Tag Archives: iOS 16

The rumor: iOS 16 “is a fairly significant upgrade,” according to Mark Gurman (86.5% accurate, via Power On).

Here’s the latest on iOS 16…

• There will be “updates to notifications, iPad multitasking, and the Messages and Health apps”
• Lock Screen redesign with new wallpapers that support “widget-like capabilities”
• Improvements to windowing and multitasking on all platforms…but especially on iPad
• Messages is getting expanded social features, especially with audio messages (sounds cool!)
• And everything else that we’ve heard already…

Sam’s take: I’m fascinated to see how big this Lock Screen redesign is going to be, considering there haven’t been any major updates to the Lock Screen, well, ever. I also think Apple has so much room to capitalize on iMessage as a broader social platform and starting with voice messages is brilliant (I’ve seen these grow in popularity tremendously in recent years). Overall, it’s really looking like iOS 16 is going to be the biggest update in years.

The rumor: The current internal versions of iOS 16 still need their fair share of work before releasing as a public beta, according to Mark Gurman (86.4% accurate).

• “iOS 16’s first public beta is scheduled alongside iOS 16 developer beta 3 in July. First iOS public betas are typically released alongside beta 2. That means the public beta may be running behind,” Gurman says
• The tweet explains that iOS 16 is moderately buggy right now, and this could be the reason for a longer gap between the initial developer release and first public beta
• Apple is expected to announce iOS 16 and release the first developer beta on June 6 at WWDC

Sam’s take: This update suggests a couple things to me: 1) the presence of bugs this late in the game indicates that iOS 16 will be a larger update than last year and 2) that Apple probably hasn’t made stability a focus. The combination of these is ultimately exciting…but also concerning because of how bugs could impact the cool stuff that Apple is trying to do. Interesting that we’re hearing this news still weeks ahead of WWDC…

The rumor: Apple is planning “major changes across the system” for iOS 16, according to Mark Gurman (86.4% accurate, via Power On).

• “While I don’t expect Apple to present a full redesign of the software, there should be major changes across the system, new ways of interacting and some fresh Apple apps. The news about watchOS 9 will be significant as well,” Gurman says
• Up until this point, the lack of rumors and leaks for iOS 16 suggested it would be a minor update similar to last year’s iOS 15

Sam’s take: I won’t lie…this has me stoked to see what is coming software-wise at WWDC in just half a month now. “Major changes” and “new ways of interacting” and “fresh Apple apps” sounds like a big deal, and I can’t remember a time in recent history where we’ve gotten all 3 of these at once. Sure, it’s not the complete redesign that I’ve been asking for…but it sounds way closer than I thought.

The rumor: iOS 16 may get some nice upgrades in the Health app, according to Mark Gurman (86.4% accurate, via Bloomberg).

• “An updated version of the Health app on the iPhone this year is expected to add expanded sleep tracking functionality, medicine management and new women’s health features. Apple has been working on a medicine management tool that will let users scan their pill bottles into the app. The software will monitor adherence and remind users to take their medication. But the initial version of the feature for this year is unlikely to include all of the planned functionality,” Gurman says
• Apple is expected to debut iOS 16 at WWDC 2022 which kick off on June 6

Sam’s take: As someone who takes medicine daily, integration in the Health app would be so much more useful than the daily notification I set in the Reminders app. Plus, I could see it alongside all of my other health data. Gurman also references new women’s health features here, which is referring to a new body-temperature sensor on Apple Watch Series 8 that will help with fertility planning. While limited in scope, I do think this feature could be really impactful for those trying to conceive (or avoid it).

The rumor: Apple is preparing a moderately sized iOS 16 update, according to Mark Gurman (86.4% accurate, via Power On).

• “I’m looking for some fairly significant enhancements across the board, including an update to notifications and new health-tracking features. I’m not expecting an end-to-end redesign of iOS’s interface, even though it hasn’t changed much since iOS 7 nearly a decade ago. But there might be a new iPadOS multitasking interface,” Gurman says
• iOS 16 beta 1 is expected to release on June 6 at Apple’s just-announced 2022 worldwide developers conference

Sam’s take: While I understand that Apple is very set on the design language that was instituted with iOS 7: I think myself and many other enthusiasts are begging for something different. These details are pretty broad so far, but I’m getting the vibe that this could be another iOS 15-esque update with some core enhancements around the OS…but nothing major. Still, I’m holding out hope for something big this year. At least give me something like these dark icons created by Surenix (pictured above).