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Should I update right away? How much slower is this going to make my phone?

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iOS 15 is out and the question always is should one update to it?

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Are there going to be good changes? Is it actually usable? Does it look good?

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Will it make my life easier? Am I going to get all the new features?

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These are important questions to ask because in the past there have been updates that have been

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not quite ready. iOS 8 and 13 stand out as updates that were released before they're

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prime and full of bugs, and who can forget the jarring visual change that was iOS 7?

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Remarkably, you don't even have to update to the latest version anymore.

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Apple will still provide security updates to iOS 14 for the foreseeable future.

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For those who do not like change, this is actually really great.

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But for the rest of us who are open to change, is iOS 15 worth updating to?

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No. And yes, starting with the iPhone, updating this to iOS 15 will probably be fine,

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but I think the advice to hold off for a little while before updating still holds true here.

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Some bugs need to be worked out and many app developers are still working on their updates,

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but there's also the fact that a bunch of features shown back in June

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aren't ready and will be coming later. Like SharePlay over FaceTime,

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a feature that lets you in a group FaceTime call synchronize content you're viewing or listening

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to so you can watch a TV show, listen to music, or even work out together, but not until later this

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fall. And then there's Maps. You can now get future routes to plan for traffic, but the biggest

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changes with more detailed 3D models and typography in map and navigation view is only available in

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San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles, which leads out the rest of us.

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This means I can't demonstrate Apple's new AR-guided immersive walking directions,

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perfect for unfamiliar cities. These fancy 3D maps along with a number of other features

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also require that your device be sufficiently powerful with an A12 chip, which means iPhone 10S

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slash R, iPad Air 3, and last year's 8th Gen iPad. If you've got one of those, iOS 15 offers a lot

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more. Take Live Text, which you can use now. It's a feature that provides on-device live text

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recognition from the camera or any images. It's pretty neat. Simply by aiming your camera at a

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clump of text, it will notice words that are there and highlight them in a square. Then tap this

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word recognition button and the text becomes highlightable. For printed stuff, it works pretty

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well, but with my chicken scratch of handwriting, not so much. Still, it's pretty neat to be able to

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scan a business card for an address when drafting an email and translating a piece of text on a road

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sign when you're out in an unfamiliar city. Something you could do with Google Translate,

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if you trust them. It's not just visual text recognition that the A12 affords, but auditory

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as well. Yes, Siri is now processed locally. That means that Siri can understand what you're

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saying when you don't have an internet connection. This is great for when you're deep into a road

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trip far away from cell service, or if you've reached the limits of your data plan. And Siri

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works great. The word recognition is just as good as before, and it's faster. But if you don't have

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internet, functionality is limited. Siri, remind me to have a group FaceTime call in three minutes.

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To do that, you'll need to be online.

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I do have music saved on my phone. Play music. To do that, you'll need to be online.

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Add to my notes. Siri is having trouble doing basic tasks that can easily be done on the phone

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locally. To do that, you'll need to be online.

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This isn't the first time the iPhone has processed voice commands locally.

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The feature voice control was unveiled in 2009 on the iPhone 3GS,

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and it continued to be available for those who turned Siri off. It was very basic in nature,

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letting you start phone calls and music. Well, it would be nice if I could still do that.

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Play music. To do that, you'll need to be online.

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If you are online, Siri has become more contextually aware, letting you send things you're

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looking at with the sound of your voice. Send this to Anthony.

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A bunch of apps have been improved for iOS 15. The standout for me is the Weather app on iPhone.

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It's much more informative now thanks in part to Apple's purchase of Dark Sky last year.

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The high-low scale shows temperature trends for the week. But what I like most is the

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MabView, which beautifully shows world temperature, precipitation, and air quality.

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I found this quite handy during this year's smoky summer forest fires.

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There may not be a ton of reasons to update to iOS 15, but there's certainly no harm if you do.

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It'll be fine. But it's a bit of a different story on iPad.

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Now back to the weather. Conspicuously absent from iPad is a weather app, despite this widget.

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It's really informative, but when you click on it, it leads you to the Weather Network website.

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Ew. Now if you are a keyboard user on iPad, keyboard options, word, prediction, shortcuts,

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and dictation have been moved to this floating pill shape before they had their own space that

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spanned the bottom of the screen. But now apps that don't consider this floating shelf might end

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up having their lower controls covered. And some that have updated still have the gray bar, like

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before. So you can move this thing out of the way, but the gray bar remains rendering this whole

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interface endeavor useless. Also, I found the keyboard option floats over the send button when

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I'm replying to Teams notifications. Get out of the way. But before you think that iOS 15 isn't

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ready for the keyboard, it's worth knowing that there are more keyboard shortcuts that power users

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can learn by holding down on their respective shortcut keys. And it's even searchable. That's

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pretty great, even though keyboard shortcuts are one of those things that take forever to learn,

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but make using a computer so much faster. Stylus-wielding iPad users might find quick notes

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handy. Swipe in from the bottom of the screen and from there you can scribble or type a note.

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And depending on the app you have opened underneath, you can add a link to that content.

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They are organized in a quick notes section in the Notes app, but ultimately are saved in your

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iCloud's notes list. Now, didn't I set a reminder for something right now? Oh yeah, FaceTime. Just

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in time for COVID's fourth wave, Group FaceTime has some neat new functionality. When you're

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scheduling a FaceTime call, you can now send links to people to join the call. This is great for

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friends and family members who are sticking stubbornly with Windows and Android. Group

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FaceTime also now supports spatial audio, which means that the voices of your callers should

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sound like they're floating in front of you. I was expecting this to work with my AirPods,

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but the spatial audio button is grayed out. It does work with the built-in speakers, though,

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to a limited effect. However, more dramatic are the additional microphone filters. Voiced

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isolation effectively drowns out environmental sound to a really dramatic degree. But if you do

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want your listeners to hear the environmental sound, you can select wide spectrum, which enhances

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everything going on around me. However, wide spectrum didn't seem to work with my AirPods,

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though. And since we're in the weeds here, here are some other very specific new things I noticed

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while using iOS 15 this week. Exif information is in the Photos app, finally. Safari supports

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extensions now. Memories in the Photos app have been bolstered with music suggestions and easier

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ways to edit. Any photos, websites, and content from Apple's media services that was shared with

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you in messages will appear in those respective apps. And there's now a conversation mode in

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Translate for traveling. If you're running an iPhone and find the new features that are available

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today useful, I have no problem telling people to update. Now, if, however, you're a power user

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on iPad who uses a keyboard, I think holding off a little bit until at least the next release

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might help make sure apps are ready. Or just don't update at all. The choice is yours.

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Thanks for upgrading to this Mac Address. If you haven't actually updated to iOS 15 yet,

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give this a like. And if you have, why not subscribe. And for those who have, I'm curious

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what iOS 15 features, because there's a lot of them you find really useful that I haven't mentioned yet.