IOS 16

iOS 16

Version of the iOS operating system
iOS 16 home screen on an iPhone 13
Developer	Apple Inc.
Source model	Closed with open-source components
General availability	September 12, 2022 (2022-09-12)
Latest release	16.7.10 (August 7, 2024 (2024-08-07)) [±]
Available in	40 languages
Update method	Software Update
Package manager	App Store
Platforms	iPhone 8 & 8 Plus iPhone X iPhone XS & XS Max iPhone XR iPhone 11 iPhone 11 Pro & 11 Pro Max iPhone SE (2nd generation) iPhone 12 & 12 Mini iPhone 12 Pro & 12 Pro Max iPhone 13 & 13 Mini iPhone 13 Pro & 13 Pro Max iPhone SE (3rd generation) iPhone 14 & 14 Plus iPhone 14 Pro & 14 Pro Max
Kernel type	Hybrid (XNU)
Default user interface	Cocoa Touch (multi-touch, GUI)
License	Proprietary software with open-source components
Preceded by	iOS 15
Official website	www.apple.com/ios/ios-16
Tagline	Personal is powerful.
Support status
Supported
Articles in the series
iPadOS 16 (derivative for iPad)

iOS 16 is the 16th and current major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple for its iPhone line of products. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 6, 2022, as the successor to iOS 15.

The first public beta was released on July 11, 2022. The public version of iOS 16 was released on September 12, 2022.

iOS 16 is very similar to iPadOS 16. It is the first iOS version to work only on iPhones, as it dropped support for the seventh-generation iPod Touch.

History

Further information: iOS version history § iOS 16 / iPadOS 16

Updates

The first developer beta of iOS 16 was released on June 6, 2022. iOS 16 was officially released on September 12, 2022.

