Apple iOS 15 Public Beta 5 Is Out Now for iPhone (Here’s What’s New)

With only weeks to go before we see the public release of iOS 15, Apple has just pushed out the fifth beta of its major iOS update to the public.

Although it’s fair to say that we’re mostly in the polishing stages of iOS 15 at this point, there are still a few interesting new tweaks and changes that are worth noting in this latest beta release.

Find My iPhone After Powering Off

We already know that iOS 15 will offer the ability to locate your iPhone even after it’s been powered off or wiped — Apple has been laying the groundwork for this for at least two years now, so it’s great to see that it’s finally here. The latest beta makes this process more clear and offers users a bit more control over it too.

Now, when powering off your iPhone, you’ll see a note right under the power slider telling you that your iPhone will be “Findable After Power Off”.

This was shown in previous betas, but in beta 5 it’s been moved from the bottom of the screen, and more importantly, it’s now tappable, so you can get additional information on what it means and temporarily turn it off if you so desire.

Naturally, the Temporarily Turn Off Finding option requires you to enter your passcode before it will actually be disabled, and it’s only disabled for the next power off — it will come right back to life as soon as you turn your iPhone back on again.

Unlike AirTags, your iPhone can be found by other people in Family Sharing that you’ve otherwise chosen to share your location with, and this doesn’t change when your iPhone is off, which is one reason why you might want to temporarily disable it.

New Intro Screens

Apple has also added new onboarding screens in Photos, Home, and Maps to describe some of the new features in each of those apps.

We already know about most of what’s described here, and almost all of it was already available in previous betas — only the introductory screens themselves are new in beta 5.

One interesting thing, however, is that Apple points to Home Keys in the What’s New in Home splash screen. While these will almost certainly require compatible locks to be released, it does suggest that the feature may be arriving earlier than we previously thought.

Icon Tweaks

This is where the “polishing” aspect of iOS 15 comes in, as Apple has been gradually tweaking various icons through the operating system, and this latest beta does even more housekeeping in this area.

For instance, the Weather app icon gets a more textured and darker blue shading, with a look similar to the new Maps icon from beta 2.

Apple has also tweaked the Camera icon in Control Centre slightly, removing the shutter button, which has been extended to the Lock Screen and Control Centre versions of the button.

The Sound Recognition icon in Control Centre also now features a magnifying glass over the sound wave, helping to better distinguish it from the one for Voice Memos.

Other Changes

There are a few other small changes in iOS 15 beta 5, including:

1. The Safari Reload button has been removed from the minimized URL bar, meaning you’ll no longer be able to reload a page by tapping at the bottom. It remains where it was in the expanded URL bar, so you’ll have to scroll up slightly to bring that back now before you can reload a page. Or, you can just scroll all the way up to the top and use the pull-down-to-refresh gesture.
2. The Use Large Icons setting in iPadOS 15 has been moved from the Display & Brightness section to the new Home Screen & Dock section.
3. A new Background Sounds option is now available in the Accessibility settings to automatically turn them off when your iPhone is locked.
4. If you participate in TestFlight betas, the App Store will now show you if you have the TestFlight version of an app installed, with a link to open directly to its page in the TestFlight app.
5. The App Store now opens with an intro screen to let you know that you’re sharing your location with the App Store “to display apps and ads that are relevant to you,” with a link to Manage Location Settings if you want to switch it off.
6. The Reminders app includes a new tutorial on how to use the new Smart Lists feature.

The latest iOS 15 beta features a build number of 19A5318f. It’s only available to registered developers right now, but we expect a corresponding public beta should arrive any time now. Developers and public beta testers (when it’s available) can update in the usual way by checking for software updates in the Settings app.