Apple rolled-out of iOS 15 in September and there have already been a few updates, two minor and one major. Now the company has started developing the beta of the next major update to iOS 15: iOS 15.2.
Apple released the first beta of iOS 15.2 just days after it made iOS 15.1 available for the public.
iOS 15.2 release date
Apple began work on iOS 15.1 on 21 September – the day after iOS 15 launched. The iOS 15.1 update was finally made available to the public on 25 October, just over a month later.
On that basis it the iOS 15.2 update can be expected around the end of November 2021, although it could be towards the middle of December.
It’s possible that Apple will release interim updates in the meantime, in September and October Apple issued iOS 15.0.1 and 15.0.2 while it was working on the beta of iOS 15.2. Those updates fixed a few of the difficulties people were experiencing with iOS 15.
What’s coming in iOS 15.2?
The iOS 15.2 update should enable Apple to add address any bugs and add some of the previously announced features that haven’t yet made it into iOS 15. To find out more about the missing features read Eight iOS 15 features that will be missing at launch.
Here’s what we already know about the new features coming in the next update to iOS 15:
App Privacy Report
One of the new features in iOS 15 is the ability to see which apps are collecting personal data. Currently this isn’t on by default. You need to open the Settings app and go to Privacy. Once you have set it up you will ass an Apps Privacy Report option, but if you don’t see that you need to go to Privacy > Record App Activity > switch the slider for that to green. Now that your iPhone is recording this information you can tap on Save App Activity to crate a document detailing the activity.
In iOS 15.2 this information will be more readily available. You will find a new App Privacy Report in the Privacy section under Settings. You will need to go to: Settings > Privacy > App Privacy Report > Turn On App Privacy Report.
You will be able to view a summary of which apps use which iPhone data and how often. Users can see which apps read the data of the smartphone, which sensors they access and how often the app goes online. Apps will only appears in this evaluation if they have been used at least once.
New SOS procedure
In iOS 15 and earlier it is possible to make an emergency call by pressing the side button five times or more in fast succession. As detailed here: How to make an emergency call on iPhone or Apple Watch.
Apple’s clearly decided that there should be another way to make such calls (other than the obvious of dialing 999/911/112 depending on where you live). The problem is that It sounds like Apple has decided to turn the screen shot button combo into a new way to make emergency phone calls in iOS 15.2. We can’t help but think that is a mistake because the amount of screen shots we take we will forever be calling the emergency services.
Apple has, at least, slowed down the countdown of eight to one a little so that you will have some warning that the emergency call is about to be made and you can cancel the call. Good thing too!
Abuse warnings in iMessage
In the summer of 2021 Apple announced that it would implement some steps against child abuse in iOS and other systems. Now in iOS 15.2, part of the announced innovations will arrive: Parents will be able to set parental controls for their children to protect them from abuse. This will mean that suspicious images are displayed blurred and will only be fully loaded after consent. Parents will receive a notification that the child received a concerning pictures via iMessage.
