Apple Releases iOS 9.2 : EVERYTHING You Need To Know

Friday, December 11, 2015

iOS 9.2 has finally been released by Apple and should be ready to download to your devices including the new iPad Pro and iPhone 6S Plus. Here are all the key features you need to know about.

Though iOS 9.2 is the second major release of iOS 9, it’s actually the fourth update to iOS 9 in total when you consider the smaller bug fix releases of iOS 9.0.1 and iOS 9.0.2, along with iOS 9.1. So just what's new under the hood in iOS 9.2? Here’s everything you need to know:

How can I download iOS 9.2?

To get iOS 9.2 on your iOS device, it's standard procedure. When you've got your compatible iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, head into Settings > General > Software Update and the update should pop up. Click install and it will download and launch on the device when it's done.
It's just under 250MB so shouldn't take an age to get up and running on your iOS device.

Here’s the complete list of bug fixes and improvements.

Apple Music improvements
- You can now create a new playlist when adding a song to a playlist
- Your most recently changed playlist is now listed at the top when adding songs to playlists
- Download albums or playlists from your iCloud Music Library by tapping the iCloud download button
- See which songs have been downloaded with the new download indicator next to each song in My Music and Playlists
- See works, composers, and performers while browsing Classical music in the Apple Music catalog
- A new Top Stories section in News so you can stay up to date with the most important news of the day (available in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia)
Mail Drop in Mail for sending large attachments. Apple had introduced the feature with OS X Yosemite last year. It allows users to send large attachments up to 5GB in size via iCloud.
iBooks now supports 3D Touch to peek and pop pages from the table of contents, your notes and bookmarks, or from search results inside a book
iBooks now supports listening to an audiobook while you browse your library, read other books, or explore the iBooks Store
iPhone support for the USB Camera Adapter to import photos and videos
Improved stability of Safari
Improved stability of Podcasts
Fixing an issue that caused mail attachments to be inaccessible for some users with POP email accounts
Resolving an issue for some users that caused attachments to overlap text in mail
Fixing an issue where Live Photos could have turned off after restoring from a previous iCloud backup
Addressing an issue that could cause search in Contacts to display no results
Resolving an issue that could have prevented Calendar from displaying all seven days in week view
Fixing an issue where Camera screen on iPad could be black when attempting to capture video
Addressing an issue that could cause instability in the Activity app when viewing the day of Daylight Savings Time transition
Fixing an issue that could prevent data from appearing in Health
Fixing an issue that could prevent Wallet updates and Lock screen alerts from displaying
Addressing an issue where updating iOS could prevent an alarm from going off
Fixing an issue where some users were unable to login to Find my iPhone
Fixing an issue that prevented some manual iCloud Backups from completing
Addressing an issue where using the iPad keyboard could unintentionally trigger text selection mode
Improved keyboard responsiveness when using Quick Reply
Improved punctuation input on the 10-key Chinese (Pinyin & Stroke) keyboards with new expanded view of punctuation symbols and better predictions
Fixing an issue on Cyrillic keyboards where caps lock would be enabled when typing in URL or email fields
- Accessibility improvements
- Fixing issues with VoiceOver when using Camera face detection
- Adding support for VoiceOver to wake up the screen
- Adding support for VoiceOver to invoke app switcher with 3D Touch gesture
- Fixing an issue with Guided Access when trying to end phone calls
- Improved functionality for Switch Control users when using 3D Touch
- Fixing an issue with speech rate of Speak Screen
- Siri support for Arabic (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates)
iOS 9.2 includes several bug fixes and enhancements related to Safari View Controller, the new Safari window that opens up when you click on a link in some apps. Third-party Action Extensions will now work with the Safari View Controller, and you will also be able to dismiss it using an edge swipe. It also allows users to reload a web page without Content Blockers and Request Desktop site by long tapping on the Reload button in Safari View Controller, as it does in Safari.
It also includes support for NumberSync feature to AT&T customers, which allows other devices like Mac or iPad to make and receive calls using a customer’s iPhone number without being connected to the iPhone.

A Closer Look At iOS 9.2 Major Features

1)Safari View Controller now works with third-party app extensions

I know the name “Safari View Controller” makes non-devs want to stop reading at this point, but this is actually a HUGE improvement for everyday users. Safari View Controller is what allows those slide-up Safari windows to show within apps. For example, Safari View Controller is what appears when you click a link in your Twitter feed in the Twitter app. Without Safari View Controller you’d need to exit third-party apps and open the regular Safari app each time you tapped on a link.
What’s previously sucked about Safari View Controller is that though it enabled you to view web pages inside third-party apps, it never allowed access to third-party app extensions. That’s all changed in iOS 9.2. Now, for example, you can open a weblink in Safari View Controller in the Twitter app and when you click the Share button you’ll have access to all the third-party app extensions, such as—my favorite—Instapaper, which in this case, means I no longer have to force the weblink to open in Safari to use the Instapaper extension.
Safari View Controller has also added the ability to long-tap on the Reload button to reload a web page’s content without enabling existing content blockers you have active on your iPhone. Additionally Safari View Controller now also supports edge-swiping to dismiss Safari windows and the ability to manually request a desktop site instead of the mobile site.

2)USB Camera Adapter support for iPhones

Before iOS 9.2, only iPads could use Apple’s USB Camera Adapter accessory for importing pictures from digital cameras and SD cards. Now the iPhone 5 or above can use the USB Camera Adapter to import photos from external devices.

3)iBooks support peek and pop for 3D Touch

A really nice addition of iBooks fans is that iOS 9.2 now include peek and pop support. Previously iBooks only offer Quick Actions support for the 3D Touch display on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. But now inside of a book you can peek and pop into pages from the table of contents, notes and bookmarks, or search results. It’s an awesome addition for browsing through books.

4)Mail Drop support

With OS X 10.11 Apple introduced Mail Drop, which allow iCloud users to attach documents up to 5GB in size to emails. The attachments would be uploaded in the background and automatically downloaded on the receiver’s end without the need to actually send the attachment with the email. This functionality is now available on iPads and iPhones thanks to iOS 9.2.