Apple Releases Second Public Betas of iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2 With Freeform App, Stage Manager External Display Support and More - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

Apple Releases Second Public Betas of iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2 With Freeform App, Stage Manager External Display Support and More

by

Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2 updates to public beta testers, providing the software to the general public. Today's beta comes two weeks after Apple released the first public betas.

iOS 16
Public beta testers who have signed up for Apple's free beta testing program can download the ‌iOS and iPadOS 16.‌2 betas over the air after installing the proper certificate from the Public Beta website.

iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2 introduce the Freeform app, which can be used for jotting down notes, sketching, drawing, brainstorming ideas, creating mood boards, and more. Multiple people can work on the same Freeform board, with changes synced for all participants in real time.

For the iPad, the update brings external display support to the Stage Manager multitasking feature, allowing up to eight apps to be used at once. External display support is available for the M1 and M2 ‌iPad‌ models.

ipados stage manager external display
There is a new Home app architecture coming in iOS and iPadOS 16.2, which Apple says is designed to bring faster, more reliable performance, especially in homes with a lot of smart home accessories. The new architecture requires the HomePod 16.2 beta software, and it causes the Home app not to work with devices updated to iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2, or macOS Ventura 13.1.

Unintentional Emergency SOS calls can be reported to Apple in iOS 16.2, and there are a few other minor changes that can be found in our iOS 16.2 feature guide.

Related Forum: iOS 16

Popular Stories

iPhone 18 Pro Deep Red Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Wednesday March 18, 2026 7:39 am PDT by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not expected to launch for another six months or so, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. It was initially reported that the iPhone 18 Pro models would have fully under-screen Face ID, with only a front camera visible in the top-left corner of the screen. However, the latest rumors indicate that only one Face ID component...
Read Full Article • 78 comments
ios 26 4 yellow

Here Are Apple's Release Notes for iOS 26.4

Wednesday March 18, 2026 11:56 am PDT by
Apple provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate versions of iOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4, which means we're going to see a public launch as soon as next week. The RC versions of the software include Apple's official release notes, giving us final details on what's included in the update. Apple Music - Playlist Playground (beta) generates a playlist from your...
Read Full Article • 104 comments
Apple Logo Sketch Feature

Apple Has Now Unveiled Eight New Products This Month

Tuesday March 17, 2026 9:25 am PDT by
Apple has unveiled a whopping eight new products so far this March, including an iPhone 17e, iPad Air models with the M4 chip, MacBook Air models with the M5 chip, MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, the all-new MacBook Neo, an updated Studio Display, a higher-end Studio Display XDR, and now the AirPods Max 2 this week. iPhone 17e features the same overall design as the iPhone...
Read Full Article

Top Rated Comments

G
GlassFingers
44 months ago
I cannot wait to use FreeForm! I tried some of the other brainstorming apps out there a couple months back, and each of them had different issues… I think Apple is going to get it right!
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
E
Eldaerenth Faexidor
44 months ago
I am so looking forward to freeform!
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
roncron Avatar
roncron
44 months ago
Public beta testers, if you're not currently on beta 1, or maybe even if you are, please check out the macrumors forum thread on 16.2 beta 2 before installing. There seems to be a greater than usual number of reports of problems, especially with frame drops or stuttering on iPhones with promotion. A fair number of developers who installed beta 2 are going back to beta 1 or 16.1 public release.

(That said, there are plenty of developers who are having little to no problems with beta 2; it just seems like the number with problems is higher than normal for a second beta on a .2 release.)
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Yeetus Avatar
Yeetus
44 months ago
5G's finally working! Airtel, Delhi (NSA).
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Realityck Avatar
Realityck
44 months ago
[SPOILER="iOS & iPadOS 16.2 Beta 2 Release Notes"]
[HEADING=2]Freeform[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Known Issues[/HEADING]

* Can’t delete boards while offline, or if iCloud data is disabled for Freeform. (100294085)
Workaround: Go to Settings (System Setting on macOS) > Apple ID > iCloud, then in the Apps using iCloud section, toggle Freeform to On.
* Adding or removing collaborators can fail while attempting to change share settings. (101186059)
Workaround: Close the share sheet and try to add or remove the participants again.

[HEADING=2]Keyboard[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Resolved in iOS & iPadOS 16.2 beta 2[/HEADING]

* Fixed: When typing in Chinese Pinyin, selecting an option from the candidate bar is unresponsive. (73513207)

[HEADING=2]Stage Manager[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Known Issues[/HEADING]

* While using Stage Manager with an External Display, dragging a second window to the workspace incorrectly hides the Recent Apps list—shifting all windows in the workspace to the right. (98540114)

[HEADING=2]TV App[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Resolved in iOS & iPadOS 16.2 beta 2[/HEADING]

* Fixed: Play tracking (Up Next, and Top Shelf Update) won’t work for all platforms. (101258095)

[HEADING=2]SwiftUI[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]New Features in iOS & iPadOS 16.2 beta 2[/HEADING]

* Disable animations of NavigationStack push and pop by wrapping path mutation in withTransaction(transaction) { … } where transaction has disablesAnimations set to true. (88993253)

[HEADING=3]Resolved in iOS & iPadOS 16.2 beta 2[/HEADING]

* Fixed: Programmatically popping multiple views from a NavigationStack, by manipulating its path binding, now animates. Use with Transaction to override this behavior. (96852321)

[/SPOILER]

Released yesterday to devs, today to PB testers, mobile Safari is now 16.2
iOS 16.2 beta 2 (20C5043e) - November 8, 2022
iPadOS 16.2 beta 2 (20C5043e) - November 8, 2022
macOS 13.1 beta 2 (22C5044e) - November 8, 2022
watchOS 9.2 beta 2 (20S5342d) - November 8, 2022
tvOS 16.2 beta 2 (20K5342d) - November 8, 2022
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments
Related Apple News: Reviews | Buyers Guide | Travel | Education | Opinion