Today Apple released iOS 9.2 to iPads, iPhones, and iPods worldwide. The update is another incremental release, improving on features and removing bugs that are still lingering since the release of iOS 9 earlier this year. This time around, Apple's change log is fairly substantial, and it looks like there's a bit more detail on some of the major bugs and stability fixes being made, which are often not highlighted in the list included with the OTA update.

One notable feature addition in the update is support for Mail Drop in the Mail application, which allows you to send attachments that are several gigabytes in size by storing them in iCloud. It's a bit surprising that Mail Drop has taken so long to make its way over to iOS, but the relatively small size of the files that iOS users would have been attaching in the past may have played a role. With support for recording and editing UHD video on newer devices the feature has become more relevant.

The Music app sees a number of improvements relating to Apple Music as well. You can now download albums or playlists to local storage from your iCloud Music Library by tapping the iCloud button next to their listing in the app. There's also an indicator to let you know whether tracks are stored locally or being streamed from the cloud. Apple has also improved the display of metadata for classical music, with listings for works, composers, and performers, along with a few additional UI and functionality changes.

Other notable changes include support for 3D Touch in iBooks on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, a new Top Stories section in Apple News, and support for Siri in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

As for the bug fixes and improvements, there are a great number of them and I can't list them all here. Some of the ones that stand out to me are a fix for a bug that would disable alarms when updating iOS, which is something that caused a number of people who rely on their phone alarms to not be woken up when iOS 9.1 was released. They've also fixed an issue where the iPad keyboard would randomly trigger the text selection mode, which is something that I've encountered myself. Other fixes include layout changes to the calendar app to fix a bug that prevented all seven days of the week from showing up in the week view, 

On the hardware and software side, the update brings one final change which is support for Apple's new USB Camera Adapter. This product was just released today, and it improves on the older camera adapter by supporting USB 3 transfer speeds on the iPad Pro, and bringing support for iPhones which were previously not supported. The old lightning camera adapter should now also work with the iPhone 5 and up, but it appears that the 30pin version is still limited to iPads, and all versions of the iPod Touch are left off the support list.

iOS 9.2 is rolling out now, and by the time you read this you should be able to download it to your device by visiting the software update section of the iOS settings application. The size of the OTA update on an iPhone 6s is 271MB, while on an iPad Mini 4 it's 260MB. When updating, you can view the full change log for the update by clicking on the learn more button underneath the update highlights.

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  • tipoo - Tuesday, December 8, 2015 - link

    OSX 10.11.2 also out today. I hope it /finally/ fixes my wifi/networking issues with page load stalls on safari, which I've had since Yosemite (!!). Two full releases, this is silly.
  • Oxford Guy - Wednesday, December 9, 2015 - link

    I'm waiting for 10.11.12.14.8.3.C
  • melgross - Tuesday, December 8, 2015 - link

    So, where's the iPad Pro review? How long does this take after the teaser comes out shortly after the device itself?
  • name99 - Tuesday, December 8, 2015 - link

    The AnandTech reviews include a ton of performance testing and battery life testing that other reviews do not. That stuff takes time. It's also what makes the reviews useful reference points, sometimes even two or three years later.
  • melgross - Tuesday, December 8, 2015 - link

    I agree that the reviews are great, and I understand that it does take some time, but I see reviews here from devices that came out afterwards. Anandtech had this device early, as we were treated to that pre review shortly after the embargo was over.
  • magreen - Tuesday, December 8, 2015 - link

    This.
  • Sttm - Wednesday, December 9, 2015 - link

    This was my first phone update since breaking up with Android. It was such a delightful affair, OS update announced, OS update available, OS update installed.
  • trparky - Wednesday, December 9, 2015 - link

    Yeah, isn't it great? No miles of red tape to get your update through.

    Basically it comes down to this... If you care about updated software and the security of your device, buy an iPhone. You are guaranteed software updates and security patches on the iPhone platform regardless of your carrier whereas on Android you might get them... if hell freezes over.
  • doggface - Sunday, December 13, 2015 - link

    Or buy a Nexus device... I get a security update every month now. All regular like. It's pretty good.
  • robinthakur - Monday, December 14, 2015 - link

    Yer, one of the reasons I left my HTC one m8 for an iPhone 6 Plus, because whenever an OTA update came out, I had to hook it up via USB, reinstall the original bootloader, relock it, install the OTA, change the boot loader, unlock it. On the one occasion I just did the OTA update the first time, it nearly bricked the phone and I had to go hunting for the appropriate ROM to put on it and my phone was out of action for 3 days. The only reason I unlocked it was so that I could get different alerts on my M8 dotview case. After standing back from the situation and realising how ridiculous it was, I went and got an iPhone and don't regret it in the slightest.

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