Technologies

iOS 15 release date was today: Everything to know before you update your iPhone

Apple’s new iOS 15 software is now available to download on your iPhone. Here’s everything to know.

This story is part of Apple Event, our full coverage of the latest news from Apple.

Apple’s iOS 15 has arrived. After Apple’s iPhone 13 event last week, the tech giant revealed that iOS 15 would be generally available for free download on Monday, alongside iPadOS 15. At the event, we also saw four iPhone 13 models, new iPads and the Apple Watch Series 7 all debuted.

Not to be confused with last week’s release of iOS 14.8, which addressed a security issue, iOS 15 brings new features to several generations of the iPhone.

We got a first look at Apple’s iOS 15 update at the company’s virtual Worldwide Developers Conference in June, followed by a developer beta and then a public beta. (Here’s how to download iOS 15 now, why you might want to wait to download iOS 15, and how to check if your phone can run iOS 15.)

While we saw a lot of new features arrive this spring and summer with iOS 14.5, iOS 14.6 and iOS 14.7, including being able to unlock your iPhone with Face ID while wearing a mask, stop apps from tracking you for advertising purposes and choose from four Siri voices, iOS 15 adds even more. New iOS 15 features include the ability to start FaceTime calls with Android users, easier sharing in iMessage and better directions in Maps. Keep reading for everything we’ve learned about iOS 15 so far, including when it will be generally released, how to download it and some of the biggest new features.

iOS 15 release date: Sept. 20

Apple initially revealed iOS 15 at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference on June 7, as is typical. The new OS was first available for developers to test and became available to download as a public beta on June 30.

At the iPhone 13 event on Sept. 14, Apple announced that iOS 15 would be generally available for free download on Sept. 20.

This follows Apple’s typical iOS release pattern, with the software typically arriving within a week of an iPhone launch event.

And if you’ve been holding onto the same iPhone since 2015 or later, you will likely be eligible to receive iOS 15. Apple’s iOS 15 is available on the iPhone 6S and every iPhone onward.

iOS 15 new features

Here are a few of the key new features that come with iOS 15, unveiled at WWDC 2021. (And here’s an overview of all of the new features in iOS 15.)

FaceTime upgrades: Spatial audio, support for Android and Windows

FaceTime will offer spatial audio to make people’s voices appear to come from their position on the screen, making your video chats feel more natural and lifelike. FaceTime will also start to look more like Zoom, allowing you to see all participants in a grid view, schedule calls and share links to calls that can be accessed via browser on Google Android and Microsoft Windows devices.

iMessage sharing features

iOS 15 adds some new iMessage sharing features for photos, news articles and playlists. When a friend sends you multiple photos over iMessage, they’ll appear in a dynamic collage formation that allows you to swipe through them or tap through to view the whole bunch in your photos app. If you want to access the same photos later, you’ll find them stored in a new Shared with You folder, as well as mixed in with your own featured photos and memories. You’ll also find news articles and playlists shared through iMessage in new Shared with You tabs in your News and Apple Music apps.

Apple Maps update: 3D street data, AR walking directions and weather warnings

Apple Maps gets an upgrade with more elevation data, road colors and driving directions, rich labels, 3D landmarks and improved night mode. In terms of public transportation, you can also pin nearby public transit stops and station information to your iPhone and Apple Watch devices, and receive automatic updates and notifications as you ride and approach your stop. When traveling on foot, a new augmented reality feature lets you scan nearby buildings in the area with the iPhone’s camera to determine their precise position for more accurate walking directions, which are also presented in augmented reality.

Maps also could factor weather warnings into suggested routes in iOS 15. Redditor ChrisSDreiling, who spotted the update in iOS 15 beta 3, says Maps will let you know if there are flash floods on your journey, and suggest alternate routes to avoid the extreme weather. Although other types of weather alerts weren’t mentioned in ChrisSDreiling’s post, it will be interesting to see if more weather warnings will be added before the iOS 15 general release.

