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Apple Seeds First Public Betas of iOS 15.4 and iPadOS 15.4 With Universal Control, Face ID With Mask Support and More

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Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 15.4 and iPadOS 15.4 updates to public beta testers, with the software coming just a day after the launch of the developer betas.

iOS-15.4-Store-General-Feature.jpg

iOS and iPadOS 15.4 can be downloaded over the air after the proper profile from Apple's public beta testing website has been installed on an iPhone or iPad.

iOS 15.4 and iPadOS 15.4 are major updates. iOS 15.4 brings a new feature for unlocking your iPhone with Face ID even when wearing a mask, and iPadOS 15.4 introduces Universal Control. When paired with a Mac running macOS Monterey 12.3, Universal Control allows multiple Macs and iPads to be controlled with a single cursor and keyboard, and it's super simple and intuitive to use. Universal Control requires macOS Monterey 12.3, which does not yet appear to be available for public beta testers.


The betas also bring new Emoji 14 characters, an Apple Card widget, a keyboard brightness Control Center option on iPad, support for on-device custom email domain setup, easier access to SharePlay, and tons more.

We have a full list of everything new in iOS 15.4 available in our iOS 15.4 features guide. Apple has also released the first tvOS 15.4 public beta.

Article Link: Apple Seeds First Public Betas of iOS 15.4 and iPadOS 15.4 With Universal Control, Face ID With Mask Support and More
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2022/01/28/apple-seeds-first-ios-15-4-public-beta/
Last edited:
Really looking forward to this release.

These releases are a reminder that even though fans, media, tech pundits obsess over hardware, it’s software that really moves the dial year-to-year. Even Apple has lost the right balance, which is understandable since they make their money on hardware. But to be great at hardware, you need great software. And to make a ton of money at services, you have to be great at software.

I used to buy tons of music and books from Apple. But iTunes was so buggy for so many years with confusing, half-baked interface, I just moved to Spotify. Same with movies many years later. I used to buy a ton of movies, but the library tab doesn’t work with large libraries, so I rent movies through Verizon or Xbox now.

I hope Apple really gets the balance back. Great software will feed the revenue ecosystem if you let it.
 
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MacRumors said:


Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 15.4 and iPadOS 15.4 updates to public beta testers, with the software coming just a day after the launch of the developer betas.

iOS-15.4-Store-General-Feature.jpg

iOS and iPadOS 15.4 can be downloaded over the air after the proper profile from Apple's public beta testing website has been installed on an iPhone or iPad.

iOS 15.4 and iPadOS 15.4 are major updates. iOS 15.4 brings a new feature for unlocking your iPhone with Face ID even when wearing a mask, and iPadOS 15.4 introduces Universal Control. When paired with a Mac running macOS Monterey 12.3, Universal Control allows multiple Macs and iPads to be controlled with a single cursor and keyboard, and it's super simple and intuitive to use. Universal Control requires macOS Monterey 12.3, which does not yet appear to be available for public beta testers.


The betas also bring new Emoji 14 characters, an Apple Card widget, a keyboard brightness Control Center option on iPad, support for on-device custom email domain setup, easier access to SharePlay, and tons more.

We have a full list of everything new in iOS 15.4 available in our iOS 15.4 features guide. Apple has also released the first tvOS 15.4 public beta.

Article Link: Apple Seeds First Public Betas of iOS 15.4 and iPadOS 15.4 With Universal Control, Face ID With Mask Support and More
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this update is nothing for me as I am currently using iPhone 11. its very sad that how greedy Apple have become.
 
Hercules11 said:
this update is nothing for me as I am currently using iPhone 11. its very sad that how greedy Apple have become.
Click to expand...
There is only one feature that is not avaible on iPhone 11, and it’s probably because of hardware limitation or greater security risks on iPhone X/XS/XR/11. The rest of iOS 15.4 is still a good upgrade for everyone
 
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fwmireault said:
There is only one feature that is not avaible on iPhone 11, and it’s probably because of hardware limitation or greater security risks on iPhone X/XS/XR/11. The rest of iOS 15.4 is still a good upgrade for everyone
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if you see the differences of face id hardware between iPhone 12 & 11, then you will see its almost identical. Besides A13 & A14 bionic chip both are very powerful. so Apple is intentionally doing this to compel customers to upgrade their iPhone just like when they added night mode on iPhone 11 but not on iPhone X & XS though they were capable of having night mode.
 
Hercules11 said:
if you see the differences of face id hardware between iPhone 12 & 11, then you will see its almost identical. Besides A13 & A14 bionic chip both are very powerful. so Apple is intentionally doing this to compel customers to upgrade their iPhone just like when they added night mode on iPhone 11 but not on iPhone X & XS though they were capable of having night mode.
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You are talking about cosmetic differences, we don’t know if there were any changes under the hood. If Apple wanted to intentionally limit this feature, why would they allow it on iPhone 12? They could only allow it on the latest iPhone series. It doesn’t make sens to limit the feature specifically to last year models without an hardware limitation
 
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fwmireault said:
You are talking about cosmetic differences, we don’t know if there were any changes under the hood. If Apple wanted to intentionally limit this feature, why would they allow it on iPhone 12? They could only allow it on the latest iPhone series. It doesn’t make sens to limit the feature specifically to last year models without an hardware limitation
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yeah I hope they will add support for older generations of iPhone in future update.
 
Anyone having battery drain issues after the latest update?
I’m using a 13 pro, getting a major drain, and charging times are horrible. Phone is getting warm as well. It’s the first time anything like this has happened after an update.
 
Sappyhead said:
Anyone having battery drain issues after the latest update?
I’m using a 13 pro, getting a major drain, and charging times are horrible. Phone is getting warm as well. It’s the first time anything like this has happened after an update.
Click to expand...
Could it be Spotlight indexing?
 
It was very confusing this week when 15.3 was released this week, and nearly every iOS story on Macrumors front page was about 15.4. At first, I had to do a double-take to make sure it was 15.3 that came out, but apparently 15.3 had nothing to talk about?
 
I have an old Apple account without 2-step verification. I think that prevents me from getting the Beta for iPad. I still answer my magic questions. Oh well, just curious anyway.
 
Anyone getting a magenta screen of death? It freezes the iPhone, and then a restart happens. Weird, never seen before. Running 15.4 Public Beta. :)

Hope this gets fixed in the next update! Otherwise, I've been really happy with it!
 
At least a dozen years before Apple introduced FaceID, many high security installations (including the data center I worked at) used Iris Scanning as an entrance control method.

To be initially registered in the system, you stood about 1-2 feet away from the access device (a high resolution camera) and stared at the camera while it recorded an image of your irises. The exact pattern of a person's irises are as unique as their fingerprints and from then on, to gain access to the facility you pressed a button and stared into the camera. If the pattern of your iris matched the previously recorded one, the door unlocked.

Is this starting to sound like Apple's new system? Hmmm......

It takes a very high resolution camera system to look at someone's face from a distance and be able to focus in their eyes in enough detail to resolve the individual fibers in the iris. This would possibly explain why an iPhone 12 or 13 is required; previous iPhone front camera systems weren't up to the task.

Note iris recognition systems didn't care if you were wearing a mask or not; they only looked at the geometry of the eyes (including interpupillary distance) and the irises.
 
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