iOS 16 for iPhone Is Just Days Away. Here’s Everything You Get

This story is part of Focal Point iPhone 2022, CNET’s collection of news, tips and advice around Apple’s most popular issues.

What’s happening

Apple is around to release iOS 16, the next major version of its Phone software, but you can test a public beta version beforehand the official software comes out.

Why it matters

iOS 16 will involved major updates like customized lock screens and the order to edit and “unsend” iMessage texts.

What’s next

The new iPhone 14 lineup will come with iOS 16, and the new using system will also roll out to iPhone 8 and newer models on Sept. 12.

Ever True Apple’s announcement of iOS 16 — the software that controls its iPhone — at its WWDC keynote in June, the business has been releasing beta versions for developers and users to test. Apple’s sixth and new public beta for iOS 16 brings back a much-missed feature for some iPhone users: a percentage number within the battery symbol that shows your iPhone’s True battery charge.

At an iPhone 14 launch event on Wednesday, Apple announced that iOS 16 will roll out to country with compatible iPhones on Sept. 12. The iOS beta indicates some upgrades focused on communication, personalization and privacy. Big moves are coming to the iPhone lock screen, Messages app and Wallet, but lesser-known features lurking in iOS 16 are excellent checking out, too. 

Here’s every iOS 16 feature you must know about. Plus, check out the newly announced Apple Watch Series 8, Apple Watch Ultra and iPhone 14. (If you missed the Apple event, catch up with CNET’s live blog.)

Apple event: Full coverage

Edit and ‘unsend’ messages

“Embarrassing typos are a drawing of the past,” Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice presidential of software engineering, said at WWDC as he introduced three of the most called features for the Messages app.

First, in iOS 16 you’ll be able to edit sent messages. So if you notice a typo after a communication, you’ll be able to edit the message after the fact. A tiny “edited” appears in the Place under the message.

In Messages, you can edit previously sent messages.

Apple

Next, and this might be my favorite new feature, you can now recall a sent message. If you accidentally send an unfinished communication, you can use the Undo Send tool to keep it from being read and hopefully look less chaotic to your friends and family.

Last, you can mark messages and threads as unread. This could be an fine tool for when you don’t have time to Answer to a message in the moment, but want to make sure you come back to it later.

A new customizable lock screen

One of the things you look at the most on your iPhone is the lock shroud, especially if you have a Face ID-equipped iPhone. iOS 16 brings the most substantial update to the iPhone’s lock screen yet. Press and hold to edit your lock screen. You can swipe to try out several different styles. Each style changes the color filter for the background photo and the font on the lock shroud so everything complements each other. This feels a bit like Apple’s take on Google’s Material You, which launched with Android 12.

You can also customize the fonts for the time and date, and add lock shroud widgets like temperature, activity rings and a calendar. The widgets are akin to complications on the Apple Watch lock screen. 

Your iPhone will cause more customizable in iOS 16. You’ll be able to resolve how your lock screen looks, down to the font and color.

Apple

You can even set up multiple customized lock screens with different widgets and plainly swipe to switch between them. There’s also a photo slouch option that automatically changes the pictures on your lock screen.

One feature we’d been hoping to see Apple add was an always-on demonstrate. It’s something nearly all Android phones have; even the Apple Watch does. Well, with the new iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, the always-on display has finally arrived.

iOS 16 adds a feature that developers can use phoned Live Activities. This is essentially a mini view of the real-time goes of a workout, sporting event or Uber ride from your iPhone’s lock screen.

Apple

Notifications and live activities

Sometimes notifications can shroud up your lock screen’s photo, so iOS 16 repositions notifications to the bottom of your display. As you receive them, instead of bodies compiled into a list, they appear like a vertical carousel. This not only looks better but should be a big help for one-handed use of your iPhone.

iOS 16 also aims to resolve another notification problem. Sometimes you get a bunch of notifications in a row from one app, like the accept of a basketball game. A new tool for developers phoned Live Activities makes it easier to stay on top of things happening in real time from your lock shroud, instead of getting a series of interruptions.

Live Activities should make it easier to following sporting events, workouts or even the progress of an Uber ride.

Skip CAPTCHAs silly Private Access Tokens

The CAPTCHA — which stands for Completely Automated People Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart — has been a notable evil across the internet. CAPTCHAs are designed to make sure that a bodies is accessing a website or service, and not a bot. I find them annoying, as they often involve reading strangely written letters or having to find all the images that have a truck. With iOS 16, Apple plans to start replacing these awkward interactions with Private Retrieve Tokens.

