Our Top Three Features in iOS 15.4 and macOS 12.3

AUTHOR

Shape

DATE

24 Mar 2022

Our Top Three Features in iOS 15.4 and macOS 12.3

Apple recently refreshed their operating systems with the release of iOS 15.4, macOS 12.3, watchOS 8.5 and tvOS 15.4. In this post we’ll highlight our top three favorite changes in the new releases.

COVID-19 Vaccination Information in Apple Wallet and Health

EU citizens can now securely store their EU Digital COVID Certificate in Apple Wallet and Health. EU citizens who have been vaccinated against COVID-19, received a negative test result or have recovered from COVID-19 can download a certificate from their provider and add it to Apple Wallet and Health.

Citizens of Denmark can download the certificate from sundhed.dk by following the steps below. Make sure you have updated your iPhone to iOS 15.4 before proceeding.

Log into sundhed.dk with your NemID.
Scroll down and select the section on Corona and click on “Coronapas - COVID-19 vaccination”.
Find the latest vaccination and select “Hent pas”. This will open the EU Digital Covid Certificate PDF.
Open the Camera app on your iPhone and scan the QR code on the certificate.
The Camera app will show a box around the QR code saying “COVID-19 Vaccination”. Select that overlay.
Your iPhone will open the Health app and ask you to confirm adding the vaccination record to the Apple Wallet and Health apps.

After following the steps above, the vaccination information will be available in Apple Wallet on both your iPhone and Apple Watch.

Whenever it’s needed show a proof of being vaccinated, tested negative or having recovered from COVID-19, Apple Watch owners can now just access their digital certificate from their wrist. It doesn’t get much easier than that.

Face ID With a Mask

iOS 14.5 added the option to unlock an iPhone with an Apple Watch when wearing a face mask but with iOS 15.4 owners of an iPhone 12 or newer can unlock their phone and authorize payments with Face ID while wearing a face mask or other face coverings without relying on an Apple Watch.

Apple warns users that allowing Face ID to authenticate your face with a mask is more insecure than when it requires a full-face scan. As such the feature is optional and must be enabled from the Face ID and Passcode settings.

Face ID with a mask is a very welcome “quality of life” improvement in iOS 15.4.

Universal Control

Universal Control is the flagship feature of the iOS 15.4 and macOS 12.3 releases. It enables users to use a single set of peripherals on their iPad and Mac. After enabling Universal Control you can push the cursor on your Mac or iPad to the edge of the display and towards a nearby Mac or iPad to control that device. Once the cursor is on the other device, both your cursor and keyboard can be used to control that device.

Besides being able to use just a single set of peripherals for multiple devices, this also lets you easily copy texts and files between your devices.

At Shape we’re very excited to start using Universal Control for doing both design and development!

Bonus: New Emojis

We’ve covered our top three favorite features in the new releases but we can’t talk about these releases without mentioning the plethora of new emojis. At Shape we ❤️ using emojis, so it goes without saying that we’re biting our lip over the 37 new emojis.

The melting face will surely come in handy when the summer starts and many people at Shape can surely relate to the empty battery emoji after enjoying a beer and discussing the latest iOS features at the local bar over a Friday beer 😅