Apple Releases iOS 14.6 and iPadOS 14.6; Bringing Podcast Subscriptions, Support for Upcoming New Features in Apple Music, and More

Apple has today released iOS 14.6 and iPadOS 14.6. These appear to be relatively minor updates for single dot releases, focusing on the groundwork for the upcoming addition of Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio to Apple Music, adding paid podcast subscription support for channels and individual shows, and some other mostly under-the-hood enhancements.

For VoiceOver users, we believe that when rearranging widgets on the Today screen the ‘drop before’ action from the VoiceOver rotor now consistently behaves as expected.

There is also one minor enhancement for iPhone 12 users. When placing your phone in to one of Apple's MagSafe cases, you should find that VoiceOver will now automatically announce something in the form of “orange MagSafe case detected.”

This will be a welcome enhancement for those who have multiple cases that they switch between, but our limited testing suggests that it may not be totally reliable. The “orange” case detected is actually the “Kumquat” case, whilst another announced as “light greyish orange” is in fact simply “white.”

At the time of posting, we are unaware of any regressions for blind and low vision users in these releases.

As we always stress, we can make no claims on the completeness or accuracy of our testing. We are only a small team, and it is simply impossible for us to test all devices, configurations, applications, and use cases. Accordingly, to help us ensure that the information on this page is as complete and accurate as possible, please let us know in the comments of any fixes; enhancements; or regressions that you find in your own use of iOS 14.6 and iPadOS 14.6.

iOS 14.6 Release Notes

Apple Card Family

• Apple Card can be shared with up to five people, including anyone 13 years or older in your Family Sharing group
• Apple Card Family adds support for families to track expenses, manage spending with optional limits and controls, and build credit together

Podcasts

• Subscription support for channels and individual shows

AirTag and Find My

• Lost mode option to add an email address instead of a phone number for AirTag and Find My network accessories
• AirTag will show the partially masked phone number of the owner when tapped with an NFC-capable device

Accessibility

• Voice Control users can unlock their iPhone for the first time after a restart using only their voice

This release also fixes the following issues:

• Unlock with Apple Watch may not work after using Lock iPhone on Apple Watch
• Reminders may appear as blank lines
• Call blocking extensions may not appear in Settings
• Bluetooth devices could sometimes disconnect or send audio to a different device during an active call
• iPhone may experience reduced performance during startup

How to update

iOS 14.6 and iPadOS 14.6 are available via Over-the-Air Update (Settings > General > Software Update) via Finder on a Mac with macOS Catalina or later, or via iTunes on a PC or Mac with macOS Mojave or earlier.

Before updating, we strongly recommend making a full and complete backup of your device (either locally or in iCloud, depending on personal preference). This will ensure that, in the unlikely event that something goes wrong during the update process, you will have a current backup on hand in case a device restore becomes necessary. Also, if using OTA update, we recommend plugging your device into a power source for the duration of the download/installation process, so as to prevent the unlikely event of your battery going dead during the update.

More information on how to update the software on your device is available on this Apple Support page.

As always, we look forward to hearing your thoughts on these updates. Do you like the new features and changes? Let us know by adding a comment below.