The time has finally come. Apple has now officially released iOS 16, watchOS 9 and tvOS 16 for all users worldwide. In addition, iOS 15.7, iPadOS 15.7 and macOS 12.6 have also been rolled out.
Apple presented iOS 16 and Co. at WWDC 2022. Here is a brief review. As expected with a milestone release, the changes are far-reaching and include everything from the home screen to the apps within the mobile operating system. Apple is continuing its push to protect user privacy and security in the latest version.
iOS 16
Rather than taking iOS in a new design direction, iOS 16's interface is very similar to iOS 15's. So while the overall look and feel is similar, the mobile operating system's features have changed. In the weeks leading up to WWDC, Apple announced a number of accessibility features that will soon be integrated into iOS. These include LiDAR-based door detection, features to support physical and motor accessibility, and live captions.
lock screen
The lock screen has been redesigned to make it a more useful element of iOS. This includes the introduction of widgets that bring more data to the lock screen than the existing notifications, time, flashlight and camera buttons. The intention is that users can see more data without having to fully unlock the iPhone. The lock screen is customizable, including the ability to add photos and filters in portrait mode. The clock can have different fonts and colors, while the new wallpaper gallery suggests photos you can use.
Multiple lock screens can be created. The Lock Screen Editor lets you design the screens the way you would configure Apple Watch watch faces. Other items include a weather lock screen with animation, an emoji wallpaper, and an astronomy collection. Notifications have been updated to show new items at the bottom of the screen. The new Live Activities and API can display notifications at a glance, and with Music Live Activities, they can also display album art. Focus modes have also been extended to the lock screen, allowing you to display a specific lock screen depending on which Focus is active. Speaking of Focus, Focus filters now allow Focus to be used in apps, for example to only display certain tabs in Safari, certain mail accounts, or other specific types of information in other third-party apps.
iMessage
iMessage benefits from the ability to edit messages after they've been sent. You can also delete messages from a conversation forever and mark a thread as unread. Shared with you is being updated with a new API that allows developers to access the system from within their apps. SharePlay is being improved with a dedicated button in FaceTime. It's also being introduced in Messages, allowing multiple people to watch a video and chat over text in sync. An improved dictation feature should help users compose their messages more easily. The on-device dictation feature lets you easily switch between touch and voice. There's also automatic punctuation and emoji.
Siri & Processing
Developers can use Apple's digital assistant in apps through a new API called App Intents. Live Text has been updated with video support, allowing you to pause a video and interact with the text visible in the image. After selecting the text, you can choose from a number of quick actions. Live Text also gets an API that allows it to be used in the Translate app as well. Visual Lookup has been updated with the ability to choose themes. For users, this means you can lift and hold subjects from images and then place them as stickers in an app like Messages, for example.
wallet
The wallet will have an in-app ID verification system with cards for apps like Uber, allowing age verification and confirmation of other data. The keys stored in the wallet can be shared with others via messaging apps like Messages, Mail and WhatsApp. The new Apple Pay Later lets you split the cost of an item into four equal installments. The service is offered with no interest or fees and works anywhere Apple Pay is accepted. Apple Pay will also be expanded to include order tracking in the wallet, showing when the delivery will arrive. Millions of merchants will offer the service, starting with Shopify.
iOS 16: Families and Safety
As part of Apple's efforts to make iOS safer for families, it's now possible to set up age-based parental controls for accounts within Family Sharing. For child accounts, there's a quick setup feature that adds settings without any further configuration, and the Family Checklist makes it easier for parents to change settings as their children get older. Photos for Family is a shared iCloud photo library that lets all members of a family group share pictures. Users can share only what they want, they can base sharing on who's in the photo or what was taken, and they can also share it manually.
More control
A camera switch allows for automatic sharing of images in this library. It can be set to automatically switch depending on who is in the photo. Everyone in the group has equal rights to images and can see other members' edits. Safety Check is a system that allows the amount of data shared to be limited if necessary. Users can review and reset access to data and locations granted to others, turn off location for all devices, restrict iMessage syncing to the device in their hand, and even control who can contact them.
watchOS 9 at a glance
As with any major release, the latest version of watchOS brings a number of new features to Apple Watch. Some of these new features include watch faces that support both Islamic and Hebrew calendars. New productivity features include the ability to pin apps to the top of the dock for easier access. The revamped Workout app also introduces much more detailed tracking metrics and features for runners, including vertical oscillation, ground contact time, and stride length. A new custom workout type allows users to focus on specific areas, and new notifications like pace and heart rate zones give fitness enthusiasts more data to work with.
