Apple Releases macOS Monterey 12.5, watchOS 8.7, tvOS 15.6, and HomePod Software 15.6

By AppleVis, 20 July, 2022

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

Apple has today released macOS Monterey 12.5, watchOS 8.7, tvOS 15.6, and HomePod Software 15.6 to the public, each of which appear to focus on bug fixes and other under-the-hood improvements.

The macOS Monterey 12.5 release notes say that it includes enhancements, bug fixes and security updates, with the following mentioned:

  • TV app adds the option to restart a live sports game already in-progress and pause, rewind, or fast-forward
  • Fixes an issue in Safari where a tab may revert back to a previous page

The release notes for watchOS 8.7 are not currently available. We will update this post with them once we can.

Outside of the major upgrade each year, tvOS updates are typically minor in scale with a focus on under-the-hood fixes and performance improvements. As Apple does not provide release notes for tvOS updates, we will have to wait and see if tvOS 15.6 does include any user facing changes. We will update this post if anything of note is discovered.

According to HomePod Software 15.6 release notes, the update adds “Siri voice recognition support in Mandarin Chinese (China mainland, Taiwan), Cantonese (China Mainland, Hong Kong), and Japanese (Japan). In addition, this update also includes performance and stability improvements.

At the time of posting we are unaware of any changes, improvements or regressions for blind and low vision users in today's updates.

If you discover any fixes, enhancements, or regressions during your use of these software releases, please let us know by posting a comment below.

How to Update

To install macOS Monterey 12.5, choose System Preferences from the Apple menu, click the Software Update preference pane, and click the Update Now button to begin the update process. If other updates are available, you can click "More info" to see details about them and select specific updates to install.

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

watchOS 8.7 is available via Over-the-Air Update (Settings > General > Software Update) or by going to the Watch app on your iPhone and navigating to General> Software Update. To install the update, your Watch must be connected to its charger and have at least 50% battery power.

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

To install tvOS 15.6 on Apple TV 4K or Apple TV HD, go to the Settings channel, then look for the System section near the bottom. From here, look for Software Updates under Maintenance, then select Update Software and Download and Install. Wait for your Apple TV to download the update. Don't disconnect or unplug your Apple TV until the update completes.

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

By default, HomePod and HomePod mini automatically install new software updates, but you can manually check for updates in the Home app on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac. See this Apple support article for full instructions.

Options