So we have had WWDC 2022 and there was a lot of cool stuff that was announced. In this post, I want to talk about the new feature across the devices that excited me and that I can’t wait to use, rather than reviewing everything. So For me, all the features that I am interested in are the new features in IOS 16 and iPadOS 16 as these are the devices that I spend most of my time on. Not to say that I am not excited by the new updates to Watch OS 9 and macOS Ventura as there are some pretty cool things coming to those too.
So let’s jump into it.
IOS 16
There were plenty of things that were announced around IOS 16 which I am certainly looking forward to using, but for me, there were 3 things that really peaked my interest.
New Lock Screen
Well, this for me was the big one. I love the new redesigned Lock Screen and the fact that you can add some personalisation to it.
- The Clock
You will now be able to change the font type and the colour to what you like or what match the colour of your Lock Screen wallpaper. There are a number of new wallpapers which are great including emojis to add a bit of fun to the Lock Screen. You can also set up multiple lock screens that you can swipe between depending on your mood or even the time of day.
- Widgets
These are now coming to your Lock Screen. You can the ones that you want to be able to get a quick look out without having to open your phone. Great for those of us who want to catch a glance at those activity rings or batteries across your connected devices. I think this set the scene for the possibility of an always-on display which I would love to see come to the iPhone.
- Focus modes
You can have different lock screens tied to your focus mode of choice. So you can select the apps and people that you want to be able to receive notifications from right from the lock screen. You can easily switch between focus modes by simply swiping the screen and choosing between your linked focus modes.
Notifications
Your notification will now come up from the bottom of the screen, so you can see all (most of your Lock Screen). You will be able to choose whether to view them as a list, stacked or hidden view. I am keen to see how this works when the public beta comes out as this is an area where I think Andriod has a bit of an edge.
- Live Activities
You will also be able to live score as well, but this I believe is dependent on which country you are in. I can’t say that this is one that I am particularly fussed about but it could be useful when you want to have a quick glance at your team’s score without having to unlock your phone.
Messages & Mail
There have been some cool updates to messages where you can edit a message that has already been sent, this is handy when you made a typo but only noticed it when you had sent the message. You can also mark a message as unread once you have read it if you want to respond to it later on.
Mail has been brought up to speed with other email clients with the below features coming to IOS 16 as well as iPadOS 16.
- Undo Send, essential message recall
- schedule send
- Follow up
- Adding rich links
Now, these are nothing new as mentioned already most other email clients have but it is certainly nice to see them finally coming to the mail app. I am particularly happy about this as I have started to use the mail app again across my iPhone, MacBook and iPad (more to come on why in another blog coming up).
iPadOS 16
Again lots to like about what coming in iPadOS 16 but again the ones that I am excited about and that I think will make a massive impact on most iPad users’ workflow and how they use their devices are
Stage Manager
This is only available on the M1 iPads and gives you a new way of multitasking. When you open an app you will get 4 tabs that appear at the side of the app. The app will not open in full screen and in each of the tabs you will be able to have 4 apps one at a time. You will also have the ability to re-size the apps so that they fit better on your screen.
The tabs that are at the side of your apps will show your recently opened application which I think is a nice feature. This allows you to switch between your apps easily compared to previous multitasking.
External Monitor Support
Finally, in iPadOS 16 we will be getting proper external monitor support. You will be able to plug in your external monitor and be able to use the whole screen rather than just having it mirrored like it is today in iPadOS 15. This allows you to use your iPad as a true second screen and really take advantage of that new Stage Manager feature as well.
This means that you will be able to view multiple apps on both your iPad and External Display and be able to drag and drop files and apps between the two screens. I am interested to see how this will work with my Ultra wide Monitor and if I will use it as much as like to think I will. This might turn my iPad into my daily driver.
Display Scaling mode
This for me addresses something that has long bugged me about the iPad and that is been the ability to adjust the pixel size to suit you. This will work in the same way that you can choose to have less or more space in the display setting in the MacBook. So to be able to do this and get more space on your apps I think is a good addition, especially if like me you have a smaller screen size or just like having your screen scaling set to its smallest.
So there you have it. These features are why I will be downloading the Public Beta when it becomes available hopefully in the first half of July. I will of course be testing and will be giving more detailed reviews on the features and what I think about them and if they are as good as they appear to be. tied to