Apple updates sleep app
Apple has also updated the Sleep app on watchOS, which uses machine learning to help users learn more about their sleep patterns. Users can view data on their REM, core, and deep sleep stages. As for health features, Apple has introduced a new AFib History option that allows users to see how many times their heart rate has shown signs of atrial fibrillation over a certain period of time. Apple Watch will also get a new Medication app that will help users keep track of their medications. The app will remind users when to take their medications, display dosage and other information, and warn them about drug interactions. Both health and medication data can be shared with family members.
watchOS 9 brings a new energy saving mode
In fact, Apple announced a power saving mode during the Far Out keynote as a feature on the Apple Watch Series 8 and Apple Watch Ultra. However, users of the Apple Watch Series 4 and later will also get this feature. The current Apple Watch models already have a feature called Power Reserve. However, this feature turns off pretty much all of the Apple Watch's functions and only displays the time to conserve battery life. While this works for emergencies, users must restart the Apple Watch to access apps and other features.
More battery life
The new Low Power Mode in watchOS 9 will allow users to extend the battery life of their Apple Watch without sacrificing all of the device's features. It's designed to work similarly to the Low Power Mode already available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. According to Apple, when enabled, the Apple Watch will disable or limit some features, such as the always-on display, automatic workout start, heart health notifications, cellular connectivity, and more, to conserve battery life.
tvOS 16
The software updates for Apple TV are smaller than those for other platforms like iPhone, iPad, and Mac. But there are a few new features in tvOS 16 that you should be aware of. The update brings game controller support for the Nintendo Joy-Cons and Nintendo Pro Controller. When Matter is released, the Apple TV that has tvOS 16 installed will support it to improve interoperability between smart home accessories from different companies. tvOS 16 brings cross-device connectivity, a feature that allows developers to integrate Apple TV apps with iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch apps to enable new experiences on Apple TV. Multi-user profiles have also been improved by using a shared keychain, meaning users no longer have to log in and select their profile when launching an Apple TV app.
iOS 15.7
In addition to the new software generation, Apple has also released iOS 15.7, iPadOS 15.7 and macOS 12.6. All three updates contain important security improvements and bug fixes. If you don't want to switch to iOS 16, you should install iOS 15.7. If you want to find out more about iOS 16, you can find an overview below. iPadOS 16 was not released as part of today's wave of updates. Apple has already confirmed that the iPad update will be released at a later date. The reason for the delay is the implementation of the brand new Stage Manager. Incidentally, the HomePods were also updated as part of the update storm. Please remember - Apple's servers have to acclimatize to the situation. Calls to AppleCare are therefore really not necessary - the guys and girls cannot influence this process. Whether your device is compatible with the new software is compatible, you can find out here. (Photo by Engdao / Bigstockphoto)
- iOS 16: All new features in the weather app
- iOS 16: All new features in the Photos and Camera app
- iOS 16: All the new features in Spotlight search
- iOS 16: All new security and privacy features
- iOS 16: All new features in the Health & Fitness app
- iOS 16: All the new features in Live Text
- iOS 16: All the new features in Notes and Reminders
- iOS 16: All the new features in the Mail app
- iOS 16: All the new features in Apple Music
- iOS 16: All the new features in Focus
- iOS 16 “Shared iCloud Photo Library”: Everything you need to know
iOS 16 update description in full:
lock screen
- With the redesigned lock screen, you can completely personalize your screen in lock mode by showcasing your favorite photos, customizing font styles, adding widgets, and more.
- Multiple lock screens can be created and you can switch between them effortlessly.
- In the Lock Screen Gallery, you can choose from personalized suggestions or use a collection curated by Apple for your lock screen.
- There are different fonts and colors to choose from to customize the date and time on your lock screen.
- Widgets on the lock screen display information at a glance, such as weather, battery status, upcoming calendar events, and more.
- A new effect places the subject of the photo in front of the time display (iPhone XS and newer).
- Photo styles allow you to change the color filters, tints and font styles of photos on the lock screen to create a harmonious image.
- Notifications appear at the bottom of the lock screen and can be viewed as an expanded list, a stack, or a count.
focus
- The lock screen can be linked to a focus, so that switching to the corresponding screen activates a specific focus.
- In apps like Calendar, Mail, Messages, Safari, and third-party apps, focus filters help hide content that distracts you.
- Thanks to the optimized configuration, you can now create a focus even easier and faster - with suggestions for personalized lock screens and home screens, including apps and widgets that are relevant to the focus you configured.
News
- Messages can be edited up to 15 minutes after they are sent, and recipients will see an editing history.