Version	Build	Codename	Release date	Notes	Update type
16.0	20A362	Sydney	September 12, 2022	Initial release Complete overhaul of lock screen to allow greater customization Multiple Lock Screens can be created and switched between, like Apple Watch faces Lock Screen gallery offers suggestions for styles and designs Fonts and colors can be customised Widgets can now be added to lock screen Notifications now appear at the bottom of the Lock Screen Changing Focus can now change lock screen Focus filters can hide content in apps Messages can now be edited for up to 15 minutes after sending, with an edit log displayed to viewers If a recipient is on iOS 15 or below, they will receive a message that states "Message was edited to ' ' " For up to 2 minutes after, iMessages can be unsent Messages can be marked as unread SharePlay can now be done via iMessage Mail now has improved search E-mails can be unsent for up to 10 minutes after being sent E-mails can now be schedule sent Safari has gained functionality with sharing Tab Groups and Passkeys Tab Groups can now be shared to other people and devices Tab Groups can be pinned Safari web page translation now allows translation of web pages written in Turkish, Thai, Vietnamese, Polish, Indonesian, and Dutch Passkeys replace saved passwords for better security Live Text is now supported in video Visual Look Up allows removing objects in a picture to copy/paste it into apps, removing the background Siri can send Messages without requiring confirmation with a setting On iPhone XS, XS Max, XR, and later, asking Siri "Hey Siri, what can I do here?" will produce a response detailing Siri's capabilities On iPhone XS, XS Max, XR, and later, asking Siri "Hey Siri, hang up" will allow Siri to end Phone and FaceTime calls Maps now has multi-stop routing with up to 15 stops Transit cards in Maps allow to see and replenish balance of transit cards Maps routes can show total cost on transit fares The Home app has been completely redesigned The app has been separated into categories for lights, climate, security, sound/TV, and water A new camera view allows showing up to 4 cameras on-screen at any time, with more visible via scrolling The Health app has been updated to support new watchOS 9 features Medications can now be tracked and reminders given Medications can be added via iPhone camera (iPhone XS, XS Max, XR, and later) The Health app can notify the user if logged menstrual cycles show an irregular pattern or other concerns Safety Check is added to help people in domestic or intimate partner violence situations Emergency Reset immediately revokes all access to shared data and locations to all people, devices, and apps Manage Sharing and Access allows review and customization of which apps and people can access user's information Door Detection in Magnifier allows locating doors, reading signs and symbols around it, and shows instructions on how to open it (iPhone 12, 13, and 14 Pro series only) Apple Watch mirroring allows controlling Apple Watch on iPhone Live Captions (beta) allows automatic convertion of audio to text The Fitness app is now available to everyone, even if they do not have a paired Apple Watch Memoji has been updated to include more poses, hairstyles, headwear, noses, and lip colors The Translate app can now use the camera to translate text Duplicate detection in Photos allows easy identification of duplicate photos in Photo Library New Spoken Content voices have been added for some supported languages, as well as for previously unsupported languages: Bangla, Basque, Bhojpuri, Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Galician, Kannada, Malay, Marathi, Persian, Shanghainese, Slovenian, Tamil, Telugu, Ukrainian and Vietnamese. Rapid Security Response allows patching of critical bugs without requiring an update in Software Update Patches a bug that allowed apps to bypass Privacy preferences surrounding Contacts Patches two bugs that allowed execution of arbitrary code with kernel privileges Patches a bug that allowed disclosing of kernel memory Patches a bug that allowed apps to read location information via Maps Patches a bug that allowed users to elevate privileges Patches a bug that allowed address bar spoofing Patches a bug that allowed user tracking via Safari extensions Fixes a logic bug that allowed access to Photo Library on a locked device Fixes two bugs in WebKit that allowed execution of arbitrary code	Initial Release
16.0.1	20A371	Sydney	September 14, 2022	iPhone 14, 14 Plus, 14 Pro, and 14 Pro Max only Fixes a bug that caused iPhone to fail to activate Fixes a bug that caused iPhone to fail to transfer data from an older iPhone Fixes a bug that caused enterprise SSO (single sign-on) to fail to authenticate	Bug Fixes
16.0.2	20A380	Sydney	September 22, 2022	Fixes a bug that caused iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max to vibrate and shake when taking photos with third-party camera apps Fixes a bug that caused an excess of permission popups when copying and pasting Fixes a bug that caused display to go black during device setup Fixes a bug that makes VoiceOver unavailable after rebooting Fixes a bug that causes touch input not to work on serviced iPhone X's, iPhone XRs, and iPhone 11s	Bug Fixes
16.0.3	20A392	Sydney	October 10, 2022	Fixes a bug that caused incoming call and app notifications to be delayed or not delivered on iPhone 14 Pro, 14 Pro Max Fixes a bug that caused low microphone volume during CarPlay phone calls on iPhone 14 Fixes a bug that caused Camera to launch slowly or switch between modes on iPhone 14 Pro, 14 Pro Max Fixes a bug that caused Mail to crash on launch after receiving a malformed email	Bug Fixes
16.1 RC	20B79	SydneyBSeed	October 18, 2022	New Features Introduces support for Matter accessories. Battery percentage is now available on iPhone XR, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 mini, and iPhone 13 mini Adds "Clean Energy Charging", a feature that attempts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions when charging by selectively charging when cleaner energy is available. Dynamic battery indicator Introduces the ability to run Stage Manager on iPad Pro models using the A12X and A12Z chips. Three-finger gesture bug fixed Adds the ability to remove the Wallet app if desired, where previously users were unable to remove it. Re-introduces the Live Activities API (also known as ActivityKit), allowing developers to create interactive UIs that exist on the Lock Screen as well as the Dynamic Island of the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max. Improvements Redesigns the Wallpaper settings pane in Settings, allowing users to change their Home Screen / Lock Screen wallpaper from within the app, along with the ability to create a new wallpaper pair. The ability to display the battery percentage has been enabled on iPhone XR, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 13 mini. The battery icon when "Show battery percentage" is enabled in Settings -> Battery now shows a visual indicator of the battery level while displaying the percentage number, where previously it was static, enabling users to easily glance at the status bar for their battery their percentage without having to read the actual number. The "% charged" text when an iOS device is plugged in and charging, an iOS 15.x and earlier behavior, has been brought back. The menu that appears when tapping "Done" on the screenshot management UI has been redesigned to use a context menu that appears below there respective button, instead of the older popup menu that appeared at the bottom of the screen.	Beta Release

Legend:   Past   Current   Beta

System features

Lock screen

• The lock screen's appearance is now customizable and it can host Widgets. The font and text color for the date and time can be customized and color effects can be applied to the entire lock screen. The date is now above the time and a small widget can be added next to the date. Other widgets can be added and arranged horizontally on the third row, below the time.
• Multiple lock screens can be set up.
• The live wallpapers have been removed because of the new tap and hold gesture that would allow users to customize their lockscreen.
• The lock screen now also supports landscape mode, arranging elements horizontally instead of vertically when the phone orientation is horizontal.

