The 15th version of the iOS operating system will add Portrait Mode, the video feature in FaceTime with a blurred background, to all photo and video apps — but only to some iPhone models. The feature, used especially in the video conferencing app, should only be available to devices with the A12 Bionic processor and later.

At first glance, this may seem a bit strange, since the blurred background has been a feature in the FaceTime app since the iPhone XS. However, the new cloud mode will not work in the same way. The update will include more dynamic calculations, directly from the camera to adapt in real time, and this becomes more difficult in low-light environments. Therefore, the technical limitations of older models may not be enough.

In this case, the devices equipped with iOS 15 whose apps will be able to display photos and videos with a blurred background will be, at the very least, the XS, XR lines and the iPhone 11 generations onwards, as well as the iPhone SE 2020. In iPadOS 15, they will be at least the 8th generation of the iPad, as well as the 5th generation of the iPad Mini and the 3rd generation of the iPad Air.

Tool is present in a different way on much less powerful smartphones

The fact that the blurred background feature in videos is reserved for future generations of iPhones is, to say the least, peculiar. Android smartphones of various types can offer the function of blurring videos in various video calling apps, such as Zoom, Google Meet or the Microsoft Teams.

So far, video calling apps have generated the effect specifically through calculations by the programs, blurring the background with a certain margin of error. Just like these apps, FaceTime's Portrait Mode continues to work for devices that already have the tool, since it calculates the blurring in the same way as its competitors. The difference will only be noticeable on compatible devices.

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