Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Phones
  3. Mobile
  4. News

The stable iOS 16 update is finally coming to your iPhone early next week

By
Add as a preferred source on Google

Apple’s Far Out event was jam-packed with one announcement after the other. We saw the Apple Watch, iPhone, and AirPods Pro all get a refresh. The iPhone 14 series is the major announcement, and the lineup will ship with iOS 16 out of the box. But current-gen iPhone users need not wait long to experience the stable iOS 16 update. In fact, you can get iOS 16 starting next week.

Apple’s iPhone 14 and 14 Plus launch press release reads: “iOS 16 will be available as a free software update on Monday, September 12.” So if you are an iPhone 8 and above user, Apple will roll out the latest iOS version for you on September 12.

Recommended Videos

The upcoming iOS 16 is one of the biggest updates to the iPhone’s operating system in recent years. It includes improvements to the overall UI, including a new way to reach Spotlight Search, updates to Messages and other apps.

An iPhone 13 Pro running iOS 16 is held up in front of a Macbook.
Penfer/Unsplash

Another standout feature is the ability to lift subjects from the background of photos. As we noted in one of our features, iOS 16’s background remover does a brilliant job in well-lit scenarios. It will be one of the most-talked-about features when the stable update goes live and as people discover they can tap and hold an image to remove the background. It works well on pets and objects to clear out the background from the edges. It’ll be interesting to see how much it’s improved with the A16 Bionic chipset on the iPhone 14 Pro series, as Apple seems to be relying on the portrait mode data to lift the subject from the background.

 

Big changes in iOS 16 are coming to the lock screen. You can now add a touch of personalization to your iPhone’s lock screen, including widgets and a revamped wallpaper selector. Apple is also including more sharing features with SharePlay on Messages so users can watch movies and listen to music together while using the Messages app to chat. Finally, iOS 16 will end captchas, thanks to Apple’s Automatic Verification system. You’ll no longer need to prove your humanity to a computer.

Apple doesn’t say what time on September 12 it’ll roll out iOS 16, but at some point that day, you can expect the update to land on your iPhone.

Prakhar Khanna
Prakhar Khanna
Mobile Writer
Prakhar Khanna is an independent consumer tech journalist. He contributes to Digital Trends' Mobile section with features and…
Topics
iOS 27’s Apple Pay fix won’t have you hunting for the right card before checkout
A small Apple Pay fix that's been a long time coming.
Apple Pay

Every time you check out with Apple Pay, tapping the card shown on the payment sheet to switch to a different one, they end up getting confused. In iOS 26, that tap does not switch your card. 

It opens an address-editing screen instead. The real card switcher is a different, easy-to-miss button near the bottom of the screen. If you’ve ever fumbled through Apple Pay at checkout, wondering what’s going on, Apple just fixed it with iOS 27. 

Read more
Apple has finally put the planned obsolescence rumors to bed
If you've been nursing an old iPhone, iOS 27 is the rare update that actually rewards you for it.
Electronics, Mobile Phone, Phone

Every time Apple released a new iOS update, people swore their iPhones suddenly felt slower. This rumor has followed Apple for years and while the company always denied it, the suspicion never really went away. With its latest iOS 27 update, I believe Apple has finally put this rumor to rest. 

I installed the beta on my iPhone Air, but the bigger story is what's happening on the older models. Reports from people running iOS 27 on even older iPhones say their phones feel faster, not slower.

Read more
Apple made Liquