New features available with iOS 16.
iOS 16 enhances iPhone with all‑new personalization features, deeper intelligence, and seamless ways to communicate and share.
iOS 16 enhances iPhone with all‑new personalization features, deeper intelligence, and seamless ways to communicate and share.
For inspiration on how to make the Lock Screen your own, browse a gallery of many options, each with a unique backdrop, stylized view of the date and time, and information you can see at a glance.
You can switch your Lock Screen throughout the day. Touch and hold it, and then swipe.
It’s easy to customize the font, color, or placement of elements on your Lock Screen by tapping the element.
Expressive font styles and color choices allow you to customize the look of the date and time on your Lock Screen.
Photo subjects are dynamically displayed in front of the time to make the subject of the photo pop.
iOS intelligently suggests photos from your library that look great on the Lock Screen.
See a set of photos shuffle automatically on your Lock Screen. Set the cadence for how often your Lock Screen updates with a new photo, or let iOS surprise and delight you throughout the day.
Apply styles to photos on the Lock Screen that automatically change the color filter, tinting, and font style to complement each other.
Choose to display a set of widgets as part of your Lock Screen to glance at information like the weather, time, date, battery levels, upcoming calendar events, alarms, time zones, and Activity ring progress.
Glance at widgets from your favorite third-party apps. View widgets in a textual, circular, or rectangular format near the time to get information like weather conditions or progress on your goals.
Live Activities help you stay on top of things that are happening in real time, right from your Lock Screen.*
Follow an ongoing sports game or track the progress of your ride or order with just a glance. Glance at Live Activities from your favorite third-party apps with the new developer API.*
iOS suggests a relevant set of Lock Screens for provided Focus options, such as a data-rich Lock Screen while you’re using the Work Focus or a photo Lock Screen while you’re using the Personal Focus.
Choose from a set of dynamic, classic, and landscape Lock Screens created especially for iOS 16. Apple collections include Lock Screens to celebrate special cultural moments, like Pride and Unity.
See the earth, moon, or solar system with a set of dynamic astronomy-themed Lock Screens that update with live conditions.
Glance at live conditions on your Lock Screen as the weather changes throughout the day.
Create patterned Lock Screens based on your favorite emoji.
Choose a color gradient for your Lock Screen using your favorite color combinations.
With Live Activities, you can expand Now Playing controls to a full-screen view that celebrates album art while you listen along.
The use of bold text and images makes notifications visually pop.
Notifications, including your notification summary, now roll in from the bottom of your Lock Screen, making them easy to see at a glance as they come in.
Choose to view notifications on the Lock Screen in an expanded list view, stacked view, or count view. You can pinch to change the layout in context.
Transform how your iPhone looks and functions at the same time by connecting your Lock Screen to your Focus. To activate a Focus, you can swipe to the corresponding Lock Screen.
iOS suggests a relevant set of Lock Screens for provided Focus options, such as a data-rich Lock Screen while you’re using the Work Focus or a photo Lock Screen while you’re using the Personal Focus.
iOS suggests Home Screen pages with apps and widgets that are most relevant to the Focus you’re setting up.
Set boundaries within Apple apps like Calendar, Mail, Messages, and Safari to draw boundaries for each Focus you enable. For example, choose a set of Tab Groups to show up in Safari while in the Work Focus, or hide your work calendar when you’re using the Personal Focus.
With the new Focus filter API, developers can use the signal that you’re using to enable Focus to hide distracting content.
Have a Focus turn on automatically at a set time or location or while using a certain app.
Get started with Focus with a personalized setup experience for each option.
When you’re setting up a Focus, select apps and people you want to receive notifications from by either allowing them or silencing them.
Share a separate iCloud photo library with up to five other people.
Share all your past photos, or use setup tools to contribute specific photos based on start date or people.
Contribute photos manually, or use smart features to make sharing seamless, like a switch in Camera, automatic sharing using Bluetooth proximity, and sharing suggestions in For You.
