iOS 14.5 review: Big changes to an already big update

Our Verdict

iOS 14 changes how you organize and apply your iPhone for the ameliorate, and the iOS 14.five update has added fifty-fifty more valuable features. This is Apple's all-time iPhone software in years.

For

Widgets can appear on the home screen
Better navigation with App Library
Smaller notification windows for Siri, telephone calls
Significant updates in iOS 14.5 update

Confronting

Siri queries can withal exist hitting and miss
Tertiary-party app clips need some work

Tom'south Guide Verdict

iOS 14 changes how you organize and use your iPhone for the amend, and the iOS fourteen.5 update has added even more valuable features. This is Apple'due south best iPhone software in years.

Pros

+
Widgets can appear on the home screen
+
Better navigation with App Library
+
Smaller notification windows for Siri, phone calls
+
Significant updates in iOS fourteen.5 update

Cons

-
Siri queries can notwithstanding exist hit and miss
-
3rd-party app clips demand some work

Commonly, you lot'd be inclined to overlook a software update like iOS xiv.5. Software updates released between major releases — in this case, final fall'south iOS 14 and iOS 15 which nosotros're expecting to encounter this September — offer tweaks, issues fixes, some fine-tuning of before features... and not much else.

This is definitely not the case with iOS 14.5, released in tardily Apr with enough new additions to make us revisit the iOS 14 update overall. In addition to rolling out the privacy enhancement, Apple promised united states of america terminal year, iOS xiv.5 brings new capabilities to your iPhone, such as as the ability to unlock your device when you're wearing a mask (provided you've got an Apple Watch nearby). Maps, Podcasts and even Siri run into some significant changes, too.

How to use your iPhone: Essential tips and tricks
Here's how to use picture-in-film in iOS fourteen
Plus: iOS 14 green and orange dots explained: Here'south what they mean

Similar the changes introduced by Apple with the initial iOS 14 release concluding autumn, these iOS 14.5 improvements aren't complete overhauls — just enhancements that build on what'southward already there. The result is an iOS update yous'll be able to install and use without any stumbles, but with new features that promise to improve your iPhone experience.

It feels like I've been testing iOS 14 for ages at this point, but it really started with the developer beta dropping during the summertime of 2020. When the iOS fourteen.5 beta arrived a few months agone, I installed that on a bunch of phones, as well, so that I'g pretty familiar with all the changes Apple's brought nigh with its latest update.

I remain a satisfied iOS user, peculiarly afterwards the release of iOS 14.five and the inflow of some valuable new tools. As before, iOS 14.5 continues Apple tree's big step forward, even if some features need more than time to fully develop.

iOS xiv.five review: Compatibility

Works on the iPhone 6s and afterward
iPads get a separate version, iPadOS 14.5

iOS 14.5 is available as a free over-the-air update. To download iOS 14.five, go to the Settings app on your iPhone, select General and then Software Update. From there, you tin follow the on-screen instructions.

After we posted this updated iOS 14.5 review, Apple rushed out iOS fourteen.five.ane to patch ii adequately significant security loopholes. If yous have upgraded to iOS fourteen.5, you should make sure to become the latest update, too — it's available in the same manner that you would download iOS fourteen.5

As with the original iOS 14 release, yous'll need an iPhone 6s or after to run iOS 14.5. (The original iPhone SE and the 7th gen iPod impact are also on the list of compatible devices.) That means if you bought a flagship iPhone as far dorsum as the fall of 2015, you can withal run the latest version of Apple'due south mobile software. If you've got an iPhone 6s, 6s Plus or original iPhone SE (the model that came out in 2016), this may be your final chance to stay electric current with iOS updates, equally rumors advise those three phones volition be cut off from iOS xv this coming fall.

For my iOS 14.5 review, I've tested the software update on an original iPhone SE, an iPhone 11 Pro Max and an iPhone 12. While the update sings on those newer models, older phones shouldn't take a problem running iOS xiv.5, though my iPhone SE'southward battery is offset to notice the strain. (The fact that I bought the telephone 2 presidential administrations ago may be causing that, too.)

