Want to use all of iOS 15's features? These are the iPhones you’ll need to own

Want to use all of iOS 15's features? These are the iPhones yous'll demand to own

(Image credit: Futurity)

iOS 15 boasts a lot of features and offers the twin do good of working on a lot of iPhones stretching back to models released vi years agone. But non all of those features are going to be available on every iPhone that supports iOS fifteen.

Similar to how some macOS Monterey features are exclusive to M1-powered Macs, there are some new capabilities in iOS 15 that crave newer iPhones. In most cases, the cut-off is any iPhone powered by an A12 Bionic chip or later. That covers iPhones released since 2018.

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To exist fair, many of the marquee features Apple introduced when previewing iOS 15 at WWDC 2021 volition work as advertised on every supported iPhone. Even if you've got an older telephone, you'll be able to use the SharePlay feature in FaceTime, manage your notifications using the new Focus fashion and savour the enhancements to Messages, Photos and more.

Just a few features like Live Text's ability to turn the text in your photos into bodily, actionable text crave some processing power — most likely the neural processing congenital into Apple's more than recent fries. For features like that, you'll want at least an iPhone XR, iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max. That also means the iPhone X, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus — as well as phones that arrived prior to 2017 — will miss out on a few new capabilities. The seventh generation iPod touch on and its A10 Fusion chip is also out of luck.

Here's what we know right now virtually iOS xv and which features will work on which phones.

iOS xv supported devices

Showtime, information technology'southward helpful to know which iPhone models will be able to run iOS fifteen. It's a pretty long listing. Basically, if your telephone runs iOS fourteen, you lot'll exist able to upgrade to the new version of Apple tree's phone software. That includes the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, both of which debuted in 2015. The original iPhone SE, which arrived a year later, is covered too.

iPhone 6s
iPhone 6s Plus
iPhone SE (original model)
iPod Touch (7th-generation)
iPhone 7
iPhone seven Plus
iPhone 8
iPhone viii Plus
iPhone 10
iPhone XR
iPhone Xs
iPhone Xs Max
iPhone eleven
iPhone xi Pro
iPhone eleven Pro Max
iPhone SE (2020)
iPhone 12 mini
iPhone 12
iPhone 12 Pro
iPhone 12 Pro Max

To that listing, you'll be able to add together the iPhone thirteen when those iv rumored phones come up out in the fall, likely with iOS fifteen pre-installed. Rumors advise the iPhone thirteen will exist powered by a new Apple-designed processor, the A15 Bionic.

It'south pretty impressive that iOS 15 will work at all on devices that came out six years ago, especially in a world where Android users with 3-year-old devices are often left out in the cold on updates. Still, while those older iPhones will be able to do a lot of things once iOS xv is installed, some of those features will exist out of accomplish.

iOS 15 features limited to A12 Bionic iPhones and later

If you've got an iPhone XR or XS or anything newer — that includes the 2020 edition of the iPhone SE — you'll be able to use all the features in iOS fifteen with one exception: The update promises 5G enhancements such as faster connectivity for iCloud backups, streaming, photo syncing and Apple News updates, and those only work on the four iPhone 12 models. This shouldn't be a shock — the iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 Pro models are the but Apple devices with 5G connectivity.

As for the other features that require at least an A12 Bionic chip, they affect the post-obit apps:

FaceTime: Every bit we noted, you can apply SharePlay no matter what device you ain. Only just A12 Bionic-powered devices tin can back up the new spatial audio feature that makes information technology seem like a person'due south voice is coming from their position on the screen. Likewise, portrait manner, which blurs the background on a FaceTime telephone call, requires a newer iPhone.

wwdc-2021-maps — (Paradigm credit: Apple | YouTube)

Maps: Only the iPhone XR and after will be able to see the interactive 3D globe and detailed city views that are coming to the iOS 15 version of Maps. The immersive walking directions which use augmented reality to bespeak you lot in the right direction with on-screen overlays won't work on older phones, either.

Alive Text and Visual Await Up: These are, arguably, the biggest misses for older phones. Alive Text lets you highlight the text in photos on your iPhone and then paste it into a note, telephone call a phone number in the Telephone app, or look up addresses in Maps. That requires a off-white fleck of neural processing that's across the scope of the A11 Bionic chip and earlier. The same goes for Visual Look Upwards, which recognizes objects in photos and provides more than information on them.

iOS 15 live text — (Image credit: Apple)

On-device Siri requests: Apple touts this every bit a privacy characteristic that also helps you use Siri when there's no internet connexion. Again, this requires a bit with neural processing power only found in more recent iPhones.

On-device dictation: This feature is now bachelor in more languages and regions in iOS fifteen — Arabic (Saudi arabia), Cantonese (Hong Kong), English (Australia, Canada, Republic of india, Singapore, UK, U.S.), French (French republic), German (Germany), Italian (Italy), Japanese (Nippon), Korean (Korea), Standard mandarin Chinese (China mainland, Taiwan), Russian (Russian federation), Spanish (Mexico, Spain, U.S.), Turkish (Turkey), and Yue Chinese (Mainland china mainland). Also, the lx-second limits is removed, and you can now dictate text of any length — but only if you lot've got a newer iPhone.

wwdc-2021-house-key — (Image credit: Apple tree | YouTube)

Wallet: The ability to store digital versions of keys is actually the almost restrictive feature of all for iOS fifteen. You'll demand an iPhone XS or later to use Wallet for your automobile keys, house keys, hotel keys and office keycards. In other words, the iPhone XR won't be able to support this feature, fifty-fifty with its A12 Bionic CPU.

Photographic camera: Long-pressing on the iPhone photographic camera'due south shutter launches a QuickTake video. Using iOS xv on an iPhone XR or later, you'll exist able to swipe up or downward during a QuickTake video capture to zoom in or out.

Other iOS 15 characteristic restrictions

The cutoff on iPhone support is dissimilar for other iOS fifteen features, allowing some older models in on the party. The Health app's power to track walking steadiness — a starting time-of-its-kind characteristic, Apple says — requires an iPhone 8 or subsequently. Similarly, Apple's Reality Kit tool for developing AR apps requires that y'all have an AR-capable iPhone. (That'due south probably less of a concern if you're not a developer.)

Dynamic head tracking for Dolby Atmos music on the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max will work with the iPhone 7 or later, so that only excludes the iPhone 6s models and the first-generation iPhone SE.

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Philip Michaels is a senior editor at Tom's Guide. He has stiff opinions about Apple, the Oakland Athletics and one-time movies. Follow him at @PhilipMichaels.