My Review of IOS 16 Developer Beta 1
I have recently switched to iPhone 13. From a person using Android all my life to switching to iOS was a big change but after a long thinking, I finally went for this change as there is nothing in android now which excited me. Recently Apple hosted big event and they release iOS 16 so I went and installed developer preview for trial.
While the software isn’t perfect, I like it overall, and Apple has been rolling out improvements to it over the years. There are a lot of features I really wish it had, but there are also some things it does do better than Android, and even more of those have been brought in with the release of iOS16.
If you want to use iOS 16, you’ll have to wait for a few more months before it’s rolled out to iPhones, as this is currently the very first developer beta. iOS 16 is much more packed when compared to iOS 15, though, and it comes with new customizations, features, and changes that further enrich the operating system. Here’s everything we’ve been able to spot so far.
Redesigned Lock Screen
Given that Apple opened its iOS-portion of the keynote talking about the lock screen, it’s a pretty big deal. It’s the first thing you see on your phone whenever you turn it on, and it’s the first place you see your phone’s notifications. It hasn’t really been changed on iPhones in years, but it’s pretty drastic. It’s a complete overhaul of your phone’s lock screen, and you can edit practically everything that’s shown.
What’s interesting too is that it appears Apple has taken a page out of Google’s book, as it’s very Material You inspired. The text on the lock screen will change based on the colors in your lock screen, and will even hide things like the time on your lock screen behind the subject of your photo to create a sense of depth.
One thing we’ve spotted though is that Apple has killed live wallpaper on the lock screen. It’s unclear if this is a feature that will return in the future and was just forgotten about, or if it’s gone for good. We’ll need to wait for future updates to see.
Notifications and Focus improvements
Notifications have been the bane of most people’s existence on iPhones for years. They’re just not well made, and there are a ton of issues with them. While they’re still not fixed (in my opinion, anyway), there have been some major changes that improve them from a usability perspective. They start from the bottom of the display now, so that they can be easily reached, and there are now also “live” notifications — called Live Activities — that can update over time.
iMessage: Unsend, edit, and mark as unread
iMessage is a pretty basic messaging service when compared to competitors, and it’s always faltered behind in terms of features. However, Apple added a few new quality of life changes and improvements that were much needed and have been available on competing platforms, such as Telegram, for years.
First and foremost, users that are on the latest version of iMessage can both edit or unsend messages sent via iMessage within 15 minutes of sending the message. These features don’t currently work when texting someone using an older version of the app, and iMessage will warn you that the changes you make or unsending a message may not come through for the other person.
Additionally, they can also mark a chat as unread to essentially bookmark it in order to come back to it later. Finally, Messages catches up with other Apple apps and introduces a trash bin. Those on iOS 16 can retrieve deleted messages within 30 days of binning them. As well, users can now use SharePlay through iMessage — not just FaceTime. This allows you to consume digital goods with others without being in an audio/video call.
Apart from these, there are many other improvements in iOS 16 which I will keep on updating as I explore.
Signing Off…
