19 Secret iOS 16 Features You Must Know

It’s the best part of a major iPhone update: the many small, but useful features hidden inside. In this article, we reveal the coolest secret iOS 16 features that Apple didn’t tell you.

iOS 16: Secret Features

At the beginning of June, Apple unveiled the new operating system for the iPhone: iOS 16. You may have already heard of the big changes – such as the new iPhone lock screen. But what else does iOS 16 have to offer?

Below we highlight the nicest hidden features of iOS 16. We will continue to add to the article, so save the article and be sure to come back again. At the moment iOS 16 is still in beta; The software is expected to be available for everyone to install in September.

1. Make a sticker from a photo

It has become very easy to create a sticker from an image and share it in other apps. The Photos app automatically recognizes the subject in the photo and turns it into a freestanding PNG image.

1. In the Photos app, open a photo;
2. Place your finger on the subject for about a second and release;
3. Tap Copy or Share to share the sticker.

2. View and share your WiFi password

Do you have visitors and do you want to share the WiFi password, but you can’t remember the password? In iOS 16, there is a way to view the password – and you can easily share it. This is how you do it:

1. Open the Settings app and tap “Wi-Fi”;
2. Tap the ‘i’ button behind your Wi-Fi network;
3. Tap ‘Password’;
4. Press ‘Copy’ to share the password.

After tapping ‘Copy’ the password will be in your clipboard. You then simply paste the password into an app such as WhatsApp; useful when it comes to a password with endless characters.

3. Blur home screen

Apple hardly changed anything about the iPhone home screen, but a nice function has been added. You have the option to blur your wallpaper:

1. Open the Settings app;
2. Tap on ‘Wallpaper’;
3. Tap on your home screen on the right;
4. Tap “Readability Blur” at the bottom and tap “Done.”

4. Deleted Chats in Messages

When you delete something on your iPhone, it is often never really permanently deleted. Deleted e-mails and photos, for example, first nestle in a ‘Recently deleted’ album. Apple’s Messages app was an exception. If you delete a conversation, you will never see it again.

Until iOS 16, because deleted chat conversations can be recovered with the new operating system. This is how:

1. Open the Messages app;
2. Tap ‘Edit’ in the top left;
3. Select ‘Show recently deleted;’
4. Select the chat you want to restore and tap Restore All.

Deleted chats remain available in the Recently Deleted folder for 30 days. After that, they are permanently erased.

5. Lock Hidden Photos

You’ve been able to move photos you’d rather not have in your Photos Library to the Hidden album since iOS 14. Still, they weren’t very safe there, because the folder couldn’t be locked.

This will change with iOS 16, as the ‘Hidden’ album is locked. You can only enter by authenticating with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode. The same goes for the “Recently Deleted” folder, which is also locked.

The feature is on by default, but you can turn it off if you want:

1. Open your iPhone’s Settings app;
2. Scroll down and tap Photos;
3. Toggle the ‘Use Face ID/Touch ID/Passcode’ option on or off.

6. Combine Duplicate Photos

An average Photos library is full of duplicate photos. The duplicates are not useful, but they do take up extra storage space. In iOS 16, there’s a “Duplicate Parts” album that iOS uses to cleverly merge those photos together:

1. Open the Photos app;
2. Tap the ‘Albums’ category;
3. Navigate down and tap on ‘Duplicate parts’;
4. Tap ‘Combine’ next to the duplicate photos;
5. Select ‘Combine X duplicates’.

Good to know: When combining, Apple keeps the photo that has the highest quality. Relevant data – such as captions, keywords and favorites – are also combined.

7. Copy and Paste Edits

Have you edited an image, and do you also want to apply the adjustments to a similar image? Then it is useful to copy and paste the adjustments. Previously that was not possible, but with iOS 16 it is:

1. Open the Photos app and tap an edited image;
2. Tap the three dots at the top right;
3. Choose ‘Copy edits’;
4. Go to another image and tap the three dots at the top right;
5. Tap “Paste Edits.”

