When Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice-president of software engineering, is in the house, you know path-breaking features are coming your way. Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference is on and the opening night saw a bunch of updates being announced that consolidates the company’s lead over rivals in terms of features. There were also some hardware launches but it was mostly about iOS 16, iPadOS 16, watchOS 9 and macOS Ventura. Here are a few things to expect when the updates roll out (for users) this year.

Continuity camera and Deskview

Desk View utilises the ultra-wide camera on iPhone to simultaneously show the user’s face and an overhead view of their desk

It’s tough to believe it until you actually use the feature. You will be able to use iPhones as webcam. This year, Apple will begin selling a Belkin mount that will allow you to clip an iPhone to the top of a MacBook. Next, the interesting part: While on FaceTime call from your laptop, you will be able to use iPhone camera functions (on the rear), like Centre Stage, Studio Light (a feature that brightens the face while darkening the background behind) or Portrait Mode. You can also use your iPhone camera on other MacOS apps, like Zoom. Take this further. Without adjusting the phone, your camera will manage to offer a desk view. So if a teacher decides to show an experiment being conducted on the table, he or she can do so without connecting a tablet. The teacher can stare into the camera while working on the experiment. Take this even further: It offers a glimpse into how Apple can replace the keyboard and mouse with virtual and gesture-focussed tools.

Stage Manager

It’s one of those features that will take working on Apple devices to a new level. More of a multitasking feature coming to iPad and Mac, Stage manager allows you to organise open apps and windows to focus on the work that’s being done. What you will now get is the primary window which you are working on, displayed prominently in the centre while other open windows appear on the left-hand side; you can easily switch between tasks. There is also ‘windows grouping’ when you are working on several windows within the same app. An example: If you are planning a holiday and working on a few notes as part of college project, you can bundle similar windows on the side. The feature seems to work if you have an M1-powered iPad.

Handoff

Handoff is coming to FaceTime. This means, users can start a FaceTime call on one Apple device and then transfer it seamlessly to another Apple device that’s nearby. So, if you are on a FaceTime call on the iPhone or the iPad, you can move the call to a Mac with just a click. Or, start a call on the Mac and then shift it to the iPhone or iPad.

Collaboration and Freeform

Collaboration is at the heart of the Apple experience. When you share a document from, say, Pages, you can make it available to a group of people to work on simultaneously. Earlier, sharing allowed sending a copy but you can share a document through the Messages app and everyone you send it to can start editing it. That’s not all, you can jump into a FaceTime call directly from the document.

Adding a twist, there is a new app called Freeform, which is coming to iPadOS 16 this year. It’s a collaboration canvas that allows people to work on together without worrying about layouts and page sizes, and with full support for the Apple Pencil. Users can view others’ contributions as they add content or make edits, all while enjoying a real-time collaboration space.

Edit/unsend a message, unlike on Twitter

Twitter is still working on an edit button and it has been for years. Apple went ahead and changed the game, making users cling on to iMessage more than ever before. You will be able to edit sent messages, undo sending messages entirely and mark read conversations as unread. iMessages that are edited after being sent come with an ‘Edited’ subtitle next to their delivery status, so the recipient knows the message has been changed. According to a release from Apple, users can edit or recall a message for up to 15 minutes after sending it, or recover recently deleted messages for up to 30 days after deletion.

In Messages, users can now edit or recall recently sent messages

More customisable than ever before

Once out of the box, every phone becomes different because of the apps we load and the widgets that we use. A company like Samsung offers a high level of customisation but now it seems Apple has an upper hand as it is giving the iPhone’s Lock Screen a big makeover with iOS 16. The more personalised Lock Screen can be worked on via a built-in editor, which offers widgets, a wallpaper gallery and colourful themes.

The redesigned Lock Screen allows users to customise font, colours and work with revamped notifications. There is also support for widgets, allowing users to quickly glance at relevant information. These widgets include upcoming calendar events, weather conditions and more. Further, Focus modes can now sync to certain wallpapers, allowing you to set the mood for the place where you are in — office, home, hanging out and so on. To customise the Lock Screen, users can simply tap and hold on it to bring up the toolkit.

Safety feature

Apple showed a new Safety Check settings section where you can see access you’ve granted various apps and devices. You can revoke access and reset privacy permissions without having to tap around. You can also sign out of iCloud on any of your devices to limit who has access to your messages or other data.

Passwordless future

The current technology governing passwords on any device can be compromised. Apple is bringing in Passkeys, which interact with biometric ID so the passkey can’t be phished, leaked, or stolen. Passkeys will work on apps as well as on the web, and are securely synced across your iCloud Keychain devices. It’s a very safe way to go about using passwords.

When can you use iOS16?

Developers can download the beta software but general users will be able to join the beta testing in July when the Public Beta opens up. iOS 16 will require iPhone 8 or later but remember, that iPhone 8 will be five years old by the time iOS 16 ships.