iOS 14.5 comes packed with new features
After launching iOS 14, and as is customary for the brand, Apple continued to make updates throughout the months. The latest one has already arrived and promises new features you'll love.
Now, you'll be able to unlock your iPhone (via Apple Watch) even while wearing a mask; use new emojis, and customize your privacy settings—to ensure complete security whenever you use an Apple device.
But there's more: Siri brings new voices (in English); updates to Apple Podcasts, Apple News, and Apple Fitness+.
Let's take a closer look at the most important updates.
Unlock iPhone with Apple Watch
One of the new features of iOS 14.5 is the ability to unlock your iPhone via Apple Watch, even when wearing a mask—and the same applies, of course, to reconditioned iPhones.
To do this, you just need to have the watch nearby and unlocked. As soon as you want to use your iPhone, just look at its screen until you feel a vibration on your Apple Watch—confirming the smartphone's unlock.
To use this feature, you must have an iPhone X or newer—as well as an Apple Watch Series 3 or later.
New Siri voices
If you use Siri in English, you'll be happy to know that, with iOS 14.5, you can choose a different voice for your personal assistant. Now, the available options use different vocal tones, all very natural.
Apple now uses Neural Text to Speech technology to produce results very close to the human voice. In fact, it will (really) seem like you're talking to (and hearing) a real person.
But Siri's new features don't stop there. With iOS 14.5, it's easier to initiate group calls on FaceTime—something that, until now, was difficult to achieve through this personal assistant.
Greater privacy control
iOS 14.5 brings more privacy controls and a new application: Tracking Transparency. Whenever an app requests access to your data, this new app will send you a notification asking for your authorization.
At that moment, you can accept or decline, so control passes completely to you. This is great news for Apple users, who now have full control over the permissions they grant.
If you haven't yet received the Apple update to do this update, don't worry. The notification should be arriving soon.