Touchdown! Apple iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 have arrived for iPhones and iPads worldwide. The updates bring a plethora of new features, functionality and important security fixes. But I can also reveal a lot of bugs in the new releases, and upgrading now is a risk. Here’s everything you need to know.
Tip: bookmark this page because I will keep it up-to-date if/when new problems are found. I will deliver my final verdict in a week.
Apple iOS 16
Who Is It For?
Apple iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 have dropped support for the iPhone 6S and iPhone 7 ranges and iPod Touch, as well as the iPad Mini 4 and iPad Air 2. All newer devices are supported.
Earlier this year, Apple admitted to auto-update delays, so it is best to trigger the update manually by navigating to Settings > General > Software Update. If you are running newer beta software (see ‘The Road Ahead’ section at the end), you must unenroll your device before the update appears.
Note: this guide is not focused on older iOS updates, iPadOS or macOS, but I will touch upon pertinent issues in these guides. You can read my iOS 15.7 Upgrade Guide here.
The Deal Breakers
As a general rule, the more changes software makes, the more bugs it brings. This is why every new generation of iOS and iPadOS has trouble out the gate, and iOS 16 / iPadOS 16 are no different.
A day after release, I see complaints about update crashes, touch response delays, and some eye-catching user interface glitches. sync issues (incl with Apple Watch), a blank screen screenshot bug, AirPlay issues, MMS messaging, levels for volume and brightness levels suddenly jumping, and Apple Photos no longer seems to be finding duplicate photos (09/13 update: this last issue may resolve automatically as Photos reindexes your collection).
There are also many battery drain complaints. Note: battery drain temporarily increases for 24/48 hours after iOS updates, so this should be taken with a pinch of salt for now.
So What Do You Get?
Apple’s iOS 16 release notes are epic:
Lock Screen
– Redesigned Lock Screen gives you all new ways to personalize your Lock Screen by showcasing favorite photos, customizing font styles, displaying widgets, and more
– Multiple Lock Screens can be created and you can easily switch between them
– Lock Screen gallery offers personalized suggestions along with Apple curated collections for your Lock Screen
– Font and color options for customizing the look of the date and time on your Lock Screen
– Widgets on the Lock Screen display information at a glance like the weather, battery levels, upcoming calendar events, and more
– A new effect places the subject of the photo in front of the time (iPhone XS and later)
– Photo styles change the color filter, tinting, and font style of photos on the Lock Screen to complement each other
– Notifications appear at the bottom of your Lock Screen and can be displayed in an expanded list view, stacked view, or count view
Apple iOS 16 lockscreen widgets
Focus
– Lock Screen linking connects your Lock Screen to a Focus, so you can activate a Focus by switching to the corresponding Lock Screen
– Focus filters hide distracting content in apps like Calendar, Mail, Messages, Safari and third party apps
– Streamlined setup makes it easier and faster to get started with Focus, with personalized Lock Screen and Home Screen suggestions that include apps and widgets that are relevant to the Focus you’re setting up
Apple iOS 16 focus
Messages
– Edit a message for up to 15 minutes after sending it and recipients see a record of edits
– Undo send allows you to recall any message for up to 2 minutes after sending it
– Mark as unread makes it easy to come back to a conversation later
– SharePlay in Messages lets you enjoy activities like watching movies, listening to music, playing games, and more with friends while messaging
– Collaboration provides a simple way to invite others to collaborate on a file via Messages and get activity updates in the thread when someone makes an edit to a shared project
– Improved search delivers more accurate, complete results and provide suggestions as soon as you begin to type
– Undo send allows you to cancel delivery of a message within 10 seconds of hitting send
– Scheduled send for sending an email at a specific day and time
– Follow‑up surfaces sent emails that have not been replied to, to the top of your inbox so you can quickly follow‑up
– Remind me lets you schedule a date and time to be reminded about an email
Safari and Passkeys
– Shared Tab Groups let you share a set of tabs with others and see the Tab Group update instantly as you work together
– Tab Group start pages can be customized with different background images and favorites for each Tab Group
– Pinned tabs in Tab Groups enable you to pin frequently visited websites for each Tab Group
– Safari web page translation adds translation for web pages in Turkish, Thai, Vietnamese, Polish, Indonesian, and Dutch
– Passkeys offer support for an easier and safer sign‑in method to replace passwords
– Passkey syncing through iCloud Keychain makes your passkeys available across all your Apple devices while keeping them end-to-end encrypted
