iOS 14.2 is here, and while it’s not a crazy-gigantic update for your device, there are still a few fun features worth knowing about.
First, the big one—well, the one you’ll use more than any other, I suspect: New emoji. More than 100 of them will grace your keyboard once you update to iOS 14.2. Here’s a quick preview of what you’ll find:
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Yes, that’s a roach. That one’s just for you, New Yorkers. If you want to see the full list, you’ll need to click this link—thankfully, Emojipedia lists them all as graphics, so you won’t need to view them on Android 11 or iOS 14.2. Any browser will work.
iOS 14.2 also comes with eight brand-new wallpapers, in case you’d like to trick out your iPhone a bit more than you previously could. If you aren’t using iOS 14.2, or even an iPhone, you can download them for your device here. Otherwise, here’s what they look like (in both their day and night versions):
Elsewhere in iOS 14.2, you’ll experience some small UI changes for the music controls you see on your Lock screen while you’re using the Music app, including a new timestamp that appears when you’re scrolling through a track.
There’s also a new interface for controlling what’s playing on AirPlay-compatible devices around your home network. .
Over in your Control Center, there’s a brand-new music interface that puts the album art front and center. And if you tap on the “Now Playing” box in your Control Center when nothing is actually playing, you should get recommendations of music you might want to fire up.
The biggest addition to iOS 14.2 is Shazam. Acquired by Apple in 2018, Shazam’s “identify songs playing around you in real life” magic finally finds a home in iOS 14.2, and is now accessible via a handy “Music Recognition” toggle in your Control Center. Spoiler: It looks like the blue Shazam logo, and you’ll have to first enable it via the Control Center option in your Settings app.
And that’s pretty much it, unless you plan to buy Apple’s fancy new HomePod mini tomorrow; iOS 14.2 also unlocks the new Intercom mode that people around your house can use to talk to one another’s Apple devices. You’ll also now be able to hook up your HomePod to your Apple TV so you can blast audio from the latter through the former.
Like I said, iOS 14.2 isn’t a gigantic update, but there’s that little bit of fun packed into its potentially 1GB (or more) download. Here are the iOS 14.2 release notes from Apple, in case you want to see everything that’s changed:
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
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