iOS 15 — Maps is shockingly good and Safari is not

(Prototype credit: Tom's Guide)

It's hard to be pithy when you lot're talking about iOS 15. Apple's iPhone software, bachelor to everyone in the form of a but-released public beta, packs in a variety of features — some of them high-contour, other lost in the shuffle and disregarded iOS 15 additions every bit a result.

So I promise I tin can be excused for conveying on and on about all the changes in this update during my iOS 15 public beta hands-on. Betwixt new capabilities, enhancements to old favorites, and shared features with other Apple tree OS updates, there's a lot of basis to encompass. And fifty-fifty then, I felt like I've barely scratched the surface.

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However, no affair how many words 1 could mantle effectually a software update preview, the two most persistent questions you're asked are always the same: Which new addition is the best 1 in this update? And what could have benefitted more from more fourth dimension on the drawing board? Later spending some time with the iOS 15 developers preview, I have some pretty potent opinions on the best and worst the beta has to offer.

iOS xv: Maps is the best

Yous could make the case that either FaceTime or Focus — two of the more noteworthy changes in this iOS update — should stand out every bit iOS 15's finest features. I will admit that both are impressive, based on what I've seen. FaceTime adds some key improvements like spatial audio and a more organized grid view, while also incorporating a new SharePlay capability for watching movies and listening to music with far-flung friends. Focus promises to reduce potential distractions by filtering out notifications and incoming letters so you tin buckle downward and concentrate.

As practiced as these additions are, I employ FaceTime rarely and non always voluntarily. From my initial testing, it seems like the iOS 15 improvements will make me less disdainful of Apple'south video chat app, even if I'yard not notwithstanding prepare to embrace it. I think Focus has the potential to exist a real game-changer, merely we're going to demand to spend some more time using the retooled video chat app to reach a more than definitive conclusion.

ios 15 beta hands-on — (Prototype credit: Tom's Guide)

No, the characteristic that has caught my eye is the one I use more or less all the fourth dimension, and one that I regularly rely on to get me from Signal A to Betoken B: Maps. The navigation app sees some wonderful improvements in iOS 15, and that's before I've had a chance to really test out the new transit features or new AR-powered capability in which Maps provide interactive walking directions. What I've already seen is impressive enough.

That'd exist the 3D mapping details Apple tree has added to Maps — at least in the San Francisco area where I'thou doing virtually of my testing. Local sites like Oracle Park, the Ferry Building and SalesForce Belfry are rendered in exquisite detail. Yous'll also see more accurate roads — at present gray instead of xanthous — and even trees alongside the streets that accurately reflect where real trees are.

I've done a lot driving around the past few days and the new driving view in Maps has proven invaluable. Information technology switches to a street-level perspective when you lot arroyo peculiarly complicated stretches of your journey — think interchanges where overpasses criss-cross each other. The driving view in iOS xv Maps kept me on-course and headed toward my destination.

I know Maps has a bad reputation from the days when Apple was breaking free of Google'southward mapping information with mixed success. But I feel that iOS 15's version is another step toward putting that reputation in our rear view mirror.

iOS fifteen: Safari takes some getting used to

To phone call Safari iOS xv'south worst characteristic is, arguably, a bit harsh. Just it's the change I like the least and the i that's going to take the nigh getting used to.

Safari is getting streamlined beyond Apple's various software platforms. For iOS 15, that means a new design that's better suited to the iPhone's limited screen space. And that ways Apple tree has decided to shrink down the tab bar and move it to the lesser of the screen where information technology'south in like shooting fish in a barrel reach of your thumb.

The but trouble is that my brain still expects the tab bar to exist up top. So often, when I launch the browser in iOS 15, I'll spend a moment or two staring stupidly at the top of the screen wondering where the URL went as well. Fifty-fifty worse, sometimes I'll just start impotently tapping the identify where I recall the tab bar should be before I recollect that I'chiliad living in iOS 15's new and non necessarily improved world.

Like I said, it takes some getting used to, particularly the fact that you tin can leap to open tabs merely by swiping left or right. That's a potential time saver, but I also imagine inadvertently shifting screens when my finger accidentally drags across my iPhone screen. Speaking of tabs, this new design also accommodates Grouping Tabs, a characteristic I'll likely appreciate more in one case I upgrade my MacBook Air to macOS Monterey. Right now, staring at the gird layout of grouped-together tabs on my iPhone'southward screen, the phrase "This own't it, Chief" keeps echoing in my mind. We'll see if that fades over time.

iOS 15 outlook

The good news for Apple is that I've uncovered more hits than misses during my fourth dimension with iOS fifteen. We also need to remember that this is a beta, and that if you find features that don't experience fully fleshed-out just even so, there's a long time between now on the autumn release date for the full version of iOS 15.

With that in mind, then, my electric current strategy is to see if I tin can go used to a earth with an upside-downward Safari and take comfort in the fact that my Maps experience looks like it's going to be much better when iOS 15 hits a full release.

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Philip Michaels is a senior editor at Tom'south Guide. He has stiff opinions virtually Apple, the Oakland Athletics and old movies. Follow him at @PhilipMichaels.