The release of iOS 16, along with the iPhone 14 series, is just around the corner, so you might be interested to know more about what you can expect from Apple’s latest mobile software update.
If you haven’t heard yet, texting and a redesigned lock screen are two of the biggest features coming to your iPhone, but these items are just the beginning. You will be excited to know that there are several new hidden features that could completely change the way you use your iPhone.
If you want to take a closer look at some of the hidden gems iOS 16 has to offer, like password-protected photo albums and easy-to-access Wi-Fi passwords, here’s what you need to know.
Read more: Will your iPhone work with iOS 16? Some will not be supported
And if you want to learn more about Apple’s latest mobile operating system, we’ve got new iOS 16 features you’ll love and a couple of Apple Maps features that will improve the way you travel.
You can also get your hands on iOS 16 right now. See how to download and install the second beta on your iPhone.
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Recently hidden and deleted albums are now password protected
The hidden album in the Photos app is clearly not hidden, as you can easily find it, making it impractical to properly hide private photos and videos. Although Apple has an option to make the hidden album “invisible”, anyone with access to the phone can see it again and see everything inside.
Thanks to iOS 16, you can now lock the hidden album. You don’t actually need to do anything to enable this feature. If you want to check, launch the Photos app and go to the Albums tab at the bottom of the screen. If you scroll down, you’ll see a small lock next to hidden and recently deleted albums. To see what’s inside, use Face ID or your password.
Hidden and recently deleted albums now require Face ID access.
Nelson Aguilar/CNET
View and share saved Wi-Fi passwords
Apple has allowed iOS users to share Wi-Fi passwords for some time, but only by placing two Apple devices near each other. And if this feature didn’t work automatically, you wouldn’t be able to remove the password from your settings. Also, if you wanted to share a saved Wi-Fi password with someone else, such as an Android user or someone on a computer, you had to know the password. Bye now.
Read more: You can finally see your saved Wi-Fi passwords on an iPhone
In Settings, go to Wi-Fi and tap the small info icon to the right of the network you want the password for. To view the network password, tap the Password section, then use Face ID or enter your password to view it. You can then tap Copy to copy the password to the clipboard and share it.
You can see the password for any Wi-Fi network you’ve ever connected to, as long as you’re connected to it or close enough for it to appear in My Networks.
Nelson Aguilar/CNET
Find and remove duplicate photos and videos
Maybe you’ve saved the same photo multiple times or downloaded a video more than once, so you have duplicates in your photo album. This might not be a problem if you have storage to spare, but if not, it might be a good idea to go back and remove all duplicates, which is now easy to do in iOS 16.
In Photos > Albums, you should now see a new Duplicates album in Utilities, where Apple scans all your photos and shows you any photos or videos you’ve saved more than once. From there, you can delete any duplicates or simply hit Combine, which will keep the photo with the highest quality (and relevant data) and then move the others to the trash.
The merge will keep the highest quality photo and delete the rest.
Nelson Aguilar/CNET
While you’ll probably want to review each set of duplicates to make sure they’re actually exact copies and not similar photos, you can also hit Select > Select All > Merge to remove all photos and videos that Apple thinks are double, all at once.
Pin your favorite tabs in Safari
Safari limits your open tabs to 500, and if you get close to that limit, it can be quite difficult to find the exact tab you’re looking for. You can scroll endlessly, but now there’s an easier way to find the exact tab you’re looking for.
In Safari, if you tap an open tab, you now have the option to click the Pin tab. This will move that tab to the top of Safari, where it will exist as a small preview of the tab, pinned there permanently, which you can then tap to view.
All pinned tabs appear at the top of Safari.
Nelson Aguilar/CNET
Pressing down and unpinning a tab will move it to the top of your open tabs grid.
Pair the Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons with your iPhone
Apple has long allowed you to pair third-party controllers, such as the PS5 Sony DualSense and Xbox Core Controller, to your iPhone and iPad to more conveniently play mobile video games like the Apple Arcade library, Minecraft, and Call of Duty. And you can add another console controller to this list.
If you have a Nintendo Switch, you can now pair your Joy-Con controllers to your iPhone or iPad with iOS 16. To get started, press and hold the little black Joy-Con pairing button until the green lights start to work. round trip. . This means your device is in pairing mode. Next, open your iPhone and go to Settings > Bluetooth and select the Joy-Con from the list. Repeat this step with the other Joy-Cons.