Last night, Apple had its annual event where it announced the new iPhone 14 and 14 Pro lineup, new Apple Watches, and the 2nd gen AirPods Pro. While it was a lot of exciting hardware, the company also finally revealed the rollout date for some of this year’s software updates — specifically, iOS 16, WatchOS 9, and tvOS 16.
According to Apple’s Malaysian website, users can look forward to the new updates come next Tuesday, 13 September. For those of you wondering, iPadOS 16 won’t be released simultaneously with the new iOS this time, but it has instead been delayed to this fall, putting the launch around the same time as macOS Ventura.
iOS 16’s highlight is the addition of lock screen customisation, a departure from the OS’s usual rigidity. Users will be able to implement a layered affect on their chosen lock screen wallpaper, as well as being able to customise the typeface and colour of the clock’s text. There is also a new type of widget that displays streams of live notifications called Live activities, so that they don’t clog up the lock screen.
Messages will be getting highly-requested features such as the ability to edit and unsend texts within a certain time limit. As for security, the update will introduce passkeys, which is a more secure and convenient login method that will be replacing passwords on most websites.
tvOS 16 will see the Apple TV app add support for HDR10+ and Fitness+, along with new watch faces. For gamers, both iOS 16 and tvOS 16 will add support for Nintendo’s Switch Pro and Joy-Con controllers.
Meanwhile, the company introduced a new low power mode that will double an Apple Watch’s battery life when it announced the Series 8. Excitingly, this power saving feature won’t be limited to just new wearables, but it will be coming to all Apple Watches that run on WatchOS 9. The upcoming update will support the Series 4 and after.
