Apple Releases Second Public Betas of iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2 With Freeform App, Stage Manager External Display Support and More

[MacRumors]

Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2 updates to public beta testers, providing the software to the general public. Today's beta comes two weeks after Apple released the first public betas.

Public beta testers who have signed up for Apple's free beta testing program can download the ‌iOS and iPadOS 16.‌2 betas over the air after installing the proper certificate from the Public Beta website.

iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2 introduce the Freeform app, which can be used for jotting down notes, sketching, drawing, brainstorming ideas, creating mood boards, and more. Multiple people can work on the same Freeform board, with changes synced for all participants in real time.

For the iPad, the update brings external display support to the Stage Manager multitasking feature, allowing up to eight apps to be used at once. External display support is available for the M1 and M2 iPad models.

There is a new Home app architecture coming in iOS and iPadOS 16.2, which Apple says is designed to bring faster, more reliable performance, especially in homes with a lot of smart home accessories. The new architecture requires the HomePod 16.2 beta software, and it causes the Home app not to work with devices updated to iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2, or macOS Ventura 13.1.

Unintentional Emergency SOS calls can be reported to Apple in iOS 16.2, and there are a few other minor changes that can be found in our iOS 16.2 feature guide.

Article Link: Apple Releases Second Public Betas of iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2 With Freeform App, Stage Manager External Display Support and More

 

[roncron]

Public beta testers, if you're not currently on beta 1, or maybe even if you are, please check out the macrumors forum thread on 16.2 beta 2 before installing. There seems to be a greater than usual number of reports of problems, especially with frame drops or stuttering on iPhones with promotion. A fair number of developers who installed beta 2 are going back to beta 1 or 16.1 public release.

(That said, there are plenty of developers who are having little to no problems with beta 2; it just seems like the number with problems is higher than normal for a second beta on a .2 release.)

 

[Realityck]

Spoiler: iOS & iPadOS 16.2 Beta 2 Release Notes

Freeform​

Known Issues​

• Can’t delete boards while offline, or if iCloud data is disabled for Freeform. (100294085)
  Workaround: Go to Settings (System Setting on macOS) > Apple ID > iCloud, then in the Apps using iCloud section, toggle Freeform to On.
• Adding or removing collaborators can fail while attempting to change share settings. (101186059)
  Workaround: Close the share sheet and try to add or remove the participants again.

Keyboard​

Resolved in iOS & iPadOS 16.2 beta 2​

• Fixed: When typing in Chinese Pinyin, selecting an option from the candidate bar is unresponsive. (73513207)

Stage Manager​

Known Issues​

• While using Stage Manager with an External Display, dragging a second window to the workspace incorrectly hides the Recent Apps list—shifting all windows in the workspace to the right. (98540114)

TV App​

Resolved in iOS & iPadOS 16.2 beta 2​

• Fixed: Play tracking (Up Next, and Top Shelf Update) won’t work for all platforms. (101258095)

SwiftUI​

New Features in iOS & iPadOS 16.2 beta 2​

• Disable animations of NavigationStack push and pop by wrapping path mutation in withTransaction(transaction) { … } where transaction has disablesAnimations set to true. (88993253)

Resolved in iOS & iPadOS 16.2 beta 2​

• Fixed: Programmatically popping multiple views from a NavigationStack, by manipulating its path binding, now animates. Use with Transaction to override this behavior. (96852321)

Released yesterday to devs, today to PB testers, mobile Safari is now 16.2
iOS 16.2 beta 2 (20C5043e) - November 8, 2022
iPadOS 16.2 beta 2 (20C5043e) - November 8, 2022
macOS 13.1 beta 2 (22C5044e) - November 8, 2022
watchOS 9.2 beta 2 (20S5342d) - November 8, 2022
tvOS 16.2 beta 2 (20K5342d) - November 8, 2022

 

[Realityck]

I didn't see a topic for tvOS beta 2 but the notes shows this fix.

TV App​

Resolved in tvOS 16.2 beta 2​

• Fixed: Play tracking (Up Next, and Top Shelf Update) won’t work for all platforms. (101258095)

 

[Eldaerenth Faexidor]

I am so looking forward to freeform!

 

[Yeetus]

5G's finally working! Airtel, Delhi (NSA).

 

[GlassFingers]

I cannot wait to use FreeForm! I tried some of the other brainstorming apps out there a couple months back, and each of them had different issues… I think Apple is going to get it right!

 

[unclemax]

someone mentioned on Reddit that following spreading of anti-Xi Jing Ping messages, Apple made AirDrop mode “Receive from Everyone“ have a time limit of 10 minutes in China in this beta. Sad if it makes it into the release…

 

[Malbrute]

“The new architecture requires the HomePod 16.2 beta software, and it causes the Home app not to work with devices updated to iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2, or macOS Ventura 13.1.”

Seems like a mistake here. Should be only work with?