Earth-shattering or incremental. Nevertheless you view Apple’s newest iPhone 16 household, there’s no denying the truth that they continue to be among the most succesful and sought-after telephones in the marketplace.
{Hardware} additions like Digital camera Management and software program enhancements introduced on by iOS 18 make right this moment’s iPhone expertise extra customisable and feature-packed than ever earlier than. A lot so, actually, that in the event you’re not conscious of each new addition, there’s an opportunity you would possibly miss one thing.
So, whether or not you’ve opted for the smaller iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Professional, or the sizeable iPhone 16 Plus or iPhone 16 Professional Max, these 16 ideas and methods are designed that can assist you get essentially the most out of your new Apple cellphone.
Defending battery well being
Battery life was one of many huge sticking factors with the iPhone 15 sequence. Not a lot how lengthy they’d final on a single cost, however how rapidly battery well being appeared to deteriorate over time.
Apple did add a function to restrict charging to 80% capability to raised keep battery well being (lithium-ion batteries like these inside your iPhone are happiest after they stay charged between 20% and 80%), however with the iPhone 16 sequence, you’ve gotten much more management over this performance.
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HOW? Open the Settings app and faucet on Battery. Within the Battery menu, faucet on Charging and also you’ll then be offered with a slider, divided into 5% increments from 80% to 100%. Transfer the slider to the height capability of your selecting and your iPhone’s battery won’t ever cost previous that set share. You’re primarily sacrificing battery life per cost for long-lasting battery life over time. Ultimate in the event you are inclined to preserve maintain of the identical iPhone for 2 years or extra.
Word: The Charging menu additionally features a toggle for ‘Optimised battery charging’ which can be taught your utilization patterns and maintain your cellphone’s cost at 80% when you’re sleeping, solely filling the cellphone to 100% simply earlier than you get up (that is much less damaging that holding the cost at 100% on a regular basis).
Background app refresh
One other energy setting price toying with is Background App Refresh. A variety of apps must carry out actions within the background to be able to perform correctly, even while you’re utilizing one other app or your cellphone’s locked and in your pocket.
For instance, Maps must preserve tabs in your whereabouts whereas following a route and WhatsApp must verify for brand new messages and obtain media. All of those background duties require further energy.
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Though loads of the apps in your cellphone might carry out background duties, not each app essentially must. You’ll possible have a transparent concept of which you really want to remain energetic and which will be stored dormant till you truly open them. Fortunately, the Background App Refresh menu helps you to toggle which apps can carry out background actions and which might’t.
HOW? Open the Settings app, faucet on Common and scroll all the way down to Background App Refresh. Faucet to open after which merely toggle which apps you need to permit or disallow the flexibility to refresh within the background. The extra you disable, the extra energy you’ll save.
Lock display lockdown
Even when your cellphone is locked, there are nonetheless a good few options that stay accessible. Management Centre and Notification Centre are the apparent ones, however sensible dwelling controls, Stay Actions and rather more are proven on the show.
Whether or not you need to preserve your lock display clear to raised get pleasure from that all-important photograph of your cute cat otherwise you’re apprehensive in regards to the safety of privateness dangers and unaltered iPhone lock display poses, there’s a solution to pair again simply how unlocked your lock display feels.
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HOW? As soon as once more, head to the Settings app and open up the Face ID & Passcode web page, then enter your passcode after which, on the next display, scroll all the way down to the Permit Entry When Locked part. Right here, you’ll discover all of the options that may be accessed out of your iPhone’s lock display and all you want do is toggle on or off the options you do or don’t need accessible.
Lock display shortcut controls
For some time now, iOS has provided two shortcuts within the backside corners of the lock display: the flashlight and the digital camera. However wouldn’t or not it’s good to vary up these lock display shortcuts for another function you flip to on the common? Fortunately, you possibly can.
HOW? Be sure your cellphone is unlocked however that you simply’re nonetheless on the lock display. Subsequent, long-press in any clean space to entry the customisation menu. Faucet the Customise button on the backside of the display after which faucet the Lock Display possibility on the left.