Apple iOS 16 My Home, Moments, iMessage and Mail upgrades
Live Text
– Live Text video support allows you to interact with text in a paused video frame so you can copy, translate, lookup, share, and more (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)
– Quick actions let you take action on data detected in photos and videos with a single tap, so you can track flights or shipments, translate foreign languages, convert currencies, and more (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)
Visual Look Up
– Lift subject from background isolates the subject of an image so you can copy and paste it into apps like Mail and Messages (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)
– Visual Look Up adds recognition of birds, insects, spiders, and statues in your photos (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)
Siri
– Easy Shortcuts setup makes it possible to run shortcuts with Siri as soon as you download an app with no upfront setup (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)
– A new setting allows you to send messages without Siri asking you to confirm before sending
– “Hey Siri, what can I do here?” helps you discover Siri capabilities in iOS and apps just by asking (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)
– Call hang up option for ending Phone and FaceTime calls with Siri by saying “Hey Siri, hang up.” (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)
Dictation
– All-new Dictation experience supports using your voice and keyboard together to enter and edit text (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)
– Automatic punctuation inserts commas, periods, and question marks as you dictate
– Emoji support lets you insert emoji using your voice (iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and later)
Apple iOS 16 Dictation, Maps and Shortcuts
Maps
– Multi-stop routing supports adding up to fifteen stops along your driving route in Maps
– Transit cards in Maps let you see low balances and replenish your card when you add transit cards to Wallet, all without leaving Maps
– Transit fares show you how much your journey will cost in the San Francisco Bay Area, London, New York, and San Diego
Apple Pay and Wallet
– Apple Pay Order Tracking allows you to receive detailed receipt and order tracking information in Wallet for Apple Pay purchases with participating merchants
– ID cards in Wallet lets you share verified information with apps that require identity verification (iPhone 8 and later)
– Apple Account supports topping-up your account balance from your Apple Account card in Wallet
Home
– Redesigned Home app makes it easier to navigate, organize, view, and control your smart home accessories
– Home tab now integrates all your accessories, rooms, and scenes into a single tab for a whole-house view, allowing you to see your entire home at a glance
– Categories for lights, climate, security, speakers and TVs, and water let you quickly access all the relevant accessories organized by room, and displays more detailed status information
– New camera view displays up to four cameras front and center in the Home tab, scroll to see any additional camera views in your home
– Redesigned accessory tiles feature more visually recognizable icons that are color-matched to their category, and new behaviors for more precise accessory controls
Apple iOS 16 Health, Live Captions, Wallet updates
Health
– Medications feature helps you track and manage your medications, vitamins and supplements by creating a list, custom schedules and reminders, and then viewing logging over time
– Add medications using your iPhone camera (iPhone XS, iPhone XR and later)
– Interaction alerts inform you if there is a critical interaction when you add a new medication
– Cycle deviation notifications alert you if your logged menstrual cycles show a pattern of infrequent periods, irregular periods, prolonged periods, or persistent spotting
– Invitations for Health Sharing allow loved ones to easily and securely share their health data with you
– Health Sharing reminders give you transparency and control over the health data you are sharing with loved ones
News
– My Sports enables you to easily follow your favorite teams and leagues and watch highlights right in the News app
– Favorites give you easy access to the channels and topics you read the most, in a consistent place near the top of your Today feed
– New homepages deliver visually updated and easier to navigate topic feeds for local news locales, sports teams and leagues, and more
Family Sharing
– Improved child account setup makes it easier to create an account for a child with the right parental controls, including age‑appropriate media restrictions
– Device setup for a child lets you use Quick Start to easily set up a new iOS or iPadOS device for your child with your selected parental controls in place
– Screen Time requests in Messages make it even easier to approve or decline requests from your child
– Family Checklist gives you tips and suggestions like updating a child’s parental control settings, turning on location sharing, or just reminding you to share your iCloud+ subscription with everyone
