Apple

5 Things to Know About the iOS 13.6 Update

Published

4 years ago

07/23/2020

Apple’s released its iOS 13.6 update and the milestone upgrade brings a fairly lengthy list of changes to the iPhone.

iOS 13.6 was originally known as iOS 13.5.5, but that changed after the release of the second beta. And now, instead of a maintenance update, we get a much larger update with a variety of changes. It’s much larger than the previous version of iOS 13, iOS 13.5.1.

Like all milestone upgrades, iOS 13.6 brings a mix of new features, bug fixes, and under-the-hood improvements to the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone SE, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max, and the iPhone SE 2.

With all of that in mind, we want to take you through everything there is to know about Apple’s latest update for the iPhone and iOS 13. iOS 13.6 will likely serve as the last major upgrade to iOS 13 and one of the last updates for the operating system.

In this guide to iOS 13.6 we’ll take you through the update’s performance, the current list of iOS 13.6 problems, the best places to find feedback about bugs and performance issues, the iOS 13.6 jailbreak status, and more.

We’ll start with our impressions of iOS 13.6 update’s performance on iPhone.

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iOS 13.6 Reviews

If your iPhone is currently running iOS 13.5.1, you’ll encounter a fairly sizable download.

For iOS 13.5.1 users, the iOS 13.6 update should be somewhere between 250MB and 400MB. The exact download size will vary based on your device and the version of iOS 13 your device is on.

If your phone is currently running an older version of iOS 13 you’ll probably see a larger download size because your iOS 13.6 update includes the changes from any iOS updates you skipped.

If your phone is on iOS 13.5.1, the iOS 13.6 installation will probably take less than 10 minutes to complete. It took about seven minutes to install on the iPhone X.

For more on the iOS 13.6 download and installation, take a look at our guide.

We’ve been using the iOS 13.6 update for several days now and here’s what we’ve learned about its performance thus far:

Connectivity

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

Apps

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

Speed

iOS 13.6 feels as fast as iOS 13.5.1.

If your iPhone is struggling on iOS 13.5.1 or an older version of iOS 13, you might want to install the iOS 13.6 update on your iPhone right now.

If you need help making a decision, please check out our reasons to, and not to, install the iOS 13.6 update. It will help you decide if the move is worth it.

We’ve published our mini iOS 13.6 reviews for the iPhone 11, iPhone SE 2, iPhone XS, iPhone XR, iPhone X, iPhone 8, iPhone 7, iPhone 6s, and iPhone SE so make sure you check those for additional feedback.

iOS 13.6 Problems

The iOS 13.6 update is causing problems for some iPhone users. Some of these problems are brand new. Others have carried over from previous versions of iOS 13.

The current list of iOS 13.6 issues includes installation problems, lag, Exchange issues, problems with first and third-party apps, hotspot problems, weird battery drain, issues with Touch ID and Face ID, and various other bugs.

According to iOS 13.5.1 users, the Music application is causing significant battery drain. The app is apparently draining tons of battery when it’s not in use.

It’s unclear if the iOS 13.6 update fixes the issue. In the meantime, it looks like turning off Background App Refresh in Settings could help.

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If you run into an issue on iOS 13.6, have a look at our list of fixes for the most common iOS 13 problems. We’ve also released tips that could help you improve your phone’s performance and tips to help fix bad iOS 13 battery life.

If you can’t handle the iOS 13.6 update’s performance, note that you can no longer downgrade to the previous version of iOS 13. Apple has stopped signing on iOS 13.5.1.

If you really want to move your iPhone off iOS 13.6 you can try downloading the iOS 14 beta.

iOS 13.6 Update: What’s New

Apple’s x.x updates always bring a mix of features and under-the-hood improvements and that’s precisely what you get from iOS 13.6.

Here’s the full list of changes on board iOS 13.6:

Digital car keys

Unlock, lock, and start your compatible car with your iPhone
Securely remove digital keys from a lost device via iCloud
Share digital keys easily with iMessage
Driver-specific profiles so you can configure shared keys for full-access or restricted driving
Power reserve lets you unlock and start your car for up to five hours after iPhone runs out of battery

Apple News

Audio stories are professionally narrated versions of some of the best reads from Apple News+, selected and produced by the Apple News editors as part of your Apple News+ subscription
Apple News Today is a new, free audio briefing on the day’s top stories from the Apple News editors, also available in the Podcasts app
A new Audio tab makes it easy to find Apple News Today and Apple News+ audio stories
CarPlay allows you to listen to Apple News Today and Apple News+ audio stories while on the road
Local news in your Today feed provides extensive coverage of San Francisco, the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Houston, and New York City
More stories available from local news providers with a subscription to Apple News+
Your daily newsletter from Apple News can now be personalized with stories that reflect your interests

Health

New category for symptoms in the Health app, including symptoms logged from Cycle Tracking and ECG
Ability to log new symptoms, like fever, chills, sore throat or coughing, and share them with third-party apps

Bug Fixes & Other Improvements

Adds a new setting to choose if updates automatically download to your device when on Wi-Fi
Addresses an issue that could cause apps to become unresponsive when syncing data from iCloud Drive
Fixes an issue that could cause data roaming to appear to be disabled on eSIM even though it remained active
Fixes an issue thats causes some phone calls from Saskatchewan to appear as originating from the United States
Addresses an issue that could interrupt audio when making phone calls over Wi-Fi Calling
Fixes an issue that prevented some iPhone 6S and iPhone SE devices from registering for Wi-Fi Calling
Resolves an issue that could cause the software keyboard to appear unexpectedly when connected to certain third-party hardware keyboards
Fixes an issue that could cause Japanese hardware keyboards to be incorrectly mapped as a U.S. keyboard
Addresses stability issues when accessing Control Center when AssistiveTouch was enabled
Provides a mechanism for administrators to specify domains to exclude from traffic carried by always-on VPN connections

According to BMW, iPhone and Apple Watch users will need to be on iOS 13.6 and WatchOS 6.2.8 in order to use the digital car key. It’s also limited to the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and newer models.

The company has added support for the feature to its Connected application on the App Store.

iOS 13.6 brings support for saved reading positions in the Apple News application.

On previous versions of iOS including iOS 13.5.1, if you exited an article in Apple News and went back to it, you would start at the very beginning of the article. On iOS 13.6, if you exit an article and go back, the app will take you to your last position in the article.

iOS 13.6 also reportedly brings FaceTime to iPhone users in the United Arab Emirates.

The update has more than 20 security patches on board. If you’re interested in the particulars, head on over to Apple’s security site.

iOS 13.6 Jailbreak

If you jailbreak, you’ll want to skip iOS 13.6 for now.

Earlier this year, the developers behind the “unc0ver” jailbreak tool for iOS released a new version, 5.0.0, and it’s compatible with iOS 13.5 and most versions of iOS going all the way down to iOS 11.0. iOS 12.3-12.3.2 and iOS 12.4.2-12.4.5 are excluded. So are iOS 13.5.1 and iOS 13.6.

The jailbreak tool is also compatible with all iOS 13-powered devices including newer iPhone models.

What’s Next

iOS 13.6 was the last known update in Apple’s iOS 13 pipeline. And with a new operating system in development, it will probably be one of the last versions of iOS 13.

Apple’s currently working on iOS 14, a new operating system that is headed to all iOS 13-powered devices this fall.

iOS 14 is currently in beta which means you can give it a try on your iPhone right now if you really want to try new features or really want to move your phone off of iOS 13.

For more on iOS 14, 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

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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.