Download IOS 12.2 Today and Try These New Features
Right on cue – on Apple’s announcement day and all – the service-oriented tech giant released the latest version of its iOS operating system. If you don’t already have one or haven’t received an iOS update notification yet, simply tap in Settings > General > Software Update to start the download. It will take some time; It took me about an hour to download and install the update with a reasonably fast internet connection.
While you wait, here are some of the important features you can expect with the update.
Apple News +
You can now pay Apple $ 10 a month to bundle your multiple magazine subscriptions into one digital package. If you’re in doubt about Apple’s offerings, you do have a monthly trial to experiment with the new service. However, remember to cancel it if you don’t need it, as if you forget, you will automatically be billed for the next month’s subscription. And, as Apple noted today, you can share your subscription with up to six family members using Apple’s Family Sharing feature. Anyone want to adopt me?
Apple news finally arrives in Canada
Stop the presses. Canadian fans of Apple can now read the news through the Apple app of the same name – of course, in French or English.
More silly Animoji
If you like to turn heads into animals and send your friends quirky virtual videos (or pictures if you just hit your fake head), you’re in luck. You now have a giraffe, shark, warthog and owl.
(Hey Apple: Open the Animoji App Store and let other people create work-safe virtual creations. You could probably get even more revenue from the service.)
Siri and Apple TV
Upgrade your Apple TV to tvOS 12.2 and your iOS devices to iOS 12.2, and you can control what’s on your Apple TV in much greater detail. As MacRumors points out :
“TvOS 12.2 combined with iOS 12.2 allows users to ask Siri to play certain media on Apple TV from an iOS device. You can, for example, ask Siri to turn Modern Family on on your living room TV, or Pitch Perfect on your bedroom TV. This feature is available for music, TV shows and movies. ”
This “5G E” badge
If you are an AT&T subscriber, you can see the new “5G E” icon in the upper right corner of your iPhone. Now you can brag to your friends that you have an even better mobile connection than theirs and they can remind you that “5G E” is just AT&T bullshit to say “faster LTE” since your iPhone (at the time of writing This article) doesn’t support 5G connectivity at all. Isn’t friendship great.
Higher quality audio messages
It’s an easy way, but Apple has improved the quality of the audio messages you leave in messages by adopting a different codec (Opus) at 24000 Hz instead of the previous narrowband AMR codec at 8000 Hz. Careful.
More specific “Downtime” screen
You can now customize which days and times you want to schedule “Downtime” using the iOS Screen Time feature. As a reminder, if your phone is in Idle Time mode, you will only be able to use certain apps (of your choice) and the Phone app on your device. That’s all. Sorry Facebook.
Group Facetime is back!
Yes, that terrible Group Facetime bug that allowed others to eavesdrop on what you were doing is gone, and the feature is back to everyone. Enjoy conversations like Brady Bunch.
Promotions for subscription apps
Apple now allows app developers to offer promotional pricing for subscriptions, so you’ll want to be a little smarter when you sign up for something that you want to pay a recurring fee to access. As described in Apple’s iOS 12.2 release notes :
“… auto-renewing apps can provide discounts for a specific period of time for existing and pre-subscribed customers. You can use subscription offers to help bring back subscribers who canceled their subscriptions, or to promote an upgrade to another subscription at a special price. Customers can accept the offer even if they have already made an introductory offer. “
Apple Maps Air Quality
If you live in an area prone to air quality issues (hello Northern California), you can now view the air quality index directly in Apple Maps. Alas, you can’t put some kind of colorful filter on the map to see what the air looks like in certain places, but you will get a small indicator in the lower right corner for whatever location you are viewing (with enough magnification).
You can also turn this or weather conditions on and off through the Settings app.
Additional support for Apple hardware (or whatever works with Apple protocols)
If you have a nicer AirPlay 2 TV, you can now add it to HomeKit. Likewise, iOS 12.2 offers full support for Apple’s latest AirPods as well as the Logitech Crayon (for your iPad Pro).
Tell AirPlay to Relax
You can now do other things while using AirPlay to stream content from your iOS device to, say, your Apple TV. As noted in Apple’s description, “AirPlay multitasking for video allows you to view other applications as well as play other short audio and video files locally on your device without interrupting AirPlay.”
I think Redditor rfguevar said the best thing about it: “Damn it, I’m internally jumping for joy (In a meeting)”
Match your latest Apple Pay transaction
Apple has slightly revamped the wallet interface to make your latest Apple Pay transaction more enjoyable to browse. You will see the company, location and the amount you spent, and clicking on the list will take you directly to a screen with more details, including a map showing the seller’s location.
The epic debut of AirPower!
Just kidding . And, disappointingly, Apple is also geofencing the ECG setup process for Apple Watch in iOS 12.2, so those of you outside the US won’t be able to initialize it. Sorry!
Marking podcasts as played
For some reason, Apple previously removed the ability to mark a podcast as “played” in its Podcasts app – after pressing and holding or deep-clicking on a podcast episode. Well, this feature is back in iOS 12.2.
Safari searches are easier to complete automatically
If you enjoy using Safari on iOS, Apple has tweaked the address bar autocomplete aspect a bit. Start typing something. When you see suggested search phrases appear on the screen, you can click on the phrase itself to jump directly to the search results for that phrase. However, you can now also click on the new blue arrow icon to simply place that text in the address bar if you want to further customize your search query.