Apple released a minor software update for iPhones today. Unlike many of its other iOS updates, the new iOS 16.1.2 was not released along with updates for Apple’s other operating systems, such as macOS or watchOS.
iOS 16.1.2 primarily does two things, according to Apple’s release notes: it improves compatibility with unspecified wireless carriers, and it optimizes the Crash Detection feature on the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 ProMax.
Apple hasn’t gone into detail about the types of optimizations we’re talking about. Crash detection is a newly introduced feature that can alert emergency services when the phone’s internal sensors have detected that you’ve been in a car accident. Apple has developed algorithms that look at a variety of data from the phone’s sensors (such as the accelerometer and G-force sensors) and other factors, such as microphone activity, to try and accurately detect crashes.
Some users have complained that non-car crash scenarios, especially roller coaster rides at theme parks, trigger the algorithm. But it’s not clear if the optimizations in iOS 16.1.2 address those issues or if they’re simply meant to refine the algorithm in other scenarios.
The next iOS update is expected to be much more important. iOS 16.2 implements sports scores with Live Activities, allowing users to see live score updates for certain sports games on the iPhone 14 Pro’s lock screen or Dynamic Island. It also includes Apple’s new Freeform app for visual note-taking, lock screen widgets for sleep and medication tracking, additional always-on lock screen customizations for the iPhone 14 Pro, and support for 5G in India.
That update will probably come sometime in December. In the meantime, here are Apple’s brief release notes for 16.1.2:
This update provides important security updates and the following improvements for your iPhone:
- Improved wireless carrier compatibility
- Crash detection optimizations on iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro models
For information about the security content of Apple software updates, visit this website:
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201222
