Apple today implanted the second beta of iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 to developers for testing purposes, and new betas introduce new features and refine some of the changes Apple made with the first iOS 16 release.
Lock screen wallpaper photo customization
When customizing a photo on the lock screen, there are two new DuoTone and Color Wash overlay options to change the look of the photo.
Edit background photos
If you set an image as your wallpaper, Apple lets you know that you can use pinch gestures to adjust the cropping of the image.
Backup via LTE
iPhone and iPad users can back up their devices via an LTE cellular connection, as well as a 5G or WiFi connection. Apple introduced support for 5G backups in iOS 15, and expanded it to LTE in iOS 16.
Astronomy wallpaper site
Astronomy wallpaper now shows a green dot to let you know where you are. The dot appears in the Earth wallpaper options, but it doesn’t stay on the wallpaper at all times and instead is only visible when you edit the wallpaper. These dynamic wallpapers are now also available on older iPhones.
Edit background
In the Settings app, the Wallpapers section has been modified to make it easier to customize the different wallpapers you have set for the Home screen and Lock screen. There are new “Personalization” options under Lock screen and Home screen options to make it clear that there are settings that can be modified.
When you choose your theme, there is also an option to “Set as wallpaper pairing”.
Apple Cash and Apple Card
The Apple Cash “Send and Request” interface has been changed in the second beta of iOS 16. It’s now one combined button instead of two separate buttons, and the balance is more visible.
For Apple Card, the Weekly Activity section also lets you see how much you earned Apple Cash during the week. R
shots
There is now a “Save to Quick Note” option when saving a screenshot, which includes the Save to Photos, Save to Files, and Delete Screenshot options.
Delete lock screens
It is now easy to delete the lock screen by swiping up.
SMS Filter
According to Apple’s release notes, developers can categorize incoming SMS messages from unknown numbers into 12 subcategories with transaction and promotion categories for better organization.
For Indian users, Messages supports extracting events from SMS. Messages for events and appointments are shown as Siri Suggestions and are also presented to users in the message thread and calendar inbox.
iPadOS 16 Stage Manager
In iPadOS 16 beta 2 on compatible iPads, there’s a new Stage Manager setting under the “Home screen and Dock” section of the Settings app. Shows options to hide recent apps and hide the dock while using Stage Manager.
Report spam
For some US carriers, Messages in iOS 16 beta 2 is extending the Report Spam feature to allow users to report unwanted SMS/MMS to carriers.
translate
The translation app now supports Turkish, Thai, Polish, Indonesian and Dutch.
HealthKit APIs
For developers, HealthKit Workout APIs support multi-sport workouts with activities that include swimming, cycling, and running.
iOS 16 beta 2 also adds HealthKit support for new running exercise metrics that Apple announced at WWDC. Exercise metrics include running power, ground contact time, vertical oscillation, running speed, and stride length.
Other new features
Do you know a new feature in iOS 16 that we left out? Let us know in the comments below.