It’s pretty unusual for Apple to release a major iOS update over the weekend, but the company did this with iOS 11.2, which, among other changes, offers support for Apple Pay Cash, 7.5-watt charging on compatible devices and a fix for a nasty date bug that can cause devices to enter a soft reset loop.
The update seems to have been released early to handle a recently discovered date bug that can cause springboard to crash, rendering an affected device barely usable.
It’s also been noted that the update, which was released on December 2nd, seems to share the same creation time as the betas, which did not suffer from the date bug.
Since its release, Apple has urged users who are experiencing unexpected restarts to disable notifications and install the latest version of the mobile operating system.
Along with the date bug fix, iOS 11.2 is supposed to activate Apple Pay Cash, the company’s peer-to-peer money transfer solution, but backend support does not appear to be live. Embedded as part of Messages, Apple Pay Cash allows users in the U.S. to send money to other Apple Pay users via a prepaid cash card which can be used for Apple Pay transactions. Alternatively, users can transfer funds to their bank account.
The new version of iOS also enables fast 7.5-watt wireless charging for the iPhone 8 and iPhone X handsets. Prior to this, the charging technology had been limited to 5-watts of power, the same throughput as Apple’s wired adapter. The company promised faster charging speeds would be enabled through updated firmware.
Other changes include three new Live wallpapers for iPhone X, improved video camera stabilization, support in Podcasts for automatically advancing to the next episode from the same show and support in HealthKit for downhill snow sports distance.
Apple has also included other fixes such as a resolution to a Mail issue that could cause the app to appear to be checking for new messages even when a download is complete. Another issue caused cleared Mail notifications from Exchange accounts to reappear.
Other bugs addressed by iOS 11.2 include an issue where Settings could open to a blank screen, a problem that prevented swiping to Today View or Camera from the Lock Screen and an issue preventing Music controls from showing up on the Lock Screen. Apple also remedied hiccups associated with VoiceOver, Calculator, Find My iPhone and iCloud. General stability improvements to Calendar and the soft keyboard are also included.
As usual, users can snag the update by navigating to Settings > General > Software Update or downloading and installing the update via iTunes.
If you’ve tried iOS 11.2 and have any feedback to offer, please let us know what you think in the comments.
Via AppleInsider and support.apple.com