Widgets can now alive on the domicile screen
You lot accept a choice in widget sizes
Third-party apps take added widget support since initial iOS 14 release

Fifty-fifty with the new features iOS xiv.5 ushers in, widgets remain the most pregnant addition of this update cycle, at least for the iPhone. (iPadOS fourteen users never got this feature, as we detailed in our iOS 14 vs. iPadOS xiv comparing, though iPadOS xv rights that wrong.) Widgets offering at-a-glance data to the kind of data you'd desire instantaneously, without forcing you to launch an app — think the electric current temperature, upcoming appointments or mayhap the latest headlines and sports scores.

Before iOS fourteen, widgets accept lived on the Today screen, which nevertheless forces you to scroll rightward until you run out of dwelling house screens. The new iPhone software saves you the problem, by letting you lot place Widgets right on your home screen where they live among your apps.

Even better, Apple offers multiple designs for the same widget, which look richer and in some cases provide more information than they did in iOS 13. The weather widget, for example, can be a simple square that shows the current temperature, a rectangular box with an extended forecast or a much larger block that tacks on hourly forecasts. The size of the widget you lot choose is up to y'all.

I've set up my Home screen so that there'due south a weather condition widget tucked in amongst my favorite apps, then I can come across the temperature at my electric current location. At different points in my testing, I had a screen of nothing but widgets — one dedicated to headlines from Apple's News app, another showing me what'southward upwardly next in my TV app queue, and finally, a Smart Stack pulling info from Photos, Calendar and other built-in apps. (More than on Smart Stack in just a bit.)

You take multiple ways to add together widgets. You can printing on one in the Today screen until the Edit Home Screen option appears, before dragging the widget to where y'all want information technology. When a Home screen is in edit mode, a Plus button appears in the upper right corner; tap it and you'll get an array of widgets in various shapes and sizes.

Changing a widget's size isn't equally intuitive as it could be initially. From that widget menu that appears afterwards pressing the Plus button, you lot can either tap on the sample widgets at the top of the screen or scroll-down to select the name of the built-in app to option whichever widget yous desire.

At present that iOS fourteen has been out for a while, more third-political party widgets are available, though you have to do some digging sometimes to find them. The easiest method is to printing anywhere on your iPhone'south display to edit the Home screen and tap the plus push that appears in the upper right corner. Yous'll see a sampling of widgets both for Apple's born apps too as from any apps installed on your telephone.

The widget carte is besides where you'll notice the option for creating a Smart Stack, a name Apple's given to a curated collection of widgets for iOS 14's built-in apps. Tap the Smart Stack option — it's at the pinnacle of the widget list, just below the sampling of widgets — and you have the option to pick the apps to be included in your Smart Slack before placing it anywhere on 1 of your Dwelling screens. (Hither's a guide on how to create a Smart Stack widget.)

The Smart Stack changes dynamically, bringing up the glanceable info y'all need at certain points of the day, with iOS 14 learning your behavior. Then far, my calendar appointments appear in my Smart Stack in the morning, then subsequently in the mean solar day, I might meet headlines or a photo selected from my library. I tin can also curlicue through the Smart Stack to get to the widget I want.

I recollect widgets are practically worth the price of access lone for the iOS 14 update. If I have 1 complaint, it'south that they've made a mess out of the Today screen — which withal exists to the left of your main Home screen. Apple prioritizes iOS 14'due south "new" widgets, placing them above the widgets y'all've got left over from iOS 13. Until those tertiary-party widgets are updated for iOS 14, they're stuck on the Today screen, and y'all've got to scroll down to see them.

I've still got some useful pre-iOS 14 widgets there — 1 for seeing upcoming transit times, another for triggering the iOS version of the Google Assistant app, and I don't care for the fact that Apple has elbowed them out of the way with this update. Even six months after iOS 14'south initial launch, the problem persists, even every bit developers have added iOS 14-friendly widgets. It feels like a step back in some ways.

iOS 14.5 review: App Library

App Library holds all of your apps
Apps are automatically organized

The nature of my job means I download a lot of apps, but even if yous don't visit the App Store as frequently as I do, your approach to app management is probably the same every bit mine. Y'all download the app, it lands wherever at that place's a costless space on one of your Dwelling house screens, and y'all promptly forget where it is until the next time you need to launch it. Yeah, we all make sure to keep our often used apps on the first Abode screen, and maybe even the second, simply after that? The app might every bit well be in the next county.

