iOS 15.1 Update: Features, Changes, Bugs & Bug Fixes
Apple has released the iOS 15.1 update with new features, improvements and bug fixes for all compatible iPhones. The build number is 19B74! This new release is available over-the-air in Settings!
iOS 15.1 Download
- Open Settings and tap on General -> Software Update.
- Go for Download and Install.
- Provide iPhone passcode and be patient while the iOS 15.1 update is requested, downloaded and prepared.
- Tap Install Now if required. The update is verified and installed on your device!
- iPhone reboots automatically when the software update completes.
Fact: The iOS 15.1 update file size is 1.44 GB, for the iPhone 13 Pro. Size varies depending on iPhone version and iOS version that your updating from!
iOS 15.1 Release Notes
Check the screenshot uploaded above for the full update log!
Fact: For the security content of this update you have to check Apple’s support website!
iOS 15.1 Features
- SharePlay is the main feature that’s enabled in iOS 15.1. It provides a new way of sharing experiences with friends and family in FaceTime.
- ProRes videos for iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max is also one of the main iOS 15.1 highlights.
- COVID-19 vaccination cards for Apple Wallet have been added too.
- New automation triggers for Home app, based on current reading of HomeKit-enabled humidity, air quality and light level sensors
- New pre-built actions for Shortcuts that allow you to overlay text on images or gifs.
- New collection of games allow you to kill time with Siri.
- Mandarine Chinese support for the Translate app and for system-wide translation.
- Notify when left behind temporarily paused for AirPods to save battery.
Main Features
Other Features
iOS 15.1 Bugs
This update includes a series of bug fixes and improvements:
Bug Fixes
Problems patched and mentioned in the iOS 15.1 release notes are:
- Photos app might falsely report storage is full when importing photos and videos.
- Weather app might not show current temperature in My Location and might display colors of animated backgrounds incorrectly.
- Audio playing from an app might pause when locking the screen.
- Wallet may unexpectedly quit when using VoiceOver with multiple passes.
- Available Wi-Fi networks may not be detected.
- Battery algorithms updated on iPhone 12 models to better estimate battery capacity over time.
Fix for: iPhone 12 battery health dropping faster than expected.
Known Issues
There are many other iOS 15 problems that we covered since the initial release. They’re listed below along with their status after this update:
- Notifications not working for many apps in iOS 15! (Status: -)
- iPhone storage bug displaying inaccurate calculations. (Status: -)
- Safari videos black screen when playing. (Status: -)
- iOS 15 Screen time bug displaying huge usage times. (Status: -)
- Do Not Disturb until I leave this location not working in iOS 15. (Status: -)
- Notify When Left Behind not supported, greyed out, for Apple Watch! (Status: -)
New Bugs
Hopefully this section will remain empty! Any new glitches uncovered in iOS 15.1 are mentioned here along with available workarounds or fixes. Use the comments section to report any issues:
- To be updated.
Have you updated iPhone to iOS 15.1? Have you encountered any problems? Do you have any questions? Use the comments section and share your feedback!
Related: Apple has also released iPadOS 15.1, watchOS 8.1, macOS Monterey, tvOS 15.1 and HomePod 15.1 software updates!
iOS 15.1 storage issue is partially resolved. If you go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage – System Data has now increased to around 36GB. Anyone else experiencing this issue?
Thanks for reporting. System Data 2.3 GB over here iPhone 13 Pro, 1.13 GB iPhone 12 Pro,
Same here. I have 13 pro max. Took up 20Gb for updating from 15.0.2 to 15.1. Why is this? I had to reset my photo completely to fix this. Now it’s back to 4gb system data. But I have barely any apps after the reset. Note: I did not restore my previous back up because I didn’t want any unwanted cache or whatever making the Gb so high to come back.
I have same problem with my iPhone 12 Pro Max. My storage capacity is 256 gigabytes. My system storage is around 38 gigs. Am wai for a good software update to fix this issue that is aggravating me to no end.
Thanks for the feedback. iOS 15.3 is out now. Any luck?
Apps disappear from the Home Screen leaving just the written description. After update, was not receiving text messages (it turned off IMessages in settings)
Thanks for reporting Neil. Can’t confirm iMessages disabling at our end, neither on iPhone 13 Pro, 12 Pro and XS.
Regards apps disappearing from the Home Screen, you mean the app icons are missing and only the name of the app is displayed? Can you mention your iPhone model please? Have you tried to force restart your device? Does it help?
