Apple will announce its big yearly operating system updates in its WWDC keynote on 6 June. 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 fairly successful reception to iOS 15 in 2021, we expect iOS 16 to add plenty of new features, though without radical design changes.
Currently, little is known for sure about iOS 16, the update slated for 2022. But there are plenty of clues, leaks and concept designs out there: more than enough for us to put together a guide to iOS 16 and the capabilities you should expect it to add to your iPhone.
In fact even Apple has shared some details of what could be new iOS 16 accessibility features, saying that they are coming “later this year with software updates across Apple platforms.” In other words with iOS 16.
In this article we gather the latest, weirdest and most plausible rumours and concepts from the internet, outlining the likely new features, design changes and release date of iOS 16, and offering our own wish list of features we hope to see.
You may also be interested to read about the next version of macOS.
iOS 16: Release date
- We expect iOS 16 to be unveiled on 6 June 2022, and finally released to the public in September 2022.
That’s the long-standing tradition the company has followed for many years. Assuming Apple doesn’t break with tradition, we can expect iOS 16 (along with iPadOS 16, watchOS 9, tvOS 16 and macOS 13) to be demoed during the WWDC 2022 keynote on June 6, then released to beta testers for extensive testing, and finally released to the general public in September 2022.
- June 6, 2022: iOS 16 unveiled
- June 6, 2022: iOS 16 released to developer beta testers
- July 2022: iOS 16 released to public beta testers
- September 2022: Final version of iOS 16.0 released to general public
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.
Which iPhones will run iOS 16?
- We expect the iPhone 7 and later to be able to run iOS 16.
At WWDC 2021, Apple surprised viewers with the fact that iOS 15 would run on very old models, such as the iPhone 6S (2015) or first-generation SE (2016). With that in mind, which devices will the upcoming iOS 16 support?
It’s rather unlikely that the iPhone 6S and 2016 are on the update list for 2022. But we suspect that all devices from the iPhone 7 will be able to run iOS 16. This is because iOS doesn’t support a specific device, but rather the chip generation included in it. The iPhone 6S has an A9 chip, which was last used by Apple in 2017 and featured in the fifth-generation iPad and first-generation iPad Pro.
The iPhone 7 should be safe, though, as that runs on an A10 chip, which Apple was including in new products as recently as 2019, so we can’t see the company discontinuing support for that any time soon.
iOS 16: Rumored new features
Nothing is really official until we hear it from Apple at WWDC, but rumors about upcoming iOS features leak out all the time. Here’s what we’ve heard about iOS 16 so far, along with some of the features we are hoping to see.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman revelled in a Mid-may newsletter that “There should be major changes across the system,” including “new ways of interacting” and “some fresh Apple apps.” Lets find out what that could mean for the iPhone operating system.
Interactive widgets
Gurman’s reference to “New interactions” could point to upgrades in the way widgets work in iOS, something we have been hoping for. We’d like to see interactive widgets in iOS 16. As useful as it is to have Widgets on the iPhone Home screen, it would be even more useful if you could perform certain functions directly in the widgets. Home screen widgets not currently interactive. For example, you could play, pause or skip songs via the music widget – without having to enter the Music app via the widget itself. Widgets have so much more potential.
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 such a feature doesn’t have to be tied to new hardware. Any OLED display can handle an always-on display, which leaves a lot of iPhone models: iPhone X, XS and XS Mac, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max, and all of the iPhone 12 and 13 models. So 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.
Notifications changes
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, iOS 16 will introduce significant changes to how notifications are handled. A follow-up report from 9to5Mac suggested that the changes includes enhancements to Focus mode, though we hope Apple has some other things in store.
New Health and Fitness features
It’s claimed that the new iOS will have new health and fitness features, too, though those are not exactly a focus of iOS. What we expect, really, are lots of new heath and fitness features in watchOS for the Apple Watch, and maybe some stuff exclusive to Apple Watch Series 8 in the fall. With iOS 16, the Health app and Fitness apps may just get what is required to support those new Watch features (like improved sleep tracking).
However, it was rumored that iOS 15 would feature some sort of Food or Nutrition tracking feature, and that never came to pass. Maybe it wasn’t ready in time, and it’s going to be a part of iOS 16?
Another long-rumored heath feature is medication management–essentially, reminders for when to take your medications.
Women’s health features are also rumored to be expanded in the Health app in iOS 16, though we haven’t heard exactly how.
Crash detection
Apple is rumored to be adding car crash detection in the next version of watchOS, which would work similarly to the current fall detection: when it recognizes that you’ve been in a car crash, it will call emergency services (after a brief countdown). Supposedly, this feature is being added to the iPhone as well. It’s not yet clear if it will be exclusive to iPhone 14 or will also come to some earlier models in iOS 16.
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AR/VR capabilities
Gurman also notes that early versions of iOS 16 (which is code-named Sydney) has lots of references to Apple’s upcoming mixed-reality headset and how it interacts with the iPhone. Apple is not expected to reveal its AR headset at WWDC, though, so there probably won’t be new features visible to the user. What we might get, instead, are some really big improvements to the ARKit framework for developers.
Accessibility features
Apple has revealed a number of new accessibility features that will be coming “later this year” i.e. in iOS 16. These include:
- Live captions – your device will automatically produce captions in real time for literally any audio content, including FaceTime calls. This should points to Siri dictation improvements.
- Apple Watch mirroring – you’ll be able to mirror your Apple Watch on your iPhone.
- Door Detection – devices with LiDAR will be able to detect doors using the Magnifier app, reading text and judging distance.
- The latter could be useful for the rumoured Apple AR Glasses.
VoiceOver updates
As well as the accessibility features above, Apple also mentioned its devices would be getting support for over 20 new languages and VoiceOver on Mac will have a new Text Checker tool to look for formatting issues in written text.
Dictation updates
A new Voice Control Spelling Mode will allow dictation of custom spellings using letter-by-letter input, according to Apple.
Games controllers
Apple also mentioned a new Buddy Controller option that combines two game controllers into one that can be used for the input of a single player.
iOS 16: New Apps
Gurman refers to “Fresh Apple apps” in the May newsletter mentioned above. This could refer to the usual set of refreshes that sees Apple adding new features and functionality to existing apps, or we could see some entirely new apps.
In terms of updates to existing apps, we know of one coming to Apple Books:
- Apple Books will have features to make books easier to read, as well as new themes.
iOS 16: Wishlist
We’ve compiled a list of the features we want to see most in iOS 16, including interactive widgets, Siri improvements, and a new Home app. We don’t know if all (or any) of them will come true, but we can dream.