Apple Highlights Additional iOS 15 Features, Such as Dual-SIM Phone Number Switching in iMessage Conversations

[Kontikonsumi]

"Apple said iOS 15 allows users to seamlessly switch between phone numbers in the middle of an iMessage conversation on an iPhone with Dual SIM support, including the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR, and newer."

I waited for this since my first iPhone 11 from Hong Kong (which has two real nano sim card slots) and I happened to switch my sim cards way more often than the average (e-simcard) user, also because it was more easy, fast and didnt require any internet connection (in the airplane) etc.

There used to be times where I had to use SMS (not imessage) and I always got confused which number was being used to it. In order to really switch the numbers I had to delete the whole conversation and than I could choose the number to send the SMS from. It is sad, that apple brigs our a new technlogy (dual sim), but it is half baked for 3 years and users need to struggle (and get frustated) and at the point where you think Apple is never going to make it they put it in into the next big release (so frustated users update more fast)...

Usually I am a late adopter of iOS, but this is Apple putting curucial functions into the the next big iOS...

 

[zidarko]

Dual SIM in iMessage support?

Set the sending and receiving address in iMessage to an email (Apple ID) and you never ever have to care about the actual phone number used/displayed.

 

[one more]

Dual SIM in iMessage support?

Set the sending and receiving address in iMessage to an email (Apple ID) and you never ever have to care about the actual phone number used/displayed.

True, even though most people will have our phone numbers first and may not always know our emails?

 

[headlessmike]

I think you need to speak for yourself here. At least, I use both iMessage plenty here in Denmark, and also FaceTime.

Agreed. Our families widely use FaceTime for daily calls. Denmark as well.

I think iOS and iMessage are pretty big in Scandinavia in general. I'm in Sweden and here iMessage and Facebook Messenger are the two big ones, followed by Signal in my experience.

 

[iGüey]

I think you need to speak for yourself here. At least, I use both iMessage plenty here in Denmark, and also FaceTime.

I can tell you that in Mexico we use both WhatsApp and Telegram widely, while iMessage and Facetime are very rare and uncommon. I suppose this differs from country to country, depending on the penetration of iOS vs Android.

 

[J___o___h___n]

The first iOS update I’ll skip.

 

[femike]

The first iOS update I’ll skip.

Me too.

 

[dsh3]

The first iOS update I’ll skip.

Me too.

I genuinely wonder why you (and others apparently) does not want to update their devices, why so?

 

[mariusignorello]

They got the kiddie porn feature working and rammed that down people’s throats. It’s a shame they couldn’t do the same for the headline iOS features. But hey, it’s for the children, that’s all that matters.

It’s amazing how when you want something done so bad how you find the willpower to make it happen. Fo figure.

In all seriousness, Apple customers spend boatloads of money on hardware only for Apple to sideline and delay major features. Sure, there was no concrete promise of anything, but it starts to breed distrust and confidence in the consumer when they just blow things off like that.

It seems like Apple is taking major advantage of consumers’ tolerances for disappointment and brand loyalty this year and using covid as an excuse doesn’t help the situation. It is what it is at this point, but let’s hope next release cycle is more productive.

 

[one more]

Dual SIM is the biggest unfulfilled promise for me. 3 years later my XS still can’t use its dual SIM feature because none of the carriers I use offer eSIM compatibility. Big letdown.

You need to lobby your carriers to open up to eSIM, as Apple have been trying for a long while to get them all to abandon physical SIMs altogether. Unfortunately, the carriers still hold on to SIMs as it gives them an extra physical hold to their customers. With Apple’s tendency towards minimising the size of their devices, supporting two physical SIMs can be a tricky task, even though they made an exception for China, I think.

 

[one more]

I genuinely wonder why you (and others apparently) does not want to update their devices, why so?

