iOS 16

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<div style="font: bold 2em/1.2 -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'SF Pro Display', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: var(--wiki-color);">iOS 16</div>
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| colspan="2" style="padding: 0;" | ![[ios_16.webp]]
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! class="ios-lab" | Developer
| class="ios-val" | [[Apple]]
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! class="ios-lab" | Announced
| class="ios-val" | June 6, 2022 (WWDC)
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! class="ios-lab" | Initial release
| class="ios-val" | September 12, 2022
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! class="ios-lab" | Final release
| class="ios-val" | 16.7.x security series (2024)
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! class="ios-lab" | Launch devices
| class="ios-val" | [[iPhone 14]] generation
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! class="ios-lab" | Preceded by
| class="ios-val" | [[iOS 15]]
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! class="ios-lab" | Succeeded by
| class="ios-val" | [[iOS 17]]
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{{iOS Version Navbox}}

iOS 16 is the sixteenth major release of [[iOS]], released on September 12, 2022, ahead of the [[iPhone 14]] generation. It rebuilt the platform's front door: the Lock Screen became customizable and collectible — fonts, colors, widgets, layered photo subjects that overlap the clock, and a gallery of switchable screens bound to Focus modes — the biggest change to the phone's first surface since lock-screen notifications.

The release also carried the system half of the year's hardware stories: Live Activities, the real-time notification class that powers the [[iPhone 14 Pro]]'s Dynamic Island, plus Emergency SOS via satellite support and Crash Detection integration.

= Features =

The customizable Lock Screen and wallpaper gallery; Live Activities (16.1); editable and unsendable Messages (with time limits and edit history after public debate); Mail scheduling and recall; passkeys — the passwordless WebAuthn credentials Apple pushed first at scale; Safety Check for abusive-relationship escape; iCloud Shared Photo Library (16.1); Freeform (16.2); Advanced Data Protection's expanded end-to-end encryption (16.2); the battery-percentage indicator's return; and haptic keyboard feedback. Visual Look Up learned to lift subjects out of photos — the tap-and-drag sticker trick that became the cycle's shared delight.

= Supported devices =

[[iPhone 14]] and [[iPhone 13]] generations back through [[iPhone 8]] and [[iPhone X]] — the first cull in four years, dropping the [[iPhone 6s]] and [[iPhone 7]] generations and the first [[iPhone SE]], and with them the iPod touch line entirely.

= Legacy =

The Lock Screen platform became the personalization surface every subsequent release builds on, Live Activities became the interaction model the Dynamic Island — now on every iPhone — depends on, and passkeys began the industry's slow walk away from passwords. Editable Messages and Safety Check showed the platform absorbing social criticism directly into feature design; Advanced Data Protection extended the privacy franchise into open conflict with government access demands.