iOS 16.1.2 is here and focuses on crash detection feature

Enlarge / An iPhone and an Apple Watch showing the crash detection function. Apple

Apple today released a minor software update for iPhones. Unlike many of its other iOS updates, the new iOS 16.1.2 was not released alongside updates to Apple's other operating systems like macOS or watchOS.

iOS 16.1.2 mainly does two things, according to Apple's release notes: improves compatibility with unspecified wireless carriers, and improves collision detection on iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. .

Apple hasn't gone into detail about the types of optimizations we're talking about. Collision detection is a new feature that can notify emergency services when the phone's internal sensors have detected that you have been involved in a car accident. Apple has developed algorithms that look at a variety of data from the phone's sensors (such as the accelerometer and G-force sensors) and other factors such as microphone activity to try to accurately detect crashes.

Some users have complained that scenarios other than a car crash, especially roller coaster rides at amusement parks, trigger the algorithm. But it's unclear if the iOS 16.1.2 optimizations fix these issues or just aim to fine-tune the algorithm in other scenarios.

The next iOS update should be much bigger. iOS 16.2 will implement Sports Scores with Live Activities, allowing users to see live score updates for select sports games either on the lock screen or in the iPhone 14 Pro's Live Island. . It will also include Apple's new Freeform visual note-taking app, lock screen widgets for sleep and medication tracking, additional always-on lock screen customizations for the iPhone 14 Pro, and the 5G support in India.

This update should arrive in December. In the meantime, here are Apple's brief release notes for 16.1.2:

This update provides important security updates and the following improvements for your iPhone:

Improved compatibility with wireless carriers Collision detection optimizations on iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro models

For more information on Apple Software Update Security Content, please visit this website: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201222