Everyone has equal permissions to add, edit, favorite, caption, and delete.
Enjoy shared photos in Memories, Featured Photos, and the Photos widget.
You can edit a message for up to 15 minutes after sending it.1
Unsend any message for up to 15 minutes after sending it.
Mark messages as unread when you don’t have time to respond but want to be sure to reply to the sender later.
You can recover recently deleted messages for up to 30 days after deleting them.2
Share synchronized activities like movies, music, workouts, games, and more with friends while chatting in Messages.
Developers can build a Shared with You section into their app, so when someone sends you a video or article that you don’t have time to check out at the moment, it will be easy to find the next time you open the app.
Send an invitation to collaborate on a project in Messages, and everyone on the thread will automatically be added to the document, spreadsheet, or project. Compatible with Files, Keynote, Numbers, Pages, Notes, Reminders, and Safari, as well as third‑party apps.
When someone makes an edit, you’ll see activity updates at the top of the Messages thread. Tap the updates to get back to the shared project.
Developers can integrate their app’s collaboration experiences with Messages and FaceTime, making it easy to initiate and manage collaboration from the places where you’re communicating with your collaborators.
Intelligent search improves your results by correcting typos and using synonyms for your search terms.3
See a richer view of shared content and more from the moment you begin to search for email messages.
Get notified if you forget to include an important part of your message, like an attachment or a recipient.3
Easily unsend an email message that you just sent before it reaches the recipient’s inbox.4
Schedule email to be sent at the perfect moment.
Move sent email messages to the top of your inbox so you can quickly send a follow‑up.3
Never forget about an email that you opened but didn’t get back to. Select a date and time to have messages resurface in your inbox.
Add rich links that give your email messages more context and details at a glance.
Share a set of tabs with friends. Everyone can add their own tabs and see the Tab Group update instantly as you work together.
Tab Groups have dedicated start pages that you can customize with a background image and favorites.
Customize your Tab Groups with pinned tabs for each group.
Enables developers to create more kinds of Safari web extensions.
Adds support for opt‑in notifications on iOS. Coming in 2023.
See available extensions from your other devices listed in Safari preferences. Once installed, an extension will sync so you only have to turn it on once.
Settings you’ve set for specific websites, like page zoom and automatic Reader view, will sync across devices.
Added support for Turkish, Thai, Vietnamese, Polish, Indonesian, and Dutch in Safari web page translation.
Added support for translating text in images using Live Text.
Gives developers more power and control over styling and layout of web pages to enable more engaging content.
Edit strong passwords suggested by Safari to adjust for site‑specific requirements.
Find and manage your Wi‑Fi passwords in Settings. Reference and share passwords or delete old ones.
Passkeys replace passwords with an easier and safer sign‑in method.
Passkeys never leave your device and are specific to the site you created them for, making it almost impossible for them to be phished.
Your private key is never kept on a web server, so you don’t have to worry about website leaks compromising your accounts.
Sign in to websites or apps on other devices, including non‑Apple devices, with your saved passkey by scanning the QR code with your iPhone or iPad and using Face ID or Touch ID to authenticate.
Passkeys are end‑to‑end encrypted and sync across your Apple devices through iCloud Keychain.
Text is completely interactive in paused video frames, so you can use functions like copy and paste, lookup, and translate. Live Text works in Photos, Quick Look, Safari, and more.
Data detected in photos and videos is actionable with a single tap. Track flights or shipments, translate foreign languages, convert currencies, and more.
Live Text adds recognition of Japanese, Korean, and Ukrainian text.
You can now run shortcuts with Siri as soon as you download an app, no setup required.6
Skip the confirmation step when sending messages. You can enable this feature in Settings.
