iOS 16 is official, and it’s packing quite the punch. Here’s what we know about Apple’s big iPhone update for 2022.
Apple announced iOS 16 at WWDC on June 6, 2022. There, the company shared all the main crowd-pleasing features alongside its iPadOS 16 and MacOS Ventura previews. A developer preview is currently live, with a public beta going online later in July. Of course, not all iOS 16 features will be made immediately available for testing (or even at the release of iOS 16, based on what we’ve seen with iOS 14 and 15), but iOS 16 is well underway as the next big update for your iPhone. After the developer previews and betas run their course, Apple will release the finalized public version of iOS 16 around September or October, usually around the same time as the next iPhone model. Here’s a quick look at everything we expect from the update. Apple is known for supporting its iPhones for extended periods compared to Android rivals. The Pixel 3 and 3a, for example, won’t be getting Android 13 this fall, while the similarly aged iPhone X and XS are confirmed to get iOS 16.
iOS 15 is currently supported on all iPhones from the iPhone 6S and on. With iOS 16, the iPhone 6S and 7 are being put to pasture. Apple will support newer iPhones from the iPhone 8 and second-generation iPhone SE, all the way up to the iPhone 13 (plus the iPhone 14 series when it comes out this fall). You’re almost certainly not getting every feature on older iPhones, but it’ll be good enough to chug along another year.
iOS 16 is a significant iOS update, with immediately visible design changes, quality of life additions, under-the-hood improvements, and more. Apple’s lead feature here is the new lock screen. It’s what you see when you look at an iOS 16 device, and it steals some of Google’s customization thunder to boot. Updates to Messages will please everyone, while changes to Spotlight and Safari will provide more power to those who want them. Apple will also dive into the Buy Now Pay Later market with Apple Pay Later, while a new Safety Check feature sees the company pivot back towards being socially responsible.
“iOS 16 is a big release with updates that will change the way you experience iPhone,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “We have reimagined how the Lock Screen looks and works with exciting new features that make it more personal and helpful, introduced iCloud Shared Photo Library for families, streamlined communication through new capabilities in Messages and Mail, and harnessed enhanced intelligence with updates to Live Text and Visual Look Up.”
The face of iOS 16’s changes will be the lock screen changes, and those are spectacular. They add a touch of personalization to the iPhone’s lock screen, with support for new-found interactive widgets and live lock screen notifications. It’s a really meaningful update. Apple will offer a selection of colors and fonts for your lock screen, and the clock will interact with the image so that it appears to be behind it.
