Apple Releases iOS 11.2 with Faster Wireless Charging, Apple Pay Cash

iOS 11.2 is officially out. Apple released the iOS update on Saturday, capping just about month of beta testing. It’s now available to download for all eligible iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users.

Most notably, iOS 11.2 finally marks the release of Apple Pay Cash, the company’s new peer-to-peer payment system. Apple Pay Cash allows iOS users to send and receive funds via iMessage, and stores received payments in a new Cash card in the Wallet. Not all users have access to Apple Pay Cash at the time of this writing, however it’s expected to be rolled out to all users in the following days.

iOS 11.2 also allows iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X users to take advantage of 7.5W fast wireless charging, opposed to the older and slower 5W standard.

Like all Apple software updates, iOS 11.2 also includes a number of under-the-hood changes, bug fixes and important security patches. Among those updates, the update includes a fix for an animation bug in the native Calculator app which caused some keys or functions to be ignored when typed rapidly.

Among minor changes, iOS 11.2 introduces a Now Playing content controller for Apple TV in Control Center, a redesigned camera emoji, and new Live wallpapers for the iPhone X. It will also, for the first time, let developers offer introductory discounts on in-app auto-renewable subscription purchases. There’s also a new popup included in Control Center that explains iOS 11’s new Wi-Fi and Bluetooth functionality.

The new update was expected to add AirPlay 2, which will introduce a handful of improvements to the connectivity protocol. AirPlay 2 adds speaker and multi-room audio controls directly in the Home app. The updated protocol also lets users create a collaborative “Up Next” play queue so multiple iOS users can add songs to a playlist from their own devices. However it appears that AirPlay 2 was not included in the official iOS 11.2 update.

How to Install iOS 11.2

iOS 11.2 is now available as a free over-the-air update to all eligible devices including the iPhone 5s and later. Users can find and install the update via Settings > General > Software Update.

Changes Made in iOS 11.2

• Adds support for faster wireless charging on iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X with compatible third-party accessories
• Introduces three new Live wallpapers for iPhone X
• Improves video camera stabilization
• Adds support in Podcasts to automatically advance to the next episode from the same show
• Adds support in HealthKit for downhill snow sports distance as a data type
• Fixes an issue that could cause Mail to appear to be checking for new messages even when a download is complete
• Fixes an issue that could cause cleared Mail notifications from Exchange accounts to reappear
• Improves stability in Calendar
• Resolves an issue where Settings could open to a blank screen
• Fixes an issue that could prevent swiping to Today View or Camera from the Lock Screen
• Addresses an issue that could prevent Music controls from displaying on the Lock Screen
• Fixes an issue that could cause app icons to be arranged incorrectly on the Home Screen
• Addresses an issue that could prevent users from deleting recent photos when iCloud storage is exceeded
• Addresses an issue where Find My iPhone sometimes wouldn’t display a map
• Fixes an issue in Messages where the keyboard could overlap the most recent message
• Fixes an issue in Calculator where typing numbers rapidly could lead to incorrect results
• Addressed an issue where the keyboard could respond slowly
• Adds support for real-time text (RTT) phone calls for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Improves VoiceOver stability in Messages, Settings, App Store, and Music
• Resolves an issue that prevented VoiceOver from announcing incoming Notifications