re: Recently made the jump from S21 ultra back to iPhone 15 pro max

It's very much the same as your old, iphone X. The UI has undergone rather minimal changes.

I'd pay the $1 a month for the extra icloud storage.

Make a "junk" folder for all of the apps you don't use.

Organize your apps in little clusters, so they take up less screen real estate.

Download and Setup something like, Bitwarden or ProtonPass. Yes, you can use the default apple password manager, but I like being OS agnostic when it comes to managing passwords. A decent app like Bitwarden or ProtonPass makes it easier to deal with all of the passwords you'll surely have.

Go into Settings and adjust your UI the way you like it. There's a variety of things like, Font Size, Keyboard feedback, Sounds, etc., that you should adjust to your preferences.

Set up your various e-mail accounts. "Settings, Mail, Accounts." If you've ever done this with something like Google, you'll be familiar with the process. It's rather straightforward, but you might have to create an app password for some services.

Log into your icloud account and make sure everything is setup. Even if you use a PC, you'll probably want to at least be able to access your pictures/data from the comfort of a bigger screen.

Speaking of services. I'm kind of a fan of Protonmail.

There are some other minor things you could do to customize your phone, but honestly, it's not that big a deal. Sites like, Macrumors, are pretty good about keeping people abreast of changes to iOS and updates.