Apple has spotted how we're doing things, and Apple would like united states to make clean up our act. That's why another big highlight of iOS xiv is the new App Library, which gathers all of the apps on your phone into 1 place.

It's a pretty well-organized place, likewise. The top ii folders in the App Library showcase Suggestions — again based on the apps you typically utilise and when you're likely to employ them — and Recently Added, which does what it says on the label. Below that, your apps are organized by category, with almost frequently used apps appearing first. Tapping a cluster of apps reveals the full list. If y'all'd rather non hunt and peck, there's a search bar at the top.

App Library offers a much more sensible approach to app management than in previous iterations of iOS.

You admission the App Library past swiping left from your last Domicile screen, and the feature wouldn't be much use if y'all still had to travel beyond a wasteland of app pages just to get to the screen to meliorate manage all that software. iOS fourteen gives you the option of hiding extraneous screens from view. When yous're editing your home screen, tap on the row of buttons only in a higher place the dock. All your pages will appear as thumbnails, and you tin unclick the ones y'all want hidden. The apps remain on your phone, but the screen ataxia disappears.

This is a much more sensible approach to app management than in previous iterations of iOS. My one complaint is that the only method provided to edit your abode screen is to drag icons effectually on your telephone itself. That tin exist hard to do, as apps on the edge of the screen accept an unfortunate habit of darting over to the next page. I had a very difficult fourth dimension moving those apps on my iPhone SE, and even a pocket-sized bit of difficulty dragging them from the border of the iPhone eleven Pro Max's larger screen.

Apple dropped app management features from iTunes most three years ago, and iTunes itself has been a goner since macOS Catalina. I wish Apple would re-introduce a less frustrating method than physically dragging and dropping apps, particularly now that iOS 14 shows the company is serious about having us curate our Dwelling screens more than thoughtfully.

iOS fourteen.5 review: Messages

You tin can now pivot up to ix conversations in Messages
You can assign images to group chats

Messages has go one of the more pop congenital-in apps on the iPhone, even more than and so every bit people await for ways to stay in touch. So it was no surprise to see Bulletin receive some of the more substantive changes among Apple'due south returning apps when iOS fourteen debuted terminal autumn. In particular, Apple has focused on group chats, which accept become handy ways to communicate with a lot of friends and family at one time.

Some changes are cosmetic, but all the same helpful. Y'all can now assign images — be information technology photos, emoji or animoji — to distinguish one group conversation from the others. Information technology's not a major improver, to be certain, only it's a handy visual cue that lets y'all selection out chats at a glance instead.

More of import additions to group chats are inline replies and mentions. The former feature lets y'all reply to specific texts, removing some of the confusion when lots of people are weighing in on a conversation, while the latter tin can ping you when in that location'southward a specific thread or text in a message that demands your attention. Once again, both enhancements should make grouping texts easier to manage.

But I think my favorite change in Letters is the power to pin conversations — you can select up to nine and they'll remain at the top of the Messages app for easy access. The feature works across all your Apple tree devices, though I haven't upgraded to macOS Big Sur to check this out. Tapbacks and unread replies circle above the pinned conversation. At first glance, it sounds similar a small organisation improvement, merely it's easy to manage and information technology keeps your about important conversations close at hand

iOS 14.5 review: Maps

iOS 14.5 adds reporting feature for accidents, hazards
Guides launches with iOS xiv and accept increased steadily

Apple introduced some changes to Maps when iOS 14 first debuted, and the changes have kept on coming through iOS 14.5. The latest improver allows you to written report accidents, road hazards and speed traps, just like you would in the third-party Waze app.

The new reporting feature is implemented sensibly, also. Yeah, you lot tin can manually tap buttons by swiping upward when getting directions in Maps, where the Study button joins existing options like Add Finish, Share ETA and Details.

Merely say "Hey Siri, report an accident," and the digital banana will do the rest.

