Apple’s next big software update includes an entirely new Apple app, a controversial change in the TV app, better Siri control, an improved Shortcuts app, interesting Safari upgrades, and more. Keep reading to see what iOS 16.2 has to offer your iPhone.
The iOS 16.1 update appeared on Oct. 24 with over 20 big features and changes, and the first iOS 16.2 beta appeared just one day later, and there’s no expected release date for the stable software version. It took 40 days of testing before iOS 16.1 hit everybody’s devices, so we may be looking at a similar timeline for iOS 16.2.
The New Freeform App
Apple’s new Freeform app, to be had for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, is every other productive device you may upload for your arsenal. It’s one massive bendy canvas, like a virtual whiteboard/corkboard hybrid, and you may upload post-it notes, shapes, files, links, scans, pictures and videos, audio, typed text, and markups like drawings and highlights to it. Freeform’s largest spotlight is collaboration, so that you can plan projects, brainstorm ideas, create proposal boards, and more. You can see the whole lot collaborators do on the canvas, from including content material to creating edits, all in real time. Collaboration may begin out thru FaceTime, with updates from all people seen in a related Messages thread. You can display or conceal the canvas grid from inside every board, and the app’s settings can help you display or conceal the center, edge, and spacing guides.
Start Live Activities from Spotlight
Live Activities have become to be had on iOS 16.1, however, iOS 16.2 brings greater capability by letting you begin them immediately from Spotlight Search. For example, in case you need to stay updated for a sports activities game, you may look for one of the teams, faucet the score, then choose “Follow.” Third-celebration apps can construct this integration into their Live Activities, however, you may begin the usage of it properly now with Apple’s partnership with the National Basketball Association and English Premier League (U.S. and Canada only), in addition to Major League Baseball (U.S., Canada, Australia, U.K., Brazil, Mexico, Japan, and South Korea).
Prefer Silent Responses for Siri
On iOS 16.0–16.1, the only options you have for verbal Siri responses on your iPhone are between Automatic and Prefer Spoken Responses. Automatic uses on-device intelligence to determine when it should speak or not, while Prefer Spoken Responses commands Siri to almost always talk out loud, even with Silent Mode enabled. This is in contrast to previous iOS versions that always had a third option that gave you more control over keeping Siri quiet nearly all the time.
The new iOS 16.2 update brings back the third option Prefer Silent Responses. According to the fine print in Settings –> Siri & Search –> Siri Responses, Siri will respond silently with this option enabled, “except when you appear to be driving or using headphones with the screen off.”
