Apple has released the changelog to iOS 8.2 following today’s announcement of the update. The update is mainly a bugfix and stability release for the iPhone 4S, 5, 5C, 5S, 6, and 6 Plus; all iPads except the first-generation model; and the fifth-generation iPod Touch.
As expected, the update adds the companion Watch app for the Apple Watch on the iPhone 5 and later iPhone devices, while Apple adds ResearchKit functionality to the Health app in order to allow long-term medical research capability by using data gathered from an iPhone with a new suite of open-source apps for medical professionals beginning in April. The rest of the changelog is as follows:
Health App improvements
- Adds the ability to select the unit of measurement for body temperature, weight, height, distance, and blood glucose
- Improves stability when dealing with large amounts of data
- Includes the ability to add and visualize workout sessions from 3rd-party apps
- Addresses an issue that may have prevented users from adding a photo in Medical ID
- Fixes units for vitamins and minerals
- Fixes an issue where Health data wouldn’t refresh after changes data source order
- Fixes an issue where some graphics showed no data values
- Adds a privacy setting that enables turning off tracking of steps, distance, and flights climbed
Stability Enhancements
- Increases stability of Mail
- Improves stability of Flyover in Maps
- Improves stability of Music
- Improves VoiceOver reliability
- Improves connectivity with Made for iPhone Hearing Aids
Bug Fixes
- Fixes an issue in Maps that prevented navigating to some favorite locations
- Addresses an issue where the last word in a quick reply message wasn’t autocorrected
- Fixes an issue where duplicate iTunes purchased content could prevent iCloud restore from completing
- Resolves an issue where some music or playlists didn’t sync from iTunes to the Music app
- Fixes an issue where deleted audiobooks sometimes remained on the device
- Resolves an issue that could prevent call audio from routing to car speakers while using Siri Eyes Free
- Fixes a Bluetooth calling issue where no audio is heard until the call is answered
- Fixes a timezone issue where Calendar events appear in GMT
- Addresses an issue that caused certain events in a custom reoccurring meeting to drop from Exchange calendar
- Fixes an certificate error that prevented configuring an Exchange account behind a third-party gateway
- Fixes an issue that could cause an organizer’s Exchange meeting notes to be overwritten
- Resolves an issue that prevented some Calendar events from automatically showing as “busy” after accepting an invite.
ResearchKit Functionality
During today’s event, Apple demonstrated how ResearchKit-capable health apps can be used to track the symptoms and progression of major diseases, such as asthma, diabetes, Parkinson’s, breast cancer, and others. The data can be collected from iPhones, and can contain GPS data, air quality, data covering other environmental conditions, and more data types.
Keeping in line with Apple’s steadfast commitment to privacy, ResearchKit also contains strict privacy controls, such as what research users choose to participate in, and what data is shared to third parties. Apple says it will not see any of the associated data generated by ResearchKit nor collect it.
Medical professionals hope to use ResearchKit through iPhone owners to supply health data at a large scale in order to better understand diseases, medical conditions and eventually learn how to better treat or cure both short-term and long-term ailments. A suite of five open-source iPhone apps will also be provided to medical professionals in April in order to better understand and work with ResearchKit data.
