Nine Things About iOS 15 We Already Had On Android

At yesterday’s WWDC, Apple formalized its triad of operating systems: iOS 15, iPadOS 15 and WatchOS 8. As you might expect, with lots of new features each and, like in previous years, with some reasonable similarities to Android.

Then we review nine new features in iOS 15 reminiscent of AndroidFrom the style of notifications to widgets on the home screen, augmented reality routes or text recognition in photos.

New style for notifications

Notifications have always been one of Android’s strong points over iOS, although it must be recognized that Apple has closed the gap for some time. iOS 15 makes several changes to notifications, including a focus mode or a new style for notifications with contact photos and larger icons.

The style of Apple notifications is still quite Apple, but it is undeniable that it exists some kinship with the style of notifications in Android. Instead of showing the app icon or photo in a small size above, it is displayed larger on the left, as it has been on Android for a long time.

Screen sharing and other FaceTime news

FaceTime is getting a good batch of news in iOS 15, including the noise reduction and screen sharing with other people on a call, useful for showing something concrete or helping someone with a technical problem.

On Android, the closest thing to FaceTime without resorting to third-party apps is Google Duo, which allows screen shar ing

since last year. Noise reduction and grid mode are more of the domain of Google Meet. Although “network mode” is yet to come, it can be done unofficially.

Incidentally, the fact that Apple allows Android and Windows users to join FaceTime video calls from the browser is something where Android has an advantage as well. Google Meet and Google Duo are both on the App Store.

Augmented reality journey

iOS 15 will bring detailed maps in Europe and Portugal, with the view with 3D buildings available in more countries and cities and with greater accuracy. Google Maps, the Android bedside mapping app, has been long incorporating 3D maps, if you want.

However, the large Already seen arrives with augmented reality journey, with a system practically identical to that of Google Maps. It also helps locate yourself by using the camera to scan buildings and superimposes an arrow on where you need to go.

Text recognition in photos

Spotlight has acquired certain ambitions to be the next Google Photos or at least when it comes to its cool search. Spotlight can analyze photos to identify objects. However, where there is greater kinship, it is in the search for text in images, oh Live Text.

The system practically works equal to Google Lens text recognition, and not only in its main function, but in its functioning. The way text found in a photo is highlighted is pretty much the same as Google Lens.

Souvenir Videos

Google has a long history of promoting the memories section of Google Photos. Additionally, in the latest Google I / O, they announced that even more and very specific memories are coming. It looks like Apple took some notes, however These are not memories, but memories.

It’s called differently, but it’s the same, Apple’s Memories of Photos renews its design and will create personalized films about your trips or any other event, using artificial intelligence to analyze the context and with the music company Apple Music. As Google Photos has been doing for a long time.

Offline Assistant

If the new versions of Android do not miss the novelties of the Google Assistant, they could not miss the novelties of Siri in the new version of iOS. Siri can only work on the device

, performing all kinds of tweaks and actions without having to log into Apple’s servers.

Google Assistant has been able to multitask offline for many years now. However, the biggest change was announced in 2019, with the Google Assistant offline speech recognition.

Widgets on the tablet home screen

If you wanted widgets on an iPad, you could already do that with iPadOS 14, although they’ve been relegated to a special panel. With iPadOS 15, you can now put widgets on the home screen, as in the iPhone or as in any Android tablet for many, many years.

Tab groups in the browser

Safari comes with some important new features in iOS 15. To get started, supports extensions, something that Google Chrome for Android doesn’t officially do, although you can technically achieve this using third-party browsers, such as Kiwi.

Anyway, the most reminiscent of Android Safari in iOS 15 is grouping of tabs, quite similar to the novelty that has been active in Google Chrome for all of us for several months. And yes, tabs open between devices are synced too.

Open the car with the mobile

In this last novelty there is for the moment a kind of technical link, since the two operating systems have promised it, but it has not yet materialized in either of them: open the car with the mobile.

It’s new to iOS 15 that you can save garage, hotel or even car keys in Wallet, while Google announced that will do the same in Android 12. We’ll have to wait a few months to see who got it ready first.