iOS 16: Apple's latest iPhone software, available now (2024)

Focus modes were introduced last year with iOS 15 and have been expanded and refined in iOS 16, iPadOS 16, watchOS 9, and macOS Ventura. In addition to the redesigned, customizable lock screen in iOS 16, each focus mode now has a corresponding lock screen. In addition to all the pre-existing ways to activate a focus mode, such as in the Control Center or via automations, iPhone users can now swipe between lock screens to activate a corresponding focus.

iOS 16 suggests home screen and lock screen configurations with relevant apps, wallpapers and widgets when setting a focus mode, and users can link an Apple Watch face directly to a specific focus. The process for setting the focus modes has also been improved with a personalized setup experience for each option.

One of the biggest additions to Focus in iOS 16 is Focus Filters. Focus filters allow users to set limits in apps like Calendar, Mail, Messages, and Safari to show only relevant content, such as a specific tab group in Safari, a set of calendars in the Calendar app, or email accounts in Mail. A new Focus Filter API allows developers to build this functionality into their apps and change content based on a user's current Focus.

There are also more configurable options within the focus modes, with a new ability to mute notifications from apps and people, effectively adding the ability to exclude notifications rather than just allowing them, as is the case in iOS 15.

• iOS 16: Use focus filters to hide content in apps
• iOS 16: Enable dark mode with focus
• iOS 16: How to enable Power Saving Mode with Focus
• iOS 16: Pair an Apple Watch Face with a focus mode
• iOS 16: How to prevent focus modes from sharing your status
• iOS 16: Limit browsing to a specific Safari tab group in focus mode
• iOS 16: How to link an email account to a focus
• iOS 16: Mute notifications from specific people when you're in a focus mode
• iOS 16: Mute notifications from specific apps in a focus mode

To report

In iOS 16, users can edit or retrieve a recently sent message for up to 15 minutes after sending, recover recently deleted messages for up to 30 days, and mark conversations as unread to come back to later.

When you mention a contact in the Messages app, suggestions now include a contact photo in the Quick Touch bar. Apple has also redesigned the voicemail experience with a separate Messages app.

Collaboration invitations make it easier to work on a shared project in Messages, so everyone in a discussion can be automatically added to a document, spreadsheet, or project and see any edits with activity updates at the top of a Messages thread. The feature is compatible with Files, Keynote, Numbers, Pages, Notes, Reminders and Safari, as well as third-party apps thanks to a Messages Collaboration API.

iOS 16 brings SharePlay to Messages, making it possible to enjoy synced content like movies or songs and shared playback controls while chatting in the Messages app. Additionally, a new Shared with You API allows developers to build a Shared with You section in third-party apps.

• iOS 16: How to unsend a sent iMessage
• iOS 16: Edit a sent iMessage
• iOS 16: Mark a message as unread
• iOS 16: Recover Deleted Messages
• iOS 16: How to report unwanted SMS and MMS messages

Facetime

FaceTime can now seamlessly transfer calls from iPhone to a Mac or iPad and vice versa. When calls are transferred, connected Bluetooth headsets also switch to the new device at the same time.

Live Captions in FaceTime allows users to automatically view transcribed dialogue in FaceTime calls with speaker attribution, making it easy to follow along in group conversations.

SharePlay App Discovery allows users to see which of their apps support SharePlay and access them from the FaceTime controls. Users can also tap the Share button during an active FaceTime call to collaborate with others on the call in Files, Keynote, Numbers, Pages, Notes, Reminders, Safari, and supported third-party apps.

Free form

Freeform is a new app that provides a flexible canvas for mapping new projects, collecting assets or brainstorming. Users can write or draw anywhere on the canvas and select and move text or drawings as needed. With rich multimedia support, users can embed images, video, audio, PDFs, documents and web links, all with inline previews.

Real-time collaboration allows users to see others' contributions as they add content and make edits. Freeform uses the Messages Collaboration API to see updates from collaborators in Messages conversations, and users can start a FaceTime conversation directly from Freeform.

Already

Users can now schedule emails in advance and have up to ten seconds to cancel delivery of a message before it reaches the recipient's inbox. Mail can detect if a user has forgotten to include an important part of their message, such as an attachment, and there are options to show a message again at any time with Remind Later. Follow-up suggestions automatically remind users to follow up with an email if they haven't received a response, adding context and details with expanded links.

The Mail app is also getting a major overhaul of search in iOS 16, using advanced techniques to deliver more relevant, accurate, and complete results. Users will see the latest emails, contacts, documents and links as soon as they start searching for emails. Search results are also improved by automatically correcting typos and using synonyms for search terms.

