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IOS 16

2022 mobile operating system

  • 12 min read
  • 7 chapters

Related on Lably

Through China

It is the first iOS release to be exclusive to iPhones, as it drops support for the seventh-generation iPod Touch. The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, and first-generation iPhone SE would also be dropped. It is also the final iOS release to support the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus and iPhone X, as iOS 17 dropped support for these iPhones in 2023.

System features

Freeform

Freeform is a whiteboard app that lets users collaborate in real time. The whiteboard is an "Infinite" space where users can draw, import files, FaceTime, message, all fluently in sync.

AirDrop

In iOS 16.2, the default setting is "Contacts Only", and the "Everyone" setting was changed to "Everyone for 10 Minutes," which reverts to "Contacts Only" after 10 minutes "to prevent unwanted requests to receive content." This was enabled in iOS 16.1.1 for iPhones in China.

Lock screen

  • The lock screen's appearance is customizable and can host Widgets. The font and text color for the date and time can be customized to 8 presets and color effects can be applied to the entire lock screen. The date is now above the time and a small widget can be added next to the date. Other widgets can be added and arranged horizontally on the third row, below the time.
  • Multiple lock screens can be set up.
  • Live wallpapers have been removed because of the new tap and hold gesture that would allow users to customize their lock screen.
  • The lock screen also supports landscape mode, arranging elements horizontally instead of vertically when the phone orientation is horizontal.
  • When listening to podcasts and music, tapping the album cover will cause the cover to appear full-sized in the center of the lock screen with a color-matched background.

Improved focus mode

  • Different lock screens can be set up based on the active focus.
  • Focus filters allow apps to show different content based on active focus. For example, Safari will only show work-related tabs if the user enables 'Work focus'. Likewise, the Mail app will only show email messages from an allowed list of work contacts.
  • The user can create lists of apps and contacts to be silenced and lists of those to be allowed.

Notifications

  • Notifications roll up from below the lock screen, rather than above.
  • It is possible to show notifications in three different styles: count, stack or list. Notifications can be grouped together with two fingers to reduce them to a counter.
  • "Live Activities" show a UI within a large notification that always stays on screen, and continuously updates to show users real time activity. (Useful for watching the score of a sports game live when the user is not watching, etc.)

Control Center

  • A new drop-down menu in Control Center shows all apps that have recently accessed the camera, microphone or location, new control center toggle for quick notes.
  • The sound recognition Shazam feature integrates its history with the main Shazam application's history, instead of the histories being separated.

Status bar

The status bar can display the battery percentage on iPhones with Face ID, so the user doesn't need to pull-down the Control Center to see it.

Improved dictation

During text dictation, the keyboard is always present and allows the user to switch from speech to manual typing and vice versa without interruptions. It is also possible to insert emojis through dictation. Auto-Punctuation automatically inserts a period when there is a pause in the dictation.

Improved Live Text

  • Ability to select and manipulate text in videos.
  • Quick actions are commands available directly on the Live Text. It is possible to make price conversions to another currency or translate text on the fly.
  • Support expanded to Japanese, Korean, and Ukrainian.
  • Visual Search is able to extract objects and people recognized in photos; they can be interacted with to do things such as drag and drop them into other apps.

Siri improvements

  • It is possible to end cellular and FaceTime calls by simply saying "Hey Siri, hang up".
  • Siri can announce notifications on speaker.

Spotlight

  • A new button to access Spotlight directly from the Home Screen.
  • The search input text box is now anchored to the keyboard, instead of being at the top, in order to be more accessible using the phone with one hand.
  • More image results from apps like Messages, Notes, and Files.
  • Quick actions like starting a timer or running a shortcut.

Translate

Spoken Content

Improved accessibility

  • Door detection is a feature that allows visually impaired people to be guided by the camera. It is able to recognize the presence of a door and signals how many meters away it is.
  • A new accessibility setting allows the user to prevent phone calls from being ended by locking the phone.

Wi-Fi network improvements

Previously saved Wi-Fi networks are shown which can be edited, deleted or selected to view the network password after authentication via Face ID or Touch ID. Prior to this change, users’ only option for removing previously connected-to networks was to tap ‘forget this network’ from within the settings app which could only be done if connected to that network. Users also had (and still have) the ability to wipe all previously known networks from their iOS devices by choosing ‘erase network settings’ from Settings–>General–>Transfer or reset iPhone(at bottom)–>Reset–>Reset Network Settings. The latter option is frequently advised to those seeking to fix a multitude of both Wi-Fi and cellular network issues arising on users iOS devices.

Cellular network improvements

During the configuration of the Cellular Network, the eSIM from another iPhone can be transferred via Bluetooth.

Backup

Backups to iCloud can also be made on 4G, alongside 5G and Wi-Fi.

Face ID

Face ID works when the phone is oriented horizontally. It is limited to the iPhone 13 and later.

Keyboard

Haptic feedback can be enabled for the keyboard; while typing text a small vibration can be felt which simulates the pressing of mechanical keys.

Controller support

iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and tvOS 16 have support for connecting Nintendo Switch Joy-Con and Pro Controllers.

Augmented reality

A new framework dubbed RoomPlan will allow apps to quickly create 3D floor plans of rooms using the LiDAR Scanner introduced with the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max.

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