34 MACWORLD DECEMBER 2021
iOSCENTRAL i OS 15: 10 HIDDEN FEATURES YOU NEED TO KNOWRecovery. You’ll see an option to Add
Recovery Contact.
What about accessing all your content
should you pass away? In the event of
your untimely demise, a Digital Legacy
Contact is a person who can request
access to your data after you die. They’ll
get access to Messages, Photos, Notes,
Contacts, Calendar events, App
purchases, and your device backup, but
not your iCloud Keychain or licensed
media purchases.
It’s probably a good idea to set up both
of these things with trusted family
members shortly after you update your
devices to iOS 15.
- SCAN TEXT (ALMOST)
ANYWHERE
Apple’s new Live Text feature lets you
select text in images from the Camera or
Photos app, which can be really handy.
Even better, you can use this technology
to input text almost anywhere!
In a text entry field in almost any app,
just tap to bring up the text selection
pop-up ( just as you would when doing a
copy and paste). If no text is selected,
you’ll see an option to Scan Text with a
small icon of square brackets with lines
inside. If there are multiple options, you
might see the icon alone.
Select that, and the keyboard will be
replaced by a camera view. Point it at a
block of text on almost anything, and
you’ll see brackets around the text with a
big blue Insert button. You might see it
give instructions such as “slow down” if
you’re moving the camera too quickly for
Live Text to keep up.- TRACK YOUR iPHONE
WITHOUT POWER
Find My iPhone is a great way to keep
track of a potentially lost device. But if
someone stole your iPhone, all they have
to do is power it down to disable tracking.
Find My may show your device’s last
location (if you enabled that in Settings),
but that’s not much help.
With iOS 15, an iPhone that has been
turned off will actually enter an ultralow-
power state that keeps the Bluetooth
beacon active, effectively turning your
iPhone into an AirTag (fave.co/3bvoCMd).
You’ll see a little “iPhone findable after
power off” notice under the Slide to Power
Off interface, too. - KEEP NIGHT MODE OFF
For the most part, Night Mode in the
(^7) Camera app on modern iPhones is a great