Complete review of Apple's iOS 4.2 software update for iPhone and iPod touch
iOS 4.2 for iPhone is small update to iOS 4 and iOS 4.1 that adds marquee new features like AirVideo and AirPlay, fixes some bugs, but most importantly brings the iOS platform into grand unification, with iPhone, iPod touch, and -- finally -- iPad all on the same version number.
(Note, if you're interested in iPad, check out our complete iOS 4.2 for iPad walkthrough as well!)
If you don't have time (yet) to read this through this whole article and are eager to get the basics down now, there's a video up top to tell you everything you need to know in just over 5 minutes.
We're showing it off on an iPhone 4 and an iPod touch 4. Functionality is almost identical, just the telephony (i.e. text tones) don't work on iPod touch 4, of course.
What hasn't changed
We'll be covering what's new and improved below, so for what hasn't changed be sure to check out our massive iOS 4 walkthrough and iOS 4.1 update walkthrough because we won't be repeating all that here.
System-wide changes
AirPrint
AirPrint is Apple's wireless printing service. By the time it ships, it should be able to send pages to almost any printer on the same Wi-Fi network, or to certain printers directly (HP ePrint have already been announced). Needless to say, this answers one huge piece of previously missing functionality. (The one it doesn't answer, and still isn't answered, is easier file transfer and sync).
AirPlay
AirPlay is an evolution of Apple's AirTunes system that used to let you stream music between iTunes on Windows or Mac and Apple TV or Airport Express connected speakers. AirPlay takes that to the next level, letting you stream video and pictures as well as music from iPad (or iPhone or iPod touch) and the new 2010 Apple TV. Built-in apps like iPod, Video, and YouTube can stream, but unfortunately it looks like all other apps, including Apple's own Safari and all App Store apps are currently limited to audio-only. Whether this is intentional or Apple simply ran out of time and didn't finish making public APIs for video is unknown but hopefully this will be expanded upon in a future update.
You can tell AirPlay is an option when its icon appears to the right of the volume slider. It looks like a TV-style box with a triangle being inserted up into it. (Yeah, seriously). AirPlay compatible apps, when AirPlay compatible devices are present, will show the AirPlay icon as a button. Tap it and you get a list of devices you can stream to. Tap one and your video will switch from iPhone to TV. And since it's called AirPlay and not AirView, here's hoping Apple expands the functionality in the future to project game video onto the big TV screen, leaving iPhone and iPod touch as a full on multitouch game controller. Hey, we can dream...
Home Screen
SpringBoard, the app that runs the home screen and overall interface in iOS, gets its multitasking dock UI tweaked. Now, after you double press the home button to bring up the fast app switcher, you can swipe left to get to the audio controls and orientation lock as before, but you can also swipe left again to get to a new volume slider and AirPlay control.
Since iPhone has hardware volume controls, it may seem a little redundant, but perhaps it will independently control AirPlay video in the future.
Messages
Messages gets an extra button at the very top of the threaded view that, right in the middle between call and contact info -- FaceTime.
When you're exchanging SMS or MMS, just tap it to launch into a FaceTime video call (if you're both on an iPhone 4 or iPod touch 4, and on Wi-Fi, of course...)
Photos
Photos gets AirPrint now so you can quickly snap a shot and beam it to a nearby printer. Ultra-modern technology meets age-old media memories. Just tap the action button and, not surprisingly, print will be a new option at the bottom.
Print is also now an option when you multi-select.
What is surprising, however, is that there's no AirPlay button in the Photo app when it's playing movies. Since quickly recording a home movie and beaming it to our TV is one of the features we love most, that's a bit of an annoyance. Hopefully Apple will add that in an update.
YouTube
YouTube gets AirPlay, of course, so you can beam YouTube videos to Apple TV... which has a built-in YouTube app already. However, the convenience of being able to play an already-found video on the big screen rather than having to look for it again is certainly appreciated.
Also, gone are the old star ratings and in their place are the cheesy thumbs up and thumbs down. From a scale of 5 to a scale of 2? It's simpler and more YouTube, if missing the subtle iTunes-like gradations of the past.