Because the beta community already running the iOS 15 release candidate complain about it quite a bit. Have a look here:

iOS 15

iOS 15 (June 2021)

forums.macrumors.com

Also, the changes announced in iOS 15/iPadOS 15, while useful, are either not so big, or were delayed for a later release, which makes an update less appealing or urgent.

 

[twistedpixel8]

As for the Maps app, Apple removed wording from the iOS 15 features page that said the app would switch to a 3D road-level perspective when approaching a complex interchange. It's not entirely clear if the feature has been abandoned.

Well that’s disappointing. I was really looking forward to that one. We have some stupidly complicated junctions in the UK that only the locals to that area seem to understand. This would have been very useful and saved accidents.

 

[Patriks7]

Agreed. Our families widely use FaceTime for daily calls. Denmark as well.

Same here, pretty much my whole family and closest friends widely use FaceTime and iMessage, in multiple Central European countries.

 

[RamGuy]

Dual SIM in iMessage support?

Set the sending and receiving address in iMessage to an email (Apple ID) and you never ever have to care about the actual phone number used/displayed.

This is only a sensible solution in countries like the US where iOS is the norm. I have a lot of communication through iMessage that is SMS. Utilising e-mail only for iMessage would make it incapable of falling back to SMS when needed. Not really a option for most of us.

I do however set my e-mail as my default for iMessage. So whenever I send anyone anything using iMessage or Facetime it defaults to using my e-mail and not my phone number. It's just better that way. But I still have my phone number active so it's capable of falling back to SMS and regular phone calls whenever the one on the receiving end is not using iOS.

 

[twistedpixel8]

Have they made any improvements with being able to report spam text messages more easily? It is a 15-step process for me:

- Open the message.
- Copy the message.
- Go back.
- Compose a new message to 7726 (ATT's spam reporting number).
- Paste the message.
- Go back.
- Open spam message.
- Go to Info.
- Go to Info again.
- Long press and copy number.
- Go back.
- Hit Done.
- Go back.
- Open message to 7726.
- Paste number.

Instead of more surveillance crap, can we please have an easier way to accomplish this?

It’s not universal, that’s the issue. And in other countries (such as the UK) it’s too easy to spoof numbers due to our archaic telephone system. We also sometimes receive messages with only names shown rather than numbers (and no way to view the number). I’d love a simple reporting feature but I’m not sure it is feasible right now.

 

[macduke]

My WiFi is beyond screwed up on iOS 15. I still haven’t figured out how to resolve it. Even erasing all network settings doesn’t fix it. I have a nice WiFi 6 mesh network that I installed last autumn but idk if that is part of the issue as sometimes the dedicated wireless backhaul gets a slower signal. My Apple TV and Macs don’t seem to have any trouble but my wife has noted some intermittent issues with her device running the old iOS 14. It also doesn’t help that my internet service has been flakey as hell this summer so it’s tricky to diagnose anything. At least they’re running thick fiber lines in my neighborhood right now so I’ll have an alternative to the terrible Mediacom Cable.

 

[DMG35]

Are people really that excited about SharePlay? I get that its something that might be used every once in a while but I doubt that the majority of people won’t even know what it is and wont’ ever use it. Plus its not even being released yet.

I don’t know, seems like something Apple is trying to hype due to the fact that this OS update is so massively boring.

 

[dsh3]

They got the kiddie porn feature working and rammed that down people’s throats. It’s a shame they couldn’t do the same for the headline iOS features. But hey, it’s for the children, that’s all that matters.

It’s amazing how when you want something done so bad how you find the willpower to make it happen. Fo figure.

In all seriousness, Apple customers spend boatloads of money on hardware only for Apple to sideline and delay major features. Sure, there was no concrete promise of anything, but it starts to breed distrust and confidence in the consumer when they just blow things off like that.

It seems like Apple is taking major advantage of consumers’ tolerances for disappointment and brand loyalty this year and using covid as an excuse doesn’t help the situation. It is what it is at this point, but let’s hope next release cycle is more productive.