8. Hide the New Spotlight Button

At the bottom of the home screen is a new button, which quickly leads you to the search function. Not happy with the position? You can remove it again:

1. Open the Settings app;
2. Tap ‘Home screen’;
3. Set the ‘Show Spotlight’ option to gray.

9. Quickly delete a contact

Cleaning your contact list was a time-consuming task. That changes with iOS 16, because there is a way to quickly cancel a contact:

1. Open the Contacts app;
2. Hold your finger longer on a contact you want to delete;
3. Select ‘Delete contact’;
4. Confirm with ‘Delete contact’.

10. Prevent ending phone call with on/off button

It may have happened to you: you accidentally press the power button on the iPhone during a phone call, after which the call ends. You can disable the feature with iOS 16 and here’s how:

1. Open the Settings app;
2. Tap ‘Accessibility’;
3. Choose ‘Touch’;
4. Set ‘Lock to end call’ to gray.

11. Lock Notes with Face ID

It was already possible to protect a note with a code, but now you no longer have to remember numbers. You can lock it with Face ID. It is also possible to unlock them with your iPhone passcode.

1. Open Notes;
2. On the main screen, hold a note that you want to lock;
3. Choose ‘Lock note’;
4. Tap “Use iPhone passcode.”

12. Quick Note

Do you want to quickly make a note, for example of a telephone number? The new iOS 16 Quick Note feature makes it easy. It’s a button in the Control Center for quick access. You still have to add the controller first, this is how you do it:

1. Open the Settings app;
2. Tap on ‘Control panel’;
3. Tap the green plus next to ‘Quick Note’;
4. Open Control Center and tap the Quick Note button.

13. Schedule an email

Sometimes it is useful to send an email in the future, for example to yourself as a reminder. Apple’s Mail app makes it possible for the first time to schedule emails:

1. Open the Mail app;
2. Compose a new email message;
3. Tap longer on the blue button with arrow;
4. Enter a date and time when you want to deliver the email.

14. Incoming Mail Reminder

Another feature that Apple has added to the Mail app is the reminder for emails later. This way you let an important email arrive at a later time, so that you can be sure that you do not accidentally forget to answer it.

1. Open the Mail app;
2. Swipe the mail to the right;
3. Tap ‘Later’;
4. Indicate when you want to be reminded of the email.

15. Typing with tactile feedback

Do you like it when your iPhone makes noise while typing? Your neighbor less. With iOS 16 there is an ideal alternative, because there is a setting where you get tactile feedback when typing texts. You will then feel a slight vibration, as if you were touching a real button. This is how you set it up:

1. Open the iPhone’s Settings app;
2. Go to ‘Hear and feel’;
3. Tap “Keyboard Feedback”;
4. Enable the ‘Tactile’ option.

16. ‘Undo’ and ‘redo’ in Photos

The Photos app gained a lot of editing options over the years, but one annoyance remained. There was no button to undo the last edit. With iOS 16, that so-called ‘undo’ button is there: it is the knock at the top left with the arrow to the left. In addition, the ‘redo’ button nestles, with which you perform the action again.

17. From photo to wallpaper

Did you take a picture in landscape mode that wouldn’t look out of place as a wallpaper? In the Photos app there is an option where you give the photo the perfect crop for a background image.

1. Open a photo in the Photos app;
2. Tap ‘Edit’ in the top right;
3. Tap the Crop icon at the bottom right;
4. Tap the gray icon with three squares on top (next to the Marker icon);
5. Swipe the “Freeform” option to the left and tap “Wallpaper.”

18. Change the display of notifications

In iOS 16 you have more options about how notifications are displayed. You can have them displayed as a stack, as a list, or as ‘Count’. The latter subtly shows how many notifications you have at the bottom of the screen. This is how you set it up:

1. Open the Settings app;
2. Tap ‘Notifications’;
3. Press ‘Show as’;
4. Select ‘Quantity’, ‘Stack’ or ‘List’.

19. Let Siri read your notifications

If you’re not able to see your notifications, you can have them read Siri on the speaker. Don’t forget to turn the option off again when you go shopping… This is how you activate the option:

1. Open the Settings app;
2. Tap ‘Accessibility’;
3. Scroll down and tap Siri;
4. Scroll down and activate ‘Announce notifications on speaker’.

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