But nigh of the time, Apple figures you're going to exist driving when reporting accidents and hazards, so it allows Siri to do the hard work for y'all. But say "Hey Siri, study an accident," and the digital assistant volition do the residuum. In my feel, an icon depicting the incident you've just reported pops upward in Maps fairly chop-chop.

Apple continues to build out another iOS 14 addition in the class of Guides, which offer curated write-ups on places to visit and things to see that tin help you program vacations or just effigy out if there'south something worth seeing in your vicinity.

Initially, Guides accept been express to some pretty frequently visited locations (retrieve New York and LA), but they've expanded to other areas, with content provided by more than sources, including Lonely Planet and the Nature Conservancy. Information technology's the sort of thing that actually helps with discovery, particularly since yous can save guides alongside any collections of favorite locations you've created in Maps.

Another welcome addition if y'all utilise a bicycle to get from Point A to Point B is the arrival of the Cycling option to route planning. (There's too a route planner for electric vehicles, but yous'll need a uniform vehicle for this characteristic to appear.)

These are more than just turn-by-turn directions for bikes. Apple lets you know if yous'll exist using a wheel lane or if you're sharing the road with cars. Your proposed road tin flag if there are times when you'll have to walk your bike and a handy tiptop tool warns if you've got a steep climb ahead. You tin can even tell Maps to avoid routes with hills, heavy vehicle traffic or stairs.

To run into only how much thought Apple has put into the Cycling directions, swipe up on a road. That normally shows potential stops along the style, such as coffee shops or places to consume. For bike routes, Maps includes any bicycle repair shops, as well.

In fact, at that place are some elements of Cycling routes that I wish Apple would integrate into Maps' other routing options. That summit alert would also be handy for plotting out walking directions, which I say as someone who in one case decided to go a good walk in on my way to a meeting but to realize that Maps' route had me climbing up 1 of the steepest hills in San Francisco.

Cycling directions were limited to select cities when iOS fourteen launched, but Apple's added more areas over time. If you're a cyclist, you really should bank check out this characteristic if you're living in 1 of the covered locales.

iOS fourteen.five review: Translation

Supports xi languages
Chat mode translates spoken text between two speakers
Safari can translate web pages

A newcomer to iOS fourteen is Translate, which promises to translate phrases and fifty-fifty conversations from eleven different languages. The master interface lets y'all speak or type words, phrases and sentences that it can translate into both text and sound. Star any favorites for words and phrases you use frequently, and they'll be saved to a separate tab.

The real magic with Interpret happens when you lot flip your iPhone into landscape mode and the screen splits into two split languages, with the app able to tell who'due south speaking what linguistic communication and calculation a translation on the appropriate side of the screen. (You will need to select your languages earlier starting a conversation, though, as if someone starts speaking Castilian when French and English language are the selected languages, you'll accept i confused Translate app.)

Apple tree calls this landscape orientation Conversation way because two people speaking unlike languages can have their words translated. You wouldn't want to apply Translate for a lengthy conversation, though, as you've got to tap the microphone each time ane of y'all speak — there's no complimentary-flowing substitution of views hither. That can make Interpret a little fleck awkward to use.

The translation seems to work well enough in my testing, though Translate seems to depend on very precise pronunciations and accents. My wife, who tin sprechen plenty Deutsch to go past, said "Good eating keeps your soul together," in German, which Interpret took to mean "LeBron has skillful food and drink." (That must be great condolement to the Laker star.)

One feature you'll capeesh with Interpret is that you tin download languages to keep them stored on your iPhone. This is helpful for when you're traveling and you lot may not have an internet connection, only more than importantly, it means that all the translation is taking place on your device, keeping all your words private whatever the language.

The translation skills don't stop with this standalone app. Safari has picked up a knack for languages, with the power to translate web pages from seven different languages. The feature was in beta at iOS 14s launch, though Apple seems to have dropped that characterization over time. Regardless, I've found Safari'south translation characteristic to be pretty polished. Only tap on the "aA" icon in the URL bar and select Interpret from the drop-down menu. The website will at present appear in English, and remain that fashion fifty-fifty when you lot click on internal links.

iOS 14.5 review: Compact notifications

Incoming calls no longer accept up the total screen
Neither does Siri

Apart from widgets, this may exist one of my favorite changes, every bit information technology addresses a long-standing design flaw.

