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What’s new in iOS 10.2? Noteworthy iOS 10 update coming soon

Apple has just begun seeding iOS 10.2 to app developers with a handful of new tweaks, bug fixes and updates.

iOS 10.1 may have only just dropped brining Portrait Mode to iPhone 7 Plus users, but developers gain early access to Apple’s updates in order to update their own apps accordingly.

It means everyday users can gain an inkling into what’s coming their way over the coming weeks.

So, what’s new?

Video widget

It may seem strange, but Apple’s native Video app has never had its own widget – the quick access tools you can add to the Today view on the iPhone and iPad.

But in iOS 10.2, you can now swipe right on the Home screen, then scroll down to the bottom, tap edit, and find a brand new Video widget. Users that activate it can then quickly access videos, movies and TV shows they’ve bought, downloaded or created. Selecting a video will launch the full app and beginning playing the file.

Guide: How to start using Widgets in iOS 10

Apple Music

It’ll be much easier to sort music in iOS 10.2. Previously, there were a few sorting options lacking, but now users have gained the ability to sort by more specific options.

Sorting options now include by artist, album, recently added, type, and title.

Guide: What is Apple Music and do I need it?

New Wallpapers

Apple has added three new wallpapers to iOS 10.2. These are color variations on a liquid droplet type effect. Have a look below:

wallpaper-ios10-2

New emojis

Dozens of new emojis look set to arrive with iOS 10.2. Part of the Unicode 9.0 update, unveiled by the Unicode standards body a few months ago.

We’re likely to see the likes of sneezing emoji, bacon emoji, a ‘selfie’ emoji, boxing glove, a ‘face palm’ emoji, and a whole bunch of new food icons and other animals and various icons.

You can check out a list of emojis designed for Unicode 9.0 on Emojipedia.

Camera settings

You’ll also be able to preserve some preferred camera settings in iOS 10.2.

This means you can set certain settings to remain in place for next time you use the camera. These include Camera Mode, which if toggled on in Settings, will remember the last camera type you used, whether Square, Portrait, Video etc. rather than reverting back to regular camera mode.

You can also have the app continue to use the last filter you activated and whether Live Photo should remain turned off or on.

preserve-setting-ios10-2

New Message Effect

Full screen message effects came into play in iOS 10 with options including balloons, shooting stars and other effects.

iOS 10.2 adds one more: Celebration. Check it out below.

message-celebration-ios10-2

Guide: New iOS 10 iMessage updates – a comprehensive guide

And that’s pretty much it! There’s a few additional tweaks, including an updated headphone icon that shows in the status bar when a wireless set of headphones is connected, a new menu for ‘Press and Hold to Speak’ under the Home Button Accessibility settings, as well as a standard round of bug fixes.

There’s no set date for when iOS 10.2 will be available for everyday users, though it’s likely to arrive on Apple’s public beta in a couple of weeks. Want to take part in the beta? Here’s what you need to know about signing up.