iOS 12.2 now available to download, Apple News and Apple News+ comes to Canada

Coming off Apple’s ‘It’s Show Time” event, the company has pushed out an update to its operating system, now at iOS version 12.2.

This update officially brings Apple News, and the newly announced Apple News+, to Canada. Apple News+ comes with 30 Canadian magazine titles and costs $12.99 CAD per month.

In addition, iOS 12.2 also loads up your iPhone and iPad with a bunch of new Animoji characters, specifically the owl, boar, giraffe, and shark.

Here’s the complete list of release notes that also comes with the usual unknown ‘bug fixes and improvements.’

Apple News+

• Apple News+ is a new subscription service that extends the Apple News experience with hundreds of magazines and top newspapers
• Our editors handpick top articles and magazine issues, and you also get personalized recommendations on the topics most interesting to you
• Automatic downloads make it easy to read magazine issues offline
• Apple News is now available in Canada, with a free experience that includes handpicked Top Stories, a personalized Today feed, and support for both English and French
• Apple News+ is available in the U.S. and in Canada, with dozens of additional Canadian magazines

Siri

• Ask Siri on your iPhone or iPad to play any video, show, movie, sports game, or channel on Apple TV. For example, “Hey Siri, play Free Solo on my TV”

Animoji

• Four new Animoji—owl, boar, giraffe and shark—are included for iPhone X and later, iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation) and iPad Pro 11-inch

AirPlay

• Dedicated TV controls in Control Center and on the Lock Screen give you quick access to TV controls
• AirPlay multitasking for video allows you to browse other apps, as well as play other short form audio and video files locally on your device without interrupting AirPlay
• AirPlay destinations are now grouped by content type making it faster for you to find what device you want to play to

Apple Pay

• Apple Pay Cash customers can now transfer money to their bank accounts instantly using their Visa debit cards
• Wallet app now conveniently displays Apple Pay credit and debit transactions right below the card

It’s worth noting that, at this time, Apple Pay Cash isn’t available in Canada — although it did appear in the iOS 12.2 beta.

Screen Time

• Downtime can be configured with a different schedule for each day of the week
• A new toggle enables easily turning app limits on or off temporarily

Safari

• Website sign-in now occurs automatically after filling credentials with Password AutoFill
• Warnings now appear when loading unencrypted webpages
• Removes support for the expired Do Not Track standard to prevent potential use as a fingerprinting variable; Intelligent Tracking Prevention now protects against cross-site tracking by default
• Smart Search Field queries can now be modified by tapping the arrow icon next to search suggestions

Apple Music

• The Browse tab shows more editorial highlights on a single page making it easier to discover new music, playlists, and more

AirPods

• Support for new AirPods (2nd generation)

This update also includes other improvements and bug fixes. This update:

• Supports Air Quality Index in Maps for US, UK, and India
• Includes information in Settings on how much time remains on your device’s warranty period
• Supports real-time text (RTT) for phone calls made through a nearby iPhone on iPad and iPod Touch
• Displays a “5G E” icon for iPhone 8 and later, iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation) or iPad Pro 11-inch indicating that users are in an area where AT&T’s 5G Evolution network is available
• Improves quality of audio recordings in Messages
• Improves stability and performance of Apple TV Remote on iOS
• Fixes an issue that prevented some missed calls from appearing in Notification Center
• Addresses an issue where a badge notification could appear on Settings even though no action is needed
• Addresses an issue in Settings > General > iPhone Storage where the storage size of some large apps, the System category, and the Other category in the storage bar graph could be incorrect
• Fixes an issue that could cause Voice Memos to automatically play back recordings after connecting to a car Bluetooth device
• Resolves an issue that could cause Voice Memos to temporarily prevent renaming a recording