Compact notifications is one of my favorite changes in iOS xiv, as it addresses a long-standing pattern flaw.

I used to dread getting a telephone call on my iPhone, and it'south non just because it's likely a robocall. Rather, an incoming call took you right out of yous're doing, whether information technology's browsing the spider web, playing a game or reading an electronic mail, replacing that activity with an incoming telephone call notification that filled the entire iPhone screen.

Starting with iOS 14'due south release concluding autumn, call notifications now appear in a box at the acme of the screen. Tap the dark-green button to pick upwards or the red i to dismiss the phone call, but now your entire iPhone screen won't be taken over the next time someone tries to give yous a ring.

iOS 14 review — (Prototype credit: Tom's Guide)

Siri follows the lead of incoming phone calls in iOS fourteen. Instead of taking you to a separate Siri screen when you desire to do something like launch an app or get a quick weather update, all you have to do is summon Siri. A round Siri icon appears at the bottom of the screen, and whatever reply Siri comes up with shows up at the top. It's an elegant way to include Apple'southward digital assistant without taking y'all out of your flow.

iOS 14.five review: Other Siri changes

Siri adds two more American vocalisation options
New Siri skills include launching group FaceTime chats and recording sound messages

Interface improvements aren't the but change to Siri, as a new version of iOS revives Apple'due south claim that Siri is smarter than ever before. Apple says that Siri has been filled with xx times the facts information technology knew just 3 years ago, and after using the iOS fourteen version of the digital assistant for the final six months, I'm inclined to concord that this is the least frustrating iteration of Siri still.

Siri seems smarter, though non foolproof, and still not as seamless to use as the Google Assistant. Questions like "What'southward the air quality index?" "Who'due south leading the American League West?" and "What films did Malcolm McDowell make?" produced definitive on-screen answers. Asking Siri who won the Emmy for best actor in a drama in 1984 produced the ubiquitous "Here'south what I institute on the spider web" upshot. (Google Assistant knows it'south Tom Selleck.) Siri also sent me to the spider web when I wanted to know how to brunoise an onion. It's yet hit and miss, though the misses are becoming fewer.

Siri is also getting better at correcting you when you give it an unrecognized command. When I was testing the reporting characteristic in Maps, I absentmindedly told Siri to study road construction; the assistant helpfully reminded me that it can only written report hazards, accidents and speed traps.

Going forward, Siri will stop defaulting to a female vox — a welcome change.

Apple touts a number of other Siri tweaks here and there, which take continued with the inflow of iOS fourteen.5. In the new version, Siri can launch group calls in FaceTime, and that joins earlier additions like asking for cycling directions through Maps or sharing estimated inflow times. Y'all can also record sound messages via Siri, a feature that was a little fussy when I start tested it, only that'south improved over time.

iOS fourteen.5 brings two new American voice options to Siri, in an endeavour to brand the assistant feel more inclusive. (Here'south a guide on how to activate any of Siri'south new voices.) Going frontwards, Siri will terminate defaulting to a female voice, requiring you to choose your digital assistant's voice at setup. It's a minor change, just a welcome ane that combats the inherent sexism of assuming you desire a female-voiced assistant to exercise your every bidding.

iOS 14.5 review: Unlocking your iPhone with Apple Watch

Feature works when you're wearing a FaceMask and an Apple Picket
Y'all'll demand an Apple sentinel Serial 3 or afterward

There's been a coronavirus pandemic on for the entirety of iOS fourteen's beingness — and one of the knock-on effects has been that unlocking your iPhone has get much more complicated. If yous're using an iPhone Ten or afterward, you've come to rely on Face Fourth dimension for unlocking your iPhone, merely with your face covered by a mask, that feature simply won't piece of work.