Facial recognition selfies to validate digital ID cards in the Wallet app

At WWDC this spring, Apple announced that it will add ID card support for the Wallet app in iOS 15, allowing you to carry digital versions of government-issued identification cards like your driver’s license on your iPhone. The ID feature isn’t in the initial release of iOS 15 and it’s still unclear how exactly it will work. (It will also only be for US users.) According to code uncovered by 9to5Mac in the iOS 15 beta 4 for developers, Apple could be using facial recognition selfies to validate your digital ID cards when adding them to your wallet. Some banking apps already use this selfie validation feature to authenticate users when logging on with new devices.

How do you download iOS 15?

Now that iOS 15 is generally available, you likely got a notification from Apple letting you know you can update. Or you can do it manually, by going to the Settings app > General > Software Update and under the Also Available section, tap Upgrade to iOS 15.

If you had already installed the iOS 15 beta on your phone, you can uninstall it before downloading the final version of the OS. Here’s why you might want to wait before installing the full release of iOS 15.

For more, here’s everything to know about the iPhone 13. You can also take a look at the cool new features for WatchOS 8, the best things about MacOS Monterey and check if your computer is compatible with the new MacOS.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Dec. 5, #908

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Dec. 5, No. 908.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle is a little easier than usual, I thought. I spotted the blue group connection right away. If you need help solving it, you’re in the right place. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Not easy.

Green group hint: How things are.

Blue group hint: Monopoly is another one.

Purple group hint: Gab.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Tricky.

Green group: State of affairs.

Blue group: Classic board games.

Purple group: ____ talk.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is tricky. The four answers are complex, delicate, sticky and tough.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is state of affairs. The four answers are deal, situation, status and story.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is classic board games. The four answers are Mastermind, Mouse Trap, Operation and Sorry.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ____ talk. The four answers are baby, pillow, small and sweet.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Technologies

A New Era of Foldables: Samsung’s Galaxy Z TriFold Is Coming to the US Early Next Year

This triple-display foldable will first arrive in Korea later this month.

After months of teasing a triple-display foldable phone, Samsung is gearing up to launch what it’s calling the Galaxy Z TriFold — because foldables with just one hinge are so last year.

The phone is slated to become available first in Korea on Dec. 12, and will then launch in other locations including China, Taiwan, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. It’ll arrive in the US in the first quarter of 2026. Samsung hasn’t shared a US price for the trifold, but Reuters notes it’ll cost 3.59 million won in Korea, which converts to around $2,440.

To get this caveat out of the way: A trifold phone doesn’t actually fold three times. Rather, devices like the Z TriFold have a main screen with two hinges, allowing the phone to fold into three sections. They appear to be more of a hybrid between a phone and, when unfolded, a tablet. The Z TriFold boasts a 10-inch display when unfurled and a 6.5-inch cover display.

«The company’s decade-long experience in foldable category innovation inspired Galaxy Z TriFold’s uniquemulti-folding form factor, which uses an inward-folding design to protect the main display,» Samsung said in a blog post. «The foldingmechanism has been precisely engineered for easy opening and closing, with an auto-alarm alerting the userof incorrect folding through a series of on-screen alerts and vibrations.»

A Galaxy of features comes together

The Galaxy Z TriFold appears to borrow elements from two of its siblings: the Galaxy S25 Edge and the Galaxy Z Fold 7. Both phones are impressively thin, with the Edge measuring 5.8mm and the Z Fold 7 measuring 4.2mm thick when unfolded.

The Z TriFold goes one step further. It’s just 3.9mm thick «at its thinnest point,» Samsung says. Reading the fine print reveals that measurement excludes «the camera and the preinstalled protective film.» The thickest panel is the center one, which measures 4.2mm. The panel with the side button is 4mm thick. Still, that should all help to reduce bulk when the three screens are stacked shut on top of one another.

The rear triple-camera system includes a 200-megapixel wide-angle camera, similar to the Galaxy S25 Ultra, S25 Edge and Z Fold 7. There’s also a 12-megapixel ultrawide and 10-megapixel telephoto camera. For selfies, you’ll find 10-megapixel front-facing cameras on both the cover and main screens.

