Apple Event 2022 iOS 16 Highlights: iOS 16 announced, lockscreen gets biggest update since 2007

Apple iOS 16 LIVE: Accessibility updates

Accessibility updates include Door Detection, which helps users who are blind or low vision to use their iPhone to navigate the last few feet to their destination, and Apple Watch Mirroring for users with physical and motor disabilities who may rely on assistive features like Voice Control and Switch Control to fully control Apple Watch from their iPhone. Additionally, Live Captions make it easier for the Deaf and hard of hearing community to follow along while on a phone or FaceTime call, using a videoconference or social media app, streaming media content, or having a conversation with someone next to them.

Apple iOS 16 LIVE: Safety Check

A new privacy tool called Safety Check can be helpful to users whose personal safety is at risk from domestic or intimate partner violence by quickly removing all access they’ve granted to others. It includes an emergency reset that helps users easily sign out of iCloud on all their other devices, reset privacy permissions, and limit messaging to just the device in their hand. It also helps users understand and manage which people and apps they’ve given access to.

Apple iOS 16 LIVE: Personalised Spatial Audio

Personalised Spatial Audio enables an even more precise and immersive listening experience. Listeners can use the TrueDepth camera on iPhone to create a personal profile for Spatial Audio that delivers a listening experience tuned just for them.

Apple iOS 16 LIVE: Game Center features a redesigned dashboard

Game Center features a redesigned dashboard that shows friends’ activity and accomplishments from games in one place, making it easy for players to jump in to play with or compete against their friends.

Apple iOS 16 LIVE: Apple News introduces a new My Sports section

Apple News introduces a new My Sports section to easily follow favourite teams and leagues; receive stories from hundreds of top publishers; access scores, schedules, and standings for the top professional and college leagues; and watch highlights right in the News app.

Apple iOS 16 LIVE: The Health app

The Health app adds Medications, allowing users to conveniently build and manage a medications list, create schedules and reminders, and track their medications, vitamins, or supplements. In the US, users can simply point their iPhone camera at a label to add a medication, read about the medications they’re taking, and receive an alert if there are potential critical interactions for their medications. In addition, users can share their Health data with loved ones, and easily create a PDF of available health records from connected health institutions, right from the Health app.

Apple iOS 16 LIVE: The Fitness App

The Fitness app is available to all iPhone users to help track and meet fitness goals, even if they don’t have an Apple Watch. iPhone users can set up a daily Move goal in the Fitness app and see how their active calories will help close their Move ring. iPhone motion sensors can track steps, distance, flights climbed, and workouts from third-party apps, which can be converted into an estimation of active calories to contribute to users’ daily Move goal. Users can also share their Move ring with friends for additional motivation.

Apple iOS 16 LIVE: Siri update

Siri adds the ability to run shortcuts as soon as an app is downloaded without requiring upfront setup. Users can add emoji when sending a message, choose to send messages automatically — skipping the confirmation step — and hang up phone and FaceTime calls completely hands-free by simply saying “Hey Siri, hang up.”

Apple iOS 16 LIVE: Wallet Adds Apple Pay Later, Order Tracking, and Other Features

Apple Pay Later provides users in the US with a seamless and secure way to split the cost of an Apple Pay purchase into four equal payments spread over six weeks, with zero interest and no fees of any kind. Built into Apple Wallet and designed with users’ financial health in mind, Apple Pay Later makes it easy to view, track, and repay Apple Pay Later payments within Wallet. Users can apply for Apple Pay Later when they are checking out with Apple Pay, or in Wallet. Apple Pay Later is available everywhere Apple Pay is accepted online or in-app, using the Mastercard network.4 Additionally, with Apple Pay Order Tracking, users can receive detailed receipts and order tracking information in Wallet for Apple Pay purchases with participating merchants.

Apple iOS 16 LIVE: Visual Look Up

Visual Look Up takes photos further by introducing a new feature that allows users to tap and hold on the subject of an image to lift it from the background and place it in apps like Messages. Visual Look Up also expands to recognize birds, insects, and statues.

Apple iOS 16 LIVE: Live Text and Visual Look Up Enhancements

Live Text uses on-device intelligence to recognise text in images across iOS, and it is now expanding to include video. Users can pause a video on any frame and interact with text. Live Text also adds the ability for users to quickly convert currency, translate text, and more.

Apple iOS 16 LIVE: New Tools for Mail

Now users can schedule emails ahead of time and are even given a moment to cancel delivery of a message before it reaches a recipient’s inbox. Mail detects if the user forgot to include an important part of their message, such as an attachment. Users also have the option to resurface a message at any date and time with Remind Later, and Follow Up suggestions automatically remind users to follow up on an email if they have not received a response. Mail also includes the biggest overhaul to search, and uses state-of-the-art techniques to deliver more relevant, accurate, and complete results. Users see recent emails, contacts, documents, and links the moment they begin to search for emails.

Apple iOS 16 LIVE: Updates to Messages

Users can edit or recall recently sent messages, recover recently deleted messages, and mark conversations as unread so they can come back to them later.2 In addition, SharePlay is coming to Messages, making it possible to enjoy synced content like movies or songs and shared playback controls all while chatting in Messages. Users can edit or recall a message for up to 15 minutes after sending it, or recover recently deleted messages for up to 30 days after deletion.

Apple iOS 16 LIVE: One Place for Family Photos with iCloud Shared Photo Library

iCloud Shared Photo Library gives families a new way to share photos seamlessly with a separate iCloud library that up to six users can collaborate on, contribute to, and enjoy. Users can choose to share existing photos from their personal libraries, or share based on a start date or people in the photos. A user can also choose to send photos to the Shared Library automatically using a new toggle in the Camera app. Additionally, users will receive intelligent suggestions to share a photo that includes participants in the Shared Photo Library. Every user in the Shared Photo Library has access to add, delete, edit, or favorite the shared photos or videos, which will appear in each user’s Memories and Featured Photos so that everyone can relive more complete family moments.

Apple iOS 16 Live: Find Balance with Focus

Focus is more powerful, easier to set up, and now connects to the Lock Screen, offering users a way to tie a Lock Screen wallpaper and widgets to a particular Focus. To activate a Focus, users can simply swipe to the corresponding Lock Screen. With Focus filters, apps like Calendar, Mail, Messages, and Safari can display only the content that is relevant to a user’s Focus, helping them to find better balance.