While iOS 16 is still a few months away from falling, that doesn’t stop people from exploring some of its new features, such as leaving text messages and the customizable lock screen, especially since Apple recently launched the first public beta of iOS 16, which you can download and install right now.
Read more: Will your iPhone run iOS 16? Some will not be supported
And while the larger, more popular features often offer instant gratification, it’s the smaller, overlooked changes that can completely change the way you use your iPhone.
We’ll take a look under the hood of iOS 16 at some of the lesser-known features and settings that iOS 16 offers, such as password-protected photo albums and easily accessible Wi-Fi passwords.
For more information on iOS 16, check out the new iOS 16 features you’ll love and how to use the new Touch feature to raise your photos.
Recently hidden and deleted albums are now password protected
The Photos album’s hidden album is clearly not hidden, as you can easily find it, which makes it impractical to properly hide private photos and videos. While Apple has an option to make the hidden album “invisible,” anyone with access to the phone can see it again and see it all inside.
Thanks to iOS 16, you can now lock the hidden album. You don’t really need to do anything to activate this feature. If you want to check it out, 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 recently hidden and deleted albums. To see what’s inside, use Face ID or your password.
Recently hidden and deleted albums now require access to Face ID.
Nelson Aguilar / CNET
View and share saved Wi-Fi passwords
Apple has allowed iOS users to share Wi-Fi passwords for a while, but only by placing two Apple devices close to 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 needed to know the password. Bye now.
Read more: You can finally see your Wi-Fi passwords saved on an iPhone
Under Settings, go to Wi-Fi and tap the small info icon to the right of the network for which you want the password. To view your 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 to appear in My Networks.
Nelson Aguilar / CNET
Find and delete duplicate photos and videos
You may have saved the same photo multiple times or downloaded a video more than once and therefore have duplicates in your photo album. It may not be a problem if you have too much storage, but if not, it may 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 Duplicate to Utilities album, where Apple scans all your photos and shows you any photos or videos you’ve saved more than once. From here, you can delete any duplicate or simply click 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 photo of the highest quality and the rest will be deleted.
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 click Select> Select All> Combine to delete all photos and videos that Apple thinks are a duplicate, all at once.
Set your favorite tabs in Safari
Safari limits your open tabs to 500, and if you approach that limit, it can be quite difficult to find the exact tab you’re looking for. You can scroll non-stop, but now there’s an easier way to find the exact tab you’re looking for.
In Safari, if you click an open tab, you now have the option to click the Pin tab. This will move this tab to the top of Safari, where it will exist as a small preview of the tab, fixed there permanently, which you can then tap to view it.
All fixed tabs appear at the top of Safari.
Nelson Aguilar / CNET
Clicking and undoing a tab will move it to the top of your open tab grid.
Pair the Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons with your iPhone
Apple has long allowed you to pair third-party drivers, such as the Sony DualSense PS5 and Xbox Core controller, on your iPhone and iPad to play mobile video games like the Apple Arcade, Minecraft, and Call of Duty library more comfortably. And you can add another console driver to that list.
If you have a Nintendo Switch, you can now pair your Joy-Con drivers on your iPhone or iPad with iOS 16. To get started, press and hold the small black Joy-Con pairing button until the green lights start working. ’round trip. . This means that the device is in pairing mode. Then open your iPhone and go to Settings> Bluetooth and select the Joy-Con from the list. Repeat this step with the other Joy-Con.
You can pair one or both drivers on your Apple device.
James Martin / CNET