A week ago, Apple announced the new iPhone, Watch, and AirPod releases. Like other Apple fanatics, we’re waiting for the devices to drop in the coming days, except for the iPhone 14 Plus, which drops on October 7th.
With the most recent hardware announcements, it was only logical also to release their newest software change.
Lo and behold, Apple’s current major release of the iOS mobile operating system: iOS 16.
Available to iPhone users with the iPhone 8 and up, the new operating system packs a punch when it comes to customizability, user experience, and security. We are intrigued by the features that improve the typical workday, especially with the new automated scheduling features.
Let’s break down the iOS 16 features users can incorporate into both their work and personal lives:
1. Lock Screen
The lock screen is the most significant change for iPhone users in iOS 16. The updated lock screen has new photo effects, widgets, and a customizable display. For the first time on Apple, the users can make lock screens their own with various fonts, colors, and element placement options. The lock screen editor has presets of different time fonts and wallpapers.
Another cool feature that Apple introduced is adding widgets to the lock screen. Initially, you could only use the widgets on the home screen, but now you can curate your lock screen with various options. For example, if you use your phone for work purposes, a handful of widgets boost productivity.
- Things: the popular task manager application has a widget that displays your daily to-do’s and other deadlines.
- Todoist: a free alternative to Things has a widget that allows you to manage tasks, view your to-do list, and track productivity stats.
- LookUp: this ever-changing widget gives you a glance at the word-of-the-day, so you’ll always be at the top of your game lookup
Source: 9to5Mac
2. Focus Mode
In 2021, Apple introduced iOS 15, which included the expanded version of its notification silencer, “Do Not Disturb.” Focus mode allows you to customize which apps and notifications you’ll receive throughout the day. In other words, it’s a pick-and-choose notification silencer.
What’s new in iOS is that Apple has expanded what focus mode encompasses. Now, users can customize which widgets will appear during focus mode so that distracting content is hidden during work hours. Apple has developed better machine learning so every user will have a personalized setup experience when using Focus on the lock screen and widgets.
3. Passkeys
Passkeys is a new login technology that promises to be more secure than passwords in protecting user security. According to Microsoft’s “New Feature of Work Report,” 80% of security professionals encountered more cyber security threats after the shift to remote work. Of these people, 62% of the professionals said the most common attack was phishing. Apple’s new sign-in method helps users protect devices from phishing and keeps them safe from website leaks.
4. iMessage
The rumored message-deletion feature has now come to life with iOS 16. The iMessage app introduces this long-awaited feature, along with other changes Apple has made. You can now edit a message up to 15 minutes after sending, undo texts up to 2 minutes after sending and mark messages as unread. Marking a message unread is especially useful for people who don’t have time to respond but want to ensure the sender gets a reply later on.
5. Mail
Apple introduced “smart search” features. These entail smart search corrections and smart search suggestions, and they’re part of the push toward artificial intelligence. These features pinpoint typos and suggest synonyms when typing an email, increasing accuracy and productivity when sending a work email. Also, with smart search suggestions, the content that appears when picking apart your inbox is richer and provides more information.
Whether you’re sending emails on the job or during your personal time, you can now set specific times for your emails to be sent. Other applications already have this scheduling feature, like Google’s Gmail, but it’s nice to see Apple begin to incorporate these changes, too.
Have you ever sent an incomplete email accidentally, only to realize there was no way to undo this action? When sending emails, you’ll be notified if your draft is missing an attachment or a recipient. Say you do happen to send that email by accident – you can easily undo the send before it reaches the recipient’s inbox.
Source: Apple
A new era for Apple users
Apple rolled out many features in iOS 16, from lock screen customization capabilities to privacy settings. We hit on the main points, but there are many other features of iOS 16 that were introduced along with their new software release. We’re excited to see what Apple will bring in the following months, and we will stay up to date on all things Apple. Visit and subscribe to our blog for Apple’s latest releases and technology.