Exactly, there was no promise of anything. All up to the presentations of both iOS, iPhone, Apple Watch etc. has been nothing but rumors for features and what. And when expectations to all the rumors that are floating around are not met, people tend to get disappointed and complain.

Because the beta community already running the iOS 15 release candidate complain about it quite a bit. Have a look here:

iOS 15

iOS 15 (June 2021)

forums.macrumors.com

Also, the changes announced in iOS 15/iPadOS 15, while useful, are either not so big, or were delayed for a later release, which makes an update less appealing or urgent.

People will always complain. It is a part of the cycle each and every year. Yet people end up updating after all.

 

[s4eDctbEbZ3H]

... FaceTime and iMessages which are basically used in USA, the rest of the world we use WhatsApp or Telegram to talk/video with other OS.

Same for me: iMessage is only my SMS app, as there are too few other Apple users around me. Maybe specific to France, maybe not. Using Discord with youngsters/gamers, WhatsApp with friends who do not want to switch to Signal, and Signal with all others.

 

[DMG35]

People will always complain. It is a part of the cycle each and every year. Yet people end up updating after all.

This is true, but the Release Candidate for iOS15 is actual trash. It is a bug riddled mess and if Apple doesn’t clean it up and release a different build people are going to be really upset at what it does to their devices.

 

[H2SO4]

Agreed. Our families widely use FaceTime for daily calls. Denmark as well.

Being objective here, the plural of anecdote is not data.
Apple being their usual secretive self are very difficult to extract any data from that they don't want released especially when that data paints an adverse or less than stellar picture of them or their performance.

A Google search based on lots of people/organsations researching makes WhatsApp pretty popular. Anybody would be short-sighted to dismiss that. Google, "whatsapp usage vs imessage", and "imessage global usage figures".
One of the articles states, "However, based on information shared by Apple itself, it is estimated that iMessage has about 1.3 billion active users worldwide, making it as popular as Facebook Messenger, second only to WhatsApp.".

As a generalisation, the statement the OP made is correct.

I use Telegram and know lots of people that do but I'm not about to suggest that it's more popular than iMessage because my friends/family and I use it.

 

[one more]

People will always complain. It is a part of the cycle each and every year. Yet people end up updating after all.

Some people do not update, lead by a “Don’t fix it if it ain’t broken!” idea.

I personally like new features and improvements, but would not like to deal with a subpar performance compared to my existing setup with iOS 14.

iOS 15 does not offer me anything major vs iOS 14, so I will be waiting for more feedback before installing it and will only do it when it is ripe enough. 🖐

 

[JayGranos]

i can confirm the 3D road-level perspective wasn’t abandoned, I was using CarPlay a few days ago and Maps did this during navigation which I found helpful

 

[Kontikonsumi]

This is only a sensible solution in countries like the US where iOS is the norm. I have a lot of communication through iMessage that is SMS. Utilising e-mail only for iMessage would make it incapable of falling back to SMS when needed. Not really a option for most of us.

I do however set my e-mail as my default for iMessage. So whenever I send anyone anything using iMessage or Facetime it defaults to using my e-mail and not my phone number. It's just better that way. But I still have my phone number active so it's capable of falling back to SMS and regular phone calls whenever the one on the receiving end is not using iOS.

Doing excatly the same as I need to use SMS, when I dont have any internet Data Connection (or mobile data plan abroad) or have to send messages to people with an Android phone.

 

[arn]

That’s odd. Is it D U B A I the forum objects to? Dubai dubai dubai.

edit: yep, indeed it is. The political correctness and censoring of this forum is becoming completely absurd.

Wait, you can’t mention on the forums that you had issues with a device while on a business trip to Dubai?

EDIT: OMG it does censor D U B A I !! What the hell is up with that?

Abu Dhabi?

Looks like Dubai was added to the censor list due to spam. I removed it.