I only have 16 photos and 1 (15 second video). iPhone storage shows I used 3.5 gb of photo storage. How’s that possible?
iPhone13 pro max 256 gb. Update from iOS 15.0.2 to 15.1.
I just deleted all my photos in my phone and cleared the trash bin. Still showing 3.5 gb in photo app storage
I just deleted my photos and cleared the trash bin. Still showing 3.5 gb used in photo app
I assume that you’ve also deleted the ‘Recently Deleted’ album. Correct?
Are you using iCloud Photos? Check in Settings -> Apple ID -> iCloud -> Photos. Your iPhone might reserve that space for downloading photos available in your iCloud account.
My mobile data isnt working after installing the update 15.1 on iphone 12 pro max
Thanks for reporting Sean. Have you tried to force restart iPhone?
The next step would be to Reset Network Settings in Settings -> General -> Transfer or Reset iPhone -> Reset -> Reset Network Settings
Important: You will lose your saved Wi-Fi passwords so make sure that you know the Wi-Fi of your hotspot before performing the reset.
Im facing the same issue . My 4g mobile data is not working . I have a airtel connection, do the mobile data is showing E which stands fir airtel edge which is extremely slow mobile data
Thanks for confirming this Sonali. We’ve written a dedicated article regarding this issue over here: https://www.iphonetricks.org/ios-15-1-cellular-data-not-working-on-iphone/
Your next options are to reinstall iOS 15.1. Or try out the iOS 15.2 beta. Let us know if you make a breakthrough.
Hi Sonali,
I’m facing the same issue. Did you manage to fix it? It seems we will need to downgrade the IOS 15 which is not an option for me because I have no Computer(MAC) with me at this moment. :(
iOS 15.2 will most likely be released on Monday, December 13. Let us know if it fixes the issue, after you update.
Mine isn’t connecting to WiFi when it shows it is connected. It used all my cellular data is less than 1/2 day.
Thanks for reporting Heather. We’ve encountered an issue in iOS 15 that would prevent the Wi-Fi icon from displaying in the status bar, although the network shows ‘Connected’ status.
However, if you say that it your cellular data is depleted, it means that the device is actually not connecting. Have you tried to force restart it? It might just be a minor glitch. Let us know please.
After the update to iOS 15.1 I couldn’t reach the dial assist in setting , I didn’t find this feature so I can de activate it
Please support me
iOS 15.2.1 is now available. You should update and let us know if the problem is still there.
I updated my iPhone 11 last night to 15.1 and now I do not have the Enable LTE option so I can change from LTE to 5G
Thanks for the report Jeni. You mean to switch from 5G to LTE, because this is what Enable LTE would do right?
Can you please let me know what options you get in Settings -> Cellular -> Cellular Data Options?
I have just upgraded from 15.0.2 to 15.1, unfortunately my calendar is so lagging until almost not accessible. Did anyone encounter the same issue?
I’m using iPhone 12 Pro Max.
Thanks for the feedback. Not experiencing the same. Give it a little bit of time. Perhaps your device is still indexing the fresh update. Waiting for a followup. Curious to find out how this gets solved. Thanks
I notice a little flickering from time to time on my 12 pro max. Especially when I change songs in Apple Music.
Thanks for the Chris. In fact, I noticed the same thing but wasn’t sure if my eyes were to tired or it did flicker. But now, that you also confirm it… I’m going to offload and reinstall the Music app to see if it still happens.
Since update to ios 15.1 (iphone 12) the icloud photo sync does not work anymore. Due to this I had deactivated and again activated icloud-photos and now all my albums and photos are deleted on my iphone (still present in icloud and successfully syncing to my ipad with ios 15.1) and not loaded again from icloud. Upload of new pictures also not working, it says uploading for more than a day now.
Thanks for reporting. Have you tried to sign out of your Apple ID on your iPhone and sign back in?
After upgrading to iOS 15.1 CarPlay stopped working on my new Jeep L.
Thanks for reporting Dom. Does this fix help out?
After updating to ios 15.1 Siri opens automatically without any reason and battery usage stats for last 10 days is not showing
Thanks for reporting. You mean that Siri wakes up and waits for your command without any reason?
I also checked the Battery Health stats on a few devices: iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone XS and they show up for both for the last 24 hours and the last 10 days. Have you tried to reboot your iPhone and check if this will make them show up?
After update my iPhone no longer hooks up to my car via usb and will not play music.
Thanks for the feedback Shea. Does the Equalizer trick help out? Is this happening only in iOS 15.1? or you experienced it before in iOS 15.0, 15.0.1 and 15.0.2?