Improved focus mode

• Different lock screens can be set up based on the active focus.
• Focus filters allow apps to show different content based on active focus. For example, Safari can only show opened tabs work-related if the user is in the Work focus, the Mail app can only show email messages that don't come from work contacts if they are not in the allowed list for Work, etc.
• It is now possible to create lists of apps and contacts to be silenced and those to be allowed.

Notifications

• Notifications can now appear from below the lock screen, rather than above.
• It is possible to show notifications in three different styles: count, stack or list. Notifications can be grouped together with two fingers to reduce them to a counter.
• There are new notification widgets for the lock screen that show data in real time, allowing the user to follow events continuously without being flooded by separate notifications. They take advantage of the new Real-time Notifications introduced with iOS 16.

Control Center

• A new drop-down menu in Control Center shows all apps that have recently accessed the camera, microphone or location, new control center toggle for quick notes.
• The sound recognition Shazam feature now integrates its history with the main Shazam application's history, instead of the histories being separated.

Status bar

The status bar can now display the battery percentage on iPhones with Face ID, so the user doesn't need to pull-down the Control Center to see it.

Settings in landscape

The Settings app now also supports the landscape mode, showing on the left the setting list and on the right the current opened setting page.

Improved dictation

During text dictation the keyboard is always present and allows the user to switch from speech to manual typing and vice versa without interruptions. It is also possible to insert emojis through dictation. Auto-Punctuation automatically inserts a period when there is a pause in the dictation.

Improved Live Text

• Ability to select and manipulate text in videos.
• Quick actions are commands available directly on the Live Text. It is possible to make price conversions to another currency or translate text on the fly.
• Support expanded to Japanese, Korean, and Ukrainian.

Improved Visual Search

• Visual Search is now able to extract objects and people recognized in photos; they can be interacted with to do things such as drag and drop them into other apps.

Siri improvements

• It is possible to end cellular and FaceTime calls by simply saying "Hey Siri, Hang up".
• Siri can now announce notifications on speaker.

Spotlight

• A new button to access Spotlight directly from the Home Screen.
• The search input text box is now anchored to the keyboard, instead of being at the top, in order to be more accessible using the phone with one hand.
• More image results from apps like Messages, Notes, and Files.
• Quick actions like starting a timer or running a shortcut.

Translate

• Now allows the user to activate the Camera to translate text that is recognized live.
• Adds support for Dutch, Indonesian, Polish, Thai, Turkish, and Vietnamese.

Spoken Content

• New voice options have been added for some supported languages (including “Novelty” voices for English), and voices and support have been added for the following languages:
  • Bangla
  • Basque
  • Bhojpuri
  • Bulgarian
  • Catalan
  • Croatian
  • Galician
  • Kannada
  • Malay
  • Marathi
  • Persian
  • Shanghainese
  • Slovenian
  • Tamil
  • Telugu
  • Ukrainian
  • Vietnamese
• "Premium" options have been added for a few specific voices.
• Users can now play samples of voices before downloading them.

Improved accessibility

• Door detection is a feature that allows visually impaired people to be guided by the camera. It is able to recognize the presence of a door and signals how many meters away it is.
• A new accessibility setting allows the user to prevent phone calls from being ended by locking the phone.

Wi-Fi network improvements

Previously saved Wi-Fi networks are now shown which can be edited, deleted or selected to view the network password after authentication via Face ID or Touch ID. Prior to this change, users’ only option for removing previously connected-to networks was to tap ‘forget this network’ from within the settings app which could only be done if currently connected to that network. Users also had (and still have) the ability to wipe all previously known networks from their iOS devices by choosing ‘erase network settings’ from Settings—>General->Transfer or reset iPhone(at bottom)->Reset->Reset Network Settings. The latter option is frequently advised to those seeking to fix a multitude of both Wi-Fi and cellular network issues arising on users iOS devices.

