iOS 16: The MacStories Review

When is the last time your iPhone truly surprised you?

The answer to this question is a fascinating Rorschach test that can say a lot about a person’s relationship with Apple’s mobile platform. Some might say it was over a decade ago, when they feasted their eyes upon the Retina display for the first time in 2010. Some might say it happened when the iPhones got bigger – and sales skyrocketed – with the iPhone 6 lineup in 2014. Others might argue that it happened with Face ID on the iPhone X, or the first time they tried Portrait or Night mode, or perhaps when they first took an ultra-wide shot.

My point is: if you ask someone about the last time an iPhone truly surprised them, chances are they’ll reply with a hardware feature. That’s not a shocker: Apple prides itself upon the tight integration they’ve been able to achieve between the iPhone’s hardware and iOS; they’ve successfully managed to turn their design philosophy into a selling point of their entire ecosystem.

People buy iPhones because they know they’re going to work well for a long time, and, usually, because the model they’re getting has a cool new gimmick they want to try. For this reason, it’s not absurd to postulate that, by and large, the iPhone’s software serves to enable hardware sales and subscriptions. I do not mean this pejoratively: I like Apple’s approach, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing annual reviews about their operating systems. But I also recognize that on the iPhone (the situation is the exact opposite on iPad) the software now largely takes the backseat compared to hardware and services.

Which is why whenever the iPhone’s software truly surprises me, I get excited.

Supported By

MacStadium

MacStadium: Cloud solutions to simplify Mac for business.

Software-related surprises are more rarefied on iOS these days, but the kind of people who are reading this story can point to a few examples in our recent history. Apple buying Workflow, turning it into a system app, and outright claiming that Shortcuts is the future of automation was a surprise. The extent to which Apple integrated dark mode in iOS 13 was a surprise.1 The arrival of two iPad features – Picture in Picture and inter-app drag and drop – on iPhone felt like a surprise. But, of course, no modern feature comes close to the surprise that we all witnessed with iOS 14 two years ago: a renewed focus on user personalization with custom Home Screen widgets and the ability to create multiple Home Screens.2

That’s why, following last year’s welcome (if perhaps a tad uninspired) quality-of-life update that was iOS 15, I’m excited about a new version of iOS again.

iOS 16, launching today for a variety of iPhone models dating back to the iPhone 8, marks Apple’s triumphant return to user personalization, with a twist: while in 2020 customization might have felt like a happy consequence of Apple’s engineering, this time the company has intentionally marketed iOS 16 as an update that will make an iPhone feel truly your own. As we explored in June and July, the first thing you see on your iPhone – the Lock Screen – is fundamentally changing in iOS 16. With the ability to create multiple Lock Screens, choose from a diverse collection of wallpaper sets, and customize each one with widgets, you’ll now have endless possibilities for the screen you always see when you pick up your iPhone.

Sure, there’s an argument to be made for Lock Screen widgets also being developed in service of new hardware, but I don’t think that takes away from the breadth of this feature and how Apple created a whole narrative around wallpapers, widgets, photos, and Focus modes this year. As you’ll see, the customizable Lock Screen will be the main character of this review: I’ve had a lot of fun exploring different permutations of my Lock Screen this summer, and I’ve been able to test dozens of widgets from third-party developers, which I’ll also showcase in this story.

In keeping with my theory that modern iOS updates always need to have a little bit of something for everyone, there’s a ton of other (some bigger, some smaller) features I’ll be covering in this review.3 Messages, one of my most used apps on iPhone, has received a substantial update with the ability to edit and un-send messages, making it, in some ways, even superior to WhatsApp for me now. Mail – of all apps – has gotten a major upgrade with modern features such as scheduled send and, almost unbelievably, a revamped search that actually works. Reminders has officially turned into a serious task manager with even more filters for smart lists and the ability to create and share templates with others.

The new Lock Screen takes center stage this year and everything else pales in comparison to the massive update it received, but, overall, I find iOS 16 a more fun and useful update than iOS 15.

So, as with every September: let’s dive in.

Exclusive Extras

eBook, Shortcuts, Updated Obsidian Plugin, and Making Of

As a Club MacStories member on any plan you can access an exclusive selection of perks related to this review:

• Two eBooks
  • iOS 16: The MacStories Review. A fully interactive EPUB version of this review.
  • 2022 OS Preview Series: MacStories Extras. A collection of the in-depth articles from the MacStories Summer OS Preview series, covering a wide range of iOS and iPadOS 16, macOS Ventura, and watchOS 9 topics.
• Shortcuts
  • Topic Reader. An advanced shortcut to browse articles you’ve saved for later by topic. The shortcut will support Safari Reading List, GoodLinks, and Reeder.
  • Park My Car. A utility shortcut to save the position where you’ve parked your car along with a note and photo.
• A Special Issue of MacStories Weekly
  • This week’s issue of MacStories Weekly will include Federico’s comprehensive, annual ‘Making Of’ story detailing the shortcuts, plugins, apps, and other tools he used to put together this year’s review. It will also include a behind-the-scenes story from Michael Steeber, the designer and animator of this year’s review.

Both the shortcuts and issue of MacStories Weekly will be released on Saturday. The eBook version of the review is available right now here.

You can unlock the Club-wide perks with a Club MacStories subscription starting at $5/month, which includes weekly exclusive content, year-round perks, and access to over seven years of archives.

---

Club MacStories+ and Club Premier Perks: AppStories+ and Obsidian Plugin Update

With a Club MacStories+ or Club Premier subscription, you’ll get access to all the perks listed above, plus:

• Special Segment of AppStories+
  • In this week’s extended version of AppStories, you’ll find an exclusive pre-show segment about the review and Federico’s process.
• Obsidian Plugin Update
  • Originally released for Club MacStories+ and Premier members last year, the Export Markdown with Embeds plugin has been updated with a brand new feature: the ability to highlight passages of text and extract them all at once on a separate page upon compiling a Markdown draft. The new version of this plugin will be released on Saturday.

To enjoy the Club MacStories+ or Club Premier perks, join Club MacStories+, which starts at $10/month or choose the best value by subscribing to Club Premier, which starts at $12/month.

Club Premier adds AppStories+, the extended, ad-free of our flagship podcast, to a long list of other perks like our Discord community, exclusive columns from Federico and John, advanced web search and filtering of Club content, and lots more.

Join Club MacStories+:

Join Club Premier: