Apple

5 Things to Know About the iOS 13.2 Update

Published

4 years ago

11/06/2019

Apple’s pulled the iOS 13.2 update from beta and the milestone upgrade is now available for all iPhones capable of running iOS 13.

The iOS 13.2 update serves as the second milestone upgrade for the iOS 13 operating system and brings more than just bug fixes and security patches to iPhone users.

If your iPhone is currently on iOS 13.1.3, you get the shortest list of changes and the smallest download size. If you’re moving up from an older version of iOS 13, your iOS 13.2 update will be more substantial because the changes from the updates you skipped are baked into your firmware.

With that in mind, we want to take you through the most important things to know, right now, about Apple’s iOS 13.2 update for the iPhone.

Our guide goes over the iOS 13.2 update’s performance, the current state of iOS 13.2 problems, the best places to look for feedback about iOS 13.2’s performance, the iOS 13 jailbreak status, and more.

We’ll start with our quick impressions of iOS 13.2 update’s performance.

iOS 13.2 Reviews

If you’re jumping up from iOS 13.1.3, you’re looking at an 600MB download. The iOS 13.2 update is a 597.2MB download for the iPhone X and it’s around the same size for other iPhone models.

If you’re currently on an older version of iOS, you might see a much larger download size because, again, your iOS 13.2 update brings the changes from the updates you missed.

If you’re already on iOS 13.1.3, the iOS 13.2 installation should take less than 10 minutes to complete. It took about eight minutes to install on an iPhone X.

For more on the iOS 13.2 download and installation, take a look at our guide.

We’ve been using the iOS 13.2 update on the iPhone for an extended period of time and here’s what we’ve learned thus far:

Connectivity

Battery life is currently stable.
Wi-Fi connectivity is fast and reliable.
Bluetooth is working normally.
GPS and cellular data are both stable.

Apps

Third-party apps including Netflix, Dark Sky, Twitter, Slack, Asana, Gmail, Chrome, and Spotify are all stable.
First party apps like Safari, Podcasts, and Calendar are working fine.

Speed

iOS 13.2 feels as fast as iOS 13.1.3 and iOS 13.1.2.

If your device is struggling on iOS 13.1.3 or another version of iOS, you might want to install iOS 13.2 right now. It could stabilize the performance.

If you need help making a decision, please check out our reasons to, and not to, install the iOS 13.2 update on your iPhone right now.

We’ve also published our mini iOS 13.2 reviews for the iPhone 11, iPhone XS, iPhone XR, iPhone X, iPhone 8, iPhone 7, iPhone 6s, and iPhone SE so check those for additional feedback.

iOS 13.2 Problems

iOS 13.2 brings some key bug fixes for lingering iOS 13 issues, but the software is already causing problems for some iPhone users. Some of the problems are brand new, others have carried over from previous versions of iOS.

The current list of iOS 13.1.3 problems includes some common issues including installation problems, issues with Touch ID and Face ID, issues with first and third-party apps, bricked HomePods, RAM management problems, UI lag, random reboots, and more.

If you own a HomePod, you’ll want to download iOS 13.2.1.

Apple recently released iOS 13.2.1 for HomePod and the update fixes the bricking issues that plagued some users on iOS 13.2. Here is the update’s full change log:

The ability for ‌‌HomePod‌‌ to recognize the voices of different family members to provide a personalized experience
Handoff music, podcasts, or phone calls by bringing your iPhone close to ‌‌HomePod‌‌
Add music to your ‌HomeKit‌ scenes
Play relaxing high-quality soundtracks with Ambient Sounds
Set sleep timers to fall asleep to music or Ambient Sounds

If you run into an issue on iOS 13.2, have a look at our list of fixes for the most common iOS 13 problems. We’ve also released tips to help improve iOS 13 performance and tips to help improve iOS 13 battery life.

If you can’t handle iOS 13.2’s performance, you’re on your own. Apple recently stopped signing on iOS 13.1.3 and iOS 13.1.2 which means there’s no way off iOS 13.2 unless you move to the iOS 13.3 beta.

iOS 13.2 Update: What’s New

Apple’s x.x updates always feature a mix of new features, bug fixes, and security patches and iOS 13.2 isn’t different.

The iOS 13.2 update includes Apple’s Deep Fusion photography system for the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro. If you’re unfamiliar, Deep Fusion is an image processing system that utilizes the iPhone 11’s A13 Bionic chip and Neural Engine to produce better looking images.

Apple’s also added 60+ new emoji characters to the iPhone’s keyboard. The Unicode 12 update includes a new smiley face for yawning, a one-piece swimsuit, waffle, falafel, butter and garlic, new animals like the sloth, flamingo, orangutan and skunk, and much more.

iOS 13.2 also includes a few other changes, including bug fixes and support for Apple’s new AirPods, and you can read about those in the change log below:

Camera

Deep Fusion for iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max uses the A13 Bionic Neural Engine to capture multiple images at various exposures, run a pixel-by-pixel analysis, and fuse the highest quality parts of the images together resulting in photos with dramatically better texture, details, and reduced noise, especially for mid to low light scenes
Ability to change the video resolution directly from the Camera app for iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max

Emoji

Over 70 new or updated emoji, including animals, food, activities, new accessibility emoji, gender neutral emoji, and skin tones selection for couple emoji

AirPods support

Announce Messages with Siri to read your incoming messages aloud to your AirPods
AirPods Pro support