Notes
Notes finally -- finally! -- lets you change fonts. That's right, if Marker Felt was never your thing, you can now jump into Settings and switch it to Chalkboard (essentially Marker Felt with a shave and a haircut), and Helvetica, used by the rest of the interface. Here's a mockup we created to show all three fonts together for comparison's sake.
Curiously, there doesn't seem to be an AirPrint option in Notes. It would certainly be handy.
Voice Memo
iOS 4.2 for iPhone brings with it a new Voice Memo icon and with it the most drastic redesign of a built-in iOS app icon to date. Sure, Calculator got a facelift recently, but it retained that pseudo-realistic look and feel Apple used for the other "utility" apps, like Compass and Camera. Voice Memo goes from faux microphone to strictly white icon, similar now to Phone or iPod, but without the diagonal pin stripe. If it was in the dock it might fit, but grouped in the default Utility folder, it kind of sticks out.
iTunes Store
iTunes store gets AirPlay too in case you want to stream a video podcast and shoot it over to your 2010 Apple TV. What, you wanted something as big as iOS 4.1's Ping?
Settings
As always, Settings is the least glamorous built-in app in the lineup that just so happens to get a bunch of tweaks and changes to support new features added to the system and flashier apps.
Sounds
You can now prevent the physical hardware volume buttons from affecting ringers and alerts, if you so choose.
The good news for iPhone users is, Apple has finally increased the number of text tones. The bad news is, most don't seem well suited for use as text tones, and while you can now set personalized tones for different contacts, you still can't buy or create custom text tones.
New tones include Anticipate, Bloom, Calypso, Choo Choo, Descent, Fanfare, Ladder, Minuet, News Flash, Noir, Sherwood Forest, Spell, Suspense, Telegraph, Tiptoes, Typewriters, and Update. You can hear samples from each in the video at the very top of this walkthrough.
General: Restrictions
You can now prevent people (i.e. your young children) from deleting apps. It's amazing how fast a 4 year old can yank everything from the dock and obliterate every app on your home screen. No longer. Parents of the world rejoice. You can also prevent the little tykes from changing Location Services (e.g. GPS) and email accounts.
You can also now prevent your kids from accepting Game Center friend requests, thus ensuring their online play remain strictly anti-social and (potentially more) secure.
Mail, Contacts, Calendars
Interestingly, when setting up a MobileMe account, you're now presented with the opportunity to enter either your MobileMe or Apple ID credentials. We'll have to wait and see what, if anything, this means.
Notes
Notes now has its own Settings tab because, as mentioned previously, you can now change the font in Notes, and here's where you do it.
Phone + Contacts
In both Phone and in the Contacts apps proper, you can now choose to set a distinct text tone (SMS/MMS) for each contact. So if you want mom to remain good old Tri-Tone but dad to be Choo Choo, have at it!
Just tap edit, scroll down to Text Tone, and then choose from the same list shown in Settings, above.
Safari
iOS 4.2 finally gives iPhone and iPod touch the ability to find text on a Safari web page. This is similar to Windows or Mac, where you just hit CTL-F or CMD-F, type your text, and off you go. On iPhone Safari you use the regular old search field (still confusingly labeled Google by default) and start typing the text you want to find.
Where previously you only got suggested search terms, now you get an additional section at the bottom to find the word on the page. Tap it and the first match on the page is highlighted in yellow and a set of buttons slide up on the bottom for "Next" and "Done", as well as a counter for how many matches of the word there are on the page, and which one is currently highlighted (e.g., 7/16). Hit next until you find the one you want, hit done when you're finished. If you want to change the find term, the search box is repositioned alongside the controls to make it convenient.
No more tedious manual scanning, no more javascript bookmarklet workaround. Just happy surfing.
The previous + icon, for adding bookmarks and Web Clips is gone, replaced by the Action button found in other apps. Hitting the action button gives you all the same options as before, but now also includes AirPrint.
AirPlay will show up when you're playing videos in Safari but currently only supports audio.
Behind the scenes, Apple has added support for the accelerometer and gyroscope and generally improved HTML 5 support. (That means the potential for more, better web apps in the future.)