Insert emoji when sending messages with Siri.7
Discover Siri capabilities in iOS and apps by asking “Hey Siri, what can I do here?” You can also inquire about a specific app by saying, for example, “Hey Siri, what can I do with iRobot?”8
You can now hang up a call completely hands free. Just say “Hey Siri, hang up” during a call (those on the call will hear you). This request is supported in Phone and FaceTime. You can enable this feature in Settings.8
Siri processes more types of requests offline without an internet connection, including Home Control (HomeKit), Intercom, and Voicemail.8
While dictating on device, you can move fluidly between voice and touch. Type with the keyboard, tap in the text field, move the cursor, and insert QuickType suggestions, all without needing to stop Dictation.9
Dictation inserts commas, periods, and question marks for you as you dictate.10
Insert emoji using your voice while dictating on device.7
In Messages, the Dictation icon is now available in the text entry field.
Easily stop Dictation by tapping the new cursor popover.
Add multiple stops along your driving route in Maps. Plan a route with multiple stops on your Mac and it syncs to your iPhone.
Add transit cards to Wallet, see low balances, and replenish your card, all without leaving Maps.
See how much your journey will cost with transit fares.
When you check out with Apple Pay, you can now split your Apple Pay purchase into four equal payments over six weeks.11 Track what you owe and when you owe it in Wallet.
Share your keys securely in Wallet using your favorite messaging apps, such as Messages, Mail, and WhatsApp. Easily manage key permissions and recipients right from Wallet.12
Share your ID information in apps that require identity and age verification. Apps will only request information needed to complete the transaction. You will be able to review this request, and your data will be shared only after authorizing with Face ID or Touch ID.13
The Home app has an all‑new design that makes it easier to navigate, organize, view, and control all your accessories. Improvements to the underlying architecture enhance your smart home’s performance and make it more efficient and reliable.
See your entire home at a glance in the redesigned Home tab. Rooms and favorite accessories are integrated into the app’s main tab, giving you easier access to accessories you use most.
Categories for Lights, Climate, Security, Speakers and TVs, and Water let you quickly access all the relevant accessories organized by room, along with more detailed status information.
Up to four camera views are displayed front and center in the Home tab, and with just a scroll, you can see any additional camera views in your home.
Accessory tiles have been redesigned so the different accessories are more visually recognizable through shape and color. Accessories can be controlled directly from their tiles by tapping the tile’s icon, or you can tap the accessory name for more detailed controls.
Enhancements to the underlying architecture enable faster, more reliable performance, especially for homes with many smart accessories. Communicate with and control connected accessories more efficiently from multiple devices at the same time using the Home app.14
New widgets on the iPhone Lock Screen let you see the status of your home and quickly access your favorite accessories right from the Lock Screen.
Matter is a new smart home connectivity standard that will enable compatible accessories to work together seamlessly, across platforms. Matter will allow you to choose from even more compatible smart home accessories and control them with the Home app and Siri on Apple devices.15
Create a medications list to keep track of medications, vitamins, and supplements you take. And add custom visuals to make them easy to remember.16
You can quickly add your medications by using your iPhone camera. Simply position the medication label in the frame and you’ll see results for medication name, strength, and form.17
Create custom schedules and reminders for each medication, whether you take medications multiple times a day, once a week, or as needed.
Log when you’ve taken your medications from a reminder or log medications right in the Health app. Interactive charts help you understand when you’ve taken your medications and give you insight into your medication adherence.
Educational content on medications you’re taking gives you more context, including how to pronounce the name, what the medication is used for, how it works, and potential side effects.
Taking certain medications together can make them less effective or cause side effects. To help with this, when you add a new medication you’ll receive an alert if there is a critical interaction. You can review critical, serious, and moderate interactions in the Health app.
Invite your loved ones to share their health data securely with you. Once they receive your invitation, they can choose which data to share.
Track and meet your fitness goals even if you don’t have an Apple Watch. Using iPhone motion sensors, your steps, distance, and third‑party workouts will give you an estimate of your calories to contribute to your daily Move goal.
Set up an account for a child with the right parental controls, right from the start, including easy‑to‑use, age-appropriate suggestions for media restrictions.
Use Quick Start to easily set up a new iOS or iPadOS device for your child with all the appropriate parental controls already in place.
