Apple’s latest operating system update for the iPhone — iOS 17 — was released on Monday, and you can download and install it now… if you have an iPhone that supports it. If you’ve got an iPhone 8 or iPhone X, you’re out of luck, but don’t worry — you can still access most of the coolest features of your iPhone using iOS 16.
The biggest new features in iOS 16 were unsending text messages and emails and cutting objects out of your photos, but there are plenty of smaller and lesser-known features you may have never heard about.
Read more: iOS 16.6: You Should Download This iPhone Update Now
I’ll walk you through everything you need to know about the best lesser-known features in iOS 16, like password-protected photo albums, easily accessible Wi-Fi passwords and how to use Face ID when you’re lying down.
And if you’re curious about upgrading, take a look at the most exciting new features in iOS 17 and the first three things you should do after upgrading to iOS 17.
View and share saved Wi-Fi passwords
Apple has allowed iOS users to share Wi-Fi passwords for a while now, but only by placing two Apple devices near each other. And if that feature didn’t automatically work, you couldn’t just dig out the password from your settings. Plus if you wanted to share a saved Wi-Fi password with someone else, like an Android user or someone on a computer, you had to remember the password. Until now.
In Settings, go to Wi-Fi and tap the tiny information icon to the right of the network you want the password for. To view the network password, tap the Password section and then use Face ID or enter your passcode to view it. You can then tap Copy to copy the password into your clipboard and share it.
The credit card-sized Anker 622 not only attaches to your MagSafe-compatible iPhone to give it a charge but also has a built-in kickstand so that you can comfortably view and use your device while it gets juice.
Merging will keep the highest quality photo and delete the rest.
Although you’ll probably want to go through each set of duplicates, to ensure that they’re actually exact copies and not similar photos, you can also hit Select Select All Merge to remove every single photo and video that Apple thinks is a duplicate, all at once.
Use Siri to hang up a phone call or FaceTime
Siri does a lot of things. You can use the virtual assistant to send a text message, get directions or play music — but one thing she’s never been able to do is hang up a phone call. Weird right? Now that’s finally a possibility with iOS 16.
In Settings, go to Siri Search and first make sure Listen for “Hey Siri” is toggled on. If it is, you should see a new option underneath — Call Hang Up. Go into that option and toggle on Call Hang Up. When you’re on a phone call or FaceTime video chat, simply say, “Hey, Siri,” and ask her to hang up your current call.
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Password protect Hidden and Recently Deleted albums
The Hidden album in the Photos app is clearly not hidden, seeing as anyone can easily find it. That makes it impractical for adequately hiding private photos and videos. While Apple does have an option to make the Hidden album “invisible,” anyone with access to your phone could make it visible again and view everything inside.
Thanks to iOS 16, you can now lock the Hidden album. You don’t actually need to do anything to toggle this feature on. If you want to check it out, launch the Photos app and go to the Albums tab at the bottom of the screen. If you scroll down, you’ll see a tiny lock next to the Hidden and Recently Deleted albums. To view the contents of those albums, you’ll need to use Face ID or your passcode.
This feature works between photos and videos.
Send emojis with Siri
Siri has long been able to send long, complicated text messages and emails by dictation, but with iOS 16, for the first time, you’re now able to use your voice to send emojis. As long as you know the name of the emoji, simply say “face with tears of joy emoji” or “red heart emoji” to insert an emoji into your text with Siri.
If you use the keyboard dictation feature in your iPhone’s keyboard, accessible at the bottom right of your keyboard (microphone icon), you can also say the emoji name to insert an emoji anywhere you can type text, like in a note or a caption on Instagram.
Every single time you type, you’ll feel a slight vibration for each key you hit.
Pin your favorite tabs in Safari
Safari caps your open tabs at 500, and if you’re nearing that limit, it might be pretty darn hard to find the exact tab you’re looking for. You could scroll endlessly, but there’s now an easier way to find the exact tab you’re looking for.
In Safari, if you press down on an open tab, you now have the option to hit Pin Tab. This will move that tab to the top of Safari, where it will exist as a tiny tab preview, permanently pinned there, which you can then tap to view. If you press down and unpin a tab, it will move to first in your grid of open tabs.
You also have the option to turn off the feature, in case you don’t want your emails delayed at all.
Use Face ID while you’re lying down
If you’ve ever tried to unlock your iPhone while it’s vertical, like when you’re lying on your side, you might have noticed that it doesn’t work. You have to place your iPhone in portrait orientation, or upright, for Face ID to work. With iOS 16, you can finally use Face ID to unlock your iPhone when it’s in landscape orientation. However, for this to work, you must have an iPhone 13 or 14 running iOS 16.
Allow notifications when you share your screen
As a privacy protection measure, Apple automatically disables notifications when you share your screen, whether it’s via SharePlay or Screen Mirroring. However, if others seeing your notifications isn’t an issue, you can now allow notifications on iOS 16. In the Settings application, go to Notifications Screen Sharing and toggle on Allow Notifications.
If you take a lot of screenshots, this feature can help you save storage.
Remove more preinstalled Apple apps
Since iOS 10, you’ve been able to remove some preinstalled iOS applications like Stocks, Maps and Calculator — but not all of them. With the release of iOS 16, you can add three more apps to this list of ones you can remove: Find My, Clock and Health. However, deleting these apps can negatively affect and break support with other apps and connected devices, like your Apple Watch.
Make Siri listen to you longer
If you ever find yourself getting cut off by Siri, there’s now a way to force the voice assistant to listen to you longer so that she can catch everything you say. The feature isn’t in an obvious place though — in the Settings app, go to Accessibility Siri, then choose either Longer or Longest. Play around with the two options to see which works best for you.
Article source: https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/no-ios-17-no-worries-check-out-the-coolest-hidden-features-of-ios-16/#ftag=CAD4aa2096