On Wednesday, December 7, Apple released the iOS 16.2 release candidate for beta testers. This means that unless something goes wrong, iOS 16.2 will land on all phones next week, probably December 12 or 13.
As soon as you see it available for your iPhone (go to Settings > General > Software update), you’re going to want to hit that Download and install button right away. In fact, you’ll want to update all of your Apple devices with next week’s operating system updates, including your Macs, Apple TVs, and more. This is a pretty big update, with a handful of major features you don’t want to sleep on.
End-to-end encryption for all your iCloud content
Earlier this week, Apple introduced a few new security features in iOS 16.2, the biggest being the ability to end-to-end encrypt nearly all of your iCloud data. Naturally, Apple has to rename everything, which is why it calls this feature Advanced Data Protection. It is not activated by default, but we recommend that you activate it immediately. Open the Settings app, tap your Apple ID at the top, then select iCloud. Scroll down the page until you see Advanced Data Protection and tap on it to get started.
You’ll have to jump through a few hoops to set it all up, which is probably why it’s not enabled by default. To start, all your Apple devices should be updated to the latest operating system (iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and macOS 13.1). Next, you’ll need to create some sort of way to recover access to your account if you lose your device or password, because Apple will no longer have the encryption keys to your data, which may be a trusted contact or a recovery key.
Foundry
Why go through all this trouble? Simply put, it takes the keys to your data out of Apple’s hands and puts it back into Apple’s hands. Currently, Apple encrypts certain data on your device with a key that you have but they or they don’ts, such as health, passwords and keychain, payment info, and Apple Card transactions. But many important categories, including backups, are encrypted in transit and on Apple’s servers, using an Apple-controlled key. This means that if a hacker were to break into their servers, they could access your data. If a government agency wants this data from Apple, they could decrypt it and give it to them.
Advanced Data Protection adds end-to-end encryption (your keys on your devices only) to iCloud backups, photos, notes, reminders, voice memos, Safari bookmarks, and more. In fact, the only cloud data that is not encrypted with your own keys will be iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendars. It is worth taking the time to set it up!
Free Karaoke with Apple Music Sing
If you subscribe to Apple Music, you get a free karaoke update in iOS 16.2. The feature is called Apple Music Sing, and all you have to do is open the lyrics to any song, like you did before, and look for a little microphone icon. If you see this, you will be able to adjust the level of the vocals – up to the instrumental if you wish – and follow the lyrics in real time like with a real karaoke machine. Lyric views are also updated, with better animation to help you follow along.
Not all songs with lyrics support Apple Music Sing, but many do, and the number will increase over time. It’s powered by machine learning rather than playing a separate voiceless track, so many updates won’t get it – it’s limited to iPhone 11 and later, latest Apple TV 4K and iPads of the past two years.
Apple
There’s a whole new Home foundation
You will not be see this functionality, but if you are using smart home objects, you will probably feel this. With iOS 16.2, Apple has rewritten the underlying architecture of the Home app and HomeKit to be faster and more reliable. If you’ve been frustrated with long delays in turning lights on or off, or with automations not being addressed in time, you may find that this is exactly the solution you’ve been looking for.
You may need to initiate the update yourself – and it’s a good idea to make sure everyone in your home and all of your devices such as HomePods and Apple TVs are updated first. Open the Home app, tap the (…) button in the top right, then choose Home settings. Scroll down and select Software Update. You can see a banner at the top of the screen that says “Home Upgrade Available” – this is where you start.
Foundry
There are more cool tricks for your lock screen
The customizable lock screen is one of the best features of iOS 16. With iOS 16.2, you have the choice between two useful new widgets: medicine to remind you when to take your next dose and sleep to help you see how much of rest you get (when tracked with an Apple Watch or other accessory).
If you have an iPhone 14 Pro, you get a huge change to always-on display: the ability to hide wallpaper and/or notifications. These will enter very convenient, as they make it easier to know when your phone is in idle state and easier to read.
Follow live sports with Live Activities
Live Activities are rich notifications that update in real time. So instead of getting a new notification every time the status of your food delivery updates or baseball game score changes, you see a single widget-like notification that keeps you up to date. Those with an iPhone 14 Pro also get a new experience with Dynamic Island, so they can keep tabs on something while using other apps.
Sports fans have been waiting to follow their favorite teams using Live Activities since iOS 16 released in September, and the feature is finally coming with iOS 16.2. Open the TV app, then tap the look now tab, scroll to tab Sports row, then tap Live Sports. Scroll down, then tap Follow your teams. Choose your favorite teams and you’ll automatically see information about them in the news as well as live activity score updates for the games they play.
Foundry
Other odds and ends
Of course, there are a ton of other little things in iOS 16.2 that you might enjoy. Along with ubiquitous security updates, you get improved search in Messages (you can find images by searching content), the Freeform shared whiteboard app, and relevant news articles in the app. weather app. Plus, Game Center finally gets SharePlay for multiplayer games and a new home screen widget to show off your friends’ activity.
#Reasons #Youll #Update #iOS #Immediately