The differences coming to iOS 16 mean no more CAPTCHAs.
The next iPhone software, iOS 16, is going to have an amazingly cool feature. It’ll be released in the fall, though public betas will start landing next month. Oh, and the new addition will come to the iPad in iPadOS, too.
June 23 update below. This post was first published on June 20, 2022.
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As spotted by Joe Rossignol at MacRumors, the software will let users avoid CAPTCHAs. You know, it’s when you have to look at a grid of images and pick out the ones that are tractors, or bridges, or the like. Often these are obscure pictures, designed to fool bots but often making life difficult for us humans, too. Or it’s those colorful, artfully arranged letters and numbers which you have to decipher.
Either way, they are literally never a pleasure to do, and I’d be grateful to get back the time I’ve wasted on the things. Those seconds add up, you know.
June 23 update. Apple has just released the second developers’ beta of iOS 16 and there are plenty more features in store. Maybe none are yet quite as compelling as the CAPTCHAs-related update below, but there’s plenty to look forward to.
For a start, beta 2 has updates to messages, handily allowing users with two phone numbers on one phone (one work, one personal, for instance) to be dealt with separately. So, messages can be filtered according to the relevant SIM, and this applies both for iMessages and for non-iPhone SMS as well as MMS. This capability applies for iPhones from iPhone XS onwards. For iPhone 13 series handsets, it works with two eSIMs rather than one physical and one eSIM.
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SMS filtering is something Apple mentioned at its recent keynote, promising 12 sub-categories for developers to use, so that messages could be categorized as Transaction or Promotion, for instance.
This beta also makes it easier to report junk messages from unknown senders to carriers. This will initially be only for selected U.S. carriers.
There are other new features in iOS 16 which are suddenly available in the developers’ beta, and will come to public beta and general release in due course.
One other Messages-related update coming through in the new beta is a tweak to the new edit and unsend capabilities. As you’ll know, with iOS 16, users can edit a message after sending for a brief period (15 minutes). But supposing the recipient is using an older device with earlier software. With this update, older iPhones, for instance, will see the original message but then see a second message which is the edited one. For clarity, this new message begins with the words, “Edited to”. On iOS 16 to iOS 16 devices, of course, the earlier message is simply replaced by the later one, though this is marked as being an edit.
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Also new is the capability to back up your device in a wider range of circumstances. Previously, you could only back up your iPhone, for instance, to iCloud over wi-fi and 5G networks, if your carrier supported it. Now, that backup can take place over LTE connections (or 4G, as most of us call it) and 5G as well as wi-fi.
New lock screens are part of iOS 16 and beta 2 has refined the way of editing and creating them. It’s easier to delete unwanted lock screens, too. Additionally, there are changes to filters for wallpapers, including duotone and color wash. One wallpaper, Astronomy, now adds a green dot on the map showing where you are in the world right then. Note to self: book a plane ticket to test this out.
There’s also a new menu for HomePod beta software, which developers will find handy. And there’s much more to come. For now, though, let’s get back to that super-cool CAPTCHA feature.
Now, with iOS 16, iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura, this looks like a possibility thanks to Private Access Tokens. Instead of tapping the boxes required, Apple will privately verify that the device and Apple ID are to be trusted, and instantly whizz you through to the site you’re trying to get to. In Apple’s demo, the change was instant.
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But it’s not that the time saved is the important thing, it’s the frustration that’s avoided which helps the most.
Users with disabilities have long complained that CAPTCHAs are unhelpful and difficult to overcome, so this will be of even greater help to them.
It’s found in iOS 16 in Settings, under Apple ID and Password and Security. Here, it’s called Automatic Verification and you can choose to set it on or off. It’s on by default, hurrah.
The item in Settings says, “Bypass CAPTCHAs in apps and on the web by allowing iCloud to automatically and privately verify your device and account.”
As the Apple demo explains, when you’re using your iPhone, iPad or Mac, you’ve already done a bunch of things that bots can’t, even if you’re interacting with a particular website for the first time. These things, which bots can’t imitate very well, include unlocking your device with a password or Face ID or Touch ID and they’re likely signed in with their Apple ID.
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I honestly can’t wait for this to arrive.
