Apple Boosts LTE Support With iOS 6.1

Apple today released iOS 6.1, which adds LTE support for more carriers and the ability to purchase Fandango movie tickets via Siri, among other things.  “iOS 6 is the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, and with nearly 300 million iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices on iOS 6 in just five months, it may be the most popular new version of an OS in history,” Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, said in a Monday statement. “iOS 6.1 brings LTE support to more markets around the world, so even more users can enjoy ultrafast Safari browsing, FaceTime video calls, iCloud services, and iTunes and App Store downloads.”

 

The update adds 36 iPhone carriers and 23 iPad carriers to the list of those that support LTE, something Apple CEO Tim Cook first tipped during an earnings call last week. LTE is available on iPhone 5 and the cellular versions of the iPad mini and fourth-generation iPad.

LTE will now be available from carriers in regions like  Italy, Denmark, Finland, Switzerland, the Philippines, and several Middle Eastern countries, Cook said last week. A full list of those carriers is available on Apple’s website.

Meanwhile, users with a Siri-enhanced iOS device will be able to purchase movie tickets via the Fandango app using Apple’s voice assistant, but only in the U.S. On the music front, iTunes Match subscribers will also be able to download individual songs from iCloud.

In addition, Apple said iOS 6.1 adds a new button to reset its Advertising Identifier, which controls how your Web activity on the iOS device is shared with advertisers. You can find it via Settings > General > About > Advertising.

To see if iOS 6.1 is available for your phone, navigate to Settings > General > Software Update. The update requires at least 1GB of storage to download and will take about a half hour over Wi-Fi. You can also connect your device to your PC and download via iTunes.

Your device will need to reboot once the update is installed. You will then have to re-enter your Apple ID credentials for iCloud, iMessage, and FaceTime purposes.

Apple released its last update, iOS 6.0.2, in December, which addressed problems with Wi-Fi connectivity.