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iOS 16 facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
iOS 16
Version of the iOS operating system
IOS 16 icon.png
A picture of the iOS 16 home screen
iOS 16 home screen on an iPhone 14 Pro
Developer Apple Inc.
General
availability		 September 12, 2022; 2 years ago (2022-09-12)
Latest release 16.7.8 (20H343)  (May 13, 2024; 15 months ago (2024-05-13))
Repository
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Available in 41 languages
Kernel type Hybrid (XNU)
License Proprietary software with open-source components
Preceded by iOS 15
Succeeded by iOS 17
Tagline Personal is powerful.
Support status
Obsolete, unsupported. Widespread third-party app support. Drops support for all devices with A9/A10 Fusion chips, including iPhone 6s/6s Plus, iPhone SE (1st generation), iPhone 7/7 Plus, and iPod Touch (7th generation).
Articles in the series
iPadOS 16 (derivative for iPad)

iOS 16 was a big update for Apple Inc.'s iOS mobile operating system, which runs on the iPhone. It was the sixteenth main version of iOS. This update came after iOS 15. Apple announced iOS 16 at their Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 6, 2022. It was released to everyone on September 12, 2022. Later, iOS 17 took its place on September 18, 2023.

iOS 16 was the first iOS version since iPhone OS 1 that only worked on iPhones. It no longer supported the seventh-generation iPod Touch. It also stopped supporting older iPhones like the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, and the first-generation iPhone SE. iOS 16 was the last update for the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus and iPhone X. These iPhones did not get the iOS 17 update in 2023.

Contents

Cool New Features in iOS 16

Freeform: Your Digital Whiteboard

Freeform is like a giant digital whiteboard. It lets you and your friends work together in real time. You can draw, add files, and even use FaceTime or send messages right on the board. It's an "infinite" space, so you never run out of room for your ideas.

AirDrop: Sharing Made Safer

In iOS 16.2, AirDrop got a small but important change. The "Everyone" setting, which lets anyone nearby send you files, now only stays on for 10 minutes. After that, it goes back to "Contacts Only." This helps prevent unwanted requests from strangers.

Lock Screen: Make It Yours

Your iPhone's lock screen became much more personal with iOS 16.

  • You can change how the date and time look. Pick from different fonts and colors.
  • You can add small helpful tools called Widgets. These show things like the weather or your next calendar event.
  • You can set up many different lock screens. Switch between them easily.
  • When you listen to music or podcasts, the album art can fill your screen. It looks really cool!

Focus Mode: Stay Focused

Focus Mode helps you concentrate by managing notifications.

  • You can link different lock screens to different Focus Modes. For example, a "School Focus" might show a different wallpaper.
  • Focus filters let apps show different content. If you're in "Work Focus," Safari might only show work-related tabs.
  • You can choose which apps and contacts can send you notifications. This helps you avoid distractions.

Notifications: A New Look

Notifications now appear from the bottom of your lock screen.

  • You can choose how they show up: as a simple count, a stack, or a list.
  • "Live Activities" are special notifications that stay on screen. They update in real time. This is great for tracking a sports score or your food delivery.

Control Center: Quick Access

The Control Center got some handy updates.

  • A new menu shows which apps recently used your camera, microphone, or location.
  • The Shazam feature now saves its history with the main Shazam app.

Status Bar: Battery Percentage

If you have an iPhone with Face ID, you can now see the battery percentage right in the status bar. You don't need to swipe down to Control Center anymore.

Dictation: Talk and Type

Dictation lets you speak to type. With iOS 16, it got even better.

  • The keyboard stays on screen while you dictate. You can easily switch between speaking and typing.
  • You can even say emoji names to insert them.
  • Auto-Punctuation adds periods automatically when you pause.

Live Text: Text in Photos and Videos

Live Text in iOS 16

Live Text lets you interact with text in images and videos.

  • You can select and copy text from videos.
  • "Quick actions" let you do things like convert prices or translate text directly.
  • It now works with Japanese, Korean, and Ukrainian languages.

Visual Search: Lift Subjects from Photos

Visual Search can find objects and people in your photos. You can then "lift" them out of the picture. Imagine dragging a picture of your dog and dropping it into a message!

Siri: More Helpful Than Ever

Siri got some new tricks.

  • You can end phone calls and FaceTime calls just by saying, "Hey Siri, hang up."
  • Siri can announce notifications when your phone is on speaker.

Spotlight: Smarter Search

Spotlight is your iPhone's search tool.

