iPhone owners, you’ve got a new update coming your way.
iOS 14.2 is now available for the iPhone, while iPad owners can grab an update to iPadOS 14.2. Whichever device you’ve got, you can get your update now by launching your Settings app and tapping on “General” followed by “Software update”.
There are some significant new features included with the update to iOS 14.2. One that’ll excite a lot of people is the addition of more than 100 new emoji, including bubble tea, a pinched fingers gesture, a transgender flag, a ninja, a boomerang, and a tamale.
The update also brings a new way to identify music that’s currently playing. The Shazam Music Recognition feature is a button that you can tap in control center to ID the song that’s now playing, including music that’s currently playing on your phone itself.
iOS 14.2 brings eight new wallpapers that are available in both light and dark versions, a new Now Playing widget in Control Center that’ll suggest recently played albums if you don’t currently have anything playing, and a Magnifier feature for the iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max that’ll use LiDAR to detect nearby people and report their distance. Apple is also rolling out optimized AirPods battery charging that’ll slow the rate of battery aging by reducing the amount of time that your AirPods spend fully charged.
Also rolling out today is an update to watchOS 7.1 for the Apple Watch. This upgrade isn’t quite as big as iOS 14.2, but it does add the ability to be notified when your headphone audio level is so loud that it could impact your hearing. It also fixes a bug that prevented some people from unlocking their Mac using their Apple Watch.
Getting back to iOS 14.2, below is the full changelog that you can peruse while you’re waiting for the update to install on your device.
iOS 14.2 includes the following improvements for your iPhone:
- Over 100 new emoji, including animals, food, faces, household objects, musical instruments, gender-inclusive emoji, and more
- Eight new wallpapers in both light and dark mode versions
- Magnifier can detect people nearby, and report their distance using the LiDAR sensor included in iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max
- Support for iPhone 12 Leather Sleeve with MagSafe
- Optimized battery charging for AirPods to slow the rate of battery aging by reducing the time your AirPods spends fully charged
- Headphone audio level notifications to alert you when audio level could impact your hearing
- New AirPlay controls to stream entertainment throughout your home
- Intercom support with HomePod and HomePod mini using iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods, and CarPlay
- Ability to connect HomePod to Apple TV 4K for stereo, surround sound, and Dolby Atmos audio
- Option to provide statistics about Exposure Notifications, without identifying you, to participating Public Health Authorities
This release also fixes the following issues:
- Apps could be out of order on the Home Screen dock
- Camera viewfinder may appear black when launched
- The keyboard on the Lock Screen could miss touches when trying to enter the passcode
- Reminders could default to times in the past
- Photos widget may not display content
- Weather widget could display the high temperature in Celsius when set to Fahrenheit
- Next-hour precipitation chart description in Weather could incorrectly indicate when precipitation stops
- Voice Memos recordings are interrupted by incoming calls
- The screen could be black during Netflix video playback
- Apple Cash could fail to send or receive money when asked via Siri
- Apple Watch app may unexpectedly close when opened
- Workout GPS routes or Health data are prevented from syncing between Apple Watch and iPhone for some users
- Audio is incorrectly labeled as “Not Playing” in the CarPlay Dashboard
- Devices could be prevented from charging wirelessly
- Exposure Notifications is disabled when restoring iPhone from iCloud Backup or transferring data to a new iPhone using iPhone Migration