With this support, Augmented Reality is now possible as well, right in Safari.
iPod (Music/Video)
As we're sure you guessed by now, the major addition to the iPod app for iPhone (and Music and Video apps for iPod touch) is airplay. So, you can send any music to Airport express speakers, or video to the Apple TV (2010).
iOS 4.2 pricing and compatibility
iOS 4.2 is a free update for iPhone users and for iPod touch users.
Compatibility should be the same as with iOS 4.
- iPhone 4, iPod touch 4 (2010): All features
- iPhone 3GS and iPod touch G3 (2009): No features requiring iPhone 4 or iPod touch 4-type hardware (i.e. front facing camera)
- iPhone 3G and iPod touch G2 (2008): No features that require higher processor or RAM
- iPhone 2G and iPod touch G1 (2007): not compatible/no update
We'll update as soon as we find an official list from Apple.
Conclusion
While iOS 4.2 for iPhone and iPod touch is nowhere near as significant an update as iOS 4.2 for iPad, that's only because iPhone and iPod touch have enjoyed iOS 4 features since June. From small but long missing features like Find in Safari, to annoyances like Marker Felt in Notes, to the start of individual Text Tones in Messages, Apple is continuing the steady improvement of iOS.
It's still not perfect, it still suffers from the age-old gripes of poor notification handling among other things, there's still no good, SIRI-infused, OS-wide VoiceControl system, etc. etc. but those are not the stuff of minor updates. iOS 5 will no doubt be previewed in 4 months or so and then we'll see to the bigger issues.
For now iOS 4.2 not only does what it set out to -- unify the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the same release -- but with welcome additions like AirPrint and AirVideo -- if it really takes off -- it could be the beginnings of something transformative.
And as always, If you noticed we missed anything, drop us a note in the comments or send us an email and we'll update as needed.
Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.
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Very nice review! Still wishing for num-lock at some point...
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I'd like to be able to swap symbols from the # page on the keyboard to the @ page of the keyboard. Twitter users would love a symbol switcher feature.
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Still need to add a way to delete only one call at a time in the call log
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Would like to see AirPrint-like functionality on my Evo. Everything else we've already got, but if we'd had this when I had an iPhone I would have probably kept an iPhone.
Btw, this isn't me knocking iPhone. I like what I see. I might get my wife one if there was a Sprint version. I'll settle with an iPad (when v2 comes out and I can buy a v1 for cheap) though and be happy with that. -
Wasn't there an update to AVRCP for Bluetooth? I know there was for 4.0, but for some reason, I thought there was some added improvement/features to 4.2. Thanks.
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Gr8 information man ... it was really helpful !!!
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Waiting for a Bite SMS type of security."lock screen ... Do nothing / show nothing"! When text arrives.
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I can't believe you can't airplay photos or videos we take?! That's the only thing I wanted to airplay!!
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Very nice article covering all the new features. Thanks.
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wasnt there going to be an update for calendar which allows it to use .ics files?
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Some pretty useless new stuff coming, some pretty useful old stuff still omitted!
Thank God that Jailbreaking was invented!
Much more useful than Airprint or the like! -
When in Messages app and you get a text, instead of the "fwoop" sound you used to get, it plays the text ringtone, but only if you're in a different conversation than the text you got). Say I was texting John. I sent him a text, and then I got a text from my friend Chris while still in John's and my conversation. The text righting will play.
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*the text ringtone will play.
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Airplay.... Blah
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I can't see the video on my iPad... =S
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Great article!!
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I see bluetooth is still buried under the general setting instead of having it with the rest of the radio control options. I've been waiting for them to move it there since iOS 1.0
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Wrex: you should suggest it to Apple
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How can we find out about the bug fixes? My wife and I are having major problems with WiFi and Bluetooth disconnecting frequently at random.
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U miss something I think it's important. I'd like to make a call from a touch of a name on my contacts instead of getting inside of it. We sometimes need to make a call while driving. That call making system is way too much of distraction. So let us set a priority number on our contacts, then allow us to call by simply touching any name on the contacts. Not shuffling around to make a call.
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@ Joseph,
It's called favorites... -
@Wrex:
Yeah, if anything should be buried in General setting, it should be the Notifications, which are usually left alone more often. Put Bluetooth underneath Wi-Fi. -
STILL no calendar updates.
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Regarding iPhone 3G compatibility:
"No features that require higher processor or RAM"
Which features are those? -
No mention of antennagate fix?
