12 Things You Can Do With iOS16 That You Couldn’t Before

Your digital files, which may include everything from family photos to financial records, are probably very important to you. So it’s crucial that they are properly secured, which goes beyond simply setting a password on your laptop or a PIN on your phone. There are many additional security measures you can take, and you can set them up easily.

It will only take you a few minutes to configure at least some of these safeguards in order to keep your most important files safe and secure, and you might later regret not having done so. They’ll aid in making sure that only you have access to your most private information.

Things You Can Do With iOS 16

1) Add widgets to multiple lock screens

With the release of iOS 16, the lock screen has undergone a significant overhaul. You can now add your own widgets to it, and you may save multiple lock screen setups and switch between them as needed. To manage your lock screens and set the wallpaper and various widget combinations displayed on each one, press and hold on the display when the lock screen is active. Then select Customize.

2) Change how lock screen notifications are shown

You now have additional options over how notifications are shown when they arrive, staying with the lock screen: Select Notifications from the Settings menu, then pick one of three modes. The Stack option collects alerts from the same app, whereas the Count option only displays the number of unread notifications. The last option, List, is how alerts were displayed in earlier iOS iterations.

3) Edit and unsend messages

The ability to amend texts sent through iMessage via the Messages app (up to five revisions per message) or to totally unsend messages is one of the most notable new capabilities this time around (you get two minutes of thinking time). When you long-press a message in a chat, the Edit and Undo Send options will show up on the screen, allowing you to make changes to the message you just sent or send it back to the ether.

4) Bring back recently deleted messages

The Communications app now offers the option to restore conversations that have been erased within the last 30 days. This feature functions somewhat similarly to the Mac’s Trash folder and gives you an additional measure of protection before messages are permanently deleted. Open the Messages app, select Edit from the menu, and then select Show Recently Deleted. Any of the mentioned message threads can be restored from the next screen, or you can permanently delete them.

5) Set up filters in Focus mode

In iOS 16, there are several improvements to the Focus function, including the option to configure filters in specific applications like Messages, Mail, and Calendar to reduce the number of distractions you have to deal with. By selecting Focus from the Settings menu, you may choose Add Filter to achieve precisely that: For instance, you may easily restrict the number of calendars displayed in the Calendar app or hide specific email accounts in the Mail app.

6) Schedule the sending of emails

You may now schedule emails in Mail, and it now has an undo send feature similar to Messages (active for up to 30 seconds after sending). When you tap and hold on the blue arrow icon in the top right corner of an email after you’ve completed writing it, the following options will appear: Pick one of the suggested options, or press Send Later… to set your own time (just make sure your phone is online at the time).

7) Lock down your iPhone

Apple described the lockdown mode in iOS 16 as an “optional, severe protection” approach that most users will never need: It severely reduces the area that hackers can attack while also reducing parts of iOS’s functionality (incoming FaceTime calls and attachments in Messages are blocked, for example). By selecting Privacy & Security from the Settings menu, followed by Lockdown Mode, you can get to it.

8) Share tab groups in Safari

This might not be something you use all the time, but it might come in handy once in a while: If you’re working on a project or conducting research with other people, you can now share groups of tabs through Safari on iOS. Open a tab group and hit the share button in the top right corner to select a few contacts. Note that tab groups can now have their own unique start pages as well as pinned tabs.

9) See the battery level percentage

Once more available, the battery percentage option makes it simpler to determine how much energy is still in the tank. Go to Settings, select Battery, then turn on the Battery Percentage toggle switch to display the current percentage level on the battery icon in the status bar. Notably, the iOS 16.1 update apparently adds the battery % option to any iPhone with Face ID, even though some iPhones were left out when iOS 16 first debuted.

10) Plan routes with multiple stops in Apple Maps

Since iOS 16 has been loaded, you may now construct multi-stop routes in Apple Maps, which Google Maps has offered for many years. As you would normally, set up some paths between two points, and you’ll see the new Add Stop button. One set of directions can contain up to 15 stops, and you can reorder them by dragging and tapping the handles on the right side of the screen.

11) Track your fitness without an Apple Watch

You no longer need an Apple Watch to track your activities through the Apple Fitness app—if you don’t have the wearable, it’ll use the motion sensors on your iPhone to monitor the steps you’re taking and the distances you’re walking, and it can even work with some third-party workout apps. While the functionality is not as comprehensive as if you do have an Apple Watch, it can still calculate the calories you’re burning each day.

12) Run a Safety Check

Safety Check is Apple’s new feature for those “in domestic or intimate partner violence situations”—it offers a quick review of the people and the apps connected to your account, letting you revoke permissions such as access to your location. We hope you’ll never have to turn to this feature, but if you do, you can find it under Privacy & Security in Settings: Tap Safety Check and you can view your settings or reset them.

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