Screen Time requests from your kids now appear in Messages, so it’s easy to approve or decline a request.
Family Checklist gives you helpful tips and suggestions like updating a child’s settings as they get older, turning on location sharing, or just reminding you that you can share your iCloud+ subscription with everyone.
The next generation of CarPlay covers all of a driver’s screens for a cohesive experience. Deep communication with the vehicle’s systems allows for driving information on instrument cluster displays and control of the radio and HVAC. This new version of CarPlay is specific to each vehicle, accommodating unique screen shapes and layouts. New levels of personalization allow drivers to choose their gauge cluster design, including brand‑specific options.18
Fueling and driving task apps are available in CarPlay. Your favorite apps that help you fill your tank and provide you with road information, toll support, towing help, and more can find a home in CarPlay.
Siri can be set to automatically send a message after it has been read back to you.
This new section in Settings helps people in domestic or intimate partner violence situations quickly reset the access they’ve granted to others. It also helps you manage which people and apps you’ve given access to.
Apps need your permission before accessing the pasteboard to paste content from another app.
Stream video directly from devices that support non‑AirPlay streaming protocols without having to provide Bluetooth or local network access permission.
The Hidden and Recently Deleted albums are locked by default and can be unlocked using your iPhone authentication method: Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode.
Get important security improvements to your devices even faster. These improvements can be applied automatically between standard software updates.
Face ID works in landscape on supported iPhone models.
Fully control Apple Watch from iPhone and use Switch Control, Voice Control, or any other assistive features on iPhone to get the most out of your Apple Watch.
Get rich descriptions of your surroundings with a new Magnifier mode that contains Door Detection, People Detection, and Image Descriptions.19
Locate a door, read signs or labels around it, and get instructions for how to open the door.19
Combine inputs from multiple game controllers into one so your care provider or friend can support you in getting to the next level in your game.
Use Siri to end a phone call when you’re ready to hang up.
Use Voice Control to end a phone call when you’re ready to hang up.
Transcriptions are generated automatically in real time for users who are deaf or hard of hearing so they can follow along more easily with conversations, audio, and video.20
See automatically transcribed dialogue integrated into your FaceTime video calls. With speaker attribution, it’s easy to follow along with group conversations.20
New themes and customization options such as bolding text, adjusting line, character, and word spacing, and more.
VoiceOver and Spoken Content are now available in over 20 additional languages and locales, including Bengali (India), Bulgarian, Catalan, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese. You can also select from dozens of new voices optimized for assistive features.
Use Siri to announce iPhone notifications on your Made for iPhone hearing devices.
Adjust how long Siri waits for you to finish speaking before responding to your request.
Ask Siri to switch auto‑answer for phone and FaceTime calls on or off.
VoiceOver users now get automatic sound and haptic feedback that identifies the starting point for walking directions in Maps.
Dictate names, addresses, or other custom spellings letter by letter using Voice Control spelling mode.21
Save your preferred Magnifier controls, including camera, brightness, contrast, filters, and more, for recurring tasks and situations.
Import your audiograms into the Health app on your iPhone.
Train iPhone to listen to sounds that are specific to your environment, such as the beeping sound of an electrical appliance in your kitchen, the precise ring of the doorbell in your home, and more.
Find and download more immersive App Clips with a 50 percent larger size limit.
Use Live Activities with your App Clips.*
See nearby suggested App Clips with increased location precision in Spotlight and the Siri Suggestions widget.
The audiobook player has been redesigned with revamped player controls and a mini‑player that makes it easy to keep listening as you browse the store. Continue listening to any audiobook you are previewing by purchasing the book directly in the player.
The new reader introduces options that allow you to customize the reading experience for your needs. Choose reading themes for different environments and moods or change font, spacing, text size, and other settings.
Portrait mode lets you blur objects in the foreground of a photo for a more realistic‑looking depth‑of‑field effect.22
When recording videos in Cinematic mode on iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro, the depth‑of‑field effect is more accurate for profile angles and around the edges of hair and glasses.22
Seven new bilingual dictionaries are available: Bangla–English, Czech–English, Finnish–English, Hungarian–English, Kannada–English, Malayalam–English, and Turkish–English.
