The WWDC 2022 is here, which means like every year, tech enthusiasts and Apple loyalists get a glance at this year’s update to the iPhone’s operating system. The iOS 16 has made its appearance to the global stage at Apple’s WWDC 2022. And in case you missed the live keynote for this year’s iteration of the iOS, The Tech Portal has got you all covered.
The reimagined Lockscreen
Before the event, it was rumoured that the primary focus of iOS 16 would be laid upon the relatively unused lockscreen. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple’s journalistic Johnny-on-the-spot, had also hinted at widgets coming to the lockscreen. And much in line with the reports, Apple has revealed multiple new features for the lockscreen.
Design and Visual customisation
The first noticable change is that the wallpaper gets a very subtle depth effect, making the interactive parts of the lockscreen pop up above the wallpaper. Now for the interesting part, you can now touch and hold to access brand new customisation options. This includes swipe-to-access filters which tinker not just with the colors of the wallpaper, but also the typefaces for the clock, notifications, their text color and size, and all other elements of the lockscreen. Users can also adjust all these elements individually to create their own aesthetic.
Widgets
As widely rumoured, widgets will be making their way to utilise the free real estate of the lockscreen. These widgets will include standard options like Calendar, Weather, Apple Home and others. Also, developers will be getting access to the API for lockscreen widgets, giving them free reign to create their own.
Live Activities – Notifications reworked
Instead of appearing below the clock piece like before, notification will now move to the bottom of the lockscreen, in order to highlight the wallpaper. Notifications will be displayed as a part of a wider new feature called Live activities. This would be a small sandbox at the bottom of the lockscreen which would help users keep track of events happening in real time, like sports scores, notifications, traffic updates, workout status, playing music. Music Album arts will expand to the entire home screen on touching the live activities area.
Flexibility and Utility
Much like managing multiple pages for the home screen on Android, iOS 16 users can now create multiple lockscreens with different aesthetics, wallpapers and widgets. These can be switched between each other from the press-and-hold interface.
Apple Wallet
The Apple Wallet has recieved further tweaks to make the experience closer to the real thing, and to make a physical wallet more and more rudimentary.
IDs
Apple has announced that US states of Maryland and Arizona will now be accepting Wallet ID, Apple’s ID verification service, with 11 more states soon to join. Wallet ID can also be used on apps that require identification. Wallet ID doesn’t require sharing of explicit details. For example, if you want to present proof of being over the age of 21 (For whatever reasons, no judgement), Wallet ID serves as proof without disclosing your full birth date.
Apple Pay later
Apple Pay later allows users to split purchase transactions into 4 interest free installments. The wallet interface keeps track of the pending payments.
Digital Keys
Users can now share Apple Wallet’s Digital Keys via Messages, Mail and WhatsApp, and recievers can add them to their own wallets by just a tap. Also, this service is getting an industry-standard approach from apple, so as to make it compatible for Android devices as well.
Much needed updates for Messages
With iOS 16, Apple’s Messages app recieves much needed and long awaited features. Users can now edit and unsend text messages. The ‘Mark as read’ feature also makes it way to messages, for conversations that you want to make sure you donot miss.
Also, FaceTime’s shareplay feature, which allows participants of a FaceTime call to interact with eligible apps in an interconnected way, will now be supported by the Messages app.
On-device Dictation
The text-to-speech feature has received some very innovative updates, addressing the key inconveniences faced by users while using dictation to narrate messages, take notes, etc. Text-to-speech has been reworked with a touch and voice approach. Now, as the user uses dictation, the keyboard stays on, allowing the user to type in edits. Also, users can touch and select text, and replace it using dictation.
Maps
Maps on iOS 16 have also recieved updates to make the experience immersive, more hands free and easier to interpret.
City Experience
The city experience feature, which provides a three dimensional model of a city with extreme accuracy and detail, will now be supporting 11 more cities, which are :-
- Atlanta
- Chicago
- Las Vegas
- London
- Los Angeles
- Melbourne
- Miami
- Montreal
- New York
- Philadelphia
- San Diego
- San Francisco
- Seattle
- Sydney
- Toronto
- Vancouver
- Washington DC
Multi-stop Routing
Users can now add upto 15 stops on their travel route in advance. Further stops can also be added using Siri, keeping the experience safety oriented while driving.
Transit
The transit feature allows users to plan routes in accordance with prices for travel, along with Apple Pay integration.
Focus Mode
iOS 16 has given Focus mode deeper integration within the apps on the phone. Users will be able to filter out distracting browser tabs on Safari, distracting conversations on messaging apps and much more. Users can also select particular lockscreens which allow certain notifications only, which could be idealised for working, personal time etc.
Ecosystem
iOS 16 has laid focus on integration of the iPhone with smart acessories in your home and the driving experience of your car. Both Apple Carplay and Home app have recieved significant upgrades.
Home App
The Home app will be aligning itself to “The matter standard” of underlying technology for smart accesories across the world.
The app will also recieve accessibility updates. All accessories can now be managed, in a single view. Multiple camera views are now supported, with upto 4 camera tiles present on the Home App. Accesories will be categorised and arranged by size in order of importance.
Apple Carplay
The next gen Apple Carplay will be utilising with the new templates of screens in vehicles now-a-days. Screens in cars have gotten bigger, and many have multiple screens. Carplay will be creating a seamless experience with these screens, and will be fine tuned for all vehicles and their individual screen templates. Carplay will be capable of taking over a Vehicle’s vital interface parts like the speedometer and the fuel gauge, and give the user the option to customise them into a classic or modern aesthetic. Vehicles supporting next gen Carplay will be announced later this year.
Apple news and sports
Apple news will be getting sports centric updates. Users can select their favourite sports, teams and leagues, and get a personalised news coverage feed in the My Sports section. This section will also include scores and highlights from professional as well as college teams. This feature will also sync with AppleTV.
Privacy and safety
iOS 16 includes a new Personal Safety feature that allows users to quickly disable any form of sharing with another user, including location by FindMyIphone, particularly in instances of vulnerability or exposure to abuse of any kind.
The feature also makes it easier to manage who you’re sharing specific information with, including location, account data, messages, and more.
Miscellaneous Updates
- iCloud shared photo library: This feature creates a separate iCloud space which can be used by upto five other devices to share photos. All devices will have complete control of the photos, and any changes made to the photos (Edits, Deletions etc.) will reflect on all devices.
- Family Sharing: New, more efficient parental control options.
- Personalised spatial audio
- Quick notes on iphone
- New memoji customisation
Read Apple’s keynote for the iOS16 here.