Apple iOS 16 Family Sharing
Safety Check
– Safety Check is a new section in Settings to help people in domestic or intimate partner violence situations quickly reset the access they’ve granted to others
– Emergency reset lets you quickly take action to reset access across all people and apps, including disabling location sharing via Find My, resetting privacy permissions for apps, and more
– Manage sharing and access helps you review and customize which apps and people can access your information
Accessibility
– Door detection in Magnifier locates a door, reads signs and symbols around it, and gives you instructions for how to open the door (iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro)
– Apple Watch mirroring provides full control of Apple Watch from iPhone and supports use of Switch Control, Voice Control, or any other assistive features on iPhone to get the most out of your Apple Watch
– Live Captions (beta) automatically converts audio into text for users who are Deaf or hard of hearing to follow along more easily with calls and media content (iPhone 11 and later)
– Buddy controller helps users with cognitive disabilities get support from a caregiver or friend while playing a game, by combining inputs from multiple game controllers into one
– VoiceOver is now available in over 20 new languages and locales, including Bangla (India), Bulgarian, Catalan, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese
– Voice Control spelling mode gives you the option to dictate names, addresses, or other custom spellings letter by letter
This release also includes other features and improvements:
– Fitness app lets you track and meet your fitness goals even if you don’t yet have an Apple Watch, using iPhone motion sensors to give you an estimate of your calories to contribute to your daily Move goal
– AirPods Pro (2nd generation) support
– Personalized Spatial Audio uses the TrueDepth camera on iPhone to create a personal profile for Spatial Audio that delivers a more precise and immersive listening experience on AirPods (3rd generation), AirPods Pro (1st and 2nd generation), AirPods Max
– Handoff in FaceTime allows you to move FaceTime calls seamlessly from your iPhone to your iPad or Mac, and vice versa
– Memoji updates include more sticker poses, hairstyles, headwear, noses, and lip colors
– Quick Note adds support for taking a note in any app on your iPhone and adding links to create context and easily find content
– Translate camera lets you translate text around you using the camera in the Translate app
– Duplicate detection in Photos identifies duplicate photos so you can quickly clean up your library
– Foreground blur for portrait photos in Camera blurs objects in the foreground for a more realistic-looking depth-of-field effect (iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Pro, and iPhone 13 Pro Max)
– Pinned lists in Reminders helps you quickly navigate to your favorite lists
– Search on the Home Screen enables Spotlight to be accessed directly from the bottom of the Home Screen, making it easy to open apps, find contacts, or get information from the web
– Automatically send messages in CarPlay to skip the confirmation step when sending messages
– Rapid Security Response gets important security improvements to your devices even faster, as they can be applied automatically between standard software updates
Yes, it’s a lot. That said, many of these improvements are iterative, something that should not be a surprise after 16 generations of iPhone software.
The new lock screen controls are the real headliner. This is an essential catch-up to Android and has been timed to coincide with the new always-on iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max displays.
iOS 16 Security
Apple iOS 16, like surprise release iOS 15.7, also contains 11 security updates. The most important is for CVE-2022-32917, a vulnerability in the iOS Kernel, which has the potential to allow hackers to execute malicious code on your iPhone and iPad.
iOS 16 also contains two further fixes for Kernel vulnerabilities, two fixes in WebKit (the engine behind Safari) and fixes for flaws in Contacts, Maps, MediaLibrary and Shortcuts
Apple iOS 16 Verdict: Wait and Get iOS 15.7 Instead
Unless you love living on the bleeding edge, the sheer number and variety of bugs being reported in iOS 16 means I would steer clear of it for now. The security updates are essential, but they can be added via iOS 15.7, which looks a lot more stable.
Apple typically pushes several dedicated bug fix updates after each new iOS / iPadOS generation. So I would expect iOS 16.0.1 to arrive within days and 16.0.2 and iOS 16.0.3 to follow soon after. To Apple’s credit, it does work tirelessly to stamp out bugs in new iOS generations.
The Road Ahead
Expect iOS 16.0.1 or even iOS 16.1 to launch quickly. I suspect there will not even be a beta period if it is the former. If you want early access to the upcoming iOS 16 updates, join the Apple Beta Software Program.
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