Although updates occasionally come with attractive new features, the most crucial ones are bug fixes and security patches. But the updates to iOS 16.4, iPad OS 16.4, and macOS 13.3 were definitely worth the wait because they can fix the problems you’ve experienced with your devices, and they may be the most significant updates of the year. Did you update your device to iOS 16.4, iPad OS 16.4, or macOS 13.3 already?
Looking at the release notes, you can see that Apple only made very minor changes to iOS 16.4 and macOS 13.3. The only three minor concerns cited are patches for Siri, automatic Mac unlocking with the Apple Watch, and an emoji, but they are far more substantial than that. You can check them all out below, along with some much-needed explanations!
iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4
- Battery drain: When an update is made, there always appears to be a vociferous minority of people who report having shorter battery life. Battery life is often hard to measure,; however in iOS 16.4.1, there hasn’t been any remarkable depletion of the battery;
- Home app: Apple had issues with the launch of the updated Home app, which is used to control smart home gadgets. On iOS 16.4, there are no longer any problems, so you should use the app smoothly;
- Weather: The Weather app just had a total data outage, and even though service has now been restored (as per Apple’s System Status page), the app continues to behave strangely. Although we can’t say for sure, there haven’t been any problems with the Weather app since iOS 16.4.
macOS Ventura 13.3
- Universal Control and Handoff: After downloading macOS13.3, some users have reported that certain features—which depend on iCloud connectivity—no longer function. Nevertheless, we still need to test to verify whether this fault still exists. Version macOS 16.4 should fix all the issues;
- Home directory: A bug with user Home folders saved to external disks came with macOS 13.3, and turning off System Integrity Protection is one solution, but not the best one, sadly. However, thanks to macOS Ventura 13.3.1, we don’t longer have to struggle;
- Quick Look: Several people on Apple’s Help Community reported having trouble getting Quick Look to function on macOS 13.3; luckily, macOS 13.3.1 solves the problem, and users should no longer be bothered by that.