Hi, no that does not fix the issue and no problems before the update. I have an iPhone 6S Plus still running on 15.0 and it connects to my car with no problems.
You mean connecting via USB correct?
I have the same problem. But my other iPhone running on 15.0 does.
My mum has the iPhone 8 she upgraded to iOS 15.1 and now can’t ring numbers from her contacts… they ring like the number is engaged however if she dials the number directly, it works fine!
Please check Settings -> Phone and scroll for Dial Assist is it turned ON?
I’m trying to delete files in the file app but it says that the files don’t exist so I’m not be able to delete them.
Thanks for reporting. Are you trying to delete files in the Files app ‘On My iPhone’ or in ‘iCloud Drive’?
After upgrading to 15.1 my iPhone X lags across all operations: app switching, keyboard, directional swiping. Feels like it’s on 1% battery despite being fully charged
Thanks for the feedback Abe. Is the update fresh, or it had enough to settle down and finish indexing?
My camera went black. The front and back. And I can’t use my face ID. How can I fixed that?
What iPhone model are you owning? Have you tried to force restart it?
Iphone. Yes I tried
There are over a dozen iPhone models that support iOS 15.1. Can you be more specific please. ;)
Iphone 11. My camera went black both front and back
I had this also happening once on an iPhone 13 Pro, running iOS 15.1. I force quit Camera from the App Switcher and relaunched the app and the Camera app started working again.
Try to download a thrd-party camera app from the App Store and see if the Camera works like that.
I have 12 pro max…since downloading ios15.1….I am unable to open some important apps when out of range from in home wi fi connection!! ie. Sirius xm, Verizon Fios tv…Waze…
All say something to the affect that no internet connection…..never happened prior to 15.1 !!!! 🤷♂️🤷♂️
Thanks for reporting this Steven. When this happens have you checked if your carrier data connection is working? Open Safari and browse a couple of websites. Are they loading?
Having problems with group messages. They reply individually to each person instead of the group conversation thread. Any advice?
Hi,
I have an iPhone 12 pro. I updated to 15.1 and now I can’t get my podcasts to display within CarPlay. It states “Unable to play podcasts. When you stop driving, check Apple Podcasts on your iPhone.” I’ve attempted to get my podcasts to display both while driving and parked. My settings have not changed. I don’t have my iPhone Focus settings enabled for Driving.
Thanks for reporting this Eric. Can you please let me know if Apple Music is working on in CarPlay?
Have you tried to Reinstall Podcasts on iPhone in : Settings -> General -> iPhone Storage -> Podcasts -> Offload App -> Reinstall ?
For whatever reason, when I started my car this morning, the podcasts are now visible within CarPlay. I’ll continue to monitor but appears to have been some sort of glitch that has resolved itself.
Thanks for the followup Eric. Glad that it got fixed. Let us know if it re-occurs.
Atualizei meu iPhone 11 para o IOS 15.1 e não consigo usar o Safari , o DuckDuckGo, a App Store. O que devo fazer?
Translated from Portuguese: “I’ve updated my iPhone 11 to IOS 15.1 and I can’t use Safari, DuckDuckGo, App Store. What should I do?”
Thanks for the report Ana. Can you please be more specific? Are the above apps not opening at all? Are they crashing?
The first thing that you can try is to reinstall them. Use the offload method to make sure that you keep your data
Settings -> General -> iPhone Storage -> [App Name] -> Offload App -> Reinstall.
My music is gone.. really weird since I had access to it in the morning but now it’s almost all greyed out and it says it’s not available in my country?! But my iPad still shows it..
Is it playable on iPad? Have you traveled recently? From which country are you browsing?
Yes but my iPad isn’t updated to 15.1 and no I haven’t. The weirdest is that earlier that same day I still had access to all my music library. Germany. Also discovered that if I delete a song from my library, look it up and add it again, I can play it. So strange
That’s strange indeed Chantal. Have you tried to contact Apple support about it?
With 15.1 iPad update my visually impaired husband cannot change icons to the largest size. Also at the top of the first page with icons an extra bar of information has been added. We need to make the icons large again and get rid of the extra date/time etc. Info at the top of the app icon page
as well at the t
Thank for reporting. The extra bar of info you’re referring to, might be a widget? Long-press the screen to enter Home Screen edit mode and you can delete it.
Regarding large size icons, can you be more specific. Is the option missing or the app crashes when you try to switch for largest size?
