iOS 14.5 releasing ‘next week’: Here’s everything you need to know

iOS 14.5 will be released ‘next week’, bringing several new features and improvements including, new emoji characters, Unlock iPhone with Apple Watch, AirPlay 2 support for Apple Fitness+, App Tracking Transparency, updates to the Music app, lyrics sharing, and more.

Here’s what’s new with iOS 14.5

Unlock iPhone with Apple Watch

Particularly useful for the world we live in right now, iOS 14.5 adds a new “Unlock iPhone with Apple Watch” feature.

When a user is wearing a face mask, the iPhone will perform a Face ID scan as normal, but it will be able to detect whether or not a face covering is being worn. If so, the iPhone will verify as much of the user’s face as possible with the face mask on, then unlock the device based on if the user is wearing an Apple Watch which has been unlocked by a passcode.

When the iPhone has been unlocked using the new “Unlock iPhone with Apple Watch” feature, the user will receive a notification alerting them of the recent activity, with the option to then lock the device from their wrist.

AirPlay 2 for Apple Fitness+

iOS 14.5 allows users to AirPlay their AppleFitness+ workouts from their device to an ‌AirPlay‌ 2-enabled TV or set-top box.

It came as a surprise when the subscription service launched in December that it didn’t support AirPlay, with users questioning why Apple’s own service didn’t support the ability to beam video workouts up onto other devices. iOS 14.5 fixes this.

New Emoji

Part of the release is 217 new emoji, including a mix of skin tones for couples, gender options for emoji with beards, a heart on fire, an updated syringe, and more.

iOS 14.5 has a mix of new and updated emoji characters. With the release, Apple has changed its syringe to go from showing a syringe with blood to a syringe with a clear medicine.

Image: Emojipedia

The update also sees Apple swap its old Headphone emoji to look more like AirPods Max, which launched in December.

Lyric Sharing in Music

iOS 14.5 adds new lyric sharing features to Apple Music, which allow users to share lines of lyrics and audio clips in Messages, as well as the ability to post lyrics to Facebook and Instagram Stories.

The update allows users to long-press individual lines of real-time lyrics when playing to share them in Messages through new iMessage cards, or multiple lines to be posted in social media stories.

Image: Federico Viticci