• iOS 16: How to Cancel Sending Emails in Apple Mail
• iOS 16: Schedule emails in Apple Mail
• iOS 16: Get email reminders in Apple Mail
• iOS 16: How to use the 'Followup' feature in Apple Mail

Portrait shots and cinematic mode

Portrait mode lets you blur objects in the foreground of an image for a more realistic depth of field effect on the iPhone 13 models. When recording videos in Movie mode on iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro, the depth of field effect is more accurate for profile corners and around the edges of hair and glasses.

Foto's App

The Photos app now features duplicate detection to identify duplicate photos in albums and quickly clean up libraries. Users can copy and paste the changes made in one photo to another image or set of images, and it is possible to undo and redo multiple editing steps.

The hidden and recently deleted albums are locked by default and can be unlocked with Face ID, Touch ID, or a password, and people in the People album can be sorted alphabetically.

When a video is playing in a memory, users can tap to restart the video and play it from the beginning while the music continues to play. There are also new memory types for this day in history and children playing, and the ability to disable memories and selected images from appearing in photos and in the photo widget.

• iOS 16: Lock Hidden and Recently Deleted Photo Albums
• iOS 16: Copy and paste edits to photos
• iOS 16: How to Undo and Redo Individual Photo Edits

With iCloud Shared Photo Library, up to six family members can share photos together in a separate iCloud Library. Each user in the shared photo library has access to add, delete, edit, or favorite the shared photos or videos that appear in each user's memories and selected photos.

Users can use smart setup rules to choose to share existing photos from their personal libraries or share them based on a start date or just the people in the photos. Users can also choose to automatically send photos to the shared library using a new power button in the Camera app, and smart suggestions in the Photos app encourage users to share photos with participants in the shared photo library.

• iOS 16: How to control when iPhone camera photos are saved to your shared iCloud Photo Library
• iOS 16: Invite someone to your shared iCloud Photo Library
• iOS 16: Create a shared iCloud Photo Library
• iOS 16: Enable or disable deletion notifications for a shared iCloud Photo Library

Apple Pay-ordersporing

Apple Pay Order Tracking allows users to receive detailed receipts and order tracking information directly in the Wallet app for Apple Pay purchases made at participating merchants.

Digital keys and IDs

Keys and IDs in the Wallet app will receive expanded support in iOS 16. Users can use their ID in Wallet for apps that require identity and age verification. Only the information necessary for the transaction is passed to the app for maximum security and privacy, and the user can view it and agree to share it via Face ID or Touch ID.

Additionally, users can securely share their home, hotel, office and car keys in Wallet via messaging apps including Messages, Mail, WhatsApp and more. Key permissions can be easily managed in the Wallet app.

Apple Pay later

US users can use Apple Pay Later to split the cost of an Apple Pay purchase into four equal payments, spread over six weeks, without interest or fees. Apple Pay Later is built into the Wallet app, allowing users to easily track and refund Apple Pay Later payments. Users can request Apple Pay later at checkout with Apple Pay or in the Wallet app. Apple Pay Later is available wherever Apple Pay is accepted online or in-app through the Mastercard network.

The Home app in iOS 16 makes it easier for users to navigate, organize, view, and control their accessories, and improvements to the underlying architecture give users more efficient and reliable control over their smart home, especially for homes with many smart accessories.

Users can see their entire home at a glance on the redesigned Home tab. Rooms and favorite accessories are integrated into the main tab of the app, giving you easier access to the most used accessories. Categories for lighting, climate, security, speakers and TVs and water provide quick access to all relevant accessories, organized by room, along with more detailed status information.

Up to four camera views appear centrally on the Home tab, and additional camera views can be accessed by swiping. Accessory tiles have been redesigned so that the different accessories are visually more recognizable through shape and color. Accessories can be controlled directly from their tiles by tapping the tile icon, or you can tap the accessory name for more detailed controls. New widgets on the iPhone lock screen let you see the status of your home and quickly access your favorite accessories, right from the lock screen.

A later software update for iOS 16 will add support for the Matter standard for smart home connectivity when it becomes available later this fall, allowing a wide variety of accessories to work seamlessly across platforms. With Matter, users can choose from even more compatible smart home accessories and control them with the Home app and Siri on Apple devices.

Health

The Health app adds medications so users can easily create and manage a medication list, create schedules and reminders, and record and track their medications, vitamins or supplements with custom images. Interactive graphs help users understand when they have taken their medication and provide insight into medication compliance.

