Although Apple did a great job highlighting the upcoming iPhone and iPad features that are likely to appeal to most people, lots of amazing new iOS features weren’t mentioned at all during the WWDC21 keynote.

We did some digging to find all the hidden gems that will make you want to upgrade to iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 as soon as possible. Here they are.

1. Request Refunds Inside Apps

Apple has created a new StoreKit API that allows app developers to let people request refunds from within the app itself. Once iOS 15 ships, you won’t always have to go to reportaproblem.apple.com to request a refund.

Bear in mind that a lot depends on developers implementing this feature in the first place, so you may have to wait a little longer to be able to use it.

2. Account Recovery Contacts and Digital Legacy

iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 will allow you to set account recovery contacts, who will be able to help you regain access to your Apple ID account. If you forget your passwords often, you should ensure that someone you trust can help you recover your account.

The Digital Legacy feature will let you choose who can access your account and personal information in the event of your death. At the moment it’s not entirely clear how this feature will work, but it’s good to have the digital equivalent of a will.

3. Better Theft Protection

iOS 15 has added a couple more theft prevention features. One of these lets you locate your iPhone even after its battery dies or if it’s been turned off by a thief. You’ll be able to use Find My to locate your iPhone even after it has been erased.

Apple says it has also made it harder for thieves to sell stolen iPhones by making the Hello screen indicate that the device is yours, locked, and can be located.

4. Separation Alerts

If you leave your iPhone behind, your Apple Watch will send a notification alerting you about this. Similarly, your iPhone or iPad will alert you if you leave other Apple devices, AirTags, or even compatible third-party accessories behind.

If this feature works well, it could help so many people avoid losing their expensive gadgets.

Related: Cool New AirPods Features Coming With iOS 15

5. Secure Paste

iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 have several excellent privacy features, and one of our favorites is Secure Paste. If you copy anything on your iPhone, no app will be able to access that data until you hit the Paste button.

Nifty little tweaks like this will probably go unnoticed, but it’ll be appreciated by every single person who uses an iPhone or iPad.

6. Do Not Disturb For Gaming

The new Focus mode on your iPhone and iPad allows you to tune out distracting notifications when you want to get work done. Well, it turns out that one of Focus mode’s features is to allow you to keep annoying notifications at bay while gaming.

No-one wants to see a huge banner notification taking up half the screen while playing, and we’re surprised Apple didn’t unveil this feature until now.

7. Save Game Highlights

If you play games on any console, you’re probably familiar with the ability to quickly save short video clips of gameplay. That feature is coming to iPhone and iPad soon, as long as you’re using compatible controllers such as the Xbox Wireless Controller or the PS5’s DualSense controller.

Hitting the Share button on these controllers will allow you to record the last 15 seconds of gameplay.

8. Revamped iPad Keyboard Shortcuts

The iPad now has lots of new system-wide keyboard shortcuts. In iPadOS 15, if you have a keyboard attached, hold the Globe button on the keyboard to reveal some of these shortcuts. Reddit user u/rashhams has compiled some of these and you can quickly check that out to find out more.

Related: Top iPadOS 15 Features Announced at WWDC21

9. The Return of the Magnification Loupe

Text selection is a lot easier once again thanks to the magnification loupe that zooms in to the location of your cursor. No more squinting to find the cursor.

10. Drag and Drop Across Apps

You can drag and drop photos and other files from one app to another. Simple tasks such as dragging a photo from Files to Pages will be much easier on iPhone and iPad.

11. Built-In Authenticator

Apple’s iCloud Keychain supports two-factor authentication codes in iOS 15 and iPadOS 15. You don’t need to download Authy or Google Authenticator to generate these codes any longer.

12. More Free iCloud Storage (Sort Of)

No, you don’t get more than 5GB of iCloud storage for free. But Apple will now allow you to loan unlimited iCloud storage when you’re moving to a new Apple device and find yourself short of space to take an iCloud backup.

Not everyone has access to a Mac to back up and restore data locally, which is why we’re happy to see this feature.

13. Enhanced Move to iOS

The Move to iOS Android app allows you a chance to seamlessly switch to an iPhone. That app can now move photo albums, files, folders, and even accessibility settings from Android to your new iPhone. This eliminates a major point of friction that people switching platforms face.

iOS 14 didn’t allow you to delete apps from Spotlight search. People like me who have over 200 apps installed on their phones would often find themselves going to folder after folder in the App Library to locate and delete apps.

With iOS 15, you will be able to delete apps directly from Spotlight Search, which is a big relief. Just tap and hold the app icon in Spotlight search and you’ll see the delete option.

15. Per-App Settings for Display and Text Size

iOS 15 Beta 1: if you go to text size button in CC, it will give you option of either system wide or per app.

u/_evergarden97

You now get granular control over display and text size settings for each app. This allows you to make text bold or increase its font size for specific apps, as well as using accessibility features such as invert colors without applying it system-wide.

This option is available via the Control Center for easy access.

Exploring Uncharted Territory

We aren't expecting a public release of iOS 15 or iPadOS 15 until fall this year. But if you're desperate to be at the bleeding edge of this new software, you can install the developer beta now or take part in the public beta from July.