- The “Undo Send” option allows you to revoke messages up to 2 minutes after they have been sent.
- If you want to return to a conversation later, simply mark a message as unread again.
- With SharePlay, you can watch movies, listen to music, play games, and more with friends while sharing information in the messaging app.
- With Collaboration, you can now easily invite others to collaborate on a file through Messages. Activity updates appear in the thread when someone makes a change to a shared project.
- The improved search function delivers more complete and accurate results and makes suggestions as you start typing.
- The “Undo Send” option allows you to undo sending emails within 10 seconds.
- You can schedule email sending by specifying a specific day and time.
- The Reminder option allows you to set a date and time to receive a reminder about an email.
Safari and Passkeys
- Shared tab groups allow you to share a set of tabs with people and instantly see updates to tab groups when you collaborate with others.
- Tab group home pages can be customized with different background images and favorites for each tab group.
- With pinned tabs in tab groups, you can pin frequently visited websites to each tab group.
- Web page translations in Safari are now available for Turkish, Thai, Vietnamese, Polish, Indonesian and Dutch.
- Passkeys provide an easier and more secure login method to replace the password.
- By syncing passkeys via iCloud Keychain, you can access them across all your Apple devices while keeping them protected with end-to-end encryption.
Live Text
- Live Text for video lets you interact with text in a paused video frame, including copying, translating, looking up, sharing, and more (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR, and later).
- Tap once on identified data in photos and videos and you can use quick actions to perform various options such as tracking flights or deliveries, translating foreign languages, converting currencies, and more (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR, and later).
Visual reference
- Detach Subject from Background separates the subject of an image so you can copy and paste it into apps like Mail and Messages (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR, and later).
- Visual Lookup can now detect birds, insects, spiders, and statues in your photos (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR, and later).
Siri
- Thanks to the simplified configuration of shortcuts, it is now possible to use shortcuts with Siri immediately after installing an app, without having to set it up first (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later).
- A new setting allows you to send messages without Siri asking you to confirm delivery first.
- Phone calls and FaceTime calls can be ended with the Siri command “Hey Siri, hang up” (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later).
dictation function
- An all-new dictation option allows you to switch between voice commands and the keyboard when entering and editing text (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR, and later).
- Punctuation such as commas, periods and question marks are inserted automatically as you dictate.
- Emojis can now be inserted via voice command (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and newer).
cards
- Multi-stop route planning allows you to add up to 15 stops along your route in Maps.
- When you add transit cards to Wallet, you can view low transit balances in Maps and reload your card without leaving Maps.
- The ticket prices show you how much your trip will cost in the San Francisco Bay Area and in London, New York and San Diego.
Apple Pay and Wallet
- When you track your order with Apple Pay in Wallet, you receive detailed information about the receipt and status of your order for purchases made with Apple Pay at participating retailers.
Home
- The redesigned Home app makes navigating, organizing, viewing, and controlling your smart home devices a breeze.
- The Home tab now brings together all your devices, rooms, and scenes in a single tab, so you can keep an eye on your entire home.
- Thanks to categories for light sources, climate, security, speakers and TVs, and water, you can quickly access all relevant devices organized by room and view more detailed status information.
- With the new camera view, you can display up to four cameras in the Home tab and scroll to access additional camera views of the home.
- The redesigned device tiles feature more visually recognizable icons that color-coordinate with their category, as well as new device behaviors for more precise device control.
Health
- The Medications feature makes it easy to track and manage your medications, vitamins, and supplements. You can create lists, personal medication plans, and reminders, and view logged data over time.
- Cycle abnormality alerts let you know if your logged menstrual cycles show signs of infrequent periods, irregular periods, prolonged periods, or ongoing spotting.
- Health sharing invitations make it easy and secure for people close to you to share health data with you.
- Health sharing reminders provide more transparency and control over the health data you share with your loved ones.
Family Sharing
- Improved child account configuration makes it even easier to create an account for a child with the appropriate parental controls (including age-appropriate media restrictions).
- A child's device can be configured using Quick Start to quickly set up a new iOS or iPadOS device for your child with the parental controls you selected.
- Screen Time requests in Messages make it easy to approve or deny a request from your child.
- The Family Checklist provides tips and suggestions, such as updating a child's account's parental control settings and enabling location sharing, or reminding you to share your iCloud+ subscription with everyone.
security check
- The new Safety Review setting helps people who have experienced violence at home or from partners reset the access they have granted to others.
- With Emergency Reset, you can instantly reset all access rights for all people and apps. For example, you can disable location sharing via Find My, revoke privacy permissions for apps, and more.