You’ll then see that every present shortcut (the torch and digital camera by default) has a minus (-) image within the nook. Faucet the prevailing shortcut to take away it after which faucet the plus (+) icon that’s left in its wake so as to add a brand new shortcut.
You’ll then be offered with the entire accessible shortcut controls from first and third-party apps put in in your iPhone. There’s additionally a search discipline on the high to seek for particular controls you may want. Simply choose the shortcut you need by tapping on it while you’re completed, faucet the blue Finished button within the high proper of the display.
You’ll be introduced again to the highest layer of the Lock Display customisation menu; merely faucet within the centre of your lock display to exit again to your normal lock display, full together with your newly-selected shortcut controls.
Customise your icons
If it isn’t already apparent, iOS on the iPhone 16 provides you a ton extra management over the appear and feel of consumer expertise than any earlier launch, and nowhere is that extra distinguished than with icon customisation. Not solely are you able to place icons wherever inside your private home display grid, however you can even now change the look of your entire app icons with only some faucets.
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HOW? Lengthy-press on any clean house on your private home display, faucet the Edit button which seems within the top-left of the display after which faucet customise on the next pop-up menu. You’ll then see a card on the backside, letting you set icon sizing (in addition to enlarging app icons, ‘Massive’ removes the textual content underneath apps and folders), whether or not they need to be gentle or dark-themed, change mechanically or tinted. Tinted provides you essentially the most management, letting you set the color of each app icon.
You may also use the eye-dropper software within the high proper of the cardboard to drag a color out of your present dwelling display wallpaper. When you’ve tweaked your icons accordingly, simply faucet wherever exterior of the customisation card to exit again to your private home display, now together with your newly-styled icons in tow.
Lock or cover apps
When you is perhaps pleased handing your cellphone round to household and associates, there’s an opportunity you would possibly need to preserve some delicate apps locked or hidden away, whereas conserving the remainder of your cellphone accessible. You are able to do each on the iPhone 16 sequence.
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HOW? Lengthy-press on an app on your private home display and also you’ll see the choice to Require Face ID on the resultant pop-up menu. Tapping this brings up a secondary menu, the place you possibly can select between Require Face ID or Conceal and Require Face ID.
Whereas the previous simply prompts Face ID authentication any time you try to open the app, Conceal and Require Face ID removes the app icon from your private home display and shops it in a folder known as Hidden, on the backside of your App Library (all the best way to the suitable). Tapping on this Hidden folder prompts Face ID authentication, earlier than making its contents seen and accessible.
Conceal advertisements on Safari
When you like the concept of having the ability to cover apps, simply wait till you hear about Safari’s Distraction Management. Whereas nice for hiding advertisements, Distraction Management truly helps you to cover any UI component on an online web page that doesn’t attraction.
Higher but, Safari remembers which components you’ve hidden, so in the event you navigate again to a selected web site in a separate session or reload the web page, these components stay hidden.
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HOW? Open Safari and navigate to a web page with advertisements or different components you need to cover. Faucet on the Distraction Management icon on the left of the URL bar/search discipline after which faucet Conceal Distracting Gadgets. Subsequent drag your finger over the component you need to cover, launch after which faucet the chosen component to take away it.
The component you’re hiding will animate into particles as if Thanos himself simply snapped his fingers. When you’ve hidden all the weather you need to, faucet Finished within the bottom-right. Now you possibly can navigate our web page ad-(or no matter your chosen UI components have been) free.
You may also unhide every little thing you’ve hidden on a web page by tapping the Distraction Management icon once more and deciding on Present Hidden Gadgets.
Word: Some hidden dynamic components that naturally refresh frequently might reappear of their very own volition.
