7 Hidden iOS 16 Features You May Not Have Noticed

iOS 16 has been available for more than a week, and there’s a lot to discover in Apple’s most recent mobile software upgrade.

The most notable additions are a new customisable lock screen, the option to unsend and modify text messages, and the ability to instantly delete people, pets, or objects from images.

However, these are merely the beginning of what’s new with iOS 16. You’ll be pleased to learn that there are some new hidden capabilities that could drastically alter how you use your iPhone.

Connect your Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons to your iPhone

Apple has long allowed you to connect third-party controllers to your iPhone and iPad, such as the PS5 Sony DualSense and Xbox Core Controller, to play mobile video games like the Apple Arcade collection, Minecraft, and Call of Duty. You can now add another console controller to your list.

If you possess a Nintendo Switch, your Joy-Con controllers can now be paired with an iPhone or iPad running iOS 16.

• To begin, hold down the little black pairing button on the Joy-Con until the green lights begin to alternate. This indicates that the device is in pairing mode.
• Next, open your iPhone and navigate to Settings > Bluetooth, then choose the Joy-Con from the list.
• Repeat this process with the other Joy-Con.

View and share Wi-Fi passwords that you’ve saved

Apple has always permitted iOS users to share Wi-Fi passwords, but only when two Apple devices are close to each other. And if that feature didn’t work automatically, you couldn’t merely look in your settings for the password. Furthermore, if you wanted to share a saved Wi-Fi password with someone else, such as an Android user or a computer user, you had to remember the password. Until now, that is.

• Navigate to Wi-Fi in Settings and press the tiny information icon to the right of the network for which you want the password.
• Tap the Password area, then use Face ID or enter your passcode to view the network password.
• The password will then be copied to your clipboard if you tap Copy.

Pin favorite tabs in Safari

Safari limits the number of open tabs to 500, and if you’re nearing that limit, it may be difficult to discover the exact tab you’re looking for. You could scroll indefinitely, but there’s a better method to get the exact tab you’re looking for.

• When you press down on an open tab in Safari, you now have the option to Pin Tab.
• This will pin that tab to the top of Safari, where it will appear as a tiny tab preview, which you may then tap to view.

When you unpin a tab, it will move to the top of your open tabs grid.

Password protect Hidden or recently deleted Albums

The Photos app’s Hidden album is plainly not hidden, as anyone can readily find it. As a result, it is impractical for adequately concealing private photos and videos. While Apple allows you to make the Hidden album “invisible,” anyone who has access to your phone can make it accessible again and examine everything inside.

You may now lock the Hidden album with iOS 16. You don’t have to do anything to enable this feature.

• To see it, open the Photos app and navigate to the Albums tab at the bottom of the screen.
• You’ll notice a little lock next to the Hidden and Recently Deleted albums if you slide down.
• You’ll need to use Face ID or your passcode to view the contents of those albums.

Haptic feedback to your keyboard

Haptic feedback has long been available on the iPhone. It’s the sensation you get beneath your fingertips when you try to uninstall an app from your home screen or enter the wrong password on your lock screen. Surprisingly, haptic feedback has never been accessible for the standard iOS keyboard – until now.

To allow a tiny vibration for each key you type, go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Keyboard Feedback and turn on Haptic. The sound option you see is the loud and obnoxious clacking sound you could hear when typing something and your phone isn’t in silent mode, which you can mute.

Photo and video edits can be copy pasted

If you use the Photos app’s editor tool, you’ll be pleased to know that you can now copy and paste tweaks, such as saturation, contrast, and brightness, between photos. If you modify one photo or video and like the way it looks, you may copy and paste the identical edits to any other photo or video in your camera roll.

• To do so, start the Photos app and open a previously altered photo in full-screen mode.
• Then, in the top-right area, tap the three-dot menu and select Copy Edits. This option will appear only if the photo was modified in Photos rather than a third-party photo editor.
• Finally, navigate to the photo you want to copy the edits to, touch the three-dot menu, and then select Paste Edits.
• After a few seconds, the photo edits should display.

Locate and delete duplicate photographs and videos

Perhaps you saved the same photo more than once or downloaded a film more than once, resulting in duplicates in your photo album. If you have enough of capacity, it may not be a problem, but if you’re running low on space, iOS 16 allows you to simply eliminate every single copy.

You should see a new Duplicates album under Utilities in Photos > Albums. Apple searches through all of your photographs and displays any photo or video that has been saved more than once in that album. You can then either erase any duplicates or just select Merge, which will maintain the photo with the highest quality (and pertinent data) while deleting the rest.

Although you should go through each set of duplicates to check that they are exact copies and not similar photographs, you can also use Select > Select All > Merge to eliminate every single photo and video that Apple believes is a duplicate at once.

Also: 9 Tips To Clear Up Space On Your iPhone (#9 Is Awesome)