iOS 16: What we know so far about Apple’s new operating system

Apple's new operating system is expected to be officially unveiled in June. However, plenty of rumours have already surfaced. Given how important iPhones are to the company, no system update is more eagerly anticipated than iOS. In this article, we have gathered all the information we have so far about iOS 16, including its new and improved features, release date and design changes.

iOS 16 will be officially announced in June at Apple's annual event, the Worldwide Developers Conference, which will take place online this year from 6 to 10 June. The software is expected to be unveiled on 6 June. Its rollout will begin a few hours after the event, initially as a developer-only beta, followed by a public beta in July and, finally, a general release in the autumn.

According to Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, iOS 16 will feature significant changes to notifications and Focus Mode. For those unfamiliar with it, Focus Mode is a feature that lets users manage which apps and notifications they want to see at different times of the day.

We also expect to see new features for collecting and managing health and fitness data. Although this has not been confirmed, we may even see an app capable of tracking eating habits, a rumour we also heard about iOS15. After all, Apple has made Apple Watch and its integration with the Apple Health app a central focus of its software updates in recent years, so this area is likely to receive even more attention.

Gurman also pointed out that the early blueprints for iOS 16 include references to Apple's much-anticipated mixed-reality headset and how it will interact with iPhones. However, the headset will not be unveiled in June, so we are most likely to see some improvements to the ARKit framework aimed primarily at designers.

Although many users were hoping to see changes to the interface design as well, iOS 16 will probably use the same design as iOS 15. The company's last major software redesign came with the unveiling of iOS 7 and received considerable criticism during the beta stage, resulting in substantial revisions before its official release.

One of the biggest questions on everyone's mind is whether Apple will also make the new operating system available for older iPhone and iPad devices. Earlier this year, rumours suggested that iOS 16 would be compatible with iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus and iPhone SE.