Stealth Silent Mode
If, like many, your iPhone is chronically set to Silent, then you definately’ll be all-too-familiar with the struck-through bell icon that lives subsequent to the clock within the top-left of your private home and lock display. When you mistake this little cluster of pixels for another notifier infrequently, otherwise you simply don’t should be reminded that your cellphone’s on silent as a result of ‘in fact it’s’ then you definately’ll be happy to be taught, there’s now a solution to cover it.
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HOW? Open Settings and scroll all the way down to Sound & Haptics. Faucet to open it up and underneath the Silent Mode toggle, you’ll see a discipline known as Present in Standing Bar, which itself will be toggled off or on.
Customise the Motion Button
That is one thing carried over from iPhone 15 Professional line, although it now advantages everything of the iPhone 16 line too.
The Motion button can be utilized for a lot extra than simply flipping Silent mode on or off. Because the {hardware}’s introduction in 2023. the iPhone neighborhood has labored onerous to create all kinds of enjoyable and helpful new methods to place the Motion Button to work, primarily by means of its assist for Apple’s Shortcuts app.
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HOW? Open Settings and scroll all the way down to Motion Button, and faucet to open. You’ll then see the Motion Button’s flashy 3D interface, the place you possibly can swipe by means of the varied preset choices Apple has already made – like torch or translate, however you even have the choice to specify a management, such as you’d discover in Management Centre or a Shortcut.
When you go for the latter, for example, subsequent faucet the Select a Shortcut button after which create or choose a shortcut as desired.
Word: Try the ‘My Tremendous Motion Button’ Shortcut recipe we discovered (by way of Reddit), it integrates a ton of performance, all from a easy long-press of the Motion Button.
Customise Management Centre
Simply as you possibly can tweak the look of your private home display, the newly revamped Management Centre gives much more… management over its appear and feel now too. You possibly can resize widgets (from 1×1 to 1×2 or 2×2) and even create full-screen widgets, which you’ll swipe up and down between.
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HOW? Merely swipe down from the top-right nook of the display to entry Management Centre, then both faucet the plus (+) icon within the top-left or long-press on any clean space to entry the edit menu.
From right here you possibly can transfer controls round wherever throughout the on-screen grid, resize any controls with a seize deal with within the bottom-right of their icon, or add a brand new management altogether by tapping the Add a Management button on the backside of the display and trying to find a management you’d like entry to. When achieved, simply faucet in any clean space of Management Centre to exit the edit menu.
Digital camera Management-cum-Motion Button
The Motion Button isn’t the one shiny new {hardware} everything of the iPhone 16 sequence advantages from. Digital camera Management provides strain, swipe and press-based bodily interplay to the taking pictures expertise on the newest iPhones.
By default, a full-press quick-launches the iPhone’s native Digital camera app, however you possibly can truly select any app with native digital camera assist, in the event you’d relatively soar straight into the QR code scanner or Instagram’s digital camera expertise, for instance.
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HOW? Open Settings, open the Digital camera menu and underneath System Settings on the high, you’ll see the choice for Digital camera Management. From right here, you’ll see on the decrease half of the display, all of the apps that use your iPhone’s digital camera that may be set to quick-launch while you full-press the Digital camera Management button instead of the native Digital camera app.
Use the drive
As handy as the brand new Digital camera Management tries to be, repeatedly customers have reported how troublesome it may be to truly press it with sufficient drive to seize a snap or change a setting, with out requiring a lot drive that their iPhone begins to shake of their palms, doubtlessly ruining the shot they’re making an attempt to seize.
Fortunately, there’s an possibility to change the default strain required by Digital camera Management, making it a lot simpler to make use of.
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HOW? Open Settings, head to Accessibility, then open up the next Digital camera Management menu. Right here, you possibly can alter Gentle-Press Power, with the choices of Lighter, Default and Firmer. We’d suggest Lighter, for ease of use.
Full-resolution ultrawide
Not solely has Apple unified the telephoto sensors throughout the iPhone 16 Professional and 16 Professional Max, however it’s additionally upgraded the ultrawide to a brand new 48Mp sensor, nonetheless, the cellphone nonetheless captures ultrawide photographs at 12Mp by default.
