Apple has released beta 2 of iOS and iPadOS 15.1, watchOS 8.1 and tvOS15.1 to developers. This update comes a week after the previous ones and a little more from the public release of iOS and iPadOS 15, watchOS 8 and tvOS 15. It is likely that, in the next few hours, public betas will also be released as well as a new beta of macOS Monterey.
This beta solves a bug related to unlocking iPhone with Apple Watch on iOS 15. In the first beta of iOS and iPadOS 15.1 SharePlay was back, the new feature that allows, through FaceTime, to watch and listen together or share your screen with whoever we want, directly from the app.
SharePlay was announced last June as part of iOS and iPadOS 15 however, during the beta testing phase, Apple decided to remove it to continue optimizing it in order to make it available bug-free via a promised future update during the Autumn. SharePlay wasn’t the only missed feature with the release of iOS and iPadOS 15.
The presence of SharePlay already in this version 15.1 is however an interesting signal that could suggest a release not too far in time even if, obviously, it is not something to be taken for granted.
Another novelty present in the first beta version of iOS 15.1 is related to the Green Pass : in practice, it is possible to add your vaccination status to the Wallet once it has been loaded through the Health app. This function, however, is not yet supported in our country even if there are apps that still allow the scanning and insertion of the Green Pass in the Wallet.
This Apple-implemented feature uses the SMART Health Card format which is currently only supported by a few US states. These include California, Hawaii, New York and Louisiana as well as the drug chains CVS, Rite Aid and Walmart that carry out vaccinations in the USA.
As usual, all betas can be downloaded in OTA mode after installing the appropriate profiles from the Apple Developer Center. For installation on iPhone and iPad it is necessary to have at least 20% of residual charge or better still to keep the device connected to the mains during the update.
It is also possible to update under the 5G network if the functionality has been activated in the settings. For watchOS the app must be used on the connected iPhone and Apple Watch must have at least 50% autonomy and must be within range of the iPhone it is associated with.
