Apple announces iOS 15 and iPadOS 15

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  New Maps interface. [credit: Apple ]

As expected, Apple revealed numerous details about its upcoming iOS 15 operating systems for iPhones and iPads today. Due later this year, the software updates will introduce major new features to notifications and other parts of the experience.

In the age of COVID, FaceTime is unsurprisingly getting new features to make conversations more natural. A new spatial audio feature will make it sound like "people are in the same room." Callers' voices will come from the same direction as their thumbnails. Machine-learning-powered voice isolation will block out background sounds, while a "wide spectrum" mode will pick up everything in the room.

Grid view will let you view FaceTime calls just like Zoom. Portrait mode will blur out your background, just like a camera mode. You can also generate a link for a FaceTime call, making it work, again, just like joining Zoom. FaceTime is even coming to Android, sort of, via a browser. A new feature called "SharePlay" will let you share media or your device screen over the video call.

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