But there are two standoutsunlocking while wearing a face mask, and app-tracking blockers.
“Makes my life easier outside during these times.”
A common workaround is to downgrade the iPhones passcode to a less-secure numeric PIN.
freestocks / Unsplash
It works like this: First, Face ID tries to unlock as usual.
If it detects that you’re wearing a mask, it will switch to Watch unlock.
This is almost instant.
Apple
It feels as fast as the first-generation of Face ID.
Its less secure than the usual Face ID set up, but Apple has mitigated most breach possibilities.
And this feature only unlocks the phone.
Apple
It cannot be used to authenticate Apple Pay, App Store purchases, or secure prefs.
But, of course, you’re free to use the Apple Watch itself to pay in stores.
This feature is, as they say, a game-changer.
Apple
Ive been using it since the early iOS 14.5 betas, and it has gotten faster and more reliable.
Apple Tracking Transparency
This is the other headline feature in iOS 14.5.
App Tracking Transparency is pretty simple in concept.
Apple
A notification will pop up on-screen, asking you if you want to let that app track you.
you’re able to also disable all tracking preemptively in the configs app.
Advertisers use tokens to track you across different websites and apps.
Some app developers take money in exchange for adding these third-party trackers.
Those developers may also collect your location data and pass it on or sell it.
Apple hasnt disabled or blocked these trackers.
It just asks you if you want to allow them.
Meanwhile, Google has come up with its own alternative, whichbuilds tracking into its Chrome web app.
Siri Voices
Siri hasgotten some new voices, and they sound great.
More importantly, Siri no longer defaults to a male or female voice.
New users will have to choose a voice when they set up their equipment.
And thats not all.
The voices are no longer labeled as male or female.
Instead, they are listed as Voice 1, Voice 2, and so on.
Some may ridicule this change, but its not about the “gender” of a computer.
Itsabout our societal gender biases, in general.
Our expectations of people, based on their gender, will surely color our attitudes to our virtual assistants.
Then, it will remember this choice for future requests.
Its a small convenience, but a welcome one.
It may also be more for Apples benefit than ours.
This addition might only be a virtual fig leaf to cover Apples shame, but who cares?
We got a nice new feature out of it.
But the most funnew feature is City Charts.
These are daily updated playlists of the most-played songs in over 100 cities around the world.
The charts arent as diverse as youd hopeJustin Bieber is currently the top song in many, many cities.
But if youre a fan of overproduced, bland chart music, youre in for a treat.
Apple seems to be settling into a new rhythm for iOS releases.
Then, in the spring of the following year, another big update.
Perhaps it will lead to a resurgence in paid apps, where the financial transaction is in the open.
So what does that leave for iOS 15?
Last year, the iPhone got home-screen widgets and the App Library for keeping things tidy.
This year its the iPads turn.
Hopefully, well at least get the iPhones home-screen widgets, but what if Apple goes really crazy?
We could get a desktop, and actual software windows, at least when connected to an external monitor.
