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Each year, Apple unveils some of its latest features and changes for the iPhone and iPad at its major developer conference, WWDC.
This time iOS 16 comes out, and here are some major changes. Especially on the lock screen which is completely new.
Adventurous people can try out an early release before the final launch, while the update will come for the rest of us during the fall, around the same time as the new iPhones launch.
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The iPhone gets an all-new Lock screen, which probably looks a lot like the standard watch displays on the Apple Watch, where you can adjust what the date and time should look like.
You can apply color filters and effects to the wallpaper. You can choose your own line of information. It also accesses widgets and displays things like the status of your accessories’ battery and how far you’ve come to your activities.
Just like on the Apple Watch, you can also select active wallpapers, such as one that shows the weather forecast.
Live Activities gives you a tool with an overview of the things that are happening right now, rather than piles of push notifications on the lock screen.
iMessage is becoming more and more similar to other instant messaging services. In iMessage on iOS 16, you can edit messages you’ve already sent, and you can also undo messages that have been sent, as you can, for example, in Facebook Messenger.
The service also takes care of things that are shared with you via messages, in the “Shared with you” overview, where videos and links you’ve received from friends remain until you have time to watch them.
Apple has always supported dictation features where you talk to your phone to type messages. But it was a bit difficult to edit or work with the readable text.
Now they leave the keyboard on top, so you can tweak the text you “type” with your voice along the way. You can select the content with your fingers and re-read it with your own voice. This makes working with audio much more flexible as a starting point.
The Live Text function extracts text from images so you can manipulate it. The feature is already in iOS 15, so you can extract web links from images, for example. But the feature is now expanding so that you can easily convert currencies directly from the screen when price tags appear in images or videos.
For Americans, the Apple Wallet will serve as a driver’s license and identity. Here, the solution works much like the “Sign in with Apple” function, where you can, for example, identify yourself without revealing all the information.
So far, this only applies to a few regions, and in this country we will likely be running our driver’s license application for a longer time.
Apple Pay Later allows users to split payments into four sections without interest. The wallet should work as a budget solution too, so you know what you used and for what.
This should be available in principle to all places that support Apple Pay, but it’s not clear exactly how it will work outside the US – Americans already have Apple credit cards.
Apple Maps can now store multiple routes with multiple stops on each route, making it easy to go back to previous travel plans.
The Maps application itself has also received more detailed maps of a number of cities in the world – so far none of them have been found in Norway.
Apple News is getting an update that allows users to choose their favorite teams and get updates on them. Americans will be able to sync with the Apple TV, connecting live broadcasts to the system.
Updates come as activities directly on the lock screen.
Currently, only the US, UK, Canada, and Australia will have access to these updates.
Apple has made it easier to set up parental controls over the apps and content kids can access on iOS in the new version. Here are the age limits and time limits in a relatively simple interface.
The update allows kids to send a message with questions about more screen time, and you can approve it right from their inbox.
Apple has always had easily accessible photo and media sharing in the Photos app. But this has now been expanded so that photos of recognized family members or others you share with them can be automatically shared in folders you both have.
The phone can also detect if you’re near people you’ve shared folders with, so that content can be shared automatically.
Security Check allows users with relationships with violent people to quickly disconnect from all services and previous partner access, so that your residence or connection is quickly secured from access.
Apple believes the new feature will protect people in crises.
Apple now supports the new Open Matter standard, which players like IKEA and Hue also link to. In addition to the new support, there is also a new Home app that lets you take control of your home.
The app is category-oriented, and shows you different types of gadgets according to the rooms you are in. The app also shows different security cameras you might have at home, so you can browse the rooms you’re monitoring.
All this is also available on the new iOS 16 lock screen.
CarPlay is now completely new. Apple’s car view for iOS should now be able to live on all screens in the car. Here you can control both the air conditioning and view speeds and alerts from the vehicle directly in CarPlay.
Thus, iOS 16 can also replace the regular screen in front of the steering wheel. Apple promises that all screens in the car will be captured by the iPhone.
All kinds of screens and cars will work, but Apple doesn’t say anything about older cars – only those cars that will work with new features will be announced later. Thus, these are likely not features that today’s cars can take full advantage of.
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