As Apple released iOS 16 Monday, all the buzz was about the highlighted features. Just about everyone knew they’d be able to customize their Lock Screens with widgets, unsend Messages and do more with Maps. Nevertheless, there are quite a few hidden iOS 16 features you may not know about, because they didn’t really make the headlines. Let’s go over 5 of these hidden iOS 16 features, so you can make the most of the new operating system.
Personalized Spatial Audio Customized Just for You
If you love the immersive experience of listening to music in a concert venue, Spatial Audio is wonderful. It’s even better when you can add in Head Tracking mode on AirPods. Apple has gone a step further, and added personalization to the experience.
If you have an iPhone with a LiDAR sensor (the iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro families), you can activate Personalized Spatial Audio with the latest AirPods and some Beats earphones. This feature uses your iPhone to scan the geometry of your ears in order to deliver a more customized spatial audio listening experience.
Unlock Your iPhone Using Face ID in Landscape Mode
Sure, we usually pick up our iPhones in portrait mode for first use. Still, I know I’ve experienced times when I tried, and failed, to unlock my device while it was rotated sideways. It might just be a minor irritation, but it always struck me as one Apple should figure out and fix.
With iOS 16, this irritation is gone as long as you have an iPhone 13 or later. Now, you can unlock your iPhone using Face ID, even in landscape mode.
Remind Yourself What That WiFi Password Is
It’s a common enough frustration. You set up WiFi on your iOS device, then forget the password. This usually isn’t a problem when you want to bring another Apple device onto the network, of course. The password populates to all the devices assigned to your iCloud account. You can also quickly share the password to anybody with an iPhone or iPad.
The trick is when you need to give WiFi access to a non-Apple device. Then you have to struggle to remember that password. No longer, though, because you can quickly see it on your iPhone. Just go to Settings > Wi-Fi and tap the blue “i” icon next to the network you’re connected to. Tap inside the Password field, let Face ID do its thing, and you’ll be able to view and copy the password.
Ditch Those Duplicate Photos
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I’ll take three pictures at a time just to be sure I capture a good shot. I’ve also been known to download the same picture multiple times. All of this serves to tie up space on my iPhone needlessly.
In iOS 16, the Photos app can let you know if you have multiple identical photos. Then, you can delete the extras to save space. In the Photos app, just tap Abums and scroll down to the Utilities section. If you have any duplicate photographs, they appear in a dedicated album.
Built-In Currency Conversion Adds to Usefulness of Live Text
In iOS 16, Apple expanded on the capabilities of its Live Text feature. This lets you get the written text out of a picture, something that used to require special software to do. One of the hidden features in iOS 16 gives Live Text even more usefulness.
Try it the next time you’re in a store. Hold your iPhone camera up to a price tag and wait for that Live Text icon to appear. Then, tap and hold on the price and choose Convert to see how much it is in other currencies. This also supports translation and converting between Imperial and metric measurements, by the way.
There’s Bound to Be Even More Hidden iOS 16 Features
In fact, I know there are, because we’ve been digging into the operating system since the early beta days. But, I don’t want to overload you, gentle reader, with scores of tricks to try to perfect. Stay tuned, though, because we’ll be right back with more hidden iOS 16 features real soon.