iOS 16.1, iPadOS 16, and macOS Ventura have just been officially released. Apple, however, is already working on future versions that will give their respective compatible devices new features. The company has started rolling out developer betas of iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2, and watchOS 9.2, which will include improvements to some of the features already present in the current versions, as well as new features, including the future availability of a new app. This is all that will come to the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.
One of the main novelties of iOS 16.2 are the “frequent updates” in Live Activities, a feature that allows access to the relevant information of an app through the dynamic island. This will allow, in particular, shorter update intervals in order to show “more information in real time”, according to the internal code of iOS 16.2 seen by 9to5Mac.
The most frequent updates in Live Activities, yes, will affect battery consumption. Apple, however, will allow you to turn this feature on or off in the system settings.
iOS 16 also has a new architecture for the Casa app, which will allow “even more efficient and reliable” control of connected devices. This, in addition, is complemented by the compatibility with standard Matter that the company announced at the last WWDC, and that is available after updating to iOS 16.1.
Finally, in iOS 16.2 Apple has included an option that allows users to inform the company if the emergency mode or the accident detection mode has been activated inadvertently. The goal is to improve the function to avoid unnecessary warnings. This feature, interestingly, comes after some users reported that accident detection was activated on roller coasters.
iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2 will have a new app
At WWDC 2022, Apple announced the future availability of Freeform, a collaboration application in which users can share ideas, designs, files, etc., through a shared board. iOS 16.2, as well as iPadOS 16.2, finally include this long-awaited app. They do, yes, in beta, with some notable errors by Apple, such as possible failures when adding collaborators to the board.
iPadOS 16.2 also adds support for Stage Manager on external displays. A function that, let us remember, Apple also announced at WWDC, but that it eliminated after the launch of iOS 16.
At the moment, the news that could reach watch OS 9.2but improvements to some of the features already present are likely to be included.
Regarding the launch, both iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2 and watchOS 9.2 are expected to be officially available in the coming weeks. First, the three versions will have to go through different phases in their respective betas.