Apple today released iOS and iPadOS 13.6, major updates that arrive more than a month after the release of iOS and iPadOS 13.5.1. iOS and iPadOS 13.6 introduce new software, news and health update features.
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IOS and iPadOS 13.6 updates are available on all eligible devices over the air in the Settings app. To access the updates, go to Settings> General> Software update. Apple also released an iOS 12.4.8 update for older devices that can’t run iOS 13.
The software introduces a lever to customize the updates, giving users granular control over the download and installation of new versions of iOS and iPadOS.
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IOS users can decide whether their iPhone or iPad should automatically download an iOS update when connected to WiFi, and when that update should be installed.
An iOS update download switch enables or disables automatic downloads, and an iOS update install switch allows users to choose to install a software update overnight while the device is charging. The new update feature will be a welcome change for iPhone and iPad users who prefer to stay on older versions of iOS and don’t want their devices to update automatically.
iOS 13.6 also provides support for Car Key, a feature available in both OSiOS 13 and iOS 14. Car Key is designed to allow an iPhone Apple or Apple Watch to be used instead of a physical key to unlock an NFC-enabled vehicle .
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Car Key needs to be implemented by automakers to function, and BMW is one of Apple’s first partners. BMW’s Digital Key feature for iPhone will allow iPhone owners to tap to unlock their vehicles, start the car by placing the iPhone on the smartphone tray, impose limitations on young drivers and share keys with up to five other users.
Car Key will work on a wide range of BMW models including 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, X5, X6, X7, X5M, X6M and Z4 models if manufactured after July 1, 2020 An iPhone XR, XS, Apple Watch Series 5, or newer, just like the iOS 13.6 update.
In the Health app, there is a new “Symptoms” section that allows users to add symptoms of various diseases, choosing from options such as body and muscle pain, changes in appetite, cough, dizziness, headache, nausea and more.
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For the Apple News app, iOS 13.6 adds a feature that saves its place in an Apple News article when it starts reading something and then exits the article or app, useful for long format content.
Apple News on iOS 13.6 also includes the new Apple News + Audio feature where Apple will offer some news in audio capability, but this option was not activated during the beta version.
Apple’s full release notes for the update are available below:
iOS 13.6 adds support for digital car keys, features audio stories on Apple News +, and contains a new category of symptoms in the Health app. This version also includes bug fixes and improvements.
Digital car keys
– Unlock, lock and start your compatible car with your iPhone
– Securely delete digital keys from a lost device through iCloud
– Easily share digital keys with iMessage
– Driver-specific profiles so you can configure shared keys for full access or restricted driving
– Power reserve allows you to unlock and start your car for up to five hours after iPhone runs out of batteryNewsApple Newsp
– Audio stories are professionally narrated versions of some of the best readings from Apple News +, selected and produced by the editors of Apple News as part of their subscription to Apple News +
– Apple News Today is a new free audio briefing on the top stories of the day from the publishers of Apple News, also available in the Podcasts app
– A new Audio tab makes it easy to find Apple News Today and AppleNews + audio stories
– CarPlay lets you listen to Apple News Today and Apple News + audio stories on the go
– Local news on your Today feed provides extensive coverage of San Francisco, the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Houston and New York City
– More stories available from local news providers with a subscription to Apple News +
– Your Apple News daily newsletter can now be personalized with stories that reflect your interestsHealth
– New category for symptoms in the Health app, including symptoms recorded from Cycle Tracking and ECG
– Ability to record new symptoms such as fever, chills, sore throat or cough, and share them with third-party appsThis update also includes bug fixes and other improvements.
– Add a new setting to choose whether updates are automatically downloaded to your device when on Wi-Fi
– Fixed an issue that could cause apps to stop responding when syncing data from iCloud Drive
– Fixes an issue that could cause data roaming to appear disabled in eSIM even though it remains active
– Fixes an issue that causes some Saskatchewan phone calls to appear as originating in the United States
– Resolves an issue that could interrupt audio when making phone calls over Wi-Fi calls
– Fixes an issue that prevented some iPhone 6S and iPhone SE devices from registering for calls over Wi-Fi
– Resolves an issue that could cause the software keyboard to appear unexpectedly when connected to certain third-party hardware keyboards
– Fixes an issue that could cause Japanese hardware keyboards to be incorrectly assigned as a US keyboard.
– Fix stability issues when accessing Control Center when Assistive Touch was enabled
– Provides a mechanism for administrators to specify domains to exclude from traffic carried by always-on VPN connections
iOS and iPadOS 13.6 could be one of the final updates to the iOS 13 operating system as Apple shifts its focus to iOS 14, which is available to developers and public beta testers and will be released this fall.
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