iOS 14.6 and macOS Big Sur 11.4 arrive with new audio features and more

Apple released a plethora of operating system updates today, including iOS 14.6, iPadOS 14.6, tvOS 14.6, watchOS 7.5, and macOS Big Sur 11.4. Generally, today's software updates add new features and not just bug fixes—though some new features won't actually be available until later.

Those features are spatial audio with Dolby Atmos and the accompanying support for lossless streaming audio formats on Apple Music. These abilities were announced a week ago, but Apple says they're not going live until sometime in June. Those audio features are the only new features in tvOS 14.6, so that update isn't much to write home about.

However, there's a lot more to the other updates. Starting with watchOS 7.5, users will now be able to subscribe to podcasts within the Podcasts app. And watchOS now supports Apple Card Family, a shared credit card system meant to help couples build credit together while managing their dependents' spending. watchOS 7.6 also enables ECG and irregular heart-rate rhythm notifications in two new regions: Malaysia and Peru. macOS Big Sur 11.4 adds support for podcast subscriptions, but that's the only new feature in the update. There are miscellaneous bug fixes, though, including one specifically meant to address a problem with the popular game Civilization VI on the 16-inch MacBook Pro.