Apple

5 Things to Know About the iPadOS 13.2 Update

Published

4 years ago

11/07/2019

Apple’s released the iPadOS 13.2 update for iPad, iPad Pro, iPad Air, and iPad mini.

The company’s iPadOS latest update is the second milestone upgrade for iPadOS and it brings a nice collection of new features, bug fixes, and enhancements with it.

If your iPad is currently running iPadOS 13.1.3 you get the smallest download size and the shortest list of changes.

If your tablet is currently running iPadOS 13.1.1 or something older, your iPadOS 13.2 update will be a little more substantial. And that’s because the features and fixes from the updates you skipped are baked into the firmware.

With all of that in mind, we want to take you through the most important things to know, right now, about Apple’s new iPadOS 13.2 update.

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

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

iPadOS 13.2 Reviews

If you’re on iPadOS 13.1.2 you’re looking at a 560MB download. The iPadOS 13.2 update is a 564.6MB download for the iPad Pro.

If you’re on iPadOS 13.1.3, the iPadOS 13.2 installation could take less than 10 minutes to complete. It took about seven minutes to install on one of our iPad Pros.

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

We’ve been using the iPadOS 13.2 update on the iPad Pro for an extended period of time and here’s what we’ve found so 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 right now.

Apps

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

Speed

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

If you’re struggling with bugs or performance issues on iPadOS 13.1.3 or another version, you might want to install iPadOS 13.2 update right now.

If you need some help making this decision, take a look at our list of reasons to, and not to, install iPadOS 13.2 on your iPad today.

iPadOS 13.2 Problems

Apple’s iPadOS 13.2 update fixes a bunch of lingering problems, but the update’s got some problems of its own.

The current list of iPadOS 13.2 problems includes installation issues, Exchange issues, issues with third-party apps, issues with Face ID, UI lag, and abnormal battery drain.

If you encounter an issue on iPadOS 13.2, have a look at our list of fixes for the most common problems. We’ve also released tips that will help you improve performance and tips that will help you improve battery life.

If you can’t handle the iPadOS 13.2 update’s performance on your iPad, you’re on your own. Apple is no longer signing on iPadOS 13.1.3 and iPadOS 13.1.2.

If you really want to move off iPadOS 13.2, you can move your tablet to the iPadOS 13.3 beta.

iPadOS 13.2 Update: What’s New

Apple’s x.x milestone updates always come a mix of new features, bug fixes, and security patches. The iPadOS 13.2 update is no different.

iPadOS 13.2 brings 60+ new emoji characters to the iPad’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.

iPadOS 13.2 also includes a few other changes, including bug fixes, and you can read about those in the official change log right here:

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
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

iPadOS 13.2 also brings 16 security updates with it. You can read all about them on Apple’s security page.

iPadOS 13 Jailbreak

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

Jailbreak developers have teased new jailbreaks, but it’s unclear when or if we’ll get a jailbreak tool for iPadOS 13 and iPadOS 13.2.

What’s Next

Apple’s confirmed a new version of iPadOS 13 and the iPadOS 13.3 update is currently in beta testing.

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

If you’re really struggling on iPadOS 13.2 or an older version of iPadOS 13, you might want to download the iPadOS 13.3 beta. It could have a positive impact on your tablet’s performance.

If you’re interested in trying iPadOS 13.3, please take a look at our guide.

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

Install iPadOS 13.7 for Better Security

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If you value your security, you'll want to install iPadOS 13.7 in the near future.

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

The iPadOS 13.6 update brought more than 20 security patches to the iPad line. That made it an important upgrade for most users. You'll get these patches if you skipped iPadOS 13.6.

If you skipped iPadOS 13.5.1, you get its security patch with your upgrade. It's baked in.

If you skipped iPadOS 13.5, iPadOS 13.7 includes iPadOS 13.5's 41 security patches which you can about on the company's security site.

The list includes patches for the company's Mail app, Wi-Fi, AirDrop, Bluetooth, FaceTime, Messages, and Notifications.

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

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 iPadOS 13.2, an update that arrived all the way back in October.

If you're currently running a much older version of iPadOS 13 on your tablet, you'll probably want to update your iPad right now.

If you skipped iPadOS 13.3.1 you'll get its patches with your upgrade. The iPadOS 13.3.1 had 21 new security patches on board. If you want to dig into the specifics, you can do so right here.

If you skipped a previous version of iPadOS 13, you'll get additional security patches with your upgrade to iPadOS 13.7.

If you skipped iPadOS 13.3, you get its 12 security patches with your upgrade. You can read about each one over on Apple's security page.

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

If you missed iPadOS 13.2, it had 16 new security patches on board. You can read about them on Apple's security website.

If you missed iPadOS 13.1.1, you get a security patch for a third-party keyboard issue. If you're interested in the particulars, you can read about the patch on Apple's website.

If you passed on installing iPadOS 13.1, you get another patch with your iPadOS 13.7 update. You can learn more about it right here.

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

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

In addition to those patches, iPadOS 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 have the ability to block apps from using Bluetooth and the ability to allow apps to access your location just once.

The operating system will also send you reminders about applications that track your data.