Like Samsung’s other premium phones released this year, the Z TriFold is powered by a custom Snapdragon 8 Elite processor. It also has a 5,600-mAh three-cell battery — a nice upgrade over the 4,400-mAh battery on the Galaxy Z Fold 7. Samsung notes this system «has been placed ineach of the three panels of the device for balanced power delivery and all-day endurance.» The phone supports 45-watt super-fast charging.

Unlike Huawei’s Mate XTs trifold, which unfurls into a Z shape, Samsung’s trifold has panels that fold inward, more like a pamphlet.

The Z TriFold has two different-sized hinges, «creating a smoother, more stable fold despitevarying weight and components across the device,» Samsung notes. This also helps to reduce the gap between the screens. The titanium hinge housing «resists wear over time,» and the phone’s Advanced Armor Aluminum frame should also help with durability, while preventing the screens from touching when folded shut.

The Z TriFold borrows another trait from the Z Fold 7: an IP48 rating. That means the phone can be submerged under 1.5 meters of water for up to 30 minutes and is protected against solid particles larger than 1 millimeter, but not against dust. Meanwhile, Google’s Pixel 10 Pro Fold boasts an impressive IP68 rating for water and dust resistance.

Samsung’s triple-display foldable has Corning’s Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 on the front, while the back is made of ceramic-glass fiber-reinforced polymer.

Why would someone buy the Galaxy Z TriFold?

So what’s the point of a phone that unfolds into a giant 10-inch display? Samsung says the Z TriFold is ideal for multitasking.

«Users can use the screen with endless versatility — they can create across three different portrait-sized apps side-by-side without interruption, resize apps inmulti-window to view the most important information clearly, or hold it vertically when reviewing documents forimproved focus,» the company notes.

Samsung also says a wider screen can be good for watching movies and TV shows. And if you’re watching a YouTube video, you can simultaneously read the comments on the neighboring display. Samsung notes that «minimized creasing on the device keeps content seamless anduninterrupted.» That’ll be a crucial element.

The phone’s AMOLED cover and main screens have a refresh rate up to 120Hz. The cover display boasts a peak brightness of 2,600 nits, while the main screen features a peak brightness of 1,600 nits.

The Galaxy Z TriFold will arrive with Android 16 and One UI 8. It’s not yet clear how much the phone will cost in the US, but given the Z Fold 7’s $2,000 starting price, it’ll probably be a pretty penny.

Technologies

iPhone 17 Series Apple Cases Are Seeing a Rare Discount at Amazon, Prices as Low as $25

It’s not every day Apple cuts the price of anything in half, so pick up a few cases while you can.

The iPhone 17 models are Apple’s latest and greatest phones. A naked iPhone looks beautiful, but getting a case to protect it is probably a smart idea, especially with the phone’s price tag ranging from $799 to $1,199. Although there are tons of cases available, if you want one from Apple, you’re in luck.

Apple’s iPhone 17 cases are marked with a discount of almost 50% at Amazon for a limited time. This current discount applies to a wide range of colors for the iPhone 17 andprice down to $25. We don’t expect this to last too long, so hurry if you’re interested. If you know someone who just got the iPhone 17, this makes for a great holiday gift.

Apple’s discounted cases typically sell for $49, so this record-low price of $25 is a steal. There are several colors to pick from, including midnight, neon yellow, black and more. But many colors are already selling out fast for both the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro.

This sleek case is made from recycled silicone, yet it is surprisingly durable. It’s got raised edges that help protect the phone from scratches and drops. The case features a sapphire crystal coupled to a conductive layer, allowing for finger movements to control the camera. And my favorite part is that it’s MagSafe-compatible.

Haven’t gotten your hands on the iPhone 17 yet? Take a look at the top iPhone 17 deals you can take advantage of right now.

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Why this deal matters

The iPhone 17 series is Apple’s latest. Like other Apple devices, these phones don’t come cheap, so it’s a good idea to make sure they’re protected against drops, mishaps and potential scratches. These Apple cases are MagSafe compatible and come in a variety of colors and styles. With Amazon’s limited-time 49% discount, now is an excellent time to shop if you want to keep your phone case within the Apple ecosystem.