The iOS 14.5 Release Candidate Is Now Available for iPhone

Apple's new iOS 14.5 will be coming out very soon, and that's even more evident now with the release of the iOS 14.5 Release Candidate (RC) on Tuesday, April 20. Anyone can install this update and get all of the same features iOS 14.5 will give everyone for iPhone; only you'll have a head start to using all of the updates in Maps, Music, Podcasts, Reminders, Shortcuts, Siri, and more.

The RC update comes one week after Apple's last 14.5 update, which was released to both developers and public beta testers on April 13. Apple pushed out the RC to all developers and public beta testers at 11 a.m. PDT, following the conclusion of its first 2021 event. During the presentation, Apple announced a new purple iPhone 12 and confirmed it would ship with iOS 14.5. Since that iPhone comes out on April 30, we can say that Apple will release the final version of iOS 14.5 by at least that date. However, the company could decide to seed the update sooner.

In iOS beta testing, the Release Candidate, formally known as the Golden Master (GM), is the "final" version of a piece of software. Apple sends it to developers and beta testers first to make sure there are no major issues overlooked. If there are, Apple will fix them and seed an "RC 2."

Whenever Apple decides that an RC is free from enough significant issues, that version becomes the one that eventually goes out to the public.

About This Update

The following includes all of the new features and changes that Apple noted in the 14.5 Software Updates page:

Unlock iPhone with Apple Watch

• Ability to unlock your iPhone X and later with Apple Watch Series 3 and later when you attempt to use Face ID while wearing a face mask

AirTag and Find My

• Support for AirTag to keep track of and find your important items like your keys, wallet, backpack and more, privately and securely in the Find My app
• Precision Finding uses visual, audible, and haptic feedback to guide you directly to your nearby AirTag using Ultra Wideband provided by the U1 chip on iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 models
• AirTag can be located by playing a sound via the built-in speaker
• The Find My network with hundreds of millions of devices can help you find your AirTag, even when it isn't nearby
• Lost Mode notifies you when your AirTag is found, and you can enter a phone number where you can be contacted

Emoji

• Support for separate skin tones for each individual in all variations of the couple kissing emoji and couple with heart emoji
• New face emojis, heart emojis, woman with a beard emoji

Siri

• Siri now includes more diverse voice options
• Incoming calls can be announced with Siri, including who is calling, when you're wearing your AirPods or compatible Beats headphones, and you can answer hands-free
• Group FaceTime calls are supported by asking Siri to FaceTime a list of contacts or a group name from Messages
• Emergency contacts can be called by asking Siri

Privacy

• App Tracking Transparency lets you control which apps are allowed to track your activity across other companies' apps and websites for ads or sharing with data brokers

Apple Music

• Share your favorite lyrics using Messages, Facebook, and Instagram Stories, and subscribers can play the snippet in Messages without leaving the conversation
• City charts showcase what's popular in over 100 cities from all over the world

Podcasts

• Podcasts Show Pages are redesigned to make it easier to start listening
• Option to save and download episodes, automatically adding them to your Library for quick access
• Download behavior and notification settings can be customized on a show-by-show basis
• Top Charts and popular categories in Search help you discover new shows

5G improvements

• Dual SIM support enables 5G connectivity on the line that's using cellular data on iPhone 12 models
• Smart Data Mode improvements further optimize your experience on 5G networks for better battery life and data usage on iPhone 12 models
• 5G international roaming enabled on supported carriers on iPhone 12 models

News

• Redesigned News+ tab enables Apple News+ subscribers to quickly find, download, and manage magazine and newspaper issues
• All-new Search experience that helps you find relevant topics, channels, and stories

Maps

• Accidents, hazards, or speed checks along your route can be reported by telling Siri on your iPhone or on CarPlay
• Estimated time of arrival (ETA) can be shared when cycling or walking, in addition to driving, by asking Siri or tapping on the route card at the bottom of the screen, then tapping Share ETA

Reminders

• Ability to sort reminders by Title, Priority, Due Date, or Creation date
• Option to print your reminder lists

Translate

• Translation playback speed can be adjusted by long pressing the play button

Gaming

• Xbox Series X|S Wireless Controller or Sony PS5 DualSense™ Wireless Controller support

Fitness+

• Ability to stream audio and video content from Apple Fitness+ workouts to AirPlay 2-enabled TVs and devices

CarPlay

• ETA in Apple Maps can be easily shared while driving with new Siri or keyboard controls in CarPlay

This release also fixes the following issues:

• Messages at the bottom of the thread may be hidden by the keyboard under certain circumstances
• Deleted messages may still appear in Spotlight search
• Messages may persistently fail to send texts in some threads
• Mail would not load new emails for some users until restarting the device
• Call blocking and identification section may not appear in Phone settings
• iCloud Tabs may not appear in Safari
• iCloud Keychain could be prevented from turning off
• Reminders created via Siri may be unintentionally set for early morning hours
• Battery health reporting system will recalibrate maximum battery capacity and peak performance capability on iPhone 11 models to address inaccurate estimates of battery health reporting for some users (support.apple.com/HT212247)
• Optimization to reduce the appearance of a dim glow that may appear at reduced brightness levels with black backgrounds on iPhone 12 models
• AirPods audio routing to incorrect device for Automatic Switching
• AirPods Automatic Switching notifications might be missing or duplicated

For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit this website: support.apple.com/kb/HT201222

Developer Notes

When it comes to developers, Apple issued the following report:

iOS & iPadOS 14.5 Release Notes

Overview

• The iOS & iPadOS 14.5 SDK provides support to develop apps for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices running iOS & iPadOS 14.5. The SDK comes bundled with Xcode 12.5 RC, available from Beta Software Downloads. For information on the compatibility requirements for Xcode 12.5, see Xcode 12.5 RC Release Notes.

