iOS 13.6, iPadOS 13.6, macOS 10.15.6, watchOS 6.2.8, and tvOS 13.4.8 Add News Features, Car Keys, Symptom Tracking

Originally published at: https://tidbits.com/2020/07/15/ios-13-6-ipados-13-6-macos-10-15-6-watchos-6-2-8-and-tvos-13-4-8-add-news-features-car-keys-symptom-tracking/

Late-cycle updates for Apple’s operating system let you (theoretically) use your iPhone as a Car Key, add local news and audio stories to News, help you track symptoms, and more.

In Catalina changes

  • Resolve a bug where certain USB mice and trackpads may lose connection

I wonder of that’s code for fixing USB disconnects which has been rumored to be behind many of these recent disk not ejected properly faults.

The HomePod software was also updated to 13.4.8. No specifics in the notes.

I wonder if this Catalina update fixed the Spotlight calculator excessive CPU load bug.

Installed the update today on my iPhone and iPad. Everything went mostly ok except for issues with Photos. The update lost all of the albums that had been synced to Photos from my Mac (I don’t use iCloud photos as my library is very large).

Interestingly the photos were still present on the devices in the timeline view, but none of the synced albums existed anymore.

In any case connecting to my Mac and resyncing fixed the problem.

My Homekit automations stopped working after I updated my Homepods to 13.4.8. By chance I found my Apple TV was still on 13.4.6. When updated it to 13.4.8 the automations started working again (I have the ATV set to auto-update but it had been turned off for a couple of days).
It seems that Homepods and Apple TVs need to be in sync with software updates for reliable Homekit operation.

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Very disappointed there’s no fixes for the issues of the Mac Apple TV app as it exhibits several problems for me (installing duplicate copies of movies purchased, losing/moving items in Home Videos that I added myself, the “Watch Now” panel not accurately reflecting what’s been watched, etc.). Regarding Mail in Catalina, the only issue I am experiencing is the immediate archival of incoming messages instead of leaving them in the Inbox.

Same here. This app is annoying as hell. Utter junk. :exploding_head:

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It did not. :sob:

The inclusion of CarKey in 13.6 (and not waiting for 14.0) is that BMW has started delivery of cars with CarKey hardware (and supporting in-car software and backend-systems) and could not wait for 14.0. They needed support in iOS and matchOS now.

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“MatchOS” sounds interesting. It could be a dating (or covid!) app or Apple is working on a smart product that is the size of a matchstick (remember them?) :grinning:

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Was pretty excited to read the words “Unless you’ve just bought a BMW that rolled off the line in the last two weeks…”, because…I have! Alas, though, my X3 is not on the list of models that will support it. BMW has published a list of Car Keys capable models on its website, in case you’re curious.

Oh, that’s a bummer! (Bimmer bummer? :slight_smile:)

I admit that I saw so many BMW models listed that I just assumed it was all of them. Thanks for the link to the actual list.

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Installed iOS 13.6 on my iPad mini, and found that my touch id no longer worked. I wound deleting my fingerprint and creating a new one. Haven’t yet updated my iPhone. Otherwise all seems okay.