Apple on Thursday released the first beta of iOS 12.2 for developers, complete with the following list of new fixes and features:
– Apple News for Canada – iOS 12.2 expands the availability of Apple News to Canada for the first time, with news sources available in either English or French.
– HomeKit TV Support – Apple recently announced that HomeKit support is coming to a number of third-party TVs, and iOS 12.2 introduces the infrastructure to allow users to add their TVs to HomeKit.
– Home Controls for TVs – Open up the Home app, tap the house-shaped icon in the upper left, choose “Home Settings” and you’ll see an updated section for “Allow Speaker & TV Access,” which was previously just “Allow Speaker Access.” This setting lets you choose who can access and send content to your speakers and TVs.– Redesigned TV Remote – The TV Remote feature in Control Center has been redesigned with a more streamlined look that takes advantage of the entire display and does away with the large Home button.
– New Screen Mirroring Icon – There’s a redesigned Screen Mirroring icon in the Control Center that features two displays rather than a single display and an arrow.
– Wallet – The Wallet interface has been slightly tweaked when viewing a single card within the Wallet app. The info button has been relocated to the top, and there’s now a “Done” button instead of an option to tap other cards at the bottom of the app. Transaction information is now listed more clearly, with a longer history available. The main wallet interface is largely unchanged, but the “+” button to add a new card is now black instead of blue.
– Apple Pay Cash – There’s an “Add Money” option in Wallet when you select the Apple Pay Cash card. Before, you needed to go into the more detailed Apple Pay Cash view to add money to the card.
– New AirPlay icon – Some users are seeing a new AirPlay icon when AirPlaying to certain devices.
– Safari search arrows – When entering a search term or website in the main bar in Safari, under the “Google Search” autofill section, there are now little blue arrows. Tapping an arrow adds the text to the search field, so you can get more targeted search results with just a few taps. In prior versions of Safari, tapping on a Google Search result simply conducted the search.
– Unsecure websites – Sites that do not use a secure HTTPS connection are now prominently listed as “Not Secure” in the Safari menu bar. There was a “Not Secure” feature in prior versions of iOS, but it only showed up on pages requesting a password or credit card. Now any unencrypted site shows the “Not Secure” heading.
– Air Quality in Maps – In the Maps app, there’s a new option to display Air Quality alongside weather readings. It can be activated in the Maps section of the Settings app.
At present, there are some known bugs and issues in the iOS 12.2. beta. Some iPad and iPhone owners have run into an Apple Pay issue after installing the beta, where Apple Pay says that an update is required to work.
Apple’s release notes also lists assorted issues, with workarounds available.
Bugs and workarounds include the following:
– Users may be unable to authenticate in Apple Pay within Wallet after selecting a card. Apple suggests on Touch ID iPhones, that Apple Pay users double-click on the Home button when the iPhone is locked, select the desired card in Wallet, and then authenticate before holding the iPhone near the reader.
– On Face ID devices, Apple recommends double clicking the side button, choosing the desired card, and then authenticating via Face ID before holding the iPhone near the reader.
– Apple says that iOS 12.2 users may be unable to purchase prepaid data plans using cellular data, and that a Wi-Fi connection should be used instead. Siri is also not working with iOS simulators.
Apple has yet to release the iOS 12.2 beta to the public, although this should be forthcoming before too long.
Via MacRumors