Today, Apple is rolling out updates for all of its major platforms. These updates lay the groundwork for upcoming features such as the Apple Card and of course, the future devices that will likely be announced later this year.
The releases of iOS 13, watchOS 6 and macOS Catalina are likely just a couple of months away, but that isn’t stopping Apple from giving the current versions a sendoff. Apple has released iOS 12.4, HomePod 12.4, tvOS 12.4, watchOS 5.3 and macOS 10.14.6, most of which bring important tweaks. The iOS update is most useful if you’re setting up a new iPhone you can wireless transfer data directly from an old handset to a new one instead of restoring from iCloud or iTunes. Apple News has also seen some refinements, with downloaded issues showing up in My Magazines and all News+ publications appearing in the catalog at the top of the feed.
WatchOS 5.3 further expands the Apple Watch’s EKG support to Canada and Singapore. More crucially however, the update for watchOS (and iOS) reenables the Walkie Talkie feature that was disabled due to a serious vulnerability that could’ve allowed someone to covertly eavesdrop on another iPhone.
While the iPad will also get the iOS 12.4 update, it will likely be the last strictly iOS update as Apple shifts to iPadOS, the operating system forked out of iOS to further expand capabilities for the iPad. Apple’s new iPad-centric OS will be released in the fall once iOS 13 comes out.
The macOS upgrade largely parallels the Apple News updates on iOS alongside fixes for Boot Camp and graphics. The tvOS improvements aren’t clear, but likely bring parity with iOS where relevant. The HomePod update, meanwhile, is expected to expand support for the smart speaker to Japan and Taiwan. None of these are earth-shattering, but they should ensure that your Apple gear is in tip-top shape before the bigger software revisions arrive in the fall.