In the US, users can simply point their iPhone camera at a label to add a drug and read about it. Educational content about medications provides additional context, including how to pronounce the name, what the medication is used for, how it works, and any possible side effects. The Health app can also provide notifications if a drug has a critical interaction with another drug a user adds. Users can view critical, severe, and moderate interactions in the Health app.

• iOS 16: Add a drug or vitamin to the Health app
• iOS 16: How to share your medication list in the Health app
• iOS 16: Remove an item from your medication log in the Health app

Additionally, users can share their health data with loved ones and easily create a PDF of available medical records from affiliated healthcare institutions directly from the Health app.

Eligibility

In iOS 16, the Fitness app is available to all iPhone users, even if they don't use an Apple Watch. iPhone users can set a daily Move goal in the Fitness app and see how their active calories help close their Move ring. The iPhone's motion sensors can track steps, distance, flights climbed and exercise through third-party apps, which can be converted into an estimate of active calories to contribute to users' daily Move goals. Users can also share their Move ring with friends for extra motivation.

iOS 16 featuresspecial pricing on Apple Fitness+ workoutsand offers users a new way to celebrate their Fitness+ achievements. The new prizes relate to specific Fitness+ training programs and categories and are recognizable by their unique form.

It is not yet clear how many Fitness+ prizes there will be to win, but there will be prizes for completing milestone numbers of Fitness+ workouts, both for total number of workouts in categories and for individual categories, Fitness+ workout series and the best workouts for individual categories, as well as the prices for the first time, a new training category Fitness+ has been completed.

Pricing is available retroactively for completed Fitness+ workouts that meet a pricing criterion, but users may not see the new pricing on their devices until they complete their next Fitness+ workout.

In addition to the new Fitness+ prizes, Apple has also added new standard prizes for milestone running distances, starting from five kilometers.

Both Notes and Reminders are getting modest updates in iOS 16, including the ability to choose whether to filter by one or more criteria in a Smart Folder, Custom Smart List, or the Tag Browser.

To note

With iOS 16, Quick Note comes to the iPhone, with the ability to create a Quick Note in any app via the share menu or Control Center. Locked notes can now be encrypted with the iPhone passcode, and notes can be more easily shared via a link.

Notes are grouped by chronological categories, such as today and yesterday, for easy reference in the list and gallery views. Enhanced Smart Folders allow users to automatically organize notes based on powerful new filters, including rules for date created, date modified, shared, mentions, checklists, attachments, folder, quick notes, pinned notes, and locked notes.

Memories

Reminders now have pinned lists so users can get to their favorite lists faster. Time and date based grouping makes it easier to view and add reminders. The Today list is now grouped by Morning, Afternoon and Tonight to better divide the day. The planned list includes new weekly and monthly groups that can help with long-term organization. Improved list groups allow users to tap a group to see a combined view of the lists and reminders it contains, and a new completed section provides details on when tasks are completed.

Users can add richer notes to reminders with bullet points and underline, bold, or strikethrough text. Templates allow users to save a list for reuse. Templates can be shared and downloaded via a link. Reminders now also have the ability to receive notifications when tasks are added or completed in shared lists.

Apple News introduces a new 'My Sports' section that makes it easy to follow your favorite teams and leagues, receive stories from hundreds of top publishers, access scores, schedules and standings from the top professional and college leagues, watch highlights in the News app and can follow live activities.

Users can get more in-depth coverage from local city and top newspapers with websites. Local news is now available in more markets and users can find local stories in the Top Stories and Today widget. Access to favorite channels and topics is faster with a customizable favorites group in the Today feed.

Apple Maps now offers multi-stop routing, allowing users to plan up to 15 stops in advance and automatically sync routes from a Mac to an iPhone. Maps will also receive transit updates, making it easy for riders to see how much their trip will cost, add transit cards to Wallet, view low balances, and top up transit cards, all without leaving the Maps app.

• iOS 16: Use Multi-Stop Routing in Maps

iOS 16 brings home pages for Safari tab groups with customizable backgrounds, favorites, and pinned tabs. Safari also gets shared tab groups to share a collection of websites with friends and family, making it easy to add tabs and see what others are viewing.

There are new web extension APIs for developers, and extensions are now synced between Apple devices, along with preferences for specific websites. iOS 16 also adds support for translating text in web page images using Live Text. Users can edit Safari's suggested strong passwords to tailor to a site's specific requirements. Support for web push notifications coming in 2023.

