Apple's iOS 15 is an impressive mobile operating system, but Cupertino has significant changes in store for iOS 16, which launches today.
Lock Screen customization is at the forefront, but the other highly convenient improvements involve CarPlay, Dictation, Fitness, Health, Siri, and Wallet. Apple even has a new Safety Check privacy tool designed to prevent stalking. The new features enrich your experience across Apple’s many platforms, including iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and MacBook.
Apple iOS 16 should start rolling out early in the afternoon on Sept. 12; here's how to get it once it arrives. While you wait, check out the features that we’re most excited to use.
1. Safety Check
As Apple moves toward a more unified, always-connected infrastructure, new privacy features must be devised to keep people safe from harm. Safety Check is designed as an emergency reset when you find yourself in danger.
We all share account information and subscriptions with our loved ones and friends, but these connections become a massive liability if the relationship sours. Far too often, vulnerable people find themselves at risk from a domestic or intimate partner. Safety Check lets you sign out of iCloud on all your devices, rebuke and reset access you’ve given to others, and limit messaging to just the device in your hand. It also stops sharing your location, should you find yourself in the dire situation where you don’t want an abusive partner to find you. The topic is bleak, but Safety Check's safeguards are vitally important. Here's how to set it up.
2. Personalized Lock Screen
Phones are easily one of the most personal devices we carry on a daily basis, so it makes sense that Apple is giving you more freedom to customize your handset. With iOS 16, the Lock Screen receives a significant overhaul that lets you perform many tweaks.
Featuring a new multilayered effect, Lock Screen places a photo's subject in front of the time, creating a cool layer of depth. You can also change the date and time's appearances using a range of font styles and color options.
Beyond this simple aesthetic improvement, the Lock Screen streamlines the widgets to function a bit more like they do in Apple Watch. As a result, the important information you want, such as calendar events, weather, battery levels, and alarms, is available at a glance.
A new Lock Screen gallery is included for further customization. You'll find wallpapers with dynamic weather effects, cultural moments like Pride and Unity, and graphically impressive astronomy wallpaper for a look at the Earth and solar system. You can even preset multiple Lock Screens, and swipe between favorites.
Notifications are set to receive a redesign in iOS 16. They'll roll up from the bottom of the screen to give you a clean, unobstructed view of the Lock Screen you’ve worked so hard to customize.
New to the Lock Screen are Live Activities, a feature that serves up real-time events. These can be as mundane as keeping track of an incoming Uber ride, the status of a food order delivery, or play-by-play sports info. They won't arrive with the initial launch of iOS 16, though. Look for it "later this year," Apple says.
3. iCloud Shared Photo Library
This is another iOS 16 feature that's not expected until later this year, but when it rolls out, users will be able to create and share an iCloud library with up to six family members, giving the collaborators the ability to add, remove, and customize photos. The function utilizes intelligent suggestions to share photos that include family or friends in the Shared Photo Library. These photos appear in each user’s Memories and Featured photos, which is a nice touch. This function is being extended to the Camera, too, so you can choose to send photos straight to the Shared Library with a simple toggle.
4. Edit Your iMessages
Ever send a text you really wish you hadn’t? Or are you one of those folks who seethes with anger when they spot a typo in a message that cannot be corrected? Well, fret not: iOS 16 is here to save you from texting faux pas because you can finally edit—and even recall—recently sent messages. You can also recover recently deleted messages and mark conversations as unread to remind yourself to look at them later.
Apple's SharePlay, meanwhile, is being expanded to Messages as well, so you can sync movies, songs, and other content, and share playback controls with whoever you’re messaging.
5. Improvements to Live Text and Visual Look Up
Your iPhone’s camera is a massively powerful tool, as is the technology it uses to interpret and recognize what the lens sees. Live Text, for example, uses your handset’s AI to recognize text in images, which is handy whenever you’re trying to translate something. This functionality is coming to video in iOS 16, so you can pause a clip and interact with the in-frame text.
Similarly, Visual Look Up lets you inspect and manipulate image subjects and transpose them into apps like Messages. This function is getting beefed up with iOS 16 to recognize more objects, such as statues, birds, and insects.
6. Apple Pay Later, Which Lets You...Pay Later
Everyone likes shopping, but expenses are tight during these trying times. To that end, Apple is giving you a surprisingly generous hand with iOS 16's Apple Pay Later. When buying items using Apple Pay, you can opt to pay later, which splits the purchase's cost into four equal payments that are spread across six weeks. Even better, there's zero interest and fees. In addition, Apple Pay Order Tracking delivers detailed receipt and order-tracking info directly to your Wallet.
Other Cool iOS 16 Features
Dictation receives more intuitive controls, letting you fluidly transition between voice and touch controls. If you’re dictating, the keyboard stays open and gives you the opportunity to tap within the text field to make changes, insert suggestions, or move the cursor without stopping the voice-to-text translation. The new Dictation automatically adds punctuation and emoji.
CarPlay goes next-gen with iOS 16. Ever drive around and wonder, “Gee, I wish my car was more like a phone?" Apple hears you, and is expanding its CarPlay features to better integrate with your vehicle. You will also be able to personalize your dashboard with different gauge cluster designs, widget support, and at-a-glance weather and music. Everything’s a computer nowadays; what’s the harm in letting them all communicate with one another? More information will come at a later date, with compatible vehicle announcements expected in late 2023.
Family Sharing gets a small update that lets parents or guardians suggest age-appropriate restrictions, and automatically set up new devices with existing parental controls. Additional screen time can be approved or declined directly through Messages.
Finally, Apple News introduces a My Sports section that enables you to better follow a beloved team or league. This includes stories from hundreds of top publishers, scores, schedules, and even highlights.