iOS 14.5 Release Candidate Seeded

After 8 Public Betas, the iOS and iPadOS Release Candidate was seeded to the Beta testers with an expected release next week.

So what does iOS 14.5 include in terms of updates?

Unlock your phone with Apple Watch.

For face ID enable phones and users with an Apple Watch, you can unlock your phone by wearing an unlocked Apple Watch, the same principle has been available on Macs for a good number of years now. ApplePay will still require your face ID to work.
iSO 14.5 requires watchOS 7.4 for this to work.

Support for AirTag

Launched at the spring special event and now ready to pre-order iOS 14.5 includes items support within the Find My application. 

New Siri Voices

14.5 will now ask you on set up which Siri voice you'll wish to use instead of defaulting to the American Female.

New Shortcut Actions

Shortcuts can now

• Enable and Disable Orientation lock

• Change Cellular modes

• Take Screenshots

Apple Maps

Within Apple Maps on 14.5, users can now share

• Crash Reports

• Road Hazards

• Speed Traps

News and Podcast Apps.

Cosmetic redesign to the apps and some tweaks.

"Hey Siri - Emergency Call" 

Calling the local area (e.g 999 in the UK or 911 America) can now be triggered by voice, just by asking Siri. The activation is followed by a 3-second countdown. 

iPadOS - Horizontal Boot

The iPad Apple logo at boot up with now in the correct horizontal orientation when the iPad is positioned that way.

Other Updates

Support for PS5 and New Xbox controller support 

Battery Health - recalibration on iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max

200 new emojis feature in this update and the ability to emoji search on iPadOS 14.5 

oh and this just dropped