From messages to the lock screen, iPhone users are in for some nifty new tricks when Apple’s latest software update rolls out later this year.
Apple unveiled a new computer processor chip and improved MacBooks on Monday’s first day of the Worldwide Developers Conference, but most eyes were on the upcoming iOS 16 update.
After all, iPhones are Apple’s most popular product, accounting for 54 percent of Apple’s sales in the most recent quarter of March.
Craig Federighi, senior vice president of Apple Software Engineering, said the new iPhone software update, including tweaks to the lock screen, messages, and CarPlay, “will change how you experience iPhone.”
Read on to learn about the big changes coming to your iPhone in the latest update.
iPhone marks the end of text regret
If you’re prone to spelling mistakes or the occasional drunken text message, the new iPhone Messages update will be a breath of fresh air as you can now edit or undo recently sent texts.
And if you accidentally delete something important, you can recover recently deleted messages.
Tweet from @verge
The new update also lets you share notes, presentations, reminders, and Safari tab groups via Text for easier collaboration with others.
SharePlay will also integrate with messaging, meaning you can enjoy synced content like movies or songs with whomever you message.
Customizable iPhone Lock Screen
Soon you’ll be able to personalize your iPhone’s lock screen like never before, with the date and time typing styles and colors up to you.
iPhone software developers also take a page from Apple Watch’s book by including widgets on the lock screen that display calendar events, weather, battery levels, alarms, time zones, and more.
You don’t have to settle for just one lock screen style. A ‘gallery’ feature allows you to swipe through various lock screens ranging from your personalized photo and widget screen to a weather wallpaper to see changes in weather conditions throughout the day.
If you want to keep a closer eye on the news or your life, a ‘live activities’ feature tracks real-time progress for things like sports games, workouts, or food delivery orders.
You’ll also need to look a little lower for your notifications, which roll up from the bottom to avoid obscuring the rest of your personal lock screen.
Photo and Video Hacks
Live Text, a technology that currently only recognizes Text in photos, is being expanded to include videos.
This means you can pause a video anytime and interact with Text in the frame, allowing you to convert currency, translate Text, dial phone numbers, and more.
You can also tap and hold the subject of an image to remove it from the background and place it in apps or texts as part of the visual search feature.
More innovations
Apple has introduced a range of new features that will ship with iOS 16, including ending a call by telling Siri, “Hey Siri, hang up.”
A new privacy tool called Safety Check is also designed to help victims of domestic violence by allowing users to quickly sign out of iCloud on all their devices, reset privacy permissions, and restrict messages to just the device in their hand.
It also helps users understand and manage which people and apps they have been given access to.
More details about iOS 16 can be found on Apple’s website, but note that not all features are available to all iPhone users.
Who can’t use new updates?
As seen with the iPod, Apple isn’t afraid to make its own devices obsolete, and iOS 16 proves the point; the update is not compatible with iPhone models older than iPhone 8 (released in 2017).
Tweet from @theapplehub
The update also introduces Apple’s own buy now, pay later service, Apple Pay Later, which allows users to pay off purchases in interest-free installments.
But like Apple’s credit card, Apple Card, Apple Pay will only be available in the US later.
The iOS 16 beta will be available to iOS users next month, and the full update will roll out later in the year.
