Tips

Searching on the iPhone can be quick and easy with a downward swipe on the Home Screen. Spotlight on iOS indexes almost everything on your device. With a single search, results from apps, Notes, Maps, Safari, Photos, Messages, and more are returned. With iOS 16, Apple has added a Search button directly on the Home Screen.

This Search field appears above the Home Screen dock, replacing the dots that indicate how many Home Screens are configured on the iPhone. For some, this change may feel like overkill. After all, the downward swipe over the Home Screen is simple enough.

One of the most useful everyday features on the iPhone is hidden in plain sight. Converting units is already pretty convenient with a search engine, Siri, or a dedicated app. Now thanks to iOS 16, conversions can be made from almost anywhere on the iPhone. Unit conversions are performed directly on inline text within a variety of Apple stock apps.

Apple Watch is designed to keep information flowing from your iPhone to your wrist. The convenience of not looking at your phone is sometimes replaced by a barrage of notifications on the watch. Apps are set by default to "mirror iPhone alerts", which means any notifications appearing on the iPhone are delivered to Apple Watch. If you find that too many alerts are popping up, watchOS notifications can be customized or disabled.

Apple is now giving users control over one of the most iconic parts of the iPhone. Customized lock screens have arrived on iOS 16. This means without a jailbreak or any other tricks, iOS delivers a multitude of options. Not only can elements of the wallpapers be added and modified, but multiple wallpapers can be created. iOS 16 even suggests photos from the Photos library that would look nice.

For anyone not loving the latest beta software on their iPhone or iPad, reverting to the previous version is possible. While the Apple Beta Software Program gives brave souls a sneak peek at new features, some may prefer to uninstall iOS 16 beta or avoid it altogether. After all, beta software is still in the testing stages so that problems can be worked out ahead of general release.