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Apple has seeded the Release Candidate (RC) of the upcoming iOS 15.2 to registered developers. This update comes packed with changes and tweaks aimed at user privacy and security. These features include some that Apple had teased during the iOS 15 reveal at WWDC21. App Privacy Report, Communication Safety, a tweaked Notification Summary, and more will be available to the public within a week or so. Here’s everything that is new.
Release Candidate
iOS 15.2 RC Changelog
iOS 15.2 adds Apple Music Voice Plan, a new subscription tier that provides access to music using Siri. This update also includes the App Privacy Report, new safety features for children and parents in Messages, and other features and bug fixes for your iPhone.
Apple Music Voice Plan
- Apple Music Voice Plan is a new subscription tier that gives you access to all songs, playlists, and stations in Apple Music using Siri
- Just Ask Siri suggests music based on your listening history and likes or dislikes
- Play it Again lets you access a list of your recently played music
Privacy
- App Privacy Report in Settings lets you see how often apps have accessed your location, photos, camera, microphone, contacts and more during the last seven days, as well as their network activity
Messages
- Communication safety setting gives parents the ability to enable warnings for children when they receive or send photos that contain nudity
- Safety warnings contain helpful resources for children when they receive photos that contain nudity
Siri and Search
- Expanded guidance in Siri, Spotlight and Safari Search to help children and parents stay safe online and get help with unsafe situations
Apple ID
- Digital Legacy allows you to designate people as Legacy Contacts so they can access your iCloud account and personal information in the event of your death
Camera
- Macro photo control for switching to the Ultra Wide lens to capture macro photos and videos can be enabled in Settings on iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max
TV app
- Store tab lets you browse, buy, and rent movies and TV Shows all in one place
CarPlay
- Enhanced city map in Apple Maps with road details like turn lanes, medians, bike lanes, and pedestrian crosswalks for supported cities
This release also includes the following enhancements for your iPhone:
- Hide My Email is available in the Mail app for iCloud+ subscribers to create unique, random email addresses
- Find My can locate iPhone for up to five hours when in Power Reserve
- Stocks allows you to view the currency for a ticker and see year-to-date performance when viewing charts
- Reminders and Notes now allow you to delete or rename tags
This release also includes bug fixes for your iPhone:
- Siri may not respond while VoiceOver is running and iPhone is locked
- ProRAW photos may appear overexposed when viewing in third-party photo editing apps
- HomeKit scenes that include a garage door may not run from CarPlay when your iPhone is locked
- CarPlay may not update Now Playing information for certain apps
- Video streaming apps may not load content on iPhone 13 models
- Calendar events may appear on the wrong day for Microsoft Exchange users
Beta 4
This update has a relatively large size — however, we weren’t able to find any new features in this build. Apple highlights some of the bugs that have been fixed in beta 4, though.
Beta 3
Reminders
According to Apple’s release notes, you can now rename and delete tags in bulk — as opposed to doing that individually — in the Reminders app. However, we haven’t been able to replicate that.
Tweaks to the Items tab in Find My app
Beta 2 tweaked the Items tab in the Find My app. For some reason, though, this third beta changes it back to how it used to be pre-beta 2. The Items tab displays “Identify Found Item” yet again.
Tweaks to Macro mode settings
In iOS 15.1, Apple added a new “Auto Macro” toggle to the Settings app. According to MacRumors, this latest beta renames the toggle to “Macro Control.” The toggle is described as:
Show Camera control for automatically switching to the Ultra Wide lens to capture macro photos and videos.
Search playlists in Apple Music
MacRumors has also reported that the latest beta adds a search bar in Apple Music playlists. You can reveal it by swiping down in any list. This allows you to search for a certain song or artist inside the playlist. Playing a song from the search results will only queue songs that match the search term, not the entire playlist. So this feature works as a filter inside the playlist.
Beta 2
Communication Safety feature
According to 9to5Mac, this beta adds Messages Communication Safety for minors. This feature detects nudity sent to children’s devices, blurs them, and shows a prompt offering guidance. Hints of this feature were first discovered in iOS 15.2 beta 1, but now it can be enabled by a guardian on a child’s device. It’s worth mentioning that the feature is off by default.
Hide My Email in the Mail app
MacRumors reports that this beta also adds a shortcut to Hide My Email inside the Mail app. Previously, users could only access it through iCloud settings in the iPhone Settings app. This feature allows iCloud+ subscribers to create random aliases that forward emails to their original iCloud address. This lets users avoid sharing the original one with websites and people for privacy reasons or other concerns.
Legacy Contacts in Apple ID settings
According to Apple’s release notes, this release also allows users to add Legacy Contacts to their Apple IDs from iPhone Settings. These contacts will get access to your data in case you pass away, and they may download a copy as well.
Tweaks to the Items tab in Find My app
MacRumors has also shared that this iOS build tweaks the Items tab in the Find My app. Apple has renamed “Identify Found Item” to “Help Return Lost Item.” That’s in addition to an “Items That Can Track Me” option that allows users to scan for nearby Find My-enabled devices — such as AirTags — in case someone is tracking them.
New Store tab in the TV app
9to5Mac has discovered that there’s a new Store tab in the Apple TV app. This tab includes Movies and TV Shows sections that allow users to buy or rent content from the respective category.
Beta 1
According to MacRumors, iOS 15.2 developer beta 1 brings the following changes.
App Privacy Report
App Privacy Report is a feature that Apple teased back in June. It allows users to view the data, sensors, and servers apps are individually accessing. This change brings absolute transparency that makes it significantly tougher for malicious apps to secretly contact certain servers or access device sensors without users’ knowledge.
Emergency SOS tweaks
iOS 15.2 updates the Emergency SOS feature that lets you auto-call your country’s emergency line. You can now either rapidly hit the side button or hold the side button and either of the volume buttons for a few seconds. The countdown timer has also been changed from three to eight seconds.
Notification Summary tweaks
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- Credit: Reddit user u/pommybear
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- Credit: Reddit user u/pommybear
The Notification Summary that was first introduced in iOS 15.0 gets tweaked in iOS 15.2. The summary is now presented in a card-style view that makes glancing at the notification contents easier.
Hints of the Communication Safety feature
Apple’s child safety feature that detects nudity on minors’ devices will be released with iOS 15.2. The feature scans sent and received photos through the Messages app and notifies the parents if any inappropriate content is detected. The first beta of iOS 15.2 has code that mentions the feature, but it’s not live just yet.
What do you think of the new features in iOS 15.2? Let us know in the comments section below.
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