iOS 12 unveiled

Apple continues to move ahead with prerelease testing of the next major update to iOS.

Apple today officially seeded the fourth developer beta of iOS 12.2, watchOS 5.2, and tvOS 12.2. It is likely that Apple will be beta testing iOS 12.2 for several weeks ahead of the public launch. At the time of publication it is not known what is new within this particular software release. If there are any additions made to this developer beta, we will update this post accordingly.

However, courtesy of the previous seeded developer beta, we know that there are several different changes and new additions. That includes support for HomeKit in different TV models, “Hey Siri” support for AirPods 2, and Apple News in Canada. There are also new Animoji within iOS 12.2, including a shark, giraffe, and other options.

Apple’s third developer beta included a patch for the Group FaceTime bug. Apple already fixed this for the public with the launch of iOS 12.1.4 earlier this year. However, this is the first beta that Apple has seeded for iOS 12.2, so the fix had to wait until now for the developer beta. The public beta, which will launch this week, will include the Group FaceTime bug as well.

The Group FaceTime audio bug made it possible for someone to easily eavesdrop on the person they were calling, as it fed in the audio from the source even before they answered the call.

To update to iOS 12.2, developers will need to make sure that their supported iOS devices are registered properly. Once that’s done, it’s as simple as opening Settings –> General –> Software Update and then following the onscreen instructions.

To update to the latest developer beta of macOS Mojave 10.14.4, developers simply need to open the System Preferences –> Update Software on registered and supported computers.

To update to watchOS 5.2, developers need to make sure that the Apple Watch is connected to the charger, that the battery has at least 50 percent remaining, and that it is connected and within range of the iPhone. On the iOS device, open the Watch app and tap on Genera –> Software Update.

To update to the latest beta version of tvOS, developers need to run the necessary Xcode profile.

(If you want to try the developer beta, but don’t want to sign up for a developer account, you can find out right here.)

Apple will also seed a corresponding public beta of iOS 12.2 in the near future.

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