• iOS 16: Pin tabs in Safari on iPhone and iPad
• iOS 16: Share Safari Tab Groups
• iOS 16: Create favorites in a Safari tab group
• iOS 16: Extract subjects from images on the web

Signing into apps or accounts in Safari is more secure with passkeys, unique digital keys that are easy to use and stay on the device for maximum security. Designed to replace passwords, Access Keys uses Touch ID or Face ID for biometric authentication and iCloud Keychain to sync between iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV with end-to-end encryption. Sign in to websites or apps on other devices, including non-Apple devices, with a saved passkey by scanning the QR code and using Face ID or Touch ID to authenticate.

They work in apps and on the web, and users can log in to websites or an app on non-Apple devices using just their iPhone. Access keys never leave the device and are specific to the site they were created for, making them virtually impossible to phish. The private key is never stored on a web server, so you don't have to worry about website leaks that could compromise accounts.

• iOS 16: Adjust suggested strong passwords

iOS 16 introduces support forBypass CAPTCHAsin supported apps and websites. Apple's system verifies that the device and Apple ID account are in good standing and presents a so-called private access token to the app or website. This new system will provide a better user experience for tasks such as logging in or creating an account, with improved user protection and accessibility compared to CAPTCHAs.

Live Text can now recognize text in video as well as images. Users can pause a video at any frame and interact with text using features such as copy and paste. Data captured in photos and videos can be traded with one tap, including the ability to track flights or shipments, translate foreign languages, convert currencies and more.

• iOS 16: How to convert currencies, time zones, temperatures and more inline text
• How to identify plants and flowers with your iPhone camera
• iOS 16: Translate text in the camera app
• How to convert currency using your iPhone's camera

Visual Look Up is taking photos even further by introducing a new feature that lets users touch and hold the subject of a photo to isolate it from the background and drag it into apps like Messages. Visual Look Up also extends to identifying birds, insects and statues.

In iOS 16, Siri can launch shortcuts as soon as an app is downloaded, with no configuration required. Users can easily add emoji when sending a message, choose to send messages automatically, skip the confirmation step and hang up, and make FaceTime hands-free calls by simply saying "Hey Siri, hang up." Users can discover Siri features in iOS 16 and apps by asking “Hey Siri, what can I do here?” and by querying specific apps. Siri handles several types of requests offline without an internet connection in iOS 16, including Home Control (HomeKit), Intercom and Voicemail.

• iOS 16: Automate messages sent with Siri
• iOS 16: How to make Siri wait longer until you finish speaking
• iOS 16: How to get Siri to announce notifications through your iPhone's speaker

Dictation offers a new experience that allows users to smoothly switch between voice and touch. Users can type with the keyboard, tap in the text field, move the cursor, and insert QuickType suggestions without having to stop dictating. Dictation now also features automatic punctuation and emoji dictation. In Messages, the dictation icon is now available in the text input field, and dictation can easily be stopped by tapping the new cursor.

