Apple announced iPad OS 15 along with iOS 15 with enough features at the 2023 event.
The new iOS update brings several such features to the table, including FaceTime messaging, offline Siri.
But that’s not all! iOS 15 has many hidden features that Apple didn’t showcase at the keynote.
After I have been extensively using the new iOS 15 operating system on my iPhone 12 for about three days now, I have compiled a list of these 25 best iOS 15 hidden features that you will love to try on your iPhone.
1. Drag and Drop across apps
2. Widget suggestions
3. Turn off Private Relay for specific Wi-Fi Connections
4. Remove Home Screen pages
5. Magnifying glass while selecting the text
6. Custom text size for different apps
7. Live Text from Camera in Safari
8. Location Visible after Power Off
9. New video and audio effects in all video calling apps
10. Pull to refresh in Safari
11. Swipe gestures in Safari
12. Add background image to Safari
13. Access Spotlight from your Lock Screen
14. Change playback speed in in-built iOS media player
15. Notify when left behind option for AirTag
16. Dial FaceTime call directly from the Messages app
17. EXIF data and ‘Saved From’ in the Photos app
18. Convert Live Photo into Loop, Bounce, and Long Exposure
19. Announce notifications and boost conversation sound in AirPods
20. Rain and snow storm notifications in the Weather app
21. Hide IP address from all websites
22. Prepare for your new iPhone
23. Auto upgrade HTTP connection to HTTPS
24. Record App Activity
25. System-wide translation
1. Drag and Drop across apps
Apple has brought support for its famous ‘drag and drop’ feature to iOS. In iOS 15, you can take a text, image, link, or file from any app and drag it to another app.
To use this feature, simply tap and hold the file, swipe up to go to the home screen with another finger, open another app, and drop the file there.
2. Widget suggestions
Building on iOS 14’s widget feature, iOS 15 brings a new feature to the Widget Stack menu. When you create a widget stack in iOS 15, a new widget suggestion option arrives. Widget Suggestions will automatically suggest new widgets for your stack based on your usage and preferences. I think this is a really neat iOS 15 hidden feature that can help a lot of people!
3. Turn off Private Relay for specific Wi-Fi Connections
Apple announced a new feature called Private Relay with iOS 15 This feature is part of Apple’s iCloud subscription and prevents third-party trackers from tapping into your Internet connection. However, it may slow down your internet in some cases.
If you feel that Personal Relay is lagging your internet connection, you can turn it off for your Wi-Fi connection. Here’s how:
Go to Settings → Wi-Fi.
Press the ‘i’ button next to Connected Wi-Fi.
Now, scroll down and turn off iCloud Private
4. Remove Home Screen pages
With iOS 14, Apple introduced the App Library which stores all your apps. With this, Apple has allowed users to disable home screen pages that they no longer need. In iOS 15, hidden home screen pages can be completely removed. To do this,
Long press any empty space on your home screen.
Tap the dots above the dock.
Uncheck the home screen page you want to remove.
Tap the ‘-‘ sign in the top-left corner of the page and select Remove.
5. Magnifying glass while selecting the text
iOS 15 brings back one of the most requested features. Now, when selecting text or changing the cursor position, a pre-iOS 13 style magnifying glass pops up. It makes moving the cursor effortless, and I’m glad Apple brought it back. However, you can still tap and hold the iPhone’s space bar to move the cursor.
6. Custom text size for different apps
In iOS 15, you can set different text sizes for each app. For example, you can set the text size to be large for reading applications and small (or default) for other applications. To do this,
Go to Settings → Control Center.
Tap the ‘ button next to Text Size.
Now, open the app for which you want to change the text size.
Open Control Center and select ‘Apps’ only.
After that, reduce or increase the size of the text as you wish.
7. Live Text from Camera in Safari
Live Text is a great iOS 15 feature. This makes it easy to copy text. However, did you know that you can open websites and emails directly using Live Text?
Open Safari on your iPhone.
Tap the address bar and select Text from Camera.
Now, scan the website address.
Boom! This will open the website directly in Safari.
Alternatively, you can scan any text for a quick web search.
8. Location Visible after Power Off
This is one of my favorite hidden iOS 15 features. When you turn off your iPhone, it doesn’t turn off. It goes into a power reserve mode that makes it work like an Airtag. In this mode, your iPhone can be tracked on other Apple devices through the Find My app while your iPhone is off using the location of nearby Apple devices.
Apple says you can track your iPhone even when your iPhone has been factory reset. In iOS 15 Apple shows a label when the iPhone is turned off that says ‘Location
9. New video and audio effects in all video calling apps
With iOS 15, Apple introduced new FaceTime features, including new portrait video and voice isolation audio effects. Portrait mode blurs the background just like we’re used to in Zoom and Google Meet calls.
Voice isolation filters your voice from background noise, making it easier for other people to hear you. But you know what? You can also use these features in all other apps like Snapchat and WhatsApp.
