John Mulhern III head shot

Apple's iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 Released (9/20/2021)

Posted:
Author: John Mulhern III (John Mulhern III's other blog posts — blogs by all authors)

Today, September 20, 2021, Apple released version 15 of both iOS and iPadOS, along with upgraded versions of tvOS (15) and watch OS (8).

Information Systems & Computing (ISC) strongly recommends that all University users considering upgrading their devices to iOS 15 or iPadOS 15 adopt a “wait and see” approach and continue to use earlier versions of iOS and iPadOS for at least a few days following these releases. This short wait allows time for any initial bugs and compatibility issues in iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 to be identified and either fixed or avoided. We will update campus when we believe that the iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 upgrades can be cleared for general use. iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 will be supported as much as possible for users who purchase newly announced Apple devices that ship with version 15 of these operating systems.
 
ISC and other Penn constituents have extensively tested late beta versions of iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 and have done preliminary testing of basic functionality with the release versions. They have not discovered any compatibility issues with various University systems and many current University apps, including the apps and services listed here:

  • Duo Mobile
  • LastPass
  • PennO365 and associated apps  (including Teams)
  • Gmail
  • Penn+Box
  • Dropbox
  • BlueJeans
  • Zoom
  • Slack
  • PennFlex Phone (Vonage Enterprise)
  • PennMobile
  • Canvas
  • LinkedIn Learning
  • Workday
  • VMWare Horizon (VDI)
  • AirPennNet
  • University Client VPN (GlobalProtect)

The iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 upgrades should not affect any data on the device being upgraded. Still, as with any operating system change, ISC strongly recommends performing a backup before upgrading. ISC also recommends connecting devices to a power source for the duration of the upgrade process, which generally ranges from 30 to 50 minutes. Lastly, ISC recommends updating all apps via the App Store before upgrading to iOS 15 or iPadOS 15.

My thanks to many across campus who have aided in our response to these releases, including Dan Cipolla, JM Conway, Dan Meeks, Jim Miller, Matt Sullivan, and Jayson Verdibello.