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These iOS 15 features aren't coming to older iPhones (and iPads)

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iOS 15 brings many small innovations, for example for FaceTime, notifications and weather. The list of devices that will receive the update is impressive, but it doesn't mean you can use everything. We already found a few exceptions in the fine print on Apple's website. For some functions you must have a device with A12 Bionic processor, but what does that mean in concrete terms? We explain this below using device names.

All iPhones that run on iOS 14 also carry over to iOS 15. This applies to all devices since the iPhone 6s from 2015. And with the iPads, Apple goes back much further because even the iPad Air 2 from 2014 (!) gets another update. You can read which devices are suitable for iOS 15 in a separate article. There you will also find the list of suitable iPads.

I have an iPhone 12
On the iPhone 12 series you actually get all the innovations from iOS 15, but there are are also a few features that won't be available until later in the year. This is the case, for example, with:

These features are coming to the iPhone 12 series, but may not be visible yet as Apple has them planned for a future software update. ‘Hide my email’ we already found it in the beta, but according to information on the Apple website, it will only be available later in 2021. It's part of the new privacy features in iOS 15.

I have an iPhone XS (Max), iPhone XR, iPhone 11 model, or iPhone SE 2020 or older
By far the most functions are available on devices that have at least an A12 Bionic chip. The models we have mentioned above are all equipped with an A12 or A13 Bionic chip, so you are completely fine with that. However, Apple does have one feature that for understandable reasons only applies to the iPhone 12 series, which is this:

You will also initially not see the above-mentioned functions that come later on your iPhone XS or newer.

< p>I have an iPhone 8 (Plus), iPhone X or older
You will miss a lot of functions on this device because there is no A12 Bionic in it.

You will not get these functions:

I have an iPhone 7 (Plus) or older
If you have an iPhone 7 (Plus) you are missing all the above features and also this one:

I have an iPhone 6s (Plus) or iPhone SE 2016
For you, all the functions mentioned above are excluded. But don't worry, there are plenty of things you do get, such as all the improvements for Safari, SharePlay, Focus, finding your device after wiping, notifications if you leave your device somewhere, privacy improvements, all kinds of health functions and much more.

However, you are missing all the features mentioned above and you are also missing these:

What about iPadOS 15 features on older iPads?

Many innovations in iPadOS 15 require Apple to have at least an A12 Bionic processor. This can be found in the:

This means that all previous models miss the following features:

Most these points are discussed in more detail at the beginning of this article.

There are also three exceptions for the iPad:

Why features are missing: the hardware can't handle it

However, with older devices, functions may not work. For example, the new FaceTime feature that lets you blur the background is only available on more recent models because it requires more computing power. The 2015 iPhone 6s still runs on an A9 chip, even before Apple's Neural Engines and “Fusion” designations. and ‘Bionic’ added. In September, the iPhone 6s will be six years old, so we're impressed that Apple is still releasing new features for it. The 6s was a popular model because it offered such good performance at the time.

The iPhone 7 from 2016 has an A10 Fusion chip, the first quad-core processor in an iPhone. Funnily enough, Apple reused the same A10 Fusion chip three years later in a device that didn't come out until 2019, namely the entry-level iPad. Around that time, Apple was already ready for the A13 Bionic chip, which was much faster. Apple promises to release updates for at least four years, so owners of an iPad 2019 can count on them to still be able to update in 2023.

The most special thing is the iPad Air 2 from 2014: it will receive an update to iPadOS 15 but still running on an A8X processor!

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