10. Pull to refresh in Safari
iOS 15 brings a completely new redesigned Safari. The new Safari app on iPhone has a lower address bar, tab selection, and more. But with the new redesign, the refresh button has moved to a three dot segment. This makes refreshing the page a two-step process.
But don’t worry! Apple has added a simple ‘pull-to-refresh’ gesture. On any webpage, simply drag down and release until the iOS loading wheel appears. The webpage should reload.
11. Swipe gestures in Safari
Closing tabs is harder in the redesigned Safari. The ‘x’ button is very small, and when you have hundreds of tabs open, it gets even smaller. Thankfully, Apple has added a swipe to dismiss tab gesture to Safari. Simply swipe right or left on a tab to close it
Now navigating tabs is also easier. When you have multiple tabs open, swipe right or left to navigate between open tabs.
12. Add background image to Safari
You can even add backgrounds to the Safari app in iOS 15. To do this,
Open a new tab in Safari.
Scroll down and tap Edit.
Toggle on background image and select desired wallpaper.
Note: You can also import backgrounds from the Photos app.
13. Access Spotlight from your Lock Screen
Spotlight received a significant upgrade this year. It offers rich search results, search within photos and much more One subtle change that Apple hasn’t announced is the ability to access Spotlight from the lock screen. Now you can swipe on your lock screen to access Spotlight This can be useful for quickly searching for a contact or making a quick call.
14. Change playback speed in in-built iOS media player
YouTube lets you stream videos at 2x speed. However, not all websites offer this functionality. iOS 15’s default media player has a new hidden feature that can automatically change the playback speed. In iOS 15 media player tapping the three dots in the media player gives a new option called playback speed. Using this you can change the playback speed of your video to 1.25x, 1.5x and more.
15. Notify when left behind option for AirTag
AirTag makes tracking items much easier. With iOS 15, Apple introduced a feature that will ensure you never leave your essentials behind.
Now, you can set separation alerts for your most important AirTags. In the AirTag section of Find My, toggle on Notify when Left Behind. To stop AirTag from draining more battery, you can also set locations where it doesn’t need to notify.
16. Dial FaceTime call directly from the Messages app
Before iOS 15, making a FaceTime call from the Messages app was a two-step process. You need to tap on the contact’s profile photo and then select the Video Call button.
In iOS 15, you can dial a FaceTime call directly by selecting the video camera button in the top right.
17. EXIF data and ‘Saved From’ in the Photos app
Until now, Apple did not allow iPhone users to see information such as image size, resolution, and the sensor from which a photo was taken. You can tap the little ‘i’ button in the toolbar at the bottom of the new Photos app to see the details of the photo.
18. Convert Live Photo into Loop, Bounce, and Long Exposure
You can convert a Live Photo into a loop, bounce, and long exposure right within the Photos app in iOS 15. When you capture a Live Photo, tap the small down arrow next to it to convert it to Loop, Bounce, or Long Exposure.
19. Announce notifications and boost conversation sound in AirPods
In iOS 15, you can tell Siri to read all your notifications or who’s calling. Another hidden iOS 15 feature related to AirPods is the ability to boost conversational sound.
When you’re in a busy environment and on a call, it’s often difficult to hear the other person. Now, your AirPods Pro or later can also ‘boost’ another person’s voice.
20. Rain and snow storm notifications in the Weather app
iOS 15’s Weather app can notify you when rain or snow storms are coming. To enable it,
Open the Weather app on your iPhone.
Tap the three dots in the upper right corner.
Select Notifications.
Turn on notifications for the city for which you want to receive rain notifications
21. Hide IP address from all websites
In iOS 15, you can hide your device’s IP address from third-party trackers and all websites. This will prevent your data from being tracked. To enable it,
Go to Settings → Safari.
Scroll down until you see Hide IP Address
In the next window, select your desired option.
22. Prepare for your new iPhone
With iOS 15, Apple made it easier to switch between iPhones. Now, when you go to the Reset Settings, there’s a new hidden feature called Prepare For Your New iPhone.
23. Auto upgrade HTTP connection to HTTPS
In iOS 15, Safari automatically upgrades a non-secure HTTP connection to HTTPS. This ensures that the connection between your iPhone and the website is secure and no one is tapping into it.
24. Record App Activity
With iOS 14, Apple introduced a feature called Privacy Reports that generates a report of all third-party trackers trying to spy on you. Apple implemented a similar feature in iOS 15, where you can see how apps access your iPhone’s resources like the camera or microphone. You can even see the websites where apps upload your data
To enable it,
Go to Settings → Privacy.
Scroll down and enable Record App Activity.
After some time, this section will start showing a report of the app
Note that this feature may impact your battery life as it records each app’s activity.
25. System-wide translation
With iOS 15, you can now translate text on the go. Select the text you want to translate and select Translate. A window with the translated text will appear.