Accessibility: New Features

• Many SF Symbols now have default accessibility labels. (70305995)

Battery Health: Resolved Issues

• iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max battery health reporting system will recalibrate maximum battery capacity and peak performance capability to address inaccurate estimates of battery health reporting for some users. For more information, see About recalibration of battery health reporting in iOS 14.5.

Combine: Resolved Issues

• Using Published in a subclass of a type conforming to ObservableObject now correctly publishes changes. (71816443)

Display: Resolved Issues

• iOS & iPadOS 14.5 includes an optimization to reduce the appearance of a dim glow that might appear at reduced brightness levels with black backgrounds.

Privacy: New Features

• iPad (8th generation), iPad Air (4th generation), iPad Pro 11-inch (2nd generation), and iPad Pro 12.9-inch (4th generation) now mute the built-in microphone when its Smart Folio is closed. To avoid unnecessarily recording the muted signal, the default behavior is to interrupt an audio session that is using the built-in microphone when the Smart Folio is closed. You can opt out of the playback interruption when the Smart Folio is closed by using the new AVAudioSession.CategoryOptionsoverrideMutedMicrophoneInterruption, allowing the audio session to continue playing uninterrupted while microphone input remains muted. For more information, see Responding to Audio Session Interruptions. (57042856)

Siri: New Features

• For Music, Podcasts, and Audiobooks requests, updated dialogs for app selection are now available. To ensure your app is set up to participate in Siri app selection, see Improving Siri Media Interactions and App Selection. (74555773)

SKAdNetwork: New Features

• With view-through attribution, SKAdNetwork now supports all ad formats for promoting apps. (70345857)

SKAdNetwork: Resolved Issues

You're now able to use either version 1.0 or version 2.0 signatures when generated using iOS & iPadOS 14.5 and later. (71474331)

SwiftUI New Features

• Added TitleAndIconLabelStyle, a new style for Label views that shows both the title and icon of the label using a system-standard layout. In most cases, labels show both title and icon by default. However, some containers might apply a different default label style to their content, such as only showing icons within toolbars on macOS and iOS. To opt in to showing both the title and the icon, apply the title and icon label style: Label("Lightning", systemImage: "bolt.fill").labelStyle(TitleAndIconLabelStyle()). (64646578)
• Types conforming to any style protocol, such as ButtonStyle or ToggleStyle, are now enforced to be value types. Styles must be structures or enumerations, not classes, and conforming a class to a style protocol may trigger an assertion. This is the same restriction that the system has always enforced on types conforming to View. (62886135)

SwiftUI: Resolved Issues

• You can now apply multiple sheet(isPresented:onDismiss:content:) and fullScreenCover(item:onDismiss:content:) modifiers in the same view hierarchy. (74246633)
• Drop locations are now accurate when using onDrop(of:delegate:). (74030674)
• The keyboardShortcut(_:) modifier now works in UIKit lifecycle apps. (73792634)
• Changes to pages that you provide to a TabView with PageTabViewStyle are now correctly reflected in the view. (65701336)
• The dismissal animation of a popover modifier when running in a compact horizontal size class now renders as expected. (52606403)
• Setting preferredColorScheme(_:) to nil now correctly resets to the system's preferred color scheme. (67000774)
• NavigationView push and pop now correctly respects disabled animations. (70062477)
• HoverEffect no longer causes a ghosting effect, especially over Text. (71344349)
• Using the pointer on iPadOS no longer confuses certain gestures. (71344436)
• onHover(perform:) is now recognized as expected in a stack. (71344436)
• The destination of NavigationLink that only differs by local state now resets that state when switching between links as expected. (72117345)
• Dynamic properties such as State, Environment, and others now work correctly in ButtonStyle instances. (62886135)
• AppStorage property wrappers now work as expected when contained inside an ObservableObject, causing the system to emit the objectWillChange publisher. (65562845)
• ProgressView instances initialized with a Progress object now correctly track updates to the Progress object from background threads, and no longer issue a "not allowed" console warning. (69999449)
• Using scrollTo(_:anchor:) without specifying an anchor now scrolls the List the minimum amount to make it visible. (70184639)
• A TabView with PageTabViewStyle now correctly invokes onAppear(perform:) and onDisappear(perform:) for its tabs. (71225006)
• InlinePickerStyle now resolves as an in-line section if applied to a Picker within a List on iOS, watchOS, and tvOS, using a checkmark to indicate the selected option. (71383311)

WebKit: New Features

• Apps and websites can now receive privacy-preserving attributions for ad clicks which navigate users to websites. (70502338)

Xcode: Deprecations

• Don't use the iOS MinimumOSVersion information property list key to declare the minimum release of macOS in which your app runs. Use LSMinimumSystemVersion instead. (73890473)
• Future releases of macOS ignore the MinimumOSVersion key in Mac apps, including apps built with Mac Catalyst.
• Future releases of macOS use the LSMinimumSystemVersion key in iOS apps built with Xcode 12.5 or later. If an iOS app doesn't include an LSMinimumSystemVersion key, future releases of macOS compare the app's MinimumOSVersion with the version of its Mac Catalyst runtime to determine compatibility.

How to Download & Install the Latest iOS 14.5 Beta on Your iPhone

You'll need an Apple developer account to update your iPhone. You can get the restore image from your dev portal, then install it with iTunes or Finder. Otherwise, install the configuration profile, then update by going to Settings –> General –> Software Update. Finally, you can simply wait for it to auto-install if you have a dev profile and "Automatic Updates" is enabled.

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Cover photo by Apple; screenshots by Jake Peterson/Gadget Hacks