- By managing sharing and access, you can review and customize which apps and people can access your data.
accessibility features
- The “Door Detection” in the “Magnifier” app finds a door, reads signs and symbols, and gives you instructions on how to open the door (iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro).
- With the sync feature, the Apple Watch can be fully controlled from the iPhone. It also supports switch control, voice control, and other accessibility features on the iPhone to get the most out of the Apple Watch.
- The Partner Controller feature allows users with cognitive impairments to be supported by caregivers or friends while gaming by linking the inputs from multiple game controllers into one unit.
- VoiceOver is now available in more than 20 new languages and locales, including Bengali (India), Bulgarian, Catalan, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese.
This version also includes the following features and improvements:
- The fitness app helps you track and achieve your fitness goals, even if you don't have an Apple Watch yet. The iPhone's motion sensors give you an estimate of the calories you burn to count towards your daily exercise goal.
- AirPods Pro (2nd generation) are supported.
- Personalized 3D Audio works with the TrueDepth camera on iPhone to create a personalized 3D audio profile. The profile is tailored to the listener and provides more precise sound and an immersive soundscape. The feature is available on AirPods (3rd generation), AirPods Pro (1st and 2nd generation), and AirPods Max.
- Handoff in FaceTime allows you to easily transfer FaceTime calls from your iPhone to your iPad or Mac and vice versa.
- Memojis have been expanded to include sticker models, hairstyles, headwear, nose shapes, and lip colors.
- Quick Notes can be created in any app on the iPhone, and you can also add links for more context and to make content easier to find.
- The Camera tab in the Translate app lets you translate text in your surroundings using your camera.
- Thanks to duplicate detection in Photos, duplicate photos can be identified and removed from your library.
- The Foreground Blur option in portrait photos blurs objects in the foreground for a more realistic depth of field effect (iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Pro, and iPhone 13 Pro Max).
- Pinned lists in the Reminders app help you quickly navigate to your favorite lists.
- The search function at the bottom of the Home screen gives you direct access to Spotlight and lets you quickly open apps, search for contacts, or get information from the web.
- Messages can be sent automatically in CarPlay without having to confirm sending.
- The Communications Safety option in Messages gives parents the ability to enable alerts for children when they receive nude photos or try to send such content.
- Safety tips in Messages include helpful resources for children when they are sent nude photos.
- With Fast Security Actions, you can now get critical security improvements to your device even faster by applying the improvements automatically between standard software updates.
- This version also includes other features and improvements. For more information, please visit this website: https://www.apple.com/de/ios/ios-16
- Some features may not be available in all regions or on all iPhone models. For more information about the security aspects of Apple software updates, visit this website: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201222
watchOS 9 update description in full
dials
- The Astronomy watch face now indicates how cloudy it is and shows a star map.
- The “Moon” watch face lets you choose between a Chinese, Hebrew or Islamic lunar calendar that circles around a moon and displays live-rendered lunar phases.
- The Playtime watch face draws attention to animated numbers designed by Chicago artist Joi Fulton, and you can also change the background colors.
- The Metropolis dial focuses on the font. By turning the Digital Crown, the numbers change style and shape dynamically.
- Nike Analog, Nike Bounce, Nike Compact, Nike Digital and Nike Hybrid feature a Nike Swoosh that launches the Nike Run Club app when tapped, and are now available on additional Apple Watch models.
- The Breathe, California, Modular, Typograph and more watch faces feature extensive complications, editable background colors and the option to use Chinese characters.
- The Portraits watch face now supports photos of dogs and cats, as well as landscapes. You can also adjust the color tone of the background or the entire photo.
- You can display a specific watch face when a focus is active.
training
- During a workout, you can scroll through multiple workout views and make adjustments, including splits, segments, activity rings, and more.
- The heart rate zones view uses your maximum heart rate and resting heart rate to create personalized zones and shows how long you spend in each zone.
- In the altitude view you can see your current altitude and the altitude meters you have covered. In the training sessions “Outdoor running”, “Outdoor cycling”, “Outdoor wheelchair (running speed)”, “Hiking”, “Outdoor walking” and “Outdoor wheelchair (walking speed)” the altitude meters you have covered are also displayed visually.
- The “Running Power” view immediately shows you how much energy you generate while running in watts (Apple Watch SE and Apple Watch Series 6 and later).
- Training views can measure various running metrics such as stride length, ground contact time, and vertical oscillation to help you keep track of the effectiveness of your running style and identify trends (Apple Watch SE and Apple Watch Series 6 and later).