• iCloud+offers Hide My Email directly in QuickType keyboard suggestions, and iCloud Mail settings include the ability to share a custom domain with people outside your Family Sharing group, purchase a new domain, or enable catch-all aliases.
• Game centerhas expanded SharePlay support and a redesigned dashboard that shows friends' activities and achievements from games in one place, making it easy for players to join in and compete against their friends.
• Spotlightis now accessible directly from the bottom of the home screen. The feature now shows recent searches and extensive extended results for business and sports, and uses information from photos in Messages, Notes, and Files to enable searching for places, people, scenes, or even things in photos, such as text, a dog, or a car. Siri Suggestions also takes a user's context into account, and it's possible to use Spotlight to take quick actions like starting a timer, activating a Focus, finding the name of a song with Shazam, running a shortcut, starting a live activity and more.
• Weathernow offers severe weather notifications and tiles that can be tapped to reveal a new, deeper set of data, such as hourly temperature and precipitation over the next ten days.
• musicIt now allows users to follow their favorite artists with new music notifications and improved recommendations. The app also features a new Now Playing user interface, a redesigned lock screen player, and playlist sorting.
• Booksfeatures a new audiobook player with redesigned controls and a mini player that makes it easier to keep listening while you browse the store. Users can continue listening to any audiobook they preview by purchasing the book directly in the player. A new reader introduces options that allow users to further customize the reading experience by choosing reading themes for different environments and moods, with the ability to change font, spacing, text size and other settings.
• Sharescontains earnings dates for a company's upcoming earnings reports and allows users to add them to the calendar. Users can also create multiple custom watchlists to organize followed tickers, group symbols using chosen criteria such as sector, asset type, ownership status and more. New widget settings use a two-column layout in medium and large sizes to see even more symbols.
• Translatecan translate the text around you using the camera. Users can pause playback to place translations over the text in an image and zoom in for a closer look, or to translate text in images from your Photos library. The Translate app and system-wide translation also add support for Turkish, Thai, Vietnamese, Polish, Indonesian and Dutch.
• Tipsnow offers collections organized by theme and interest.
• CarPlayprovides faster access to the Podcasts app library, making it easier to find downloaded and saved episodes and watch the latest episodes of watched shows.
• Clip-apphas a 50 percent higher file size limit for immersive experiences. They also support Live Activities, and suggested nearby app clips can be suggested in the Spotlight and Siri Suggestions widgets with increased location precision.
• Improved child accountthe configuration makes it easier to configure appropriate parental controls, including age-appropriate media restriction suggestions. A new Quick Start feature makes it easier to set up a new iPhone or iPad for a child if the appropriate parental controls are already set up. Kids can now request additional screen time in Messages, making it easier to approve or deny a request. The Family Checklist offers helpful tips and suggestions, like updating a child's settings as they get older, turning on location sharing, or simply reminding you to share your iCloud+ subscription with anyone.
• Rapid security responseallows iPhones to receive important security updates even faster by automatically applying them between standard software updates.
• Security checkis a new privacy tool designed to help users whose personal safety is at risk due to domestic violence by quickly removing all access granted to others. It includes an emergency reset that allows users to easily sign out of iCloud on all their other devices, reset privacy permissions, and limit messages to just the device in their hand. It also helps users understand and manage which people and apps they have given access to.
• Memojioffers six new poses, 17 new and updated hairstyles, additional headwear, nose and lip options, and the ability to use all Memoji stickers for contact photos.
• TV-appprovides rich video previews at the top to discover new content.
• Keyboard hapticsensures users feel confirmation as they type.
• Permission to pasterequires apps to request access to clipboard content.
• Media streaming improvementsallow users to stream video directly from devices that support non-AirPlay streaming protocols without having to grant Bluetooth or local network access permissions.
• Face ID landscapeensures authentication works on supported iPhone models.
• New dictionariesare available for Bangla-English, Czech-English, Finnish-English, Hungarian-English and Turkish-English.
• New languagessupported throughout the system, including Bulgarian and Kazakh.
• Personal spatial soundallowing for a more precise listening experience. Listeners can use the TrueDepth camera on iPhone to create a personal profile for Spatial Audio, which provides a customized listening experience.
• Availabilityupdates include Door Detection, which allows users who are blind or visually impaired to use their iPhone to navigate the last few meters to their destination, and Apple Watch Mirroring for users with physical and motor disabilities who can rely on assistive features such as voice control and switch control to fully control the Apple Watch from their iPhone. Additionally, Live Captions makes it easier for the deaf and hard of hearing to follow along while they make phone or FaceTime calls, use a video conference or social media app, stream media content, or have a conversation with someone next to them. them.
• Privacy history in Control CenterThis allows users to determine which apps have recently accessed their camera, microphone and location.
• A newly designed video playerThe user interface is cleaner by removing unnecessary clutter and emphasizing basic controls such as volume, play/pause and Picture in Picture.
• Transparent call interfacein FaceTime with larger buttons for camera, microphone, message, speaker and SharePlay.
• Recover duplicate contactswith a special feature to highlight and merge duplicate contacts, and solve multiple contact issues once and for all.
• Transfer eSIMbetween iPhones via Bluetooth while configuring cellular service in Settings.
• Institutionshas been improved with a reorganized iCloud settings page, an easier way to manage known Wi-Fi networks, and more.
• When you're connected to AirPods, a new corresponding glyph for your AirPods model will appear in the Now Playing section of Control Center and on the lock screen. This replaces the old AirPlay icon that remained static no matter what device you use.
• Temperature alerts while chargingalert users when the system has stopped charging due to overheating, which can damage battery life. The new notification will appear on the lock screen, notification center, and on the battery page in Settings.
• Redesigned menu options for the text editoroffered in both light and dark themes and adds the ability to cycle through options.
• Contact personsshows friends' Game Center profiles so users can tap through to see what they're playing and doing in games. Contacts now shows whether you have unread messages from a specific contact. The unread message banner is limited to medium and large widgets for the Contacts app only.