Apple Launches iOS 11.2 With 7.5W Wireless Charging And Apple Pay Cash Support
Apple has rolled out an update for iOS bringing the current version to iOS 11.2, and it supports some nice new features that iPhone and iPad users will appreciate. The big new feature here is support for Apple Pay Cash. This Apple Pay Cash feature allows for peer-to-peer money transfers in a move that makes Apple Pay more like PayPal.
The catch right now is that the backend support for Apple Pay Cash isn’t up and running just yet. This means that despite iOS supporting peer-to-peer payments, the back end needed to make those transfers isn't live. Presumably, it will go live soon, but there is no word on a timeframe as of this writing.
The update also brings support for 7.5W wireless charging for owners of the iPhone 8 and iPhone X. When those devices launched, they were limited to charging at 5W, which was the same charge rating as the wired charger. The extra 2.5W of power will make for (slightly) faster charging, but is still nowhere as fast as competing solutions from Samsung and others.
While these new features are very nice to get, the update was rolled out early this morning to patch a bug that reared its head recently. A date bug was found that could cause the iOS Springboard to crash making devices suffering from the bug virtually worthless.
That bug is said to be associated with notifications generated after 12:15 a.m. local time on December 2. If you are wondering why an update rolled out on a Saturday, that is the reason. It was noted that folks on the iOS 11.2 beta didn’t have the issue and Apple rushed it out to the masses because of that. A few other tidbits are also included in this update.
You get three new Live wallpapers for iPhone X, improved image stabilization on the video camera, and podcasts will not automatically advance to the next episode of the same show. HealthKit also gains support for downhill snow sports just in time for winter. The update is 430.7MB and you can start things manually via Settings - General - Software Update.
This week has seen Apple and Qualcomm escalating their legal battle with Qualcomm adding the iPhone 8 and iPhone X to its quest for an ITC ban on the devices.
