Enlarge / The 2020 iPad Air—one of several devices supported by today's new software releases. (credit: Samuel Axon )

Today, Apple began rolling out iOS 14.4 and iPadOS 14.4 to supported iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices. The company also pushed watchOS 7.3 to Apple Watches and tvOS 14.4 to Apple TVs.

iOS 14.4/iPadOS 14.4 is a somewhat small feature update. New additions in the release notes include the ability to read smaller QR codes with the iPhone cameras, notifications to tell users "when the camera of your iPhone is unable to be verified as a new, genuine Apple camera," and a number of bug fixes.

Here are Apple's full iOS 14.4 release notes:

Enlarge / The various color options of the iPhone 12. (credit: Apple )

This week, Apple has released a number of software updates to pave the way for tomorrow's iPhone 12 launch. Among them: iOS and iPadOS 14.1, and updates to iMovie and GarageBand for iOS.

iOS 14.1 adds support for the various new iPhone 12-specific features, plus a number of bug fixes. Most of the bug fixes fix UI bugs that shipped with iOS 14 last month. iPadOS 14.1 includes some of the same bug fixes.

Both updates are the second to come since iOS 14, after iOS and iPadOS 14.0.1. The update immediately prior to this one fixed a bug that caused users' default mail and browser apps to reset when a device was turned off or restarted. However, users have since found that their preferences are also being reset when App Store updates occur . iOS 14.1 does not address that issue.

Enlarge / Siri in iOS 14, free from its full-screen shackles. (credit: Samuel Axon)

For a couple of years now, we’ve heard that Apple kept putting off a big home screen overhaul for iOS as it struggled with improving its development process to reduce the number of bugs that ship with its big annual releases like iOS 12 or iOS 13.

After those delays, iOS 14 finally brings that home screen renovation to fruition. Apple has introduced home screen widgets in a variety of sizes, given users new ways to manage their apps, and introduced a non-home screen place to put installed apps.

If your first reaction to those features is that they sound a lot like Android, you’re not wrong—but as usual, Apple has implemented them in its own way. So which is better for users—the recently released Android 11 , or iOS 14, which hit devices only a week later?

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  Apple is letting users more substantially customize the home screen with iOS 14. [credit: Apple ]

iOS and iPadOS 14 went out to the public on short notice just last week, and it did something previously unthinkable for the platform: it made it possible to change default email and browser apps. Unfortunately, users quickly discovered that their default app choices were reset each time the device power cycled. But today, Apple released iOS and iPadOS 14.0.1—and the main thing it does is fix that issue.

The update is rolling out to all users today on supported iPhones, iPads, and iPods. In addition to making users' default app choices stick, it "addresses an issue that could prevent camera previews from displaying on iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus," fixes a bug that impacted Wi-Fi connectivity, makes images display properly in the News home screen widget, and addresses problems with sending emails via certain email providers.

Here are Apple's iOS 14.0.1 release notes: