• On-device processing means audio of your requests does not leave your device by default, and means Siri is able to process many requests while offline (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)
• Share items with Siri lets you send on screen items like photos, web pages and Maps locations to any of your contacts
• Onscreen context can be used by Siri to refer to contacts on screen to send them a message or place a call
• On-device personalization allows Siri speech recognition and understanding to improve privately (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)

Privacy
• Mail Privacy Protection protects your privacy by preventing email senders from learning about your Mail activity, your IP address or whether you’ve opened their email
• Safari Intelligent Tracking Prevention now also prevents known trackers from profiling you using your IP address

iCloud+
• iCloud+ is a cloud subscription service that gives you premium features and additional iCloud storage
• iCloud Private Relay (beta) sends your requests through two separate internet relays and encrypts the internet traffic leaving your device so you can browse Safari in a more secure and private way
• Hide My Email lets you create unique, random email addresses that forward to your personal inbox so you can send and receive email without having to share your real email address
• HomeKit Secure Video supports connecting more security cameras without using your iCloud storage quota
• Custom email domain personalizes your iCloud Mail address and allows you to invite family members to use the same domain

Accessibility
• Image exploration with VoiceOver allows you to get even more details about people and objects, and learn about text and table data in photos
• VoiceOver image descriptions in Markup let you add your own image descriptions that can be read by VoiceOver
• Per-app settings allow you to customize display and text size settings only for the apps you want
• Background sounds play balanced, bright, or dark noise, ocean, rain, and stream sounds continuously in the background to mask unwanted environmental or external noise
• Sound actions for Switch Control enable you to control your iPhone with simple mouth sounds
• Audiograms can be imported in Settings so you can customize Headphone Accommodations based on your hearing test results
• New Voice Control languages include Mandarin Chinese (China mainland), Cantonese (Hong Kong), French (France), and German (Germany)
• Memoji options including a cochlear implant, oxygen tubes, or a soft helmet

This release also includes other features and improvements:
• Tags in Notes and Reminders help you quickly categorize your items to make them easy to find, and you can use custom Smart Folders and Smart Lists to automatically collect your notes and reminders based on rules you can define
• Mentions in Notes enable you to notify others of important updates in shared notes, and an all-new Activity view displays all the recent changes in a note in a single list
• Spatial audio with dynamic head tracking in Apple Music brings an even more immersive experience to Dolby Atmos music with AirPods Pro and AirPods Max
• System-wide translation lets you select text throughout the system and translate it with a tap, even in photos
• New widgets include Find My, Contacts, App Store, Sleep, Game Center, and Mail
• Cross-app drag and drop function lets you pick up images, documents, and files from one app to another
• Keyboard magnification loupe magnifies the text when moving the cursor
• Apple ID Account Recovery Contacts lets you to choose one or more people you trust to help you reset your password and regain access to your account
• Temporary iCloud storage grants you as much iCloud storage as you need to create a temporary backup of your data, free of charge, for up to three weeks when you buy a new device
• Find My separation alerts notify you if you leave a supported device or item behind and Find My will give you directions to your item
• Game highlights of up to the last 15 seconds of gameplay can be saved using game controllers like the Xbox Series X|S Wireless Controller or Sony PS5 DualSense™ Wireless Controller
• App Store in-app events help you discover timely events within apps and games such as a game competition, a new movie premiere, or a livestreamed experience

This release includes even more features and improvements. For more information, please visit this website: https://www.apple.com/ios/ios-15/features/

For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit this website: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201222

Are you already running iOS 15 / iPadOS 15? What do you think? Let us know in the comments.