Move FaceTime calls seamlessly from your iPhone to your Mac or iPad, and vice versa. When you hand off a call, your connected Bluetooth headset transitions to the new device simultaneously.
See which of your installed apps support SharePlay and open them from the FaceTime controls, or browse new experiences you can share with friends from the App Store.
Tap the Share button during an active FaceTime call to start collaborating with others on the call in Files, Keynote, Numbers, Pages, Notes, Reminders, Safari, and supported third‑party apps.
See automatically transcribed dialogue integrated into your FaceTime video calls. With speaker attribution, it’s easy to follow along with group conversations.20
Freeform’s canvas is perfect for diagramming new projects, aggregating important assets, or just brainstorming on a board limited only by your imagination.
With real‑time collaboration, you can view others’ contributions as they add content and make edits, just as if you were together, standing in front of a real whiteboard.
Freeform leverages the Messages Collaboration API so you can see updates from your collaborators right in your conversation in Messages. And you can jump on a FaceTime call with them with just a tap in Freeform.
Freeform is designed to provide a great whiteboard experience, even on the go. Write or draw anywhere on the canvas, then select and move your text or drawings around as needed.
Embed images, video, audio, PDFs, documents, and web links. You can add virtually any kind of file to the canvas and preview it inline, without leaving your board.
See your friends’ play activity and achievements all in one place on the redesigned Game Center dashboard and profile.
Games that use Game Center multiplayer support have SharePlay integration. You can start playing automatically with friends on a FaceTime call.*
Contacts shows your friends’ Game Center profiles. Tap through to see what they are playing and accomplishing in games.*
Hide My Email is integrated directly into QuickType keyboard suggestions, so you can keep your personal email address private in third‑party apps.
Share your custom domain with people outside your Family Sharing group, purchase a new domain, or enable catch‑all aliases right from iCloud Mail settings.
Choose your term of address for French, Italian, and Portuguese to make your device feel more personal. In Language & Region settings you can choose how you would like to be addressed throughout the system: feminine, masculine, or neuter.
An additional layout called Changyong is now available for Shuangpin users.
QuickPath is now supported for typing Traditional Chinese using Pinyin.
Users can now input Cantonese words and phrases using Jyupting and other phonetic methods.
Type words and phrases in Sichuanese more easily when using the Simplified Chinese Pinyin keyboard.
Autocorrect supports three new languages: English (New Zealand), English (South Africa), and Kazakh.
Search for emoji in 19 new languages including Albanian, Armenian, Azeri, Bangla, Burmese, Estonian, Filipino, Georgian, Icelandic, Khmer, Lao, Latvian, Lithuanian, Marathi, Mongolian, Punjabi, Tamil, Urdu, and Uzbek (Latin).
Keyboard layouts are now available for Apache, Dzongkha, Samoan, and Yiddish.
Turn on keyboard haptics to feel confirmation when you type.
Memoji stickers include six new expressive poses.
All Memoji stickers can be used as contact pictures, and there are three new contact sticker poses to choose from.
Choose from 17 new and updated hairstyles, including new curly styles, updates to tight curl styles, box braids, and boxer braids.
Style your Memoji with a bonnet.
Choose from more nose options when you customize your Memoji.
Customize your Memoji with more options for a neutral lip color.
Keep track of the artists you care about most with new music notifications and improved recommendations.
Follow your favorite teams, leagues, and athletes in Apple News. Customize your My Sports feed to see the latest stories, watch highlights, and get scores, schedules, and standings for the teams and leagues you love.
Get more in‑depth coverage from your local city and top newspapers with home pages.
Local news is available in more markets, and you can find local stories in Top Stories and the Today widget.
Quickly access the channels and topics you care about most with a customizable Favorites group in the Today feed.
Create Quick Notes in any app on your iPhone from the share menu.
