Apple Releases iOS 15.2 With App Privacy Report, Legacy Contacts, Hide My Email Improvements and More
Apple today released iOS 15.2 and iPadOS 15.2, the second major updates to the iOS and iPadOS 15 operating systems that were released in September 2021. iOS 15.2 comes more than a month after the launch of iOS 15.1.
The iOS and iPadOS 15.2 updates can be downloaded for free and the software is available on all eligible devices over-the-air in the Settings app. To access the new software, go to Settings > General > Software Update. It may take some time for the update to roll out to all users.
iOS 15.2 adds App Privacy Report, a feature designed to let you know how often apps are accessing permissions-restricted info like the camera and the microphone, plus it lets you know the domains that apps and websites are contacting so you can keep an eye on what's going on behind the scenes.
The update includes Communication Safety for devices owned by children and the Apple Music Voice Plan, plus it introduces Legacy Contacts for managing your data after you die, and it adds improvements to Find My, Hide My Email, and more. Apple's full release notes for the iOS 15.2 update are below:
iOS 15.2 adds Apple Music Voice Plan, a new subscription tier that provides access to music using Siri. This update also includes the App Privacy Report, new safety features for children and parents in Messages, and other features and bug fixes for your iPhone.
Apple Music Voice Plan
- Apple Music Voice Plan is a new subscription tier that gives you access to all songs, playlists, and stations in Apple Music using Siri
- Just Ask Siri suggests music based on your listening history and likes or dislikes
- Play it Again lets you access a list of your recently played music
Privacy
- App Privacy Report in Settings lets you see how often apps have accessed your location, photos, camera, microphone, contacts and more during the last seven days, as well as their network activity
Messages
- Communication safety setting gives parents the ability to enable warnings for children when they receive or send photos that contain nudity
- Safety warnings contain helpful resources for children when they receive photos that contain nudity
Siri and Search
- Expanded guidance in Siri, Spotlight and Safari Search to help children and parents stay safe online and get help with unsafe situations
Apple ID
- Digital Legacy allows you to designate people as Legacy Contacts so they can access your iCloud account and personal information in the event of your death
Camera
- Macro photo control for switching to the Ultra Wide lens to capture macro photos and videos can be enabled in Settings on iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max
TV app
- Store tab lets you browse, buy, and rent movies and TV Shows all in one place
CarPlay
- Enhanced city map in Apple Maps with road details like turn lanes, medians, bike lanes, and pedestrian crosswalks for supported cities
This release also includes the following enhancements for your iPhone:
- Hide My Email is available in the Mail app for iCloud+ subscribers to create unique, random email addresses
- Find My can locate iPhone for up to five hours when in Power Reserve
- Stocks allows you to view the currency for a ticker and see year-to-date performance when viewing charts
- Reminders and Notes now allow you to delete or rename tags
This release also includes bug fixes for your iPhone:
- Siri may not respond while VoiceOver is running and iPhone is locked
- ProRAW photos may appear overexposed when viewing in third-party photo editing apps
- HomeKit scenes that include a garage door may not run from CarPlay when your iPhone is locked
- CarPlay may not update Now Playing information for certain apps
- Video streaming apps may not load content on iPhone 13 models
- Calendar events may appear on the wrong day for Microsoft Exchange users
For a complete overview of all of the features that are available in iOS 15, we have a dedicated iOS 15 roundup.
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Top Rated Comments
Is this what this thread is going to turn into? Safety warnings for kids receiving unsolicited nudes is not CSAM.
Woo hoo! It just showed up. Let’s go!!!
:apple:
Here's my personal list of what I'd like to see in the next update:
As to their iphones, I would like to see Apple
1. redesign the notification center. It's ridiculous. At the very least add "Clear All" button immediately, even if there's only one notification.
2. give us an LED visual for notifications in addition to sound and vibration. Allow us the change the colors of the LED based on what the notification app is.
The fine folks who like things the way they are can just turn any or all of this off and be constantly hitting the screen on their phones to see if there are any messages when the phone is on mute, much like we all have to do all day long the way it current is.
3. give us an always-on screen for the clock. On the always-on screen we should also be able to choose if we want to see if we have any notifications (the amount and the app) or if we to just want to see the clock.
Once again, the people who don't like it should be able to turn it off. No more Apple forcing us to do stuff.
4. add haptic feedback to the keyboard and make it possible to customize different intensities to your heart's content.
It's beyond crazy that you have no feedback whatsoever if you're typing and the phone is on mute. Those who are concerned with battery or simply don't like this should be able to turn it off.
5. make it possible to adjust volume for independent apps and settings and not this general thing they're doing. Separate volume control for keyboard volume, music volume, ring volume, system volume.
I, for example, would like the keyboard clicks to be much louder than they are but without it affecting the volume on the entire phone or the ring and notifications volume. It's silly of Apple to force it to be like this.
6. add suggestions from the address book as you start a phone number.
Common now Apple, this has been available for the last 15 years on Android.
7. make it possible to customize the texting app in every conceivable way. Font size, bubble size shape color etc.
8. make it possible to schedule a text message to be sent at a certain time/date. This is a basic feature. Compose your message now and schedule it to be sent when the time is right. I used to use this feature all the time when I had to text people who are in different time zones when they have to get the text at a certain time in their time zone but it's way too late for me to stay up to send the text.
9. use an OS-wide clipboard and make cut and/or copy not expire until you, the user, cleans it.
You should be able to copy text now and paste it tomorrow if you want to.
And 9b make it possible to copy multiple copy entries ready to paste any one of them by long pressing, at least the last 10 cut/copies should be possible.
10. in Mail give us the option to NOT go to the next email when you are deleting an email but to go back to the inbox. Those who want to keep things the way they are should be able to turn this feature off.
11. make it possible to move the icons on the desktop anywhere you want to.