5 reasons to update to iOS 16.2 immediately
Apple released iOS 16.2 beta candidate on Wednesday, December 7. That means, unless something goes horribly wrong, iOS 16.2 will land on everyone’s phone next week–likely on 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 Click the button immediately. In fact, you’ll want to update all your Apple devices to next week’s OS updates, including your Macs, Apple TV, and so on. This is a pretty big update, with a handful of major features you don’t want to sleep on.
End-to-end encryption available for all your iCloud stuff
Apple introduced a few security features to iOS 16.2 earlier this week. The most important is the ability for you to encrypt all of your iCloud data. Apple must rename everything. This feature is called Advanced Data Protection. It’s not enabled by default but we recommend turning it on immediately. Open the Settings app. Tap on your Apple ID at top and then select iCloud. Scroll down until you see Advanced Data Protection. Click on it to get started.
You’ll have to jump through some hoops to get it all set up, whichis probably why it’s not enabled by default. All Apple devices must be updated to the latest OS (iOS 16, iPadOS 16 and macOS 13). Then you’ll need to create some sort of way to recover your account access if you lose your device or passcode since Apple will no longer have the encryption keys to your data–that can be a trusted contact or a recovery key.
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Why go through all of this hassle? Simply put, it takes the keys to your data out of Apple’s hands and puts them back in yours. Apple currently encrypts certain data on your device with an encryption key. You You can but They don’t–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 a key that Apple controls. If a hacker managed to gain access to their servers, your data could be accessed. It could also decrypt the data and give it to a government agency if they need it.
Advanced Data Protection adds encryption to iCloud backups and photos, notes, reminders, voice memos, Safari bookmarks, and other cloud data. In fact, cloud data is the only one that is secure. Not iCloud Mail and Contacts will be encrypted with your own keys. It’s worth taking the time to set it up!
Apple Music Sing provides free karaoke
If you’re an Apple Music subscriber, you’re getting a Upgrade to Karaoke for Free iOS 16.2. Apple Music Sing is available in iOS 16.2. If you see that, you’ll be able to adjust the level of the vocals—all the way down to instrumental if you’d like—and follow along with the real-time lyrics just like with a real karaoke machine. Lyrics views are updated with better animation to make it easier to follow along.
Apple Music Sing does not support every song that has lyrics, but many songs do. The number will increase over time. It’s powered by machine learning rather than playing back a separate track without vocals, so many updaters won’t get it–it’s limited to iPhone 11 and later, the newest Apple TV 4K, and iPads from the last couple of years.
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There’s a whole new Home foundation
You won’t See more This feature is not available if you have smart home equipment. Feel it. Apple has rewritten HomeKit’s underlying architecture to be more reliable and faster with iOS 16.2. If you’ve been frustrated by long delays in turning on or off lights, or automations that don’t process on time, you might find this is just the fix you’ve been looking for.
You may need to kick off the update yourself–and it’s a good idea to make sure everyone in your home and all your devices such as HomePods and Apple TVs are updated first. Open the Home app, tap the (…) button in the upper right, then choose Home Settings. Scroll down and choose Software Update. You may see a banner at the top of the screen that says “Home Upgrade Available”–that’s where you begin.
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There’s more cool stuff for your lock screen
The customizable lock screen is one of iOS 16’s best features. With iOS 16.2, you get a couple of useful new widgets to choose from: medications to remind you when to take your next dose, and sleep to help you see how much rest you’re getting (when tracked with an Apple Watch or other accessory).
If you have an iPhone 14 Pro, you’re getting a huge change to the always-on display: the option to hide the wallpaper and/or notifications. Those will be added. Very They are useful because they make it easier for you to see when your phone is in its rest mode and easier to read.
Follow live sports on Live Activities
Live Activities are rich notifications that automatically update themselves in real time. Instead of getting a new notification for every update on your food delivery or the score of the baseball match, you get a single notification that is widget-like. An iPhone 14 Pro user also gets the Dynamic Island, which allows them to keep tabs on a particular app while using it.
Since iOS 16 was released in September 2016, sports fans have waited to be able follow their favorite teams using Live Activities. This feature finally arrives with iOS 162. Open the TV app and then tap the Watch Now Tab, scroll down to Sports row, then tap Live Sports. Scroll down to the bottom and then tap Follow Your Teams. Pick your favorite teams there and you’ll see info about them automatically in News along with Live Activities score updates for the games they play.
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Other odds and ends
You may also appreciate a lot of other little features in iOS 16.2. In addition to the ever-present security updates, you’ve got improved search in Messages (you can find images by searching the content), the Freeform shared whiteboarding app, and relevant News articles in the Weather app. Plus Game Center finally gets SharePlay for multiplayer games and a new home screen widget to show your friends’ activity.