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I may be a little new here but how do i get 4.2 on my phone my itunes says my iphone is up to date but its only showing 4.1 please contact me @ bullseyekyd31@aol.com
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@26....Keep checking iTunes or this site...4.2 has not been released yet to the general public, only the gold master version to developers.
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Looks like I will finally get a wireless printer after reading this review.
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can you comment on the fix of battery life. Has the battery life issue been fixed in IOS 4.2. My phone is currntly running 4.1
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My question is how will airplay and printing work on a second gen ipod touch?
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I would like to see improvements for folders, they are too small! More apps should be included and it would be nice if apple would introduce Themes next the Wallpaper. And what about widgets like other phones have, for example for the lockscreen.
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@Rene Ritchie, great article. If only you could confirm, is airplay feature for iPod app is available on iPhone 3G? ... Thanks
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Delete one call at a time, more apps in a folder... There's an APP for that... In Cydia :)
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Great article! I truely love the phone and OS but two things that are a constant annoyance: 1) No way to change the tone for new mail (sometimes I can't hear it). 2) no way to jump to the bottom of a screen.
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Does AirPrint mean that we'll get iWork for iPhone? I hate all of the third-party apps and wish to get something from Apple. We need iWork for iPhone!
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Hi Happiicamper! Yes, I know... but I am on 4.2 now and it's not possible yet to get Cydia back..
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Would be nice if Apple would finally sort out some of the bugs in Music it introduced many years ago... particularly smart playlists not updating automatically on the iPhone/iPod and so requiring to be regularly synced with iTunes on the PC. Perhaps they have forgotten what the origins of these lovely devices are and are now too focused on turning them into Star Trek like handheld computers?
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Is This Update Available? Or is this just what is to come?
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Why in the world won't apple add emoticons.... I just don't get it.
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I was a little confused by the video. Can we actually view the video from the photos on an apple tv through airplay or is it just the sound?
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Great post thx! One big question, is it just me being wierd about this.. Why oh why or rather when oh when will they bring week view to the calendar. Had my hopes up for 4.2. Anyway thx for the nice post.
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Bummer! It doesn't have the panoramic wallpaper that Android has.
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There's one more little feature you forgot. In voice control there's a way to voice out FaceTime users...
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WHERE ARE THE TIMESTAMPS FOR EVERY TEXT MESSAGE?? I mean....have they not thought about this extremely minimal tweak to the software? Never? WTF?
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CAPS LOCK - DOUBLE TAP THE CAPS KEY!
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this is great. Call me ungrateful but I want more. Restriction to Photo app. Quick reply to text messages. Add pictures to an email directly from the app ( avoiding copy and pasting ). IN APP SAFARI FOR MAIL. Annoyed with having to switch back to mail after checking multiple messages with links. I want the option to view the exact time a text was sent as someone mentioned. May we also copy words from app descriptions in the app store ? What about lyrics from safari into a song in the iPod ?
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Still waiting for a tweak that will allow us to delete all SMS/MMS with one touch. Even my nokia 3210 had this function!!
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When is this suppose to be released?
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4.2 will probably tonight released, but these are rumors as always. Of course, the GM version is all over the internet.
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"you can swipe left to get to the audio controls..."
no. you don't swipe left; you swipe RIGHT. why do you repeatedly make this error? which direction is your finger moving? the answer is "right." you're swiping RIGHT.
each time you describe this incorrectly, your credibility takes another hit. don't you want to report features accurately? -
Very nice post & informative.... Thank you
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Ok.. Maybe I missed something, but it looks like in order to find airplay useful, you must have "the new 2010 Apple TV".. and without that, this update for the most part is nothing. Soooo... Push an update that requires you to buy ore hardware in order to use the features? please tell me I missed something here.
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Very good article and very helpful. I had never heard of this site but will most definately be back, providing the information is correct of course ha! Thanks
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Very good review, self explanatory. It shows that Apple takes care of some user's concerns. But I'm still wondering where is The place to feedback Apple with such concerns/suggestions.
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I like the information shared in this article. Everything was discussed in ample detail (read not boring). Will follow this site from now on...
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how can i connect my 3gs iphone to find my phone ?
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