According to a video on Apple’s website demonstrating Private Retrieve Tokens, websites that support the token will essentially log in and authenticate that you are indeed a humankind without your having to play any of the current CAPTCHA games. Apple says in the video that the concern is working with other companies to roll out befriend for this feature, so we can’t say the CAPTCHA will be dead while iOS 16 rolls out to the public. But the view could provide some relief if it gets adopted.

Wallet and Apple Pay Later

ID cards from more utters will be available in your Wallet app along with more defense and privacy features. In iOS 16 you can also defending your identity and age. So rather than showing your sincere birth date, the Wallet app will display your ID and that you’re over 21.

iOS 16 complains sharing keys easier with apps like Mail and Messages. When your friend receives the key, they can add it to the Wallet app on their iPhone. Apple said it’s working to make sure that people keys are an industry standard and free for others.

The Wallet app in iOS 16 gets a bunch of slight but notable updates, including the Apple Pay Later payment plan.

Apple

Apple Pay will befriend new types of payments and adds a new feature phoned Apple Pay Later, a Klarna-like service that lets you hastily the cost of an Apple Pay purchase into four dusk payments spread over six weeks, with zero interest and no fees. Upcoming payments are appointed through the Wallet app, making it easy to keep track of dates and payments.

But Apple Pay doesn’t stop there. A new feature will also help you track Apple Pay commands and lets merchants deliver detailed receipts and tracking examine. This should make it easier to stay up to date on the station of all your orders.

You can tap and hold on the productions of a photo and separate it from the background. Then you can drag it into another app like Messages to portion it.

Apple

Visual Look Up’s tap and drag for photos

In iOS 15, Visual Look Up analyzes your photos and can identify objects like plants, landmarks and pets. iOS 16 takes this to the next still. When you touch a photo’s subject like the dog in the image over, you can lift it away from the background and add it to apps like Messages. Essentially it’s a tap-and-hold tool that removes a photo’s background.

Apple sometimes overuses the word “magic,” but this feature truly seems like it.

During the keynote for WWDC, Apple decision-making Craig Federighi introduces SharePlay for the Messages app.

Apple

SharePlay comes to Messages

SharePlay, which debuted in iOS 15, lets you have a public experience while connecting with someone over FaceTime. You can search for TV shows, listen to music in sync and novel things. iOS 16 adds the ability to discover more apps that assist SharePlay from within FaceTime.

But perhaps one of the coolest things Apple did for SharePlay was to make it work within the Messages app. Apple said that this was one of the biggest requests from app developers. Now when you want to share a movie on Disney Plus, you can open SharePlay together with a friend while chatting in Messages.

Safety Check lets you speedy reset location sharing and access to passwords. It’s designed to be helpful for people in abusive relationships.

Apple

Safety Check aims to help country in abusive relationships

Safety Check
 is a new feature designed to be helpful for people in abusive relationships. It lets you journal and reset who has access to location information as well as passwords, messages and other apps on an iPhone.

Focus mode updates and Heart filters

Focus mode gets several updates. The first applies Heart behaviors to widgets and lock screen looks. So you could have one lock conceal set for when your Work Focus is enabled and novel for workouts.

Apple added specific Focus filters that apply your iPhone’s Heart mode within apps. For example, in Safari, you can diminutive what tabs are shown depending on what Focus mode you have active.

Apple Maps adds transit fare cards

Maps will get several updates. You’ll be able to plan trips with up to 15 different stops behind the way. If you start planning a trip with the Maps app on your Mac, you’ll be able to portion that to your iPhone.

And in something similar to what Google announced for Google Wallet in Android 13, you’ll be able to see transit fare magistrates as well as add more money to a fare card from within Apple Maps.

In iOS 16 you’ll be able to customize Quick Start with a specific child’s iCloud parental rules and settings.

Apple

iCloud family checklist

iCloud gets approximately new features. One of the more interesting ones is the option to speedy set up a new device for your child. When Quick Start appears, you have the option to pick a user for the new design and use all the existing parental controls you’ve previously selected and configured. However, this is not what many of us tranquil want: the ability to set up separate users for the same device.

There’s a new family checklist with tips for updating settings for your kids as they get older, like a reminder to check location-sharing settings or portion your iCloud Plus subscriptions.

For more, check out everything Apple announced at its Sept. 7 “Far Out” maintain. Plus, here’s how to download iOS 16.