At unusual hours, last night Apple released the second beta of iOS 15, iPadOS 15, watchOS 8, and tvOS 15. In this beta, in addition to fixing several bugs from the first one and improving the overall stability of the system, interesting new features have been added. Some were presented at WWDC21 and others we discovered for the first time, let’s review them.
iOS 15 beta 2 features
- New icon in Maps: Apple has redesigned the icon of the Maps app. It now shows a design with more saturated colors.
- Clothing options in Memoji: Until now in Memoji we only customized the facial characters. Now we can choose the type of clothing: short or long sleeves, sweater, shirt, tie, are options available along with colors and others.
- Improvements in Private Relay: Apple has fixed a bug that could cause this system to work unexpectedly.
- Welcome screen in the Weather app: Now the Weather app informs us of new features including notifications, maps, and the new design.
- Quick notes without the Apple Pencil: In this second beta we can invoke a quick note on the iPad using the finger. Just as with the Apple Pencil, we will do it by swiping from the bottom right corner.
- No Lossless on the HomePod: In this beta, the option to play Lossless content on the HomePod has been removed. We hope since the feature was available in the first beta, that it will reappear in future versions.
- Reload in Safari: The button to reload a Safari page now appears in the toolbar if we are using a mouse or trackpad.
- More input information in Shortcuts: With this second beta we can adjust the input of a shortcut to receive the content of the screen. For now, this feature is only available in Safari.
- SharePlay now available: All SharePlay features in FaceTime are operational in this second beta. Third-party apps will be able to test this feature via TestFlight soon.
- Portrait Sphere on Apple Watch: The portrait sphere, which displays and highlights our portraits on the Apple Watch, is now available.
- Free Time mode: Personal mode has been renamed to Free Time.
- Upgrade to beta versions: 9to5mac has discovered code in this version that indicates that in the event that we select an iCloud backup of a beta version during the initial configuration of a device we will now be offered the option to upgrade to that beta.
- Availability: For now, the second beta of iPadOS 15 is not available for the 9.7-inch iPad Pro with Wi-Fi and cellular.
Pending the release of the second beta version of macOS Monterey, it is clear that the development of the other operating systems is going from strength to strength. If iOS 14 already seemed to us a stable beta, iOS 15 surpasses it by far, much more in this second beta. Now to enjoy the new features and wait for the surprises of the third one.