You can tap out your passcode to unlock your phone, and subsequent iOS updates accept sped upward that process, simply information technology's not a very elegant style of doing things. Fortunately, iOS 14.5 has introduced a mode to unlock your phone without removing your face mask — provided you lot've got an Apple tree Watch.

how to unlock your iphone with an apple watch in ios 14.5 — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

I'one thousand non a smartwatch wearer, but my wife is. And she's actually impressed by how like shooting fish in a barrel iOS 14.v has fabricated unlocking her phone when she's wearing her Apple Watch 4. We've got a full guide on how to unlock your iPhone with your Apple Watch, just basically, all y'all have to do is turn on the feature in Settings, make certain you lot're wearing your scout, and have the sentry unlocked. Then, when you glance at your phone, all you take to do is swipe upwardly to unlock it. You can even lock your phone from your Apple Picket with this feature enabled.

how to unlock your iphone with an apple watch with iOS 14.5 — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

This is not a feature that will mean a lot to users who don't own an Apple Watch. But information technology'due south a welcome improver to the ones who practice, and it shows that Apple tree is constantly looking for means to make the iPhone feel more seamless.

iOS xiv.v review: App Clips

App Clips permit you partially download apps
App makers haven't fully embraced this characteristic

Later on widgets and the App Library, the biggest change to apps introduced with iOS 14 is a feature that allows you to partially download apps but to use specific tasks, like paying for a parking space or sharing a listing. Apple calls this feature App Clips, and six months later its debut, I'm notwithstanding not convinced App Clips serves any purpose.

When the feature first launched, my colleague Adam sent me a grocery listing using the Pocket Lists app, with an invitation to share the list arriving via Messages. Yet, when I clicked on the full link, I was taken to the App Shop to download the complete app. This is non the App Clips experience I had in listen. Since then, I've rarely run into situations where I've had cause to use an App Clip or even to seek one out.

That speaks to one of the biggest complications involving App Clips — this is a feature that depends on app makers implementing information technology and making it clear to users just what to expect when they tap on that link. It also puts a premium on app discovery since the whole indicate of App Clips is exposing us to functions and features we didn't know we needed from apps we wouldn't otherwise be using. In the early on days of iOS fourteen, information technology seemed like there's more than piece of work to be washed in this regard, and that's a feeling that hasn't changed at present that we're at iOS 14.5.

iOS fourteen.v review: Other notable changes

Several apps — Reminders, Podcasts, News — go enhancements in iOS 14.five
The iPhone at present supports picture-in-picture video
All of iOS 14's privacy features are live, as of iOS 14.5

We could keep walking through each and every modify included in the new software, especially with iOS fourteen.5 calculation new capabilities. Simply at this rate, nosotros'll need to break upward the review into a split up volume. Instead, permit'due south tackle some of the remaining highlights that merit a mention for how they might change your iPhone experience.

Picture-in-picture video: The multitasking feature that's been a part of the iPad makes it over to Apple tree'south phones in iOS 14. Now when y'all watch a video, you can tap a push in the playback window to plow information technology into a floating window that follows you as you lot move on to different apps.

You tin drag the window around the screen if it's covering up that email you're composing or that text message yous're trying to read, and you can resize the window to a signal. (You've got to retain the same aspect ratio as the video that's playing.) Obviously, it'southward a characteristic that's a lot more handy on an iPhone with a larger screen.

Picture-in-movie has been limited to built-in media players similar Apple's TV app, Podcasts and FaceTime, but third-party apps are able to adapt information technology using a developer tool that Apple offers. That apparently doesn't include YouTube, which is restricting motion picture-in-picture functionality to YouTube Premium accounts as of this writing.

Reminders: Create a list of to-dos in the Reminders app in iOS fourteen, and you lot'll exist able to share that list with other users (provided they're running iOS 14 as well, of grade.) It works a lot like the similar share feature that'due south been a role of Notes for a while now. Every bit of iOS 14.5, you get a new Sort By option that lets you re-adapt reminders by everything from due date to priority to title.

Podcasts: iOS fourteen.five also introduces a new, much improved wait for Apple's built-in Podcasts app, initiated by Apple'due south plans to launch Podcasts Subscriptions. The show page has been redesigned to give you easier admission to playback controls and episode lists. A redesigned Up Next section makes it easier to manage and share downloads, besides.

Beefed-up privacy tools: Apple tree is understandably proud of the number of privacy improvements iOS 14 introduces, including iOS 14.5's improver of an App Tracking Transparency feature that gives you more granular control over what apps can continue tabs on your activities. Apps are now required to enquire your permission for tracking yous, and the App Store contains a privacy section that details but what information apps are collecting.

