Toni Hobrecht
Apple released the latest versions of its mobile operating systems a few hours ago – iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2 are here.
Apple Freeform
Freeform also makes its debut with iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2. It’s a new app that Apple says is designed for “creative brainstorming and collaboration.” You can organize and visually arrange content on a “flexible canvas” with sharing and collaboration options. “A large selection of files” can be added and previewed inline without leaving the board. Freeform boards are stored in iCloud so they sync across devices.
Apple Music Sing
Additionally, Apple Music Sing, the previously announced karaoke feature, is also built into iOS and iPadOS 16.2. There’s also a new option that expands the total number of iCloud data categories protected by end-to-end encryption to 23. These include iCloud backup, Notes and Photos, and new settings to hide the wallpaper or notifications when Always-On Displays are enabled on iPhone 14 Pro or iPhone 14 Pro Max. You can enable new sleep, medication and activity widgets. You can also use the SharePlay support in Game Center for multiplayer games to see your opponents’ disaffected FaceTime faces at the same time as you gamble.
Various bug fixes and improvements are of course also on board. This includes better search of Messages and news articles in the Weather app that are relevant to the location. In Notes you can now see live when other users update shared notes. AirDrop automatically closes the share back to “Contacts Only” after 10 minutes and there are some crash detection tweaks for the iPhone 14 series.
iPad Pro now supports 6K displays
The iPads get external display support for up to 6K resolution on the iPad Pro 12.9 (5th generation and later), iPad Pro 11 (3rd generation and later), and iPad Air (5th generation). You can also drag and drop files and windows to and from a connected display. Up to four apps are supported on the iPad display and four more on the external display.
An issue that caused multi-touch gestures to become unresponsive while using the zoom accessibility feature has also been fixed. Tracking notifications now alert when an abandoned AirTag is nearby and has recently played a sound to indicate it is moving.
The updates also fix more than 30 security vulnerabilities, which is why you should install the new software as soon as possible. Since Apple generally doesn’t do phased rollouts, iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2 should already be available to all users. If you haven’t received a notification yet, you can also search for the update manually and the download should start immediately.
