By Jason Snell
October 20, 2014 10:01 AM PT
Apple releases iOS 8.1
Note: This story has not been updated for several years.
As promised during last week’s Apple event, Apple released iOS 8.1 Monday at 10 Pacific, the traditional Apple software roll-out slot.
The big change is support for Apple Pay on the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in the U.S. The Camera Roll is also back, and iCloud Photo Library has been added in beta. There are plenty of other changes, so check out the change notes to see if your favorite bug is being addressed. (And if you want to wait to see if the update does something weird to some people’s phones, no one will blame you.)
Here are the change notes:
This release includes new features, improvements and bug fixes, including:
Apple Pay support for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus (U.S. only)
Photos includes new features, improvements and fixes
Adds iCloud Photo Library as a beta service
Adds Camera Roll album in Photos app and My Photo Stream album when iCloud Photo Library is not enabled
Provides alerts when running low on space before capturing Time Lapse videos
Messages includes new features, improvements and fixes
Adds the ability for iPhone users to send and receive SMS and MMS text messages from their iPad and Mac
Resolves an issue where search would sometimes not display results
Fixes a bug that caused read messages to not be marked as read
Fixes issues with group messaging
Resolves issues with Wi-Fi performance that could occur when connected to some base stations
Fixes an issue that could prevent connections to Bluetooth hands-free devices
Fixes bugs that could cause screen rotation to stop working
Adds an option to select between 2G, 3G or LTE networks for cellular data
Fixes an issue in Safari where videos would sometimes not play
Adds AirDrop support for Passbook passes
Adds an option to enable Dictation in Settings for Keyboards, separate from Siri
Enables HealthKit apps to access data in the background
Accessibility improvements and fixes
Fixes an issue that prevented Guided Access from working properly
Fixes a bug where VoiceOver would not work with 3rd party keyboards
Improves stability and audio quality when using MFi Hearing Aids with iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus
Fixes an issue with VoiceOver where tone dialing would get stuck on a tone until dialing another number
Improves reliability when using handwriting, Bluetooth keyboards and Braille displays with VoiceOver
Fixes an issue that was preventing the use of OS X Caching Server for iOS updates
Some features may not be available for all countries or all areas.
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