Voice Memo improvements: An Enhance Recording feature in the Voice Memos app promises to improve the sound of your recordings by downplaying whatsoever background noise. The feature appears equally a magic wand icon on the screen where you edit your recordings, and you enable it with a simple tap. I recorded a voice memo with some loud music playing in the background, and while the drums and horns were withal evident in the recording, the Enhance Recording characteristic did minimize them, even if the final recording featured a pronounced echo. It'southward expert enough for transcription purposes, though.

Magnifier app: If you have a hard time reading the fine print on something, y'all've likely used the Magnifier feature on your iPhone. (Triple press the side push on the iPhone Ten or later, or triple printing the home button on older iPhones to launch the characteristic.) In iOS 14, Magnifier is split out into its own app, with tools for both zooming in and adjusting brightness. You can also snap images without saving them to your camera scroll if you lot prefer. And yes, the old triple-press play a trick on still works for launching Magnifier if y'all accept a hard time learning new tricks.

Revamped Weather app: Apple tree bought Dark Sky this year, and the Weather app in iOS xiv is reaping the benefits. Users in the U.S. tin at present run into a minute-by-minute chart that shows just how much pelting or snow to expect in the adjacent hour, and there are warnings when temperatures are forecast to shift dramatically from day to day. Living on the West Coast, I've establish the prominent display of adverse air-quality weather condition to be particularly helpful during these, the end times we live in.

ios 14 weather — (Image credit: Tom'southward Guide)

Photographic camera and Photos changes: Get to the photograph app, and tap a photograph you like. Swipe upward and you lot'll see a field for adding captions. I can see this being an interesting tool for adding details and memories about your shot, simply I'm not sure if there'south a wider application for it merely notwithstanding. Meanwhile, the Camera app promises faster performance between shots while adding toggles to let y'all quickly adjust video resolution and frame rate.

ios 14 hub — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Spatial sound for AirPods Pro: I still don't take a set of wireless earbuds — in my twenty-four hours, y'all plugged in earbuds, sonny — simply my colleague Henry T. Casey does, and he's quite impressed with the spatial audio feature iOS 14 delivers to AirPods Pro. Spatial audio promises dimensional experiences for your ears, then you lot move around the sound of the show or movie yous're watching, and Henry says that's very much the case; my deteriorating hearing will just take to have his discussion for it.

Improved search: I used to use the Search feature on the iPhone to look up apps and launch them and while I tin can still do that in iOS 14, the search bar brings up then much more than. If it's stored on your telephone, basically, you lot tin bring it up through search. When I type "magnum" into the search bar, for example, I not only become suggested websites, but also texts in Messages that I've sent to the people I do a Magnum PI podcast with, along with notations I've made for hereafter episodes in the Notes app.

iOS xiv.five verdict: Should you upgrade?

Really, the vast assortment of iPhone users out there has already answered this question. As of the end of concluding twelvemonth, Apple said 81% of iPhone owners were running iOS 14, and I imagine that percentage has simply ticked upwardly during 2021. Any bugs that appear take been speedily stamped out — note how quickly Apple got the vital iOS 14.5.one update out the door — and iOS 14.5 has run smoothly on all my tester phones throughout the two-month beta period. This is one stable update.

Even more of import, information technology'southward a valuable update, especially with iOS 14.v'southward boosted features and enhancements. The moment you upgrade, yous're going to enjoy some very welcome improvements to the iOS experience.

The changes to current apps are thoughtful and useful, and new translation features add welcome capabilities to your iPhone. Some features, like App Clips, still have yet to brand an touch, but the new widgets and App Library brand your iPhone'due south habitation screen a more than welcome identify to be. iOS fourteen doesn't just feature some of the biggest changes Apple's introduced to its iPhone in some fourth dimension, information technology too rolls out some of the all-time improvements in contempo years, and that's merely connected with the latest updates.

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Philip Michaels is a senior editor at Tom'south Guide. He has strong opinions about Apple, the Oakland Athletics and old movies. Follow him at @PhilipMichaels.