WWDC, and the announcement of iOS 16, may still be two months away. That doesn’t mean Apple is sitting on its laurels and not working on the latest operating system for iPhones and iPads. In fact, the latest beta for macOS Monterey offers hints that Focus Mode in iOS 16 may offer new features incompatible with older versions of the operating system.
All About Keeping Focused
Focus Mode, introduced in iOS 15, is a serious evolution of Do Not Disturb. It allows you to manage which apps and notifications you want to see throughout the day. The feature already packs some pretty serious customization options. You can view an introduction to Focus Mode at the end of this article, but first …
The sleuths over at 9to5Mac have been digging into the code included in macOS Monterey 12.4 beta. What they’ve found offers our first indication of precisely what sort of changes we might see in iOS 16.
Previously, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman predicted the newest iPhone and iPad operating systems would feature “fairly significant enhancement across the board, including an update to notifications.” Digging deeper hints that the Cupertino-based company plans even more customizations to Focus Mode.
More Did You Spake?
What we’re seeing is the likelihood that Focus Mode on iOS 16 will offer more ways to customize your notification profiles. Furthermore, the new options will apparently not work at all with older versions of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. One of the code references states:
A device with newer software has updated this Focus to use a new configuration this device doesn’t support. To continue editing notifications on this device, update to the latest software or use an allowed list for this Focus.
There Will Be More to Look Forward to Than Improvements to Focus Mode in iOS 16
The code examination also revealed some changes coming to Apple News. Looking at the latest iOSS 15.5 beta, it appears Apple will offer new content in the app incompatible with anything older than iOS 16.
Sorry, you need to update your device in order to see this content.
Sorry, News is no longer fully supported on older devices.
It may be worrisome to see older devices being left out of the latest Apple News features, but I suppose a line has to be drawn somewhere. While it might be nice to keep using that iPhone 5S forever, that’s just not practical.
If you’re unfamiliar with Focus Mode, check out this introduction on how to get started using the feature.