Apple has been hinting at some big changes leading up to the launch of iOS 14.5, the latest version of its iOS 14 operating system that it launched at last year’s WWDC. Today, the company has finally delivered the update, along with some very interesting additions.
Let’s leave the most significant change, i.e. tracking transparency for the last.
Other than that, the company introduced a much awaited feature-the ability to unlock your iPhone with your Apple Watch. This comes at a time when face masks have become a necessity, and the most wore accessory. However, sometimes, the Face ID on iPhones does not recognize users with a mask, and thus, allowing them to unlock their phones with the watch is a nice addition.
Other than that, the company has also launched support for the newly launched AirTags, which are like bluetooth tiles that you can use to keep track of your valuable items using the Find My App on iPhones.
The company has also launched the redesigned Apple Podcasts app with this iOS update.
There are also some updates to voice control accessibility, as well as the usual Siri changes that are always a part of an iOS update.
And as you already know by now, no iOS update is done with a whole lot of new emojis. So now, we have this:
Tracking transparency:
Apple has finally launched a feature that it has been teasing for quite some time, and what has shaken the industry quite sternly. Starting with iOS 14.5, Apple users will see a lot more privacy prompts, allowing them to choose whether they want apps like Facebook to track their data or not. This, in essence, threatens Facebook’s entire business model, which is built upon selling user data to advertisers.
With tracking turned off, apps will no longer be able to use Apple’s IDFA identifier to share data about your activity with data brokers and other third parties for ad-targeting purposes.
This is a huge change in the industry-the company had to delay its launch for quite a while to let developers get used to it.
While this update may have sown the seed for a Facebook-Apple battle, it’s being welcomed by users, who are growing more and more aware of who tracks their data.
