Apple Readies iOS 27.2 With Group Video and TV Profiles

Apple will ship iOS 27.2 next week, the release that carries new iPhone software features beyond the iPhone Duo models that ran iOS 27.1. The update touches FaceTime, Apple Podcasts and the Apple TV app.

Dual Capture in FaceTime, which arrived with iOS 27, shows the front and rear camera views at the same time. Tapping Flip puts the rear camera live while the front camera stays on. That arrangement ran only in one-on-one calls. In iOS 27.2 it works in Group FaceTime calls too.

Apple Podcasts splits the Up Next queue at the top of the Home tab into two parts. New Episodes replaces Up Next and pulls in the latest releases from shows a user follows. Continue Playing, a new section beneath it, collects shows a listener started and has not finished. The 9to5Mac writer previously called the old Up Next cluttered and confusing, and wrote in a beta test that the new layout helps users keep better track of what they are listening to.

Profiles also arrive in the Apple TV app on iPhone. They have existed on tvOS, but this is the first release for iOS. On first launch after the update, users see a profile selection screen, which can be turned off. With a profile selected, the app changes what it surfaces to match that viewer. A child's profile shows only age-appropriate series and movies from Apple.

9to5Mac reports that the profile setup keeps an adult's viewing queue separate and limits what children see when they use a parent's iPhone. The same report states that iOS 27.2 adds new features across six iPhone apps in total.

iOS 27.1 shipped to the iPhone Duo. iOS 27.2 follows it next week as the wider release.