iOS 16.5 beta released to developers
A day after releasing iOS 16.4 to all users, Apple has begun seeding iOS 16.5 beta to developers. It seems to have only one major change, a new way to access the Sports section in the News app.
The app previously displayed sports news, but it wasn't particularly easy to access. You had to scroll down the news displayed in the Today tab. The other option was to follow a news provider like ESPN in the app's Following tab.
Apple News app gets a Sports tab
iOS 16.5 beta adds a new Sports tab to the bottom of the Apple News app. Users will be able to follow specific leagues and teams that they like, to get news related to those. It appears to support live scores. People who were able to access the feature say that the Sports section displays ongoing games, and that the Scores and Schedules panel lists the current scores. It has a button to "Open in Apple TV" app, tapping on which takes you to the app to let you watch the game live. It also supports live activities on the lock screen.
One interesting change to note is that the Apple News app still has 5 tabs: Today, News+, Sports, Audio and Following. The new Sports tab seems to have replaced the Search tab, but the "following" tab has a search icon on it to indicate the 2 sections have been merged.
Users can now start and stop screen recordings using Siri. The assistant can recognize the following voice commands: "Hey Siri, start a screen recording", and "Hey Siri, stop the screen recording".
Known issues in iOS 16.5 beta 1
The release notes that were published on Apple's dev portal mention that shared Admins in a Home can now pair or add Matter Accessories. But there are some known issues that them. Triggering a manual software update on a Matter accessory that has an update available, may result in Home not recognizing that the update was installed, and will continue to say that an update is available. As a workaround, users are advised to check the Software Update pane from Home Settings at a later time, as it may be working in the background. You may also want to restart your HomePod and Apple TV devices.
Shared Admin pairing will fail on Home hubs that are running pre-tvOS 16.5 beta, the only way to fix this is to update tvOS devices to tvOS 16.5 beta. The pairing may also fail if Shared Admin tries to pair an accessory for the first time, to get it working the Home owner should perform the pairing, and subsequent pairings from Shared Admins will work.
Some users say they continue to have issues with the animations for lock screen notifications, and that they are still glitchy.
The build number for iOS 16.5 beta 1 is 20F5028e. If you're on iOS 16.4 and want to try the new beta, you can opt in to it from the Settings > General > Software Update > Beta Updates page. You will require a valid Apple ID that is registered to the Apple Developer Program to participate in the Dev Beta, and that costs $99/year. Or, you may opt in to the public beta for free, which should be available today.
Apple has also released iPadOS 16.5 beta, macOS 13.4 beta, watchOS 9.5 beta, and tvOS 16.5 beta for supported devices.