Apple’s iOS 16 brings the biggest update ever to the iPhone’s Lock Screen, the ability to edit and collaborate in Messages, new tools in Mail, and more ways to interact with photos and video with Live Text and Visual Look Up. iOS 16 is now available as a free software update.
iOS is an excellent, mature piece of software, and Apple’s clearly not looking for an excuse to reinvent the wheel anymore. But this year, Apple found a part of its software that hasn’t gotten much attention recently and gave it a makeover.
The lock screen is the true star of iOS 16. Apple has reconceived its purpose altogether, shifting it from just a clock and a bunch of notifications to something much more like a second homescreen. Lock screen widgets were an instant upgrade to my phone life: I can now see my calendar without unlocking my phone or even swiping right to get to that page of widgets everyone always forgets about, and I have a tiny widget that launches a new note in my notes app…
And when you pair it with the always-on displays on the iPhone 14 Pro, the iPhone becomes a fountain of useful information without requiring a single tap… As far as Apple is concerned, I think the company is on the right track. It is clearly invested in turning the iPhone into more than just a collection of apps…
MacDailyNews Note: You can personalize your iPhone’s Lock Screen by adding wallpaper, customizing the colors and fonts, layering photos in front of the time, and much more.
You can also add widgets with information from your favorite apps to your Lock Screen, such as today’s headlines, the weather, and calendar events.
You can even create more than one Lock Screen and switch between them. Since each Lock Screen can be linked to a Focus, you can switch your Focus by switching to a different Lock Screen.
How to personalize your iPhone Lock Screen via Apple Support here.
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My old iPhone SE (2016) no longer runs latest iOS. It doesn’t have new Lock Screen of iOS 16. However, it did get updated to iOS 15.7 just now. So it’ll keep doing what it’s been doing with updated security and reliability. Surprisingly, my even older iPhone 5S (the 2013 flagship) ALSO got an update to iOS 12.5.6, probably the equivalent security stuff. That’s now FOUR major iOS releases ago, Apple still supporting it. I use my ancient A7 iPhone 5S like an iPod touch, so my iPhone SE is fully charged when I leave home. I’m getting the 2022 iPhone SE soon and my current A9 SE become my iPod touch.
One small thing I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere (thus far):
The countdown timer now has a new display on the lock screen that allows one to pause/start or cancel a timer.
Very handy.
I haven’t found a way to get an analog clock on the Lock Screen. Anybody?