A quick look at the iOS 16 public beta
iOS 16 has been on public beta for a while. It’s still a wild place to be and isn’t really for everyone. But if you wanted to get a glimpse of the newest iOS in beta, it might be worthwhile to explore. Just, be sure to backup your phone in case you do.
Once more, it’s important to note the public beta is not reflective in the final version of the iOS. The purpose of the public beta is to get feedback on the general experience and report any bugs, so Apple can iron them all out before the commercial release.
Right now, Apple has ramped up iOS 16 by adding a few life improvements to their features and customizing your lockscreens.
With iOS 16, iMessage gets an edit and unsend features. But there is a time limit. You can make up to five edits within fifteen minutes after sending the message. The recipients will be able to see a history of your edits. So don’t go crazy saying awful stuff you might regret yet. The edit feature seems to be more about fixing typos and rephrasing messages.
As for unsend, you can only do so within two minutes. There will also include a mark as unread option for messages. And also, a trash bin for deleted messages, which you can recover up to 30 days.
Live Text is getting a nice upgrade as well. Initially, Live Text works on photos. Now, they can work on videos as well. So you can easily look up texts you see in whatever video you’re watching.
Apple is also ramping up their hands-free features with dictations. You can now dictate emojis. Not entirely sure how that works but we’ll be checking that out. Along with this are auto-punctuations.
When Apple introduced Focus Mode, they tried to herald it as a key in letting users just focus on whatever they’re doing without checking their notifications every fifteen minutes. Personally, it was a pain to set up, and I never used it. But, that doesn’t mean others won’t find it useful. The new Focus Mode basically improves customization and sets up filters for other Apple apps, so they won’t bother you during your preferred times.
Lastly, the star of iOS 16, is the customizable lockscreen. This seems to be a way for Apple to save you a couple of taps and swipes by filling up your lockscreen with notifications and widgets that you choose. In another future update, Apple will launch Live Activities, which is a feature that lets you keep track of certain activities that you can monitor through your lockscreen, like checking how near your food delivery is.
iOS 16 is expected to launch later this year. Device compatibility starts from iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, onwards. This includes second-gen iPhone SE.