Apple today released the second beta of an upcoming iOS 12.2 update to its public beta testing group, one day after seeding the second beta to developers and a week after releasing the first public beta.
Beta testers who have joined Apple's beta testing program can download the iOS 12.2 beta update over-the-air after installing the proper certificate on an iOS device.
Those who want to download the new beta can do so after signing up for the beta program, which gives access to iOS, macOS, and tvOS betas.
The iOS 12.2 update expands Apple News to Canada for the first time, with Canadian iPhone and iPad users able to access news stories in English, French, or both. It introduces infrastructure for AirPlay 2 and HomeKit on third-party TVs, a feature announced in early January.
The TV remote feature in Control Center has been redesigned to take up the full display of an iPhone, and there are tweaks to the Wallet app with a refined interface and a new look for Apple Pay Cash. Changes have been made to Safari with warnings about unsecured websites and new search arrows, and there's now a setting to set Downtime for apps on a day by day basis.
Apple is improving Safari's privacy in iOS 12.2 through a new Motion & Orientation toggle located under Settings --> Safari --> Privacy & Security, which is disabled by default. The setting needs to be enabled on to allow websites to display content that relies on motion data from the accelerometer and gyroscope in the iPhone and iPad.
There are new Animoji in the second iOS 12.2 beta, including a boar, a shark, a giraffe, and an owl. Animoji can be used within the Messages and FaceTime apps. For some AT&T users, there's a new "5G E" icon for the cellular signal, replacing the standard LTE icon. This is a bit misleading of AT&T, because the iPhone does not support 5G, nor is the network AT&T calls 5G E actual 5G. Instead, it's an upgraded version of LTE, with more info available here.
A full list of the new feature changes we've found in iOS 12.2 can be found in our iOS 12.2 tidbits post.
iOS 12.2 confirms Apple's plans to release second-generation AirPods with "Hey Siri" support, thanks to a hidden AirPods setup screen in the beta. The inclusion of the AirPods setup option in the beta indicates that Apple could perhaps be planning to release new AirPods when iOS 12.2 is released.
The update also features hints of an upcoming Apple News subscription service, which could see Apple News offering a Texture-like paid magazine service.
The iOS 12.2 update will likely see several rounds of beta testing over the course of the next month or so before it launches to the public.
