16 hidden iOS 16 features you need to know!

Now that you’ve had a week to play around with iOS 16, you’ve probably set up your Lock Screen, changed your battery indicator, and maybe even set up a Focus or two. But there are a lot of smaller features you might have missed that are just as important as the main ones. Here are 16 of them that you might have missed

Support for Switch controllers (and others)

iOS 16 officially includes support for multiple new Bluetooth game controllers, including Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons and Pro Controllers so you’ll have even more options when you play games. This support extends to tvOS and iPadOS, too.

Locked folders in Photos

As an extra privacy measure, the Hidden and Recently Deleted folders in Photos are locked by default now so someone won’t accidentally stumble upon them. You use your iPhone login credentials (Face ID, Touch ID, or passcode) to access them.

SharePlay notifications

This isn’t a problem that comes up all that often, but when you’re sharing your screen, Apple automatically disabled notifications so the people watching your screen couldn’t see them. Now you have an option—in the Notifications settings, there’s a new Screen Sharing option with a toggle to Allow notifications while using SharePlay or Screen Mirroring.

Duplicate photo detection

In the Photos app’s Albums view you’ll find a new Duplicates option in Utilities, which automatically finds identical images and lets you merge them, combining captions, keywords, and favorites into whichever duplicate image is of the highest quality. So now you can keep your photo library a little cleaner.

Lock screen notification layouts

Apple’s fancy new lock screen also includes a new way of receiving notifications in a stack, but that isn’t the only option. You can set it to list view if you want to see them all covering up your fancy lock screen like before, or a single banner with a counter if you want to keep everything super tidy.

More offline Siri functions

Speaking of Siri, if you have an iPhone 12 or later it will do even more offline than before. Most Home control functions, Intercom, and Voicemail functions will operate without sending anything to Apple. You obviously need a network connection to communicate with your HomeKit hub, for instance, but all processing stays on your iPhone and nothing goes beyond your local network.

See your Wi-Fi passwords

With iOS 16 you can finally see the passwords for your saved Wi-Fi networks in plain text! You can then easily copy it to the clipboard to share how you wish, if necessary. Or just see it to read it out loud to a friend for whom the usual seamless Apple Wi-Fi sharing isn’t available.

Simply open Settings, then Wi-Fi. Tap the info button (i) next to the Wi-Fi network you wish to get the password for. This will take you to a screen with a lot of options and information. The Password field will have dots instead of the password, but just tap that and your iPhone will authenticate you with Face ID or Touch ID and display the password in plain text, with a prompt to Copy it if you wish.

Hang up with Siri

Speaking of Siri, you can finally hang up a phone call or FaceTime call with Siri. It’s kind of weird that it took this long. Sure, the other person will hear you say it, but so what?

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Better portrait blurring

If you have an iPhone 13 or iPhone 13 Pro, you’ll get better bokeh in a couple of noticeable ways. In Portrait shots, objects in the foreground–in front of the subject–will get a blurring effect. And in Cinematic mode videos, the depth-of-field effect has better accuracy around things like hair and glasses. And we’re still amazed at the on-the-fly cutouts it’s doing with lock screen photos.

Remove more Apple apps

Apple has allowed us to remove some of its pre-installed apps since iOS 10, and it’s added three more in iOS 16: Find My, Clock, and Health. However, Apple notes that some built-in Find My features will still work and some Apple Watch features might be affected.

Landscape Face ID

Ever since the iPhone X, Face ID has only work in portrait orientation, making it tricky if you were holding your phone sideways. That’s no longer the case with iOS 16. You don’t have to turn anything on—but it’ll only work if you have an iPhone 13 or 14.

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Haptic keyboard support

The built-in iOS 16 keyboard now has an option for haptic feedback as you type—without those annoying keyboard clicks—so it’ll feel a little more natural tapping the glass. Though sadly, it doesn’t appear to be coming to the iPad just yet.

Stop accidentally ending calls

If you’ve ever mistakenly ended a phone call by hitting the power button, Apple has a solution in iOS 16. Head over to Settings, then Accessibility > Touch and select Prevent Lock to End Call. Now your calls will only end when you tap the End call button—or the person on the other end hangs up on you.

iCloud+ improvements

The Hide My Email and custom email domain features of iCloud+ are getting a little more useful in iOS 16. Hide My Email is integrated directly into QuickType keyboard suggestions, so it should always be available in third‑party apps. And your custom domain can be shared with people outside your Family Sharing group. From the iCloud Mail settings you can purchase a new domain or enable catch‑all aliases right from iCloud Mail settings.

AirPods quick settings

Along with custom Spatial Audio, Apple has finally given us an easier way to manage our AirPods in iOS 16. In Settings, you’ll see a new tab under your iCloud name when your AirPods are connected. Tap it and you’ll be taken directly to the settings for your earbuds.

Better Memoji

What can we say, we like Memoji. And they’re getting a number of meaningful improvements in iOS 16. There are more sticker poses, and all the sticker poses can be used for your contact image. There are 17 new and updated hairstyles, more headwear, more noses, and more neutral lip colors. It should be easier than ever to make your Memoji match your look and your style.