Home App

HomeKit Secure Video enables you to privately capture, store, and view encrypted video from your security cameras and features people, animal, and vehicle detection
HomeKit enabled routers put you in control of what your HomeKit accessories communicate with over the internet or in your home

Siri

Privacy settings to control whether or not to help improve Siri and Dictation by allowing Apple to store audio of your Siri and Dictation interactions
Option to delete your Siri and Dictation history from Siri Settings

Bug Fixes

Fixes an issue that may prevent passwords from autofilling in 3rd party apps
Resolves an issue that may prevent the keyboard from appearing when using Search
Addresses an issue where swipe to go home might not work on iPhone X and later
Fixes an issue where Messages would only send a single notification when the option to repeat alerts was enabled
Addresses an issue where Messages may display a phone number instead of a contact name
Resolves an issue that caused Contacts to launch to the previously opened contact instead of the contact list
Fixes an issue that may prevent Markup annotations from being saved
Resolves an issue where saved notes could temporarily disappear
Fixes an issue where iCloud Backup might not successfully complete after tapping Backup Now in Settings
Improves performance when using AssistiveTouch to activate App Switcher

The iOS 13.2 update also brings 16 security patches to the iPhone. If you’re interested in the particulars, you can read about them right here on Apple’s security website.

iOS 13.2 Jailbreak

If you still jailbreak, make sure you avoid the iOS 13.2 update and iOS 13. The only way you can jailbreak a device right now is if it’s running iOS 12.

Jailbreak developers have teased iOS 13 jailbreaks, but there’s no telling when the first iOS 13 jailbreak tool will arrive for the general public.

For now, you must remain on iOS 12 if you want to jailbreak your iPhone.

What’s Next

Apple’s confirmed a new version of iOS 13 and the iOS 13.3 update is in beta testing right now.

The iOS 13.3 update is a milestone upgrade (x.x) which means it will carry new features/enhancements, bug fixes, and security patches on board.

If you’re really struggling on iOS 13.2 or an older version of iOS, you might want to give the iOS 13.3 beta a go. It could have a positive impact on your phone’s performance.

If you’re interested in trying iOS 13.3 before the official release, please take a look at our guide.

4 Reasons Not to Install iOS 13.7 & 11 Reasons You Should

Install iOS 13.7 for Better Security

1 / 15

If security is important to you, think about installing the iOS 13.7 update.

iOS 13.7 doesn't have any known security patches on board. That said, if you skipped iOS 13.6 or an older version of iOS, you'll get security patches with your upgrade.

iOS 13.6 had more than 20 patches for security issues on board which made it an extremely important update. If you skipped iOS 13.6, you get the patches with iOS 13.7.

If you want to learn more about iOS 13.6's security patches, head on over to Apple's security site for more information.

If you skipped iOS 13.5.1, you get its security patch with your upgrade to iOS 13.7. You can read more about it on Apple's website. The patch is for an exploit used by jailbreak developers.

If you skipped iOS 13.5, iOS 13.7 brings iOS 13.5's 41 new security patches with it. Apple's posted the details on its website and you can dig into the particulars if you're interested.

Among them, patches for the company's Mail app, Wi-Fi, AirDrop, Bluetooth, FaceTime, Messages, and Notifications.

If you skipped the iOS 13.4 update, you'll get iOS 13.4's 28 security patches with your upgrade. You can read about all of them on Apple's website right here.

iOS 13.4 also brought several improvements to Apple's Intelligent Tracking Prevention. Apple's John Wilander outlined them in a blog post and it's worth checking out.

Reports have outlined a vulnerability in Wi-Fi chips made by Broadcom and Cypress Semiconductor that left billions of devices susceptible to attack.

Dubbed Kr00k, the vulnerability allows nearby attackers to decrypt sensitive information that's relayed over-the-air.

Fortunately, it looks like the issue was patched up with the release of iOS 13.2, an update that arrived all the way back in October.

So if you're running a really old version of iOS 13, you'll really want to move your device up to the newest version of iOS 13.

If you skipped iOS 13.3.1, you get its patches with iOS 13.7.

The iOS 13.3.1 update included 21 new security patches that will help protect your device from harm. The company's outlined those patches in detail if you want to dig in.

If you skipped iOS 13.3, you get its patches with iOS 13.7. iOS 13.3 brought 12 new security patches to the iPhone and you can read about each one over on Apple's security page.

The iOS 13.3 update also added support for NFC, USB, and Lightning FIDO2-compliant security keys in the Safari browser.

If you missed iOS 13.2, it had 16 new security patches on board. You can read about all of them on Apple's website right here.

iOS 13.1.1 brought a security patch for a third-party keyboard issue to your iPhone. If you're interested in the particulars, you can read about them over on Apple's website.

If you passed on installing iOS 13.1, you get an additional patch with your iOS 13.7 update. You can learn more right here.

If you're moving up from iOS 12, you'll get iOS 13.0's nine security patches with your upgrade to iOS 13.7. Read about those here.

If you skipped iOS 12.4.1 or any older versions of iOS 12, you'll get their security patches with your iOS 13.7 update.

iOS 12.4.1 only had one patch on board, but Apple's iOS 12.4 update brought 19 security patches to the iPhone. If you're interested in the specifics, you can read about them on right here.

In addition to those patches, iOS 13 itself comes with some security and privacy upgrades including improved anti-tracking features in Safari and the ability to get rid of location metadata in your photos.

You also now have the ability to block apps from using Bluetooth and the ability to allow apps to access your location just once.

iOS 13 will also send you reminders about applications that track your data.