Earlier this year, after the launch of the iPhone 15, some users began reporting problems when trying to charge wirelessly in their cars; in the case of a BMW driver, the charger broke the phone's NFC chip. Meanwhile, GM drivers found that iOS 17.1 completely broke in-car wireless charging.

BMW's problem appears to have been fixed in iOS 17.1.1; GM's problem was a bit less severe, as the only symptom was that it prevented wireless charging in the car. While certainly annoying, it would not be necessary to replace your cell phone just because you chose to use your car.

GM confirmed the problem in a statement to The Verge last month. The automaker claimed it was investigating the issue, but at that point there was nothing it could actually do about it. Apple's iOS 17.2 release notes do not name GM, but mention that the update fixes "an issue that may prevent wireless charging in certain vehicles."

It is safe to assume that GM vehicles are the primary focus of this particular bug fix, even if Apple did not say so outwardly. Then again, there may be other vehicles suffering from the same problem. In any case, affected drivers can simply wait for the public version of iOS 17.2 to be released and update their phones accordingly.

Currently, this software is only available in developer beta and public beta versions of iOS 17.2. If you are so impatient, you can install the public beta yourself, but we expect iOS 17.2 to launch quite soon. Given the pre-release preparations - of which the release notes are only a part - it is even possible that it will be released at some point this weekend.

iOS 17.2 will add a number of other things. A new Journal app will launch alongside the software, after being announced back at WWDC 2023, and iMessage will get additional security in the form of contact key verification. Users will also be able to disable inline autocorrect predictions, and the iPhone 15 Pro will gain the ability to record spatial video for the Apple Vision Pro headset.

Most interestingly, iOS 17.2 has been confirmed to remove support for Qi2 wireless charging on iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 devices. Currently, there are not many Qi2 chargers available, meaning that full-speed wireless charging can be unlocked without necessarily purchasing an approved MagSafe charger.