As expected, Apple’s WWDC brought with it iOS 16, the new iPhone operating system. However, is it so different from iOS 15?
Next, we compare iOS 15 with iOS 16. We also tell you what new features should make iOS 16 a good update.
locked screen
While iOS 15 did a good job of improving the look of the system, it didn’t give much importance to the home screen. This has now changed in iOS 16 thanks to the revamped lock screen.
This function allows you to customize the display of information on the screen. Photos can be placed in front of the time and date, which makes the aesthetic more 3D than before, and definitely better than any other type of aesthetic you can find on Android right now. You can also choose from different fonts and color combinations to adjust images and text to your preferred look.
In addition to the classic time and date that you would find in iOS 15, the new version will also allow you to add widget like a calendar to see upcoming appointments, Activity to see how close you are to reaching your daily goals, and weather apps so you don’t get caught in the rain. They are based on the widget Apple Watch and they look impressive, for the short time we’ve had to see them in action.
Building on the Focus feature introduced in iOS 15, you can also set multiple lock screens that you can easily switch between. These will be tied to the Focus modes you’ve set up, so you can finish an afternoon’s work, swipe to the Family Lock screen, and activate all of your Family Focus settings at once. Very well.
The bone widget Live update streams also allow you to stay up to date with ongoing deliveries, the latest match result or other useful information. Additionally, when listening to music, you can now see the full album art on the lock screen, above the playback controls.
Notice
iOS 15 began the big task of tidying up the iPhone’s notoriously complicated notification system, introducing the ability to mute conversations, having notifications delivered at favorite times, adding contact photos to instantly recognize which sends you a message, as well as the notification digest feature which aggregates related alerts and delivers them in the morning or evening or at another time you specify.
iOS 16 doesn’t change that too much. We’ve already mentioned the ability to tie the lock screen to your focus settings, but in the new update you’ll also notice the alerts sliding down from the bottom of the screen so that the beautiful image you carefully selected is not always hidden by notification boxes.
posts
Some of the most useful updates to appear in iOS 16 are in the Messages app. First of all, you’ll be able to edit messages that have already been sent, allowing you to quickly correct an error before the recipient gets the wrong idea.
What if you didn’t have to send the message? You can now delete it before the person sees its content. Finally, you can mark a conversation in your inbox as unread, so you don’t forget to check it later.
iOS 15 introduced the Shared with You feature, which monitors your messages and automatically places any content sent by your friends – links to music, movies, interesting articles, etc. – in the corresponding application. So if a friend shared a song from a new album, it would be in the Shared with You section of Apple Music the next time you opened it.
In iOS 16, Apple has gone a step further by bringing the SharePlay feature, also introduced in iOS 15, which allows you and your friend to enjoy content simultaneously and make it available directly in Messages.
This means you won’t have to open other apps to watch the movie or listen to the song with your friend. You can also continue chatting while content is playing, all from a single app.
The Mail app can sometimes feel like a bit of an unwanted child, as third-party offerings often come with a much wider set of tools to manage your messages.
iOS 15 introduced some privacy features that might hide your information from senders, such as your location, online activities, or even if you read the message. iOS 16 solves this problem with new features that should close the gap with the competition.
Scheduled emails will now be available in Mail, so you can set your important message to be sent at a certain time. Also, you will receive a notice just before the message is sent, in case you want to change your mind and cancel it.
You can now move a received email back to the top of your inbox after a while, which should save you from forgetting it if it arrives at a busy time.
Mail will also scan your messages to see if you forgot to include something important, like an attachment, and alert you before the message is sent. Not to mention, it will use its intelligence to draw your attention to any important emails that you haven’t yet received a response to and allow you to follow up.
Maps
iOS 16 introduces a really cool feature that Apple’s navigation app has been missing: multi-pass routing. With it, you can plan trips with up to 15 different stops along the way, all without having to put any additional information into Maps. Plus, it’s Mac-bound, so you can plan a vacation trip on your iMac or MacBook, sync it to your iPhone, and go.
There are also new transit features that give users the expected cost of their rides, and iOS 16 adds transit cards to Wallet, which will track balances to remind you when to top up.
Shared photo library
Keeping photo libraries organized can be a hassle, especially when lots of people want to access them. Now, in iOS 16, Apple has created a new single place where families (up to six people) can share photos and manage them together in iCloud Shared Photo Library.
They’ll be able to select existing photos from their libraries, as well as use a new switch in the Camera app that will send photos directly to the library. All members of the group will be able to add, delete or modify the images, so you won’t have to take care of everything.
live text
One of the most impressive additions to iOS 15 is undoubtedly Live Text. This is a feature where you can point the camera at text (be it a menu or a sign) in a foreign language and your iPhone will automatically translate it. It also extracts text from photos so you can add it to notes or call phone numbers that appear in the image.
Now iOS 16 does this with videos as well. Simply pause the recording on the text in question so that the software can extract it and translate it or copy the words to the clipboard.
visual search
A sister feature to Live Text that appears in iOS 15 is Visual Look Up, which helps identify things like landmarks, art, flowers, and dog breeds by pointing the iPhone camera towards them. The image is analyzed and the results are presented via Siri.
iOS 16 adds more themes, such as birds, bugs, and statues, and also introduces a new feature where you can long-press on the theme and then remove it from the image. It’s like a Photoshop effect that lets you share the cutout in messages, social media posts, or whatever. We don’t see the point of it, but it could be a lot of fun.
New US Wallet Features
US customers who want to spread out item payments over several weeks can use the Apple Pay Later feature in iOS 16. This lets you order an item and then set up a six-week payment schedule to pay for it. Six weeks seems a little weird to us (most people probably bill monthly), but it’s meant to help people budget for purchases. You will also be able to track the delivery of these items in the Wallet app.
There’s also a new feature that can confirm your age without revealing your details to the caterer or waiter, as well as the ability to share electronic keys to your car, hotel room, office, and more. via Messages, Mail and other apps, with the security provided by Wallet.
Apple went pretty crazy with iOS 16, adding a bunch of other features like improvements to CarPlay, dictation, kids account settings, fitness, home, accessibility, and more. You can read more about them in our guide to the main new features of iOS 16.
It should build on the great features introduced in iOS 15, bringing much-needed additions to Mail, Messages, Lock Screen and more. The public beta will be available in July so you can try it out before the full launch in September to accompany the new iPhone 14.
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