There is also the equally long-overdue grid view, which (combined with the new links) makes FaceTime much more of a viable group video chat solution than it was before. It’s not a new vision for Apple’s mobile software as much as a bit of fresh paint and polish for what’s already been here, to the point where it’d probably be fair to call it iOS 14.5 (if Apple hadn’t already released that earlier this year, that is).įaceTime’s bigger updates are coming later this fall IOS 15 was already a relatively minor release, but those delays and omissions leave what is here at launch feeling even more anemic. Other big features are still in the works, too: the new detailed 3D view for Apple Maps is limited to just New York, London, San Francisco, and Los Angeles at launch, while iCloud Plus’ VPN-like Private Relay will start off as a beta feature. The flashy SharePlay feature has been delayed to later this fall, while Universal Control - presumably on deck for macOS Monterey’s release - hasn’t even popped up to try in beta yet. It doesn’t help, of course, that some of the biggest and most interesting features coming to iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 aren’t actually here at launch. The most incremental and iterative iOS release in years
