On the 20th of April Apple are hosting a special event titled “Spring loaded” you can read more about the upcoming event here on my blog. [https://www.kylewilkinsononline.com/post/apple-is-blazing-it-up-on-4-20-with-a-special-event-plus-an-upcoming-social-media-free-week] It is very likely that after the event Apple will release iOS 14.5. I’ve been on the beta since the release of iOS 14 and in 14.5 there is various cool new changes so this week, I’m going to be looking at the best bits.
Unlock with Apple Watch
One of the most useful new features is “Unlock with your watch” this has been a thing with your mac for a long time but now it finally has come to the iPhone. As you all know in the current world wearing a face mask outside your house is a common thing. The annoying thing is that FaceID wouldn’t unlock your phone because you were wearing a facemask.
NOW when you swipe up and FaceID detects that you’re wearing a facemask it will then look to see if your Apple Watch is nearby and unlocked and if so, automatically unlock the phone. It works really well and doesn’t unlock either if someone else nearby does pick up your phone.
Siri
Siri now asks you what your preferred streaming method is when you first ask Siri to play a song. Only once have I had it ask me again so it does seem to remember but it’s a great new feature for those of you that do use Spotify instead of Apple Music as you’ll finally be able to ask Siri in Carplay for example to play a song something which I find very convenient and useful on the road as it’s much safer than going on your phone or trying to use your cars infotainment system.
Apple Music
Apple Music has some cool new additions to it. Now you can swipe on a song too quickly add it to play later or play next. The individual download song button has been replaced with a new button of three dots which opens a new little menu making it easier to go to little tasks with the song.
Now you can share lyrics of a song into a cool little Instagram post which is kind of a neat new gimmick.
App Privacy Tracking
I’m sure you’ve read about it online; iOS 14.5 introduces the App Privacy tracking feature. Meaning apps now have to ask for your permission to track your activity across apps and websites. This is something Facebook is very upset with because they can’t track you. As Apple say they aren’t saying you can’t they simply think that you should ask for the user’s permission first. In my opinion Apple are 100% right and it’s a move that a lot of people will love and likely ask apps not to track.
These are just some of the great features coming to iOS 14.5. On MacRumors they have a full list of all the new features from the big ones to the nitty gritty ones. You should check it out here[https://www.macrumors.com/guide/everything-new-in-ios-14-5-beta/]
Remember Apples special event is this Tuesday 20th of April at 10:00am PDT (18:00BST) I’ll be talking about it live on Twitter. Follow me here www.twitter.com/kylewilkinson46
Thanks for reading
Kyle Wilkinson
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