Cellular network improvements

During the configuration of the Cellular Network, the eSIM from another iPhone can be transferred via Bluetooth.

Backup

Backups to iCloud can now also be made on 4G, alongside 5G and Wi-Fi.

Face ID

Face ID now works when the phone is oriented horizontally. It is limited to the iPhone 13 models and the iPhone 14 models.

Keyboard

Haptic feedback can be enabled for the keyboard; while typing text a small vibration can be felt which simulates the pressing of mechanical keys.

Controller support

iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and tvOS 16 now support connecting Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons and Pro Controllers.

Augmented Reality

A new framework dubbed RoomPlan will allow apps to quickly create 3D floor plans of rooms using the LiDAR Scanner introduced with the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max.

App features

Messages

• Sent messages can be edited within 15 minutes and can be deleted within 2 minutes.
• Ability to mark an entire discussion as unread.
• SharePlay is now available in the Messages app to watch a movie or listen to music with friends, without requiring them to make a FaceTime call.
• Recover deleted messages for up to 30 days.
• Collaboration: ability to invite someone to work on a project, so that every time someone edits a shared document you receive updates in a thread of the Messages app. It works with iOS apps such as Files, Keynote, Numbers, Pages, Notes, Reminders, Safari, and third-party apps designed to take advantage of this Collaboration feature.
• On audio messages previously sent or received, users can swipe with the finger on the sound wave graph to position at the exact point.
• Ability to report SMS/MMS junk to Carriers.

FaceTime

Live Captions automatically transcribes what is said during a FaceTime call.

Mail

• Mail messages can be scheduled to be sent later.
• Recently 'sent' emails can be canceled within ten seconds.
• Ability to put on top and set a reminder for messages the user hasn't responded to yet.
• Improved search corrects typos based on the content of their messages.
• New rich links give email messages more context and details at a glance.

Maps

• Multi-stop routing is now available. Multiple intermediate stops can be added to routes, for a maximum of up to 15 stops. Users can also ask Siri to add a new stop point while they are navigating.
• Pay in Transit, now can calculate cost of fares.
• New MapKit features supporting Look Around and the Detailed City Experience.

Photos

• Photos can be shared from the user’s library with five different contacts. Shared photos can be edited or deleted freely by these contacts.
• There is a new tool that allows the user to detect duplicate photos in albums.
• The Hidden and Recently Deleted albums are now protected by Face ID or Touch ID.
• It is now possible to copy filters and effects from an image to other images.
• It is possible to search for certain text inside of images.
• When cropping photos there is now a Wallpaper format which will crop the photo to the same aspect ratio as the devices display.
• Automatic duplicate detection automatically detects and groups duplicate photos or videos together. The higher quality version will be kept and the relevant data of the duplicates will be merged into the kept photo.

Camera

• While taking photos there is a button to toggle between whether the photo will be automatically shared to their Shared Photo Library or only be saved to their personal photo library.
• The Camera app has the live translate feature built-in the viewfinder.

Safari

• Shared tab groups: Groups of tabs can be shared with others to work on them together and see in real time which tab others are looking at.
• Pinned tabs: in the opened tabs view, tabs can be pinned to the top.
• Tab group start pages: each tab group can have a different start page containing Favorites, Frequently Visited, etc.
• Extension syncing: you can see which extensions are installed on other devices and decide to install them on your current device. After they are installed they are synced across all devices so just enable them on one device that they enable on all of them.
• Website Settings syncing: website settings such as Page Zoom, Request Desktop website, Use Reader automatically, etc. can be synced across all devices, so just set them on one device that are automatically set to all others.
• Added support for AVIF image format

Notes

• A quick note can be created directly from the Lock Screen.
• Quick notes can be created in any app using the share menu.

Contacts

• Duplicate contacts are now automatically detected and users can merge them individually.
• When sharing contacts, individual fields can be selected to only share that information.
• It's possible to group contacts into separate lists to better organize them and easily send an email to all the members of that list.
• Ability to export contact lists to file

Calendar

• It is now possible to copy and paste events between the various days of the calendar.