I updated my iPhone 11 to 15.1 and now my phone will not connect to my car via usb. But my old iPhone 6S Plus that is running on 15.0 still does! And my mobile data isn’t working on my iPhone 11 either!!
Thanks for reporting this Tee. Can you detail the mobile data problem please? Do you have carrier signal but data connection is not working?
Fitness and health app have stopped working or hang after ios 15.1 update.
Thanks for the report Tanvi. Have you tried the universal fixes like force restarting iPhone? Or force quitting and relaunching the apps?
System Data showing over 100 gb of storage! Is this normal?
Thanks for the feedback. Although it’s not normal it should be temporarily until your iPhone indexes restored files. You can fix it by syncing iPhone to iTunes/Finder. We’ve covered this issue here: https://www.iphonetricks.org/fix-system-data-taking-up-too-much-storage/
Not sure if this is iOS 15.1 related but, I updated recently and since Twitter is always logging me out!
Thanks for the feedback. It’s most likely a Twitter app bug. We covered the subject here: https://www.iphonetricks.org/twitter-logout-error-on-iphone-in-ios-15/
I updated my iPhone XR to the new iOS 15.1 2 days ago, and now most of my apps won’t work without Wi-Fi. Some web pages also won’t load using cellular data either. I have contacted Apple as well as T-Mobile with no luck. I tried all of the fixes that I found through google (force restart, reset network settings, turning off and on cellular data, turning on and off airplane mode, removing the SIM card and putting it back in, T-Mobile update or reset my MEID and ICCID). Any other suggestions on what to try? I’m hoping that the 15.2 update will fix this, but i really can’t do anything on my phone unless I’m connected to Wi-Fi which is not possible unless I’m at home. Hopefully the fix will come out soon.
Thanks for reporting this Loni. That’s really strange indeed. Have you tried to throttle the speed any see if it has any effect?
In Settings -> Cellular (Mobile Data) -> Cellular Data Options -> Voice & Data, select 4G or LTE whatever you have that comes with lower speed. This as a workaround of course, in case the bug is affecting the 5G connectivity.
Also, check Settings -> General -> About for any carrier setting updates.
Finally, a last resort option is to update to iOS 15.2 Public Beta 4. The iOS 15.2 beta testing stage has entered the final stages as Apple will most likely release iOS 15.2 before the Holidays. The upcoming release might have this bug fixed.
Let us know if anything helps.
I updated my iPhone 7 to 15.1 last night and all of my pictures are now low-resolution and when I click the “!” in the bottom right corner I get a message that says “Unable to Load Photo – An error occurred while loading a higher quality version of this photo.” – 52 GB of 64 GB has been used. I re-booted the phone. Same issue.
Thanks for the feedback Mark. Is your iPhone connected to WiFi or to cellular data provided by carrier? This happens when photos haven’t been downloaded from iCloud and only the low-res is available on the iPhone.
Your iPhone might have temporarily updated your photos to iCloud to free up space for the update and now the pictures have to be downloaded back.
However iOS 15.1 can cause cellular data problems. So you need to be on WiFi to have the images downloaded.
What do you get if you browse for Settings -> Photos. Is iCloud Photos enabled?
Let us know if you managed to make this work.
This morning I received a notification that I needed to update my iCloud settings. I did so (which required entering my Apple PW) and now my pictures are rendering with full resolution. So basically, this was a 24 hour bug. :). Thank you for your prompt reply and assistance!
Thanks for the feedback Mark. Glad that you managed to get over it.
I just updated to iOS 15.1. I only use four things on my phone: internet, text, phone and calendar. Two of these capabilities have been reduced by the new update:
1. My calendar is experiencing such a touch screen lag it is now almost useless. It opens, but you cannot scroll or add events.
2. When adding contacts, the same touch screen lag occurs.
I see someone else on here has reported the same thing. Any ideas?
Thanks for the feedback Sherryl. Can you please inform us how long it has passed since you updated to iOS 15.1? Sometimes updates need up to 24 hours to reindex apps and data on your iPhone. If lagging persists after this, then we’re talking about an issue. Waiting for your followup. Thanks.
Thank you for the quick reply. It was updated last Tuesday, so it has been almost a week. I have restarted the phone, deleted then added the calendar, and the lag still persists.
Thanks for clarifying. iOS 15.2 is available now. You can give it a try and let us know if the problem persists. Settings -> General -> Software Update.
Thank you! I just did the update last night, and it did the trick.
Great news. You’re welcome. Thanks for confirming.