Apple releases iOS 12.2 with support for News+ service, new AirPods

Apple quietly pushed out a lengthy iOS software update today. While the day was largely dominated by Apple’s “It’s Show Time” event in which the iPhone maker announced news, gaming, and TV subscription services, it just released updates that will help users get settled with some of the new announcements.

Apple Arcade and Apple TV+ won’t be available until the fall, so iOS 12.2’s biggest updates revolve around Apple News+. The company’s new, $10-per-month news and magazine subscription service requires an update to the existing News app, which brings the UI for top articles and magazine issues chosen by Apple editors. The updated News app will also allow subscribers to read content offline and receive personalized recommendations based on topics that are most interesting to them.

iOS 12.2 also adds support for Apple’s newest AirPods, which carry the new H1 chip that lets wearers call upon Siri without touching the AirPods first. The update also lets users summon Siri from iPhones or iPads to play any video, show, movie, sports game, or channel on their Apple TVs, essentially extending Siri’s role on mobile devices as a virtual remote for the Apple TV.

While iOS 12.2 is full of small improvements, it likely won’t make your iPhone or iPad look completely different. Today, we’re also expecting updates to macOS with the release of macOS 10.14.4, but at the time of publishing this article, 10.14.4 is not available yet. We believe that update will bring Safari Autofilling using TouchID as well as dark-mode activation in Safari for sites that support a dark-mode setting.

Apple’s full release notes for iOS 12.2 are as follows:

iOS 12.2 provides support for Apple News+, adds the ability for Siri to play videos from your iOS device to Apple TV, and includes four new Animoji. This update also includes bug fixes and improvements.
Apple News+

Siri

Animoji

AirPlay

Apple Pay

Screen Time

Safari

Apple Music

AirPods

This update also includes other improvements and bug fixes. This update: