iOS 14.5 is now available. iOS 14.5 is a pretty big update released between new versions of Apple's iPhone software. iOS 14.5 not only offers a sleeker look for the Podcasts app and changes to News and Reminders, also offers new tricks such as additional Siri voices and the ability to unlock your iPhone with your Apple Watch.

It's not an update you'll want to ignore. Here's how to download iOS 14.5 and how to make the upgrade go smoothly.

If your iPhone is running iOS 14 it will run iOS 14.5. This means that if you have an iPhone 6s or later, it supports the latest version of Apple's phone software. We ran the beta version of iOS 14.5 on a number of different phones, including the original iPhone SE, and the software worked fine (although we did notice a slight hit to battery life on that 2016s device).

If iOS 14 is supported, chances are it is already installed on your device. According to Apple, iOS 14.4 is installed on 80% of active iPhones and 86% of iPhones released in the past four years. If you have not yet upgraded to iOS 14, the release of iOS 14.5 seems like the perfect time.

You should always back up your device before installing a software update on your phone. That way, if the update proves to be unstable, you can always reinstall the backup.

There is a complete guide on how to backup your iPhone, but your options are to backup your iPhone to iCloud or save the backup to your computer. macOS Catalina or Big Sur if you are using macOS Catalina or Big Sur, Connect your iPhone to one of the ports on your Mac, locate your iPhone in the Locations section of the Finder, and select "Backup all data on iPhone to this Mac" from the Backup section. Be sure to encrypt your backup to preserve data such as passwords and health and activity data for your device and Apple Watch.

If you are using an older version of macOS or are a PC user, you can use iTunes to backup your iPhone. Again, simply connect your iPhone to your computer and head to the iTunes backup pane. From there, select Back Up Now. (Archiving your backups makes them easier to find if you need to restore an older version.)

Once you've backed up your phone, you're ready to grab iOS 14.5. (If you're already part of Apple's public beta program and have installed the iOS 14.5 beta, congratulations - you're on the latest in beta version, you have the final release of iOS 14.5 already on your phone). You'll find that installing this update is as easy as a software upgrade for your iPhone, even with all the features that iOS 14.5 brings.

1. Launch the "Settings" app, go to "General" and select "Software Update". (If not, be patient: it can take a little while for the software to appear to all.)

2. Click Download and Install.

Given all the features that iOS 14.5 introduces, expect the full release to take some time to download. allow 30 minutes and make sure your iPhone is connected. when you are ready to install and restart iOS 14.5, an on-screen prompt will appear. Accept that prompt and the iPhone will shut down to install the update.

When the iPhone restarts, you will be prompted to enter your passcode. From then on, iOS 14.5 will be the operating system software running your iPhone - at least until iOS 14.6 comes out.

The iOS 14.5 beta process has been available for several months now and we have been using the beta version on our own phones from the beginning. There have been no glaring problems, and the bugs that appeared here and there seem to have been resolved during the beta process. From our perspective, this appears to be a fairly stable release.

Nevertheless, with any software update, there is always the possibility of bugs and reduced battery life. If you are more comfortable leaving the iOS update to someone else, you can wait a few days to install iOS 14.5 and see if any problems are reported. If you have already reserved an AirTag key finder, however, you'll want to have iOS 14.5 on your phone when these devices ship on Friday - iOS 14.5 is required for AirTag to work.