Apple Officially Releases iOS 10.2 with TV App and 100 New Emoji

4 Min Read Published: Dec 12th, 2016

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Apple officially released iOS 10.2 Monday, and it brings a slew of new changes to the latest iPhone operating system.

The biggest feature of iOS 10.2, arguably, is the addition of the TV app — which Cupertino announced at its latest keynote in October. It’s a complete overhaul of the iOS video viewing experience, and replaces the stock Videos app. All content downloaded from iTunes are now played through the new app, and it also aggregates any streaming content from third-party apps. Siri has also learned a few new tricks, and you can ask it to continue watching a show on any of your devices or ask for recommendations, Engadget reported.

Besides the TV app, one of the most apparent update is the addition of 100 new Unicode 9.0 emoji characters. The new emoji include avocado, bacon, shrug, face palm, selfie, and, just in time for the holidays, “Mother Christmas.” There are also 11 new profession emoji in both male and female options, as well as male and female versions of the existing 33 profession emojis. Many of the existing emoji have been redrawn and revamped for Retina displays, too.

Additionally, iOS 10.2 brings a host of other app changes and improvements. There’s new “love” and “celebration” full-screen effect in Messages, some additional music sorting features in Music, and push notification support for HomeKit devices that require your attention. Like most Apple updates, iOS 10.2 also includes many under-the-hood changes. Chief among them are a boost to connectivity and performance for Bluetooth devices. There are also bug fixes in FaceTime, Mail and Photos, as well as additional support for RAW photos taken by digital cameras in the latter app.

Notably, the latest iOS update coincides with the release of watchOS 3.1.1 and tvOS 10.1 — both of which provide support for some of the new features in iOS 10.2, including the TV app and the new emoji. Find below a list of major changes made in Apple’s iOS 10.2 update.

Changes Made in iOS 10.2

Use Up Next to see the movies and shows you’re currently watching and pick up where you left off
Get recommendations for new movies and TV shows in Watch Now
Discover new apps and the latest iTunes releases in the Store
Access the Library for your iTunes purchases and rentals

Emoji

Beautifully redesigned emoji that reveal even more detail
Over 100 new emoji including new faces, food, animals, sports, and professions

Photos

Improves stabilization and delivers faster frame rate for Live Photos
Improves accuracy of groupings of similar photos of the same person in the People album
Fixes an issue where Memories might generate a memory from photos of screenshots, whiteboards or receipts
Fixes an issue where the camera would stay zoomed in after switching back from the Camera Roll on iPhone 7 Plus
Additional support for RAW digital cameras

Messages

Adds new love and celebration full screen effects in Messages
Fixes an issue that sometimes prevented the keyboard from displaying in Messages

Music

Swipe up the Now Playing screen to more easily access Shuffle, Repeat and Up Next
Choose how to sort Playlists, Albums, and Songs in Library

News

Stories you’ve saved for later now appear the new Saved section
The best paid stories from channels you subscribe to will now appear in a dedicated section in For You
It’s now easier than ever to get to the next story, just swipe left or tap Next Story while reading

Mail

Fixes an issue that caused the Move sheet to persist after filing a Mail message
Addresses an issue with long press activating copy and paste in Mail
Fixes an issue in which the wrong message would be selected after deleting a Mail conversation

Accessibility

Adds BraillePen14 support to VoiceOver
Fixes an issue where the braille table could switch unexpectedly with VoiceOver
Fixes an issue where sometimes Siri enhanced voices were unavailable to VoiceOver
Fixes an issue where VoiceOver users could not re-order items in lists
Fixes an issue where Switch Control was sometimes unable to delete Voicemails

Other improvements and fixes

Adds notification support for HomeKit accessories including window coverings, occupancy, motion, door/window, smoke, carbon monoxide, and water leak sensors
Adds notification support for HomeKit accessories when software updates are available to HomeKit accessories
Improves Bluetooth performance and connectivity with 3rd party accessories
Fixes an issue that could cause FaceTime participants to appear out of focus
Fixes an issue that could cause FaceTime calls to appear with incorrect aspect ratio and orientation
Fixes an issue that prevented some Visual Voicemail from completing playback
Fixes a Safari Reader issue that could cause articles to open as empty pages
Fixes an issue that could cause Safari to quit unexpectedly after marking an item as read in Reading List