- You can create your own workouts with repeating interval sets based on time, distance or an open goal. Transitions to the next set can be manual or automatic.
- The Pacer option supports you with hints and a dedicated training view to help you maintain your desired pace.
- “Combined sport” supports duathlon or triathlon training and automatically recognizes different training types such as “open water swimming”/“pool swimming”, “indoor cycling”/“outdoor cycling”, “indoor running”/“outdoor running” as well as transitions to the next stage.
- Tips in workouts can be customized based on metrics such as pace, power, cadence, and heart rate zones.
- In pool swimming training, swimming with a kickboard is automatically detected.
- SWOLF, a measure of effective swimming, is calculated from the number of strokes plus the time taken to complete one length.
Fitness+
- Trainer instructions such as intensity goals, strokes per minute in rowing training, revolutions per minute in cycling training and incline percentage in treadmill training are displayed on the screen.
- Trainer instructions and personal fitness metrics are displayed on-screen for compatible third-party TVs and devices.
compass
- The Compass app has been redesigned to provide more detailed information and zoomable views (Apple Watch SE and Apple Watch Series 5 and later).
- The home view supports both an analog compass display and a digital representation of the current bearing and direction.
- In the zoomed view, an analog display of the bearing appears, including the altitude, inclination and coordinates of your position.
- Compass waypoints let you mark your position or important places (Apple Watch SE and Apple Watch Series 6 and later).
- Backtrack uses GPS to record your route so far in case you get lost or disorientated (Apple Watch SE and Apple Watch Series 6 and later).
Sleep
- To track sleep stages, data from the accelerometer and heart rate sensor are used to determine the duration of the REM, core, deep, and awake phases.
- Using comparison charts, heart rate, breathing rate and sleep duration can be viewed in the Health app on the iPhone.
medications
- Scheduled medications and medications taken on demand can be recorded, including the dose taken and the time of administration.
- Medication schedule and logged medications per day can be viewed.
- Reminders can be created to log scheduled medications.
- Medication complications are available to view your schedule or quickly open the app.
atrial fibrillation protocol
- Weekly reports with the estimated duration of atrial fibrillation in percent for the previous calendar week.
- Highlights show which day of the week and time of day atrial fibrillation occurs most frequently.
- The Health app on iPhone can track everyday factors that may affect the duration of atrial fibrillation, such as exercise, sleep, weight, alcohol consumption, and minutes of mindfulness.
- There is an option to share a PDF for more extensive discussions with healthcare providers.
- The feature is supported for users aged 22 and over who have been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation.
family configuration
- The Podcasts app is now available and offers the ability to search, download podcasts, follow shows, and discover curated content.
- Supported third-party email programs have been expanded to include Yahoo and Outlook.
- Contact photos can now be edited and shared.
accessibility features
- Advanced quick actions with AssistiveTouch are available to play or pause content in Now Playing, play or pause workouts, take a photo using the Camera app, and switch between map view and turn-by-turn directions in Maps.
- The Apple Watch can be paired with a Bluetooth keyboard.
- The sync feature allows you to remotely control your Apple Watch from your paired iPhone via AirPlay. In addition, accessibility technologies such as voice control or switch control can be used as an alternative to tapping the Apple Watch display.
Additional features and improvements:
- In Low Power Mode, Apple Watch's basic features remain available, while select background features such as Always On and Heart Health notifications are temporarily disabled to conserve battery life.
- Support for international roaming lets you stay connected to your cellular network when traveling abroad (Apple Watch SE and Apple Watch Series 5 and later).
- Keyboard languages have been expanded to include French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish for Apple Watch Series 7 and later.
- The Communications Safety option in Screen Time gives parents the ability to enable alerts for children when they receive or attempt to send nude photos in Messages.
- Cycle abnormality alerts let you know if your logged menstrual cycles show signs of infrequent periods, irregular periods, prolonged periods, or ongoing spotting.
- The Apple Watch estimated cardio recovery metric is now available in the Health app.
- The Reminders app has been updated to allow reminders to be edited, meaning you can add important details like location, tags, and due time.
- The Calendar app has been redesigned to allow you to create new calendar events and switch between day, list, and week views.
- A search function is now available in podcasts. You can also follow or unfollow shows and discover new content under "Listen now".
- Apps running in the background are displayed at the front of the dock.
- Notifications have been redesigned and appear as streamlined, sleek banners when Apple Watch is actively in use.
- Some features may not be available in all countries or regions. For more information, see: https://www.apple.com/de/watchos/feature-availability/
- For more information about the security aspects of Apple software updates, visit this website: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201222