Automatically organize notes in a Smart Folder based on powerful new filters. Create rules for Date Created, Date Modified, Shared, Mentions, Checklists, Attachments, Folder, Quick Notes, Pinned Notes, and Locked notes.
Encrypt locked notes end‑to‑end with your iPhone passcode.
Notes are grouped by chronological categories like Today and Yesterday for easy reference in your list and gallery views.
Share notes that allow anyone with the link to join.
Choose whether to filter for any or all of the criteria in a Smart Folder or the Tag Browser.
Photos identifies duplicate photos in Albums > Utilities so you can quickly clean up your library.
The Hidden and Recently Deleted albums are locked by default and can be unlocked using your iPhone authentication method: Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode.
Copy the edits you’ve made to a photo and paste them onto another photo — or a batch of photos.
Sort your People album alphabetically.
Undo and redo multiple edit steps in your photos.
When a video is playing in a memory, tap to restart the video and play it from the beginning while the music continues to play.
New memory types for This Day in History and children playing.
Disable Memories and Featured Photos from appearing in Photos and in the Photos widget.
Get faster access to more of your library in CarPlay. Find downloaded and saved episodes more easily and see the latest episodes from the shows you follow.
Pin your favorite lists to get to them quickly.
Save a list as a template to reuse it for routines, packing lists, and more. Create a link to publish and share a template with others, or download templates that others have shared.
View all your completed reminders in one place, along with details like time of completion.
Time- and date-based grouping makes it easier to view and add reminders. The Today List is grouped by Morning, Afternoon, and Tonight to help divide your day. The Scheduled List has new week and month groups to help with longer‑term organization.
Tap a group to see a combined view of the lists and reminders it contains.
Get notifications when tasks are added to or completed in your shared lists.
Create bullets and underline, bold, or strike through text when adding notes to your reminders.
Choose whether to filter for any or all of the criteria in a Custom Smart List or the Tag Browser.
Spotlight can be accessed directly from the bottom of the Home Screen, making it easy to open apps, find contacts, or get information from the web.
Recents searches allow you to quickly revisit a result. Siri Suggestions now consider your context, so you can do things faster like navigating to your next meeting or checking the status of your upcoming flight.
Spotlight uses information from images in Messages, Notes, and Files to enable searching by locations, people, scenes, or even things in the images, like text, a dog, or a car.23
Use Spotlight to quickly take action. Start a timer, turn on a Focus, find the name of a song with Shazam, run any shortcut, and more. Search for an app’s name to see shortcuts available for the app, or create your own using the Shortcuts app.
Start Live Activities like tracking a sports game from a Spotlight result.24
Receive rich results when searching for businesses and sports leagues and teams.
See the date for a company’s upcoming earnings report and add it to your calendar.
Create multiple custom watchlists to organize the tickers you follow. Group symbols using any criteria you choose, such as sector, asset type, ownership status, and more.
Use a new two-column layout in the medium‑size and large Stocks widgets to see even more symbols.
New system languages include Bulgarian and Kazakh.
You can now access collections by theme and interest.
Translate text around you using the camera in the Translate app. Pause the view to get translations overlaid on text in a photo and zoom in to get a closer look, or translate text in photos from your Photos library.
The Translate app and system‑wide translation add support for Turkish, Thai, Vietnamese, Polish, Indonesian, and Dutch.
When you can’t watch your favorite sports matchups, Live Activities allow you to follow along right on your Lock Screen with scores and play by play.
Rich video previews at the top of the Apple TV+ tab help you discover your next favorite Apple Original.
The latest generation of high dynamic range technology is now supported in the Apple TV app.
Lift the subject from an image or isolate the subject by removing the background. This works in Photos, Screenshot, Quick Look, Safari, and more.25
Visual Look Up adds recognition of birds, insects, and statues.26
Get a notification when a severe weather alert has been issued near you.
Tap any module in the Weather app to reveal a new, deeper set of data such as hourly temperature and precipitation over the next 10 days.