Apple brings 100 new emoji and more to the iPhone with release of iOS 14.2

Emoji fans using an iPhone should be happy to see that iOS 14.2 has been released. Why? Because the latest build of Apple’s mobile operating system features a large number of new emoji including a transgender pride flag, a dodo, a pinched finger emoji, an anatomical heart, lungs, a man feeding a baby, and more. You can see the entire list of new emoji that comes with iOS 14.2 by visiting the Emojipedia website.

Apple updates iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS

One of the fun new features for iOS 14.2 brings music discovery app Shazam to the Control Center. We first told you about this back  in September when Apple dropped a public beta for iOS 14.2. Shazam is able to listen to a song playing in the background and fairly quickly, it will post the name of the tune, the artist who sings it, the lyrics, and more. The app was one of the first to be featured by Apple in a series of iconic ads for the brand new App Store that told us that whatever we are doing, “there’s an app for that.” Three years ago, Apple decided to purchase Shazam for $400 million.

The update includes eight new wallpapers in both light and dark mode. Those with an iPhone 12 series handset can use the magnifier app to detect people nearby and measure their distance away by using the LiDAR depth sensor. The Time-of-Flight sensor computes how long it takes for a beam of infrared light to bounce off of a subject and return to the phone. With this data, more accurate depth measurements are computed allowing the iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max to deliver enhanced AR capabilities and improved bokeh blurs on portraits. Speaking of the iPhone 12 series, iOS 14.2 adds support for the Leather Sleeve MagSafe accessory. Leather cases with MagSafe will be available to be pre-ordered starting today. The sleeves and the MagSafe Duo Charger. Both the leather sleeves and the MagSafe Duo Charger will be released at a later date, possibly not until 2021.

The update to iOS 14.2 also helps provide optimized battery charging for the AirPods slowing the rate at which the wireless Bluetooth earbuds batteries age. Users will receive a notification whenever the audio levels on their headphones are too loud and could cause problems to users’ hearing. New AirPlay controls can stream entertainment throughout your home. And there are many more items on the changelist.

The update also fixes a number of issues including one that keeps the iPhone screen black while viewing Netflix content, and one that makes the camera viewfinder appear black when the camera app is open. Some of the resolved issues revolve around widgets such as the weather widget that displays the temperature in Celsius even when it is set to Fahrenheit. One bug forces the Apple Watch app to unexpectedly close when opened and in some cases Apple Pay won’t send or accept cash via Siri. One bug prevents devices from charging wirelessly.

To update your iPhone go to Settings > General > Software Update. If the update is on your device, tap on Download and Install. As we said, iPadOS 14.2 is also available to be installed on a compatible iPad tablet and to do so, use the same directions we told you for the iPhone. The new update to watchOS 7.1 contains “new features, improvements, and bug fixes.” To update your Apple timepiece, first make sure that your iPhone is running the latest version of iOS. Make sure that your Apple Watch is updated to at least 50% and connect your iPhone to Wi-Fi. Keep your iPhone nearby your Apple Watch and the update will take place over several minutes to an hour. Thus, you might want to wait to update overnight.

You can also try to update your Apple Watch using the iPhone:

• Keep your Apple Watch on its charger until the update completes.
• On your iPhone, open the Watch app, then tap the My Watch tab.
• Tap General > Software Update.