Apple on Tuesday released the first iOS 16.2 beta to developers, and it comes with some new features – especially for iPad users. And when it comes to the iPhone, Apple has added an intriguing new option that lets users report to the company when Emergency SOS is unintentionally triggered.
Apple wants to know when Emergency SOS is accidentally triggered
As noted by iDeviceHelp and also confirmed by 9to5Mac, iOS 16.2 beta now asks users for feedback when they cancel Emergency SOS mode. The system shows a notification that opens the Feedback Assistant to send Apple data about what happened at that moment. “Did you intentionally trigger Emergency SOS on your iPhone?” the message reads.
For those unfamiliar, Emergency SOS is a feature introduced years ago in iOS that lets users quickly call emergency services by simply holding down the iPhone’s buttons for a few seconds. With iPhone 14, Emergency SOS has been integrated with Crash Detection, which uses the iPhone’s sensors to identify car crashes and automatically call the emergency services.
Coincidentally, the new feature to send feedback after canceling Emergency SOS comes after the Wall Street Journal reported last month that Crash Detection had been mistakenly calling emergency services when iPhone and Apple Watch users were riding a roller coaster. However, the report was later updated to clarify that users were actually accidentally pressing the device’s buttons to trigger Emergency SOS.
Of course, it’s definitely interesting to see that Apple is interested in getting feedback on the feature to make it better and avoid false positives.
More about iOS 16.2
In addition to feedback for the Emergency SOS feature, iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2 introduce the new Freeform app – which was announced back in June at WWDC 2022. This app allows users to write and draw together in a collaborative canvas.
The updates also come with improvements to the Home app and Live Activities. For iPad users, iPadOS 16.2 enables support for an external display with Stage Manager. However, it’s unclear at this point when the update will become available to the public.
Spot any other changes in today’s release of iOS 16.2 beta 1? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter @9to5Mac.
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