iOS 16: The complete guide to the next big iPhone update

Apple announced its big yearly operating system updates in its WWDC keynote on June 6. No platform is bigger, or more important to Apple and its users, than the iPhone and thus no OS update is more important than iOS. After a successful reception to iOS 15 in 2021, iOS 16 was expected to add plenty of new features and didn’t disappoint.

In this article, we spill the beans on everything you need to know about iOS 16 and how it’s going to affect your iPhone experience. We reveal new features, design changes, and the release schedule of iOS 16, and explain how to get your hands on an early beta version of the new software

iOS 16: Release

We expect iOS 16 to be release to the public in September 2022 after the annual iPhone event. But this is speculation; Apple has so far said only that it will launch in the fall.

Last year iOS 15 arrived on Monday, September 20, 2021. So iOS 16 might arrive on Monday, September 19, 2022, or at another point in that week. The big release to the public always happens in the fall, usually in September to go along with the new iPhone release. Additional point releases (iOS 16.1, iOS 16.2, and so on) follow in the weeks and months after with bug fixes and additional features.

iOS 16: Beta release

The first developer beta of iOS 16 was released immediately; here’s how to install an iOS developer beta. The first public beta should follow in a few weeks. Then we’ll get a series of evolving dev and public betas that get closer and closer to the final public release of iOS 16.0.

• June 6, 2022: iOS 16 is unveiled
• June 6, 2022: iOS 16 is released to developer beta testers

Based on previous release dates we expect the following developments over the next few months:

• July 2022: iOS 16 is released to public beta testers. (Indeed Apple has confirmed this, saying on June 6: “A public beta will be available to iOS users next month.”)
• September 2022: Final version of iOS 16 is released to the general public.

There will be various beta versions released between June 6 and September. With iOS 15 development, Apple released eight versions of the developer beta prior to the GM (gold master).

iOS 16: Compatability

You’ll need an iPhone 8 or later to be able to run iOS 16. Or as Apple puts it, “New software features will be available this fall as a free software update for iPhone 8 and later.”

That’s the headline, but older devices may not get the full iOS 16 experience. Apple warns, for example, that the new Live Captions accessibility feature is available on iPhone 11 and later, while Door Detection and People Detection require the LiDAR scanner on the iPhone 12 Pro and later.

This is a big jump from last year. At WWDC 2021, Apple announced that iOS 15 would run on very old models, such as the iPhone 6S (2015) and first-generation SE (2016). They’ve both dropped off the supported list, and the iPhone 7 is gone too. If you’ve got one of these iPhones, it may be time to upgrade.

iOS 16: New features

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman revealed in a mid-May newsletter that “There should be major changes across the system,” including “new ways of interacting.” iOS 16 lived up to this billing with the following new features:

• Updated Lock Screen that can be heavily customized and upgraded with widgets.
• New presentation of Notifications, which now roll in from the bottom.
• Live Activities: A new way of following sports games, Uber journey progress, workouts, and so on from the Lock Screen.
• Upgrades to Focus: Your choice of Lock Screen, widgets, and Notification settings can now be tied to Focus modes.
• Focus Filters: If you’re in a work Focus mode, you might choose to see only the Safari tabs that relate to work, or filter out irrelevant Messages, Mail, and so on.
• Big changes to Messages: You can edit and unsend messages after they’re sent, and mark any thread as Unread.
• Live Text in video.
• In-app ID verification in Wallet.
• Apple Pay Later and Apple Pay Order Tracking.
• Shared iCloud photo library: Everyone gets to see the same edits, captions, and keywords.
• Safety Check, an important privacy feature that lets you monitor who you’ve granted access to your permissions, and revoke them easily.

For a far more detailed exploration of the new capabilities coming to your iPhone this year, read our guide to the top new iOS 16 features.

Updates expected in the future

Some expected updates and new features were not announced today, but may yet appear later in the year. For example:

Always-on display

Back before the iPhone 13 launched, rumors were swirling about Apple finally implementing an always-on display with time, date, notifications, and other quick data at a glance. It obviously didn’t arrive with those phones, but maybe those rumors of an always-on display feature being tested were actually about an iOS 16 feature.

There does seem to be some evidence that an always-on display could be coming to iPhones in 2022, at least on the new iPhone 14 models. Display Supply Chain Consultants CEO Ross Young has tweeted that he is “expecting” Apple to adopt an LPTO display that lowers the refresh rate all the way down to 1Hz when not in use (the iPhone 13’s OLED display drops to 10Hz). A lower refresh rate is critical for preserving battery life, and battery life is no doubt the reason why Apple hasn’t yet implemented the feature.

Note that this feature wasn’t mentioned in the WWDC 2022 presentation, but it was never very likely that it would be: that would mean giving away a key feature of the iPhone 14 Pro months before its launch. So we’re still keeping our fingers crossed for an always-on screen later this year. Is it technically an iOS 16 feature, or an iPhone 14 Pro feature? Maybe it’s more of the latter since other devices will apparently be excluded.