Apple releases iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2 with Freeform and Apple Music Sing on board

A few hours ago, the latest versions of Apple’s mobile operating systems started rolling out to all supported devices. We are of course talking about iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2.

With these releases, Freeform makes its debut. It’s a new app designed for “creative brainstorming and collaboration,” according to Apple. It allows you to visually organize and present content on a “flexible canvas”, with built-in sharing and collaboration options. “A wide range of files” can be added and previewed online without ever leaving the board. Freeform tables are stored in iCloud, so they sync across devices.

free form

Additionally, Apple Music Sing, the previously announced karaoke feature, is also bundled in these versions. There’s a new option that brings the total number of iCloud data categories protected with end-to-end encryption to 23, including iCloud backup, Notes, and Photos, new settings to let you hide wallpaper or notifications when always-on display is enabled on iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, new Sleep, Medicine, and Activity widgets, and SharePlay support in Game Center for multiplayer games so you can play with people with which you are in a FaceTime call.

Apple Music sing

You also get a bunch of bug fixes and various improvements including better search in messages, news articles in the weather relevant to that location, attendee sliders in notes allowing you to see live indicators when others update shared notes, AirDrop automatically returning to contacts only after 10 minutes to prevent unwanted content receiving requests, and collision detection optimizations on iPhone 14 and 14 Pro models.

iPads get external display support for up to 6K resolution on the 12.9″ iPad Pro (5th Gen and later), 11″ iPad Pro (3rd Gen and later ) and iPad Air (5th generation), the ability to drag and drop files and windows to a connected display and back, and support for using up to four apps on the display iPad and four on the external screen.

Fixed an issue that caused multitouch gestures to not respond when using the Zoom accessibility feature, and tracking notifications now alert you if an AirTag separated from its owner is nearby and has recently played a chime for indicate that it is moving.

These updates also fix over 30 security vulnerabilities, making it even more important to install new software as soon as possible. Since Apple doesn’t typically do staged rollouts, iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2 should be available to everyone by now. If you haven’t received a notification yet, you can manually check for an update and it should begin downloading immediately.

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