Files

• New Quick Actions on a file allow the user to convert an image to another format JPEG, PNG, HEIF and resize it to Small, Medium, Large, Original.

Tips

• The tips UI has been refreshed.

Books

• The toolbar containing the reading settings, search and bookmarks has been replaced by a pop-up panel placed in a icon at the bottom in order to increase the space available for the contents and also to be more accessible when using the phone with one hand.
• Ability to adjust the line spacing, character spacing, word spacing and activate the full justification for text.
• A new theme calibrates the page colors automatically based on the ambient light using True Tone.

Health

• Users can add and manage the medications they take.
• Sleep stages allows users to monitor the sleep phases detected by the Apple Watch.

Apple News

• New "My Sports" section for highlights, videos and news regarding sports teams. Users can add their favorite sports teams for use with My Sports.
• Expanded local news.
• New Favorites group.

Weather

• New forecast modules for details about air quality, local forecasts, etc.
• Hourly forecasts for the next 10 days, with minute-by-minute precipitation intensity over the next hour.
• More detailed and easier to understand interactive graphs have been added that show exact trends over time of temperature, wind, humidity, etc.
• Receive government notifications about severe weather events like tornadoes, winter storms, flash floods, etc.

Fitness

• The app is now available even if the user doesn't own an Apple Watch.

Home

• Added support for the new international standard Matter for home automation.

Apple TV

iOS 16 allows cross-device connectivity in tvOS 16 for new experiences between Apple TV, Apple Watch, and iPhone.

Security and privacy

Lockdown mode

Lockdown mode is a special mode that, when activated, raises the security to the highest possible level by restricting some features of the OS, apps and web platform, in order to protect users from the rarest and most sophisticated attacks.

Unlike many other security features, lockdown mode is regarded as an “extreme, optional” mode that is not intended to be activated by the majority of users. Rather, it is designed as a defense against advanced malware and mercenary spyware, such as clickless exploits or zero-click attacks, which are often hyper-targeted toward influential individuals such as journalists, diplomats, politicians, activists, lawyers, and high-profile business people.

It is possible to disable the Lockdown mode on specific websites and apps by acting from the Safari’s Website Settings and the Lockdown mode's Web Browsing setting.

Passkeys

Passkeys allows the user to authenticate to services that implement WebAuthn across their devices without using passwords. Passkeys are generated by the phone and permission is granted via Face ID or Touch ID. Apple additionally makes sense of that since passkeys use AutoFill and Face ID or Touch ID for biometric verification.

Safety Check

Safety Check resets all access permissions given to people, apps, and devices for an iCloud account when activated; this is designed to help those in abusive relationships.

Rapid Security Response

Important security updates are now distributed without requiring an entire OS update. Users can optionally remove the security updates, although the standard update will still include the security fixes.

Clipboard security improved

Applications and websites now require permission to copy from the clipboard.

Private Access Tokens

Private Access Tokens are a new technology that replaces CAPTCHAs and helps in identifying HTTP requests from legitimate devices and people without compromising their identity or personal information.

Brand Indicators for Message Identification

Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) helps users to easily verify authenticated emails sent by brands by displaying the brand's logo alongside the email's header.

Supported devices

iOS 16 marks the first time since iOS 13 that Apple dropped support for any device. The following devices with Apple A9 and A10 Fusion chips had support dropped: the iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone SE (1st generation), and iPod touch (7th generation). The cutoff for the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus has been criticized due to the iPad 5th, 6th, and 7th generations supporting iPadOS 16 despite having similar or weaker hardware.

The supported devices, iPhones with A11 Bionic chips or newer, include the following.

• iPhone 8 & 8 Plus
• iPhone X
• iPhone XS & XS Max
• iPhone XR
• iPhone 11
• iPhone 11 Pro & 11 Pro Max
• iPhone SE (2nd generation)
• iPhone 12 & 12 Mini
• iPhone 12 Pro & 12 Pro Max
• iPhone 13 & 13 Mini
• iPhone 13 Pro & 13 Pro Max
• iPhone SE (3rd generation)
• iPhone 14 & 14 Plus
• iPhone 14 Pro & 14 Pro Max

See also

• iPadOS 16
• macOS Ventura
• tvOS 16
• watchOS 9

External links

• iOS 16 – official site