iOS 16 Gets Lock Screen Update, iCloud Shared Photo Library And More

Apple has released a preview of iOS 16, which the company claims includes the greatest overhaul to the Lock Screen ever as well as new sharing, communication, and intelligence capabilities.

iOS 16 offers iCloud Shared Photo Library, which allows users to share a collection of photographs with relatives, tweaks to Messages and Mail that make it easier to keep in touch, and dramatic improvements to Live Text and Visual Look Up.

“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, in a press release. “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.”

EXPERIENCE A PERSONALIZED LOCK SCREEN

Federighi stated that in iOS 16, the Lock Screen becomes more personal, elegant, and useful. The subjects of images are elegantly arranged in front of the clock on the Lock Screen with a new layering effect, producing a feeling of depth. Users may also customize the appearance of the date and time by using expressive text styles and color schemes.

The Lock Screen includes widgets inspired by Apple Watch complexities, allowing you to quickly access information like as upcoming calendar events, the weather, battery levels, alarms, time zones, Activity ring progress, and more.

A new Lock Screen gallery offers a variety of options for inspiration, including Apple collections such as Pride and Unity, which celebrate special cultural moments; a Weather wallpaper, which shows live weather conditions as they change throughout the day; and an Astronomy wallpaper, which shows views of the Earth, moon, and solar system. Users may also use their favorite emoji or color combinations to create Lock Screens. Users may choose between their preferred Lock Screens with a simple swipe.

Live Activities is a new feature that allows users to keep up to date on real-time events like as a sports game, workout, ride-share, or food delivery order straight from the Lock Screen. 1

Federighi stated that alerts have been modified to roll up from the bottom, allowing users to see their customized Lock Screen clearly.

Focus is now more powerful, quicker to set up, and links to the Lock Screen, allowing users to associate a Lock Screen wallpaper and widgets with a certain Focus, he says. Users may activate a Focus by swiping to the associated Lock Screen. Apps like as Calendar, Mail, Messages, and Safari may use Focus filters to display just the stuff that is important to them.

ICLOUD SHARED PHOTO LIBRARY

iCloud Shared Photo Library will provide a new option for families to share images by creating a distinct iCloud library on which up to six members may interact and contribute. Users can share existing images from their own collections, as well as share depending on a start date or persons in the photos.

A new setting in the Camera app allows users to automatically share photographs to the Shared Library. Additionally, users will receive intelligent suggestions to share a photo that contains Shared Photo Library members. Every user in the Shared Photo Library may add, remove, edit, or favorite the shared photographs or videos, which display in each user's Memories and Featured Photos for everyone to see.

UPDATES TO MESSAGES

Users may modify or remember recently sent messages, retrieve recently deleted messages, and mark chats as unread so they can return to them later. Furthermore, SharePlay is coming to Messages, allowing you to enjoy synchronized content such as movies or songs as well as shared playback controls while conversing in Messages.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES OF IOS 16, ACCORDING TO APPLE:

• Safari adds shared Tab Groups to share a collection of websites with friends and family, making it seamless to add tabs and see what others are viewing. Browsing in Safari is even safer with passkeys, unique digital keys that are easy to use, more secure, never stored on a web server, and stay on device so hackers can’t steal them in a data breach or trick users into sharing them. Designed to replace passwords, passkeys use Touch ID or Face ID for biometric verification, and iCloud Keychain to sync across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV with end-to-end encryption. They will also work across apps and the web, and users can sign in to websites or an app on non-Apple devices using just their iPhone.
• Apple Maps is introducing multistop routing, so users can plan up to 15 stops in advance and automatically sync routes from Mac to iPhone when they’re ready to go. Maps is also bringing transit updates to users, making it easy for riders to view how much their journey will cost, add transit cards to Wallet, see low balances, and replenish transit cards, all without leaving Maps.
• Family Sharing offers an easier way to set up an account for a child with the right parental controls in place from the start. It includes suggestions for age-appropriate restrictions for apps, movies, books, music, and more, and a simpler process for setting up a new device that applies existing parental controls automatically. When a child asks for more screen time, guardians can approve or decline right in Messages.
• Dictation offers a new on-device experience that allows users to fluidly move between voice and touch. Users can type with the keyboard, tap in the text field, move the cursor, and insert QuickType suggestions, all without needing to stop Dictation. In addition, Dictation features automatic punctuation and emoji dictation.
• 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.”
• The Home app makes it easier for users to navigate, organize, and view their accessories, and enhancements to the underlying architecture offer users more efficient and reliable control of their smart home. A software update to iOS 16 will bring support for the Matter smart home connectivity standard once it becomes available later this fall, enabling a wide variety of accessories to work together seamlessly across platforms, helping fulfill the true vision of a smart home.
• 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.
• 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.5 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.6
• Apple News introduces a new My Sports section to easily follow favorite 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.
• 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.
• Personalized 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.
• 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.
• 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.7 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.

The developer preview of iOS 16 is available to Apple Developer Program members at developer.apple.com and a public beta will be available next month at beta.apple.com.