After nearly two months of beta testing, Apple is almost ready to push the iOS 15.6 software update to the masses. While it’s not as feature-rich as the iOS 15.5 or iOS 15.4 that came before it, there are still a few things you’ll want to know about it.
The iOS 15.6 update, as well as iPadOS 15.6, are in the Release Candidate stage of beta testing, which is the last step before a public release. The RC became available on July 12 for developers and public beta testers.
1. New Controls for Live Sports in the TV App
There’s only one new feature that Apple acknowledges for iOS 15.6: a set of controls for live sports games in the TV app. With the new controls, you can pause, rewind, or fast-forward live sports coverage, as well as restart the whole broadcast so you can watch the game from the beginning.
2. Bug Fixes and Security Updates
Aside from the new TV controls for live sports games, the only other things Apple acknowledges for iOS 15.6 are some bug fixes:
• Fixes an issue where Settings may continue to display that device storage is full even if it is available.
• Fixes an issue that may cause braille devices to slow down or stop responding when navigating text in Mail.
• Fixes an issue in Safari where a tab may revert back to a previous page.
The security updates have not been revealed yet, but you can find them on Apple’s security updates page when they become available.
3. Clear Tabs When Clearing Safari Data
Usually, when you go to Settings –> Safari –> Clear History and Website Data –> Clear History and Data, your history, cookies, and other browsing data would just immediately disappear. In iOS 15.6, you may also be asked to “Close Tabs” or “Keep Tabs.” This option is just for all your open tabs in the main “[#] Tabs” grouping, but custom Tab Groups will not be affected.
4. Improve Communication Safety
If you have a child in your family group, there’s now an option via Settings –> Screen Time –> [Child’s Name] –> Communication Safety that lets you “Improve Communication Safety.” You can toggle that switch on if you want to help Apple improve the Communication Safety feature.
Help Apple improve Communication Safety by sharing analytics and usage data. Analytics and data are aggregated in a form that is not personally identifiable. No messages or media are shared with Apple.
If you’ve never opened the “Communication Safety” options, you may see a splash screen (left screenshot below) asking you to “Share With Apple” or “Don’t Share” analytics and usage data. You may also see a notification on your child’s Screen Time page asking to “Improve Communication Safety,” which opens the splash screen seen below.
5. New Options for Incoming International Calls
Now, whenever you receive an international call from an unknown sender, iOS will label it as an international call and provide an option to report it as junk.
6. Upgraded Home Invitations Menu
In the Home app, invitations to join homes now have a space between them, as seen below. Also, there aren’t any “Accept” buttons on your Home settings view. Instead, you’ll see “View,” which brings up a splash page with more information where you can accept or decline the invite.
Home’s most significant update to the invitation process is a new “Report Junk” button for invitations sent from unknown senders, i.e., users not in your contacts. Before, you could just accept or decline invites from unknown contacts, but now you can view more info or report it as spam.
Have you seen any new iOS 15.6 features? Let us know in the comments below!
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