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Written by: Emily Chen

iOS 16 - Changes & New Features

Updated: 9月 30, 2023 | Published: 9月 24, 2022

With the release of the new iPhone 14 series comes an update of Apple’s iOS operating system. What innovations does this update to iOS 16 bring with it? Here you get an overview of the most important changes and latest features.

The overriding theme for the current update is one in particular: the personalization of your iPhone. It should be more about you and you should get ingenious possibilities to design and use your iPhone even more individually.

iOS 16 - Lock Screen

This is especially true for the lock screen. The lock screen can now be customized to your liking. You can choose the font, color and placement of the elements so that it harmonizes perfectly with the background image of your lock screen. The multi-layer effect for photos ensures that photos appear dynamically in front of or behind the respective elements.

Not only can you create one lock screen, but you can now create multiple lock screens and choose between them. You can also select multiple photos for a lock screen. Your iPhone will then switch between these images every time you turn it on, so you can be surprised and excited about which photo will appear next on your lock screen.

In addition, there are new widgets that give you an even better overview of your most important data such as appointments, activities or the weather. They can be displayed in different shapes and sizes. This way, you always have an individual overview of all relevant data right when you turn on your smartphone and can even track the progress of your activity rings.

iOS 16 - Focus Mode

The feature, which is already known from iOS 15, will be further developed and improved in the course of iOS 16. The focus mode is supposed to put an end to unwanted distractions. The revised focus filter allows you to set your priorities so that you only receive certain messages from your selected apps and contacts.

This way you can hide everything that distracts you to be undisturbed. You can create several profiles, which you can already manage on the lock screen. For example, you can easily switch between your focus profile for work and for leisure.

iOS 16 - Photos

Apple not only makes it easier to share your photos with the introduction of iOS 16, but also to take them. With improved artificial intelligence, your iPhone now gets even more out of the camera and impresses with brilliant photos, even in low light.

The artificial intelligence can directly assign the people depicted to the resulting photos. In addition, shared media libraries can be set up, in which corresponding pictures can be uploaded directly from the gallery. If members of this media library are nearby, the latest photos can even be shared automatically. This way, you can easily share your photos with your loved ones.

iOS 16 - All New Features

Of course, that was not all. Here you get an overview of all relevant changes and new features:

Lock screen gallery: Find inspiration to personalize your lock screen in a gallery with lots of options
Change lock screen: You can change your lock screen during the day
Edit lock screens: You can easily customize the font, color or placement of items on your lock screen
Random photo selection: Automatically display a collection of photos in random order on your lock screen
Suggested photos: iOS makes smart suggestions for photos from your library that look great on the lock screen.
Widgets: You can display a number of widgets as part of your lock screen to see information like weather, time, date, battery level, upcoming calendar events, alarms, time zones, and the progress of your activity rings at a glance
Live Activities: With Live Activities, you can track ongoing activities in real time right on your lock screen
Focus filters: For each focus, you can specify what content to show in Apple apps like Calendar, Mail, Messages, and Safari
Set up focus schedules: Set a focus to automatically activate at a specific time, in a specific place, or when using a specific app
Share photo library: Share a separate iCloud photo library with up to five other people
Edit messages: You can edit a message up to 15 minutes after sending it
Undo Send: You can undo sending a message for up to 2 minutes
Recover recently deleted messages: You can recover recently deleted messages for up to 30 days
Smart search corrections: Smart search corrects typos and also searches for synonyms of your search terms to give you better results
Send later: Have an email sent at the perfect time

iOS 16 - Compatible Phones

The update to iOS 16 can be installed on the following Apple smartphones:

Model	Release Year
iPhone 8	2017
iPhone 8 Plus	2017
iPhone X	2017
iPhone XR	2018
iPhone XS	2018
iPhone XS Max	2018
iPhone 11	2019
iPhone 11 Pro	2019
iPhone 11 Pro Max	2019
iPhone SE (2. Generation)	2020
iPhone 12 Mini	2020
iPhone 12	2020
iPhone 12 Pro	2020
iPhone 12 Pro Max	2020
iPhone 13 Mini	2021
iPhone 13	2021
iPhone 13 Pro	2021
iPhone 13 Pro Max	2021
iPhone SE (2022)	2022
iPhone 14	2022
iPhone 14 Plus	2022
iPhone 14 Pro	2022
iPhone 14 Pro Max	2022

iOS 16 - How to Install

The installation is quite simple and straightforward. Make sure that your smartphone is charged and that you have a stable Internet connection to avoid complications. It is best to make sure that you have an active Wi-Fi connection. Simply follow these steps for the installation:

Go to the settings
Select General
Click on Software Update
Select iOS 16 as the new operating system
Wait until the update is complete

If your iPhone is set to automatic updates, the update will load in the background and notify you of the pending iOS 16 installation after the automatic download.

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About The Author

Meet Emily Chen, a travel writer and eSIM enthusiast. Emily’s love for exploring new places has taken her all over the world. She now shares her experiences and tips for staying connected while traveling through her writing on eSIMradar.