HOW? To seize higher-detail ultra-wide photographs on the sensor’s native 48MP decision, open the Settings menu and head to the Digital camera sub-menu. Search for and faucet on Codecs earlier than toggling on ProRAW & Decision Management.
Then, throughout the Professional Default possibility that seems beneath, faucet on it and choose HEIF Max (as much as 48 MP).
Now, simply head again to the Digital camera app and whichever lens you shoot with – together with the ultra-wide – you’ll now be capable to faucet the brand new HEIF Max icon within the top-right of the viewfinder, to allow full-resolution seize.
Word: As you would possibly count on, taking pictures at a excessive decision makes the information quite a bit bigger than the 12Mp defaults, so preserve that in thoughts, relative to the quantity of storage you’ve gotten accessible in your iPhone.
“Fixing” the Pictures app
iOS 18’s native Pictures app seems fairly totally different to the model that preceded it. Whether or not you don’t just like the adjustments or simply need to tinker with the structure of the Gallery to fit your tastes, there are instruments to tweak all of it.
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HOW? Open the native Pictures app and scroll to the underside, the place you’ll discover a Customise & Reorder button. Faucet this and you’ll then tick or untick sections you do or don’t need to seem within the Picture interface (like Reminiscences, Journeys, Albums and so on.), together with drag controls alongside the suitable facet to reorder the place every part will seem within the Pictures app.
If you’re achieved, faucet the ‘x’ icon within the high proper to return to the principle Pictures app interface, which ought to now appear and feel rather more consistent with your tastes.
All Pictures Knowledge
Whether or not you added a selected Photographic Fashion to a killer portrait shot or slowed a 4K 120fps video clip all the way down to 25% of its unique pace, your iPhone helps you to select the model you ship. Both a hard-baked model of the clip you edited, or a non-destructive model that the recipient can then reverse the alterations made to it in the event that they so select.
That is nice for these occasions while you’re collaborating on a artistic undertaking collectively, the recipient desires to attempt their hand at enhancing a photograph or video you’ve captured, otherwise you simply need to ship a sure type of photograph or pace of video with out the recipient having the ability to unpick your edits.
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HOW? Take a shot and make edits as desired at or after seize. Throughout the Pictures app (or accessing your media from the gallery shortcut within the bottom-left of the Digital camera app’s viewfinder), faucet the share button (a field with an arrow mentioning of the highest of it), within the bottom-left of the display.
Choose all of the media you need to share after which faucet the Choices button close to the highest of the display. Close to the underside on the next Choices display, underneath AirDrop & iCloud Hyperlinks Solely, toggle All Pictures Knowledge on. Then faucet Finished within the top-right. Lastly, share your picture by way of AirDrop or an iCloud Hyperlink.
Word: iCloud hyperlinks solely final for 30 days. How a lot information you possibly can ship could also be restricted by your service provider. The Choices menu additionally helps you to toggle whether or not your media is distributed with location information connected or not.
Write now, Ship Later
One sensible trick unique to iMessage customers (sorry, inexperienced bubbles) is the addition of scheduled messaging, known as Ship Later. The function helps you to compose a message to a contact as regular, however then schedule the date and time it’ll be despatched; preferrred for these apprehensive about forgetting to want somebody a Glad Birthday, for instance.
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HOW? Open Messages and write a message to a contact you realize makes use of iMessage (their quantity or contact identify will seem in blue on the ‘to:’ discipline close to the highest of the message). As soon as written, faucet the plus (+) icon, to the left of the textual content entry discipline, the place you wrote your message.
On the next menu, scroll down till you discover the Ship Later possibility. Tapping this may deliver up acquainted iOS date and time controls, set the date and time you need your message to ship, and while you’re pleased, faucet the ship button (upward blue arrow to the suitable of the textual content entry discipline).
Word: You may also long-press in your message after hitting ship and edit or delete it earlier than its scheduled ship time, as desired.