  • There's a new button on the Home Screen to open Spotlight quickly.
  • The search bar is now closer to the keyboard, making it easier to reach with one hand.
  • It shows more image results from apps like Messages and Notes.
  • You can use "Quick actions" to start a timer or run a shortcut.

Translate: Instant Translations

The Translate app can now use your camera to translate text in real time. Just point your camera at something, and it translates! It also added support for more languages like Dutch and Thai.

Spoken Content: New Voices

More voice options were added for "Spoken Content," which reads text aloud. New languages like Bangla and Malay were also added.

Accessibility: Helping Everyone

New accessibility features make iPhones easier to use for everyone.

  • "Door Detection" helps visually impaired people find doors. It tells them how far away a door is.
  • A setting lets you prevent calls from ending if you accidentally lock your phone.

Wi-Fi and Cellular: Better Connections

  • You can now see and manage all your saved Wi-Fi networks. You can even see the password after verifying with Face ID or Touch ID.
  • If you get a new iPhone, you can transfer your eSIM (digital SIM card) from your old iPhone using Bluetooth.
  • Backups to iCloud can now happen over 4G, not just 5G and Wi-Fi.

Face ID: Works Sideways

Face ID can now unlock your phone even when it's sideways. This feature is available on iPhone 13 and newer models.

Keyboard: Feel the Type

You can turn on haptic feedback for your keyboard. This means you'll feel a small vibration when you type, like pressing a real button.

Controller Support: Game On!

iOS 16 added support for connecting Nintendo Switch Joy-Con and Pro Controllers. This makes gaming on your iPhone even better!

Augmented Reality: See Your Room in 3D

A new tool called RoomPlan lets apps create 3D maps of rooms. This uses the LiDAR Scanner found in iPhone 12 Pro and newer models.

App Updates in iOS 16

Messages: Edit and Undo

  • You can now edit messages you've sent within 15 minutes.
  • You can also delete messages within 2 minutes.
  • You can mark a whole conversation as unread.
  • SharePlay now works in Messages. You can watch movies or listen to music with friends without a FaceTime call.
  • You can get back deleted messages for up to 30 days.
  • Collaboration: Work on shared documents with others. You get updates in your Messages thread when someone makes a change.

FaceTime: Live Captions

Live Captions automatically writes down what people say during a FaceTime call.

Mail: Smarter Email

  • You can schedule emails to be sent later.
  • You can "undo send" an email within ten seconds.
  • You can set reminders for emails you haven't replied to yet.
  • Search works better, even correcting typos.

Maps: More Stops, More Details

  • You can now add up to 15 stops to your driving directions.
  • The app can calculate the cost of public transport fares.
  • New features support Look Around and detailed city experiences.

Photos: Sharing and Organizing

  • You can share photos with up to five contacts in a shared library. Everyone can edit or delete photos in this shared space.
  • Your Hidden and Recently Deleted albums are now protected by Face ID or Touch ID.
  • You can copy photo edits and apply them to other pictures.
  • You can search for specific text inside images.
  • The app can find and group duplicate photos. It keeps the best quality version.

Camera: Live Translate

The Camera app now has a live translate feature built into its view.

Safari: Shared Tabs and More

  • Shared tab groups: Share groups of tabs with friends to browse together.
  • Pinned tabs: Keep important tabs at the top of your list.
  • Extension syncing: Your Safari extensions can sync across all your Apple devices.

Contacts: Better Organization

  • The app automatically finds and lets you merge duplicate contacts.
  • When sharing contacts, you can choose exactly which information to share.
  • You can group contacts into lists, making it easy to email everyone in a group.

Calendar: Easy Event Moving

You can now easily copy and paste events between different days in your calendar.

Files: Quick Actions

The Files app has new "Quick Actions." You can convert images to different formats (like JPEG or PNG) and resize them.

Books: Better Reading Experience

The Books app got a new look for reading settings. You can also adjust line spacing and word spacing. A new theme adjusts page colors based on the light around you.

Health: Track Medications and Sleep

  • You can add and manage all the medications you take.
  • If you have an Apple Watch, the app can track your sleep stages.

Apple News: Sports and Local News

  • A new "My Sports" section shows highlights and news for your favorite sports teams.
  • More local news is available.

Weather: Detailed Forecasts

  • New sections show details about air quality and local forecasts.
  • You can see hourly forecasts for the next 10 days.
  • The app can send you government alerts for severe weather like tornadoes.

Fitness: No Watch Needed

The Fitness app is now available even if you don't own an Apple Watch.

Home: Smarter Home Automation

  • The Home app got a new design for Apple Home.
  • It added support for the Matter standard, which helps different smart home devices work together.

