A week after releasing the fifth developer betas, Apple today seeded the sixth developer betas of the impending iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 updates to developers for testing.
The iOS and iPadOS 16 profiles are available for registered developers to download from the Apple Developer Center. Once installed, the betas are made available over the air.
With the release of iOS 16, the Lock Screen has been updated and now enables a higher level of personalization and customization thanks to widgets, redesigned notifications, and customizable fonts and colours. Similar to watch faces, multiple Lock Screens are supported and can be connected to Focus modes.
Focus is simpler to set up and more adjustable than before, and Focus filters are available to remove distracting items from apps. In addition to SharePlay support, the Messages app now has options for editing iMessages, unsending iMessages, and marking messages as unread.
The expanded search capabilities of the Mail app come with functions like undo send, schedule send, and follow up, which let you set a reminder to check in on an email if you haven't heard back. Apple is trying to replace passwords with Passkeys, a more biometrically secure method of logging into accounts, and Safari allows shared tab groups.
Users can more quickly exchange images with family members via iCloud Photo Library, and video can feature Live Text. In Visual Lookup, there is a useful new tool for quickly removing the topic from a background.
The Home app has been completely redesigned with a new style, Maps now enables multi-stop routing, Apple Pay Later allows you to split up purchase payments, and dictation has been improved. For more Mac-like multitasking on the iPad, the update introduces a new Stage Manager tool, although it's only available on M1 iPads.
In addition to reintroducing the battery level to the status bar on iPhones with notches, iOS 16's fifth beta also featured new noises for finding an iPhone via Find My or the Apple Watch.
A complete list of all the new features in iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 is available in our dedicated roundup, along with a tonne of additional new features.
