11 Of The Best New Features In IOS 16.2
After seven weeks of beta testing, Apple today released the latest version of its iPhone operating system, iOS 16.2. The free update includes some fun new features and changes, including a new Apple Music karaoke feature, end-to-end encrypted iCloud backups, and a collaborative digital whiteboard called Freeform.
It's probably the biggest iPhone update since iOS 16. Here are the top news you need to know.
sing apple music
Apple Music Sing is one of the biggest free updates to Apple's streaming platform. Turn your Apple Music subscription into a karaoke machine where you can mute millions of songs and sing along. It works really well and is a fun way to focus on the instruments in your favorite songs. You can read more about the feature here.
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Advanced data protection for iCloud
As a company, Apple prides itself on respecting your privacy. But for a long time, their iCloud security solutions have been milquetoast. While some of the data you back up to iCloud is end-to-end encrypted, such as health data, Apple has stored the decryption keys for other data, such as iMessages, photos, and notes. On the bright side, Apple can help you recover a lot of your important data if you lose your Apple ID, but Apple's theoretical ability to read our messages didn't sit well with many people.
Advanced Data Protection for iCloud solves the problem (mostly). This brings to 23 the total number of types of data encrypted in iCloud backups. Mail, Contacts, and Calendar are the big three that aren't E2EE, but at least now Apple doesn't have the rest of the keys. them.your data. You can learn more about advanced iCloud data protection in our article here.
Free form
Freeform is Apple's new digital whiteboard. With it, you can invite contacts to collaborate on the same project at the same time, and add graphics, text and design if needed. Sketch ideas, complement others' contributions, and work on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, as long as all three are up to date with the latest software.
You can hide the wallpaper on the always-on screen
iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max have an always-on display, which allows you to easily access the screen without waking the phone. However, Apple's initial approach left a lot to be desired: it kept the wallpaper and notifications on, making it look like the iPhone was still awake when in fact it wasn't. We've covered a solution, but none better than the built-in solution Apple offers with iOS 16.2. You can now choose to turn off wallpaper and notifications when using AOD on your iPhone, so all you see is the time of day. You can see how it works in our coverage here.
Three new widgets
Also new on the lock screen: widgets. You can use the Sleep widget to view your recent sleep data without unlocking your iPhone, and the Medications widget gives you an overview of your medication schedule and reminders. Your home screen gets a new widget, Activities, that lets you see your friends' Game Center stats.
Game Center support for FaceTime calls
Game Center now supports SharePlay, meaning you can play multiplayer games on your iPhone while on a FaceTime call with opponents.
Apple TV supports live sports
With iOS 16.2, you can check the current score of your favorite sport directly from a Live Activity window on the lock screen, via Apple TV. If you have an iPhone 14 Pro or 14 Pro Max, it will appear in the dynamic island.
AirDrop isn't for everyone anymore
Apple quietly removed support for "Everyone" AirDropping with iOS 16.2. The company implemented the change for the first time in China during the ongoing protests, and introduced the new "Do everything in 10 minutes" feature. With it, you can open AirDrop to accept items from anyone, but only for 10 minutes at a time. Now the feature is here for, well, everyone. After 10 minutes, it will revert to "Contacts only".
Updates to system files and security responses
Apple is improving the way it handles iOS security updates. With the latest update, you now have the option to automatically install small security patches without having to install a whole new update, which will hopefully increase how quickly Apple can patch security vulnerabilities. This option should be enabled by default, but just in case, you can check under Settings > General > Software update > Automatic updates .
Siri will be silent (mostly)
Sometimes you don't want Siri to answer, but you do. This suggests using Siri in environments where you don't want the digital assistant to silently shout out the answer to what it's looking for. You can now choose to have Siri "prefer silent responses," which will keep Siri silent if you're not driving or using headphones with the screen off. You'll find this new option under Settings > Siri & Search > Siri Answers.
Bug fixes and software improvements
New features and changes are great, but I think the best part of Apple's regular updates are the less obvious stability fixes and software improvements. Anything that makes my iPhone more fragile and reliable is a win, and with iOS 16.2 Apple has made some nice changes in that department:
Older notifications appear in Notification Center without scrolling up.
Thanks to the improved search in Messages, you can find photos based on their content, such as a dog, car, person or text.
The Reload and Show IP Address setting allows iCloud Private Relay users to temporarily disable the service for a specific site in Safari.
Weather news shows information about the weather in that place.
Now you can analyze weather data in minutes instead of hours.
Participant sliders in notes let you see real-time indicators when other people update a shared note.
Collision detection optimizations on iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro models.
Fixes an issue that prevents some notes from syncing to iCloud after updates.
Increase the reliability and efficiency of communication between your smart home accessories and Apple devices.
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