iOS 15.2 Public Beta 2
Anthony Karcz
With iOS 15.1 out in the wild, it was only a matter of time before Apple started a new beta cycle! This week, they released iOS 15.2 Public Beta 1 for all Public Beta Program participants.
So what are we getting in iOS 15.2? I’m so glad you asked.
What’s New
The big, headline-grabbing news (literally), is the new App Privacy Report. Located in the Settings app, under Privacy, allllll the way at the bottom of the list, this user-toggled report will capture all the activities going on as you use your phone. The report breaks down which apps are using which sensors, where they’re sending data to, and which ones are reporting your location. It’s an eye-opening report and will likely have you digging into the settings of more than a few apps to turn off location settings at the very least.
In the case of social media apps, which are by far doing the most “behind-the-scenes” tracking and reporting, you might just want to delete them altogether. Just because you change your name to something less loaded doesn’t mean you aren’t still ignoring folx privacy.
It’s a fantastic feature and my hope is that it’s going to help a lot of people start taking their privacy on their devices more seriously.
So what else is new in iOS 15.2?
- You can now set your Emergency Calling trigger to be 5 side button presses, just like it used to be back when there was a Home button. The calling delay is now 8 seconds as well.
- The Notification Summary (and bless those of you who have the strength of will to not look at your phone enough that this is a useful feature for you) has been redesigned to be an “all in one” card rather than just a “collection of cards.” It’s a much nicer presentation.
What’s Broken
There’s no mention of the infamous Telephony bug from iOS 15.1, so I have to assume it was fixed at some point after the first release candidate. Does that mean that iOS 15.2 doesn’t have any bugs? Sorry, but no.
Thankfully, it’s a minor bug that inserts a Save As menu item above the Duplicate menu item in document-based apps. It’s so minor, I doubt anyone other than the app developers (who the beta is really targeted at) would even notice.
Of course, that doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. Part and parcel of being part of the public beta is reporting bugs as you find them. If you see something, especially with third party apps – report it using the Feedback app!
What’s Fixed
Despite this being the first release, there are a few bugs that have already been squashed. Buuuuut, they’re all things that pertain to developer tests or backend UI elements that end users don’t see.
What’s Next
iOS 15.2 will be a nice, tempered release. There are no big tentpole features roaming about, so Apple can concentrate on tightening up their existing features and making iOS 15 better for everyone. Think of this more as a “fit and finish” beta rather than a “new stuff every week” beta.
Especially with the holidays coming up, I imagine …….