Over the past decade, smartphones have become an integral part of almost every facet of our day-to-day lives. In turn, losing a smartphone can be a harrowing experience as it can provide a thief with access to all sorts of sensitive financial and personal information. In light of that, iOS 15 has a new feature dubbed Separation Alerts which can help keep you from losing your iPhone.
Never leave your iPhone behind
The Separation Alert feature may not be exciting, but it’s certainly important. As part of the Find My App suite of services, the gist of Separation Alerts is simple. The feature effectively provides you with a notification if you happen to leave an iOS device behind.
For example, imagine you’re working at a coffee shop. You’ve got your MacBook, iPad, Apple Watch, and iPhone with you. Now imagine that as you pack your things up to leave, you forget your iPhone behind. In this scenario, the Find My App software will detect that your iPhone is getting farther away. In turn, you’ll receive a notification on your Apple Watch or iPad indicating that your iPhone was left behind.
Apple’s description reads: “If you leave a device, AirTag, or compatible third-party item behind, your iPhone will alert you with notifications, and Find My will give you directions to your item.”
Setting up this iOS 15 feature is simple. All you have to do is go to the Find My app, select devices on the bottom toolbar, and then indicate which devices you’d like to receive notifications for.
Note that you can also set up an exclusion zone for Separation Alerts. This is helpful if there are places, like your home, for instance, where it’s not uncommon for you to leave certain devices behind.
Locate a lost iPhone no matter what
Another iOS 15 feature worth mentioning involves locating a stolen iPhone. If a nightmare scenario arises where your iPhone is stolen, it’s still possible to find it even if it’s been erased.
As Apple notes, the Find My network under iOS 15 can track a stolen iPhone even if a thief erases it. Apple further adds: “To help ensure that nobody is tricked into purchasing your device, the Hello screen will clearly show that your device is locked, locatable, and still yours.”
Other iOS 15 features to be aware of
Some other iOS 15 features to be aware of include:
- Temporarily enjoy unlimited iCloud storage when setting up a device.
- Pull to refresh functionality for mobile Safari.
- Drag and drop files between different applications.
- Enhanced Apple Maps functionality, including a new 3D feature in select cities.
- FaceTime support for Android and Windows users
- LiveText is an incredible feature that can detect text in photos and even translate it into other languages.
- SharePlay remains an anticipated iOS 15 feature but it’s temporarily delayed.