Apple TV: Connect Your Devices

iOS 16 allows your Apple TV to connect with your Apple Watch and iPhone for new experiences.

Security and Privacy: Keeping You Safe

Lockdown Mode: Extreme Protection

Lockdown Mode is a very special setting that makes your iPhone super secure. It limits some features to protect users from very rare and advanced attacks. This mode is mostly for people who might be targeted by highly skilled hackers, like journalists or politicians. It's not meant for most people to use every day.

Passkeys: No More Passwords

Passkeys let you sign into websites and apps without typing a password. Your phone creates a special key, and you use Face ID or Touch ID to approve it. It's a safer and easier way to log in.

Safety Check: Reset Permissions

Safety Check helps people in unsafe relationships. When activated, it quickly resets all the permissions you've given to people, apps, and devices for your iCloud account. This helps you take back control of your privacy.

Rapid Security Response: Quick Fixes

Important security updates can now be sent to your iPhone without needing a full operating system update. This means your phone can get security fixes much faster.

Clipboard Security: Your Permission First

Apps and websites now need your permission before they can copy things from your clipboard. This protects your information.

Private Access Tokens: Bye-Bye CAPTCHA

Private Access Tokens are a new technology that helps websites know you're a real person without making you solve annoying CAPTCHA puzzles.

Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI): Trust Your Emails

BIMI helps you know if an email from a brand is real. It shows the brand's logo next to the email's sender name.

Supported Devices: Who Can Get iOS 16?

iOS 16 needed iPhones with an A11 Bionic chip or newer. This meant it no longer supported devices with older chips like the A9 and A10 Fusion. It was the first iOS version to stop supporting iPhones without a 3.5 mm headphone jack. It also marked the end of support for the iPod Touch.

While iPhones with the A11 Bionic chip had limited support, iPhones with an A12 Bionic chip or newer had full support for all iOS 16 features.

Here are the iPhones that supported iOS 16:

Release History: When Did It Come Out?

The first test version of iOS 16 for developers was released on June 6, 2022. The official public release of iOS 16 happened on September 12, 2022.


Legend
Previous release Current release Current beta release Security response
iOS 16 releases
Version Build Codename Release date Release notes
16.0 20A362 Sydney September 12, 2022 Release notes

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16.0.1 20A371 September 14, 2022 Release notes
16.0.2 20A380 September 22, 2022 Release notes
16.0.3 20A392 October 10, 2022 Release notes

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16.1 20B82 SydneyB October 24, 2022 Release notes

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16.1.1 20B101 November 9, 2022 Release notes

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16.1.2 20B110 November 30, 2022 Release notes

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16.2 20C65 SydneyC December 13, 2022 Release notes

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16.3 20D47 SydneyD January 23, 2023 Release notes

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16.3.1 20D67 February 13, 2023 Release notes

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16.4 20E247 SydneyE March 27, 2023 Release notes

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16.4.1 20E252 April 7, 2023 Release notes

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16.4.1 (a) 20E772520a May 1, 2023 Release notes
16.5 20F66 SydneyF May 18, 2023 Release notes

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16.5.1 20F75 June 21, 2023 Release notes

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16.5.1 (a) 20F770750b July 10, 2023 Security content
16.5.1 (c) 20F770750d July 12, 2023 Security content
16.6 20G75 SydneyG July 24, 2023 Release notes

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16.6.1 20G81 September 7, 2023 Release notes

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16.7 20H19 SydneySecurityDawn September 21, 2023 Release notes

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16.7.1 20H30 October 10, 2023 Release notes

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16.7.2 20H115 SydneySecurityDawnB October 25, 2023 Release notes

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16.7.3 20H232 SydneySecurityDawnC December 11, 2023 Release notes

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16.7.4 20H240 December 19, 2023 Release notes
16.7.5 20H307 SydneySecurityDawnD January 22, 2024 Release notes

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16.7.6 20H320 SydneySecurityDawnE March 5, 2024 Release notes

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16.7.7 20H330 March 21, 2024 Release notes

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16.7.8 20H343 SydneySecurityDawnF May 13, 2024 Release notes

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16.7.9 20H348 SydneySecurityDawnG July 29, 2024 Release notes

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16.7.10 20H350 SydneySecurityDawnH August 7, 2024 Release notes
16.7.11 20H360 SydneySecurityDawnI March 31, 2025 Release notes

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See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: IOS 16 para niños

  • iPadOS 16
  • macOS Ventura
  • tvOS 16
  • watchOS 9