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iOS 13.6 out now on iPhone with CarKey, Apple News+ audio, and more

Published Jul 15th, 2020 1:15PM EDT
iOS 13.6 release
Image: Apple

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  • Apple just rolled out iOS 13.6 and iPadOS 13.6 for the public to download.
  • According to Apple’s release notes, iOS 13.6 “adds support for digital car keys, introduces audio stories in ‌Apple News‌+, and contains a new symptoms category in the Health app.”
  • This is likely to be the last major iPhone software update before iOS 14 rolls out this fall.

Less than a week after the golden master build of iOS 13.6 rolled out to developers, Apple has released the update to the public. Likely to be the last major software update before iOS 14 arrives, iOS 13.6 brings plenty of new features to your iPhone, including the ability to add and share digital car keys to your phone with CarKey, audio stories in Apple News+, a new category for symptoms in the Health app, and a bunch of bug fixes.

Here are the rest of the release notes for iOS 13.6, in case you want to know everything the update includes:

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

This update also includes bug fixes and 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 issues 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 Assistive Touch was enabled
– Provides a mechanism for administrators to specify domains to exclude from traffic carried by always-on VPN connections

If you’re wondering whether or not your device is compatible with iOS 13.6 or iPadOS 13.6, we put together a full list below that contains every compatible device. If your device is on there, you’re good to go:

  • iPhone 11
  • iPhone 11 Pro
  • iPhone 11 Pro Max
  • iPhone XS
  • iPhone XS Max
  • iPhone XR
  • iPhone X
  • iPhone 8
  • iPhone 8 Plus
  • iPhone 7
  • iPhone 7 Plus
  • iPhone 6s
  • iPhone 6s Plus
  • iPhone SE (1st generation)
  • iPhone SE (2nd generation)
  • iPod touch (7th generation)
  • iPad Pro 12.9-inch (4th generation)
  • iPad Pro 11-inch (2nd generation)
  • iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation)
  • iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation)
  • iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2nd generation)
  • iPad Pro 12.9-inch (1st generation)
  • iPad Pro 10.5-inch
  • iPad Pro 9.7-inch
  • iPad (7th generation)
  • iPad (6th generation)
  • iPad (5th generation)
  • iPad mini (5th generation)
  • iPad mini 4
  • iPad Air (3rd generation)
  • iPad Air 2

As we’re sure you know by now, installing a new iOS or iPadOS update on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch couldn’t be easier. Just navigate to Settings > General > Software Update and then tap “Download and Install” at the bottom of that page. If you want, you can also install the update through iTunes by connecting your iOS device to a computer. Whichever method you choose, just make sure to back up your device before installing the update.

Jacob Siegal
Jacob Siegal Associate Editor

Jacob Siegal is Associate Editor at BGR, having joined the news team in 2013. He has over a decade of professional writing and editing experience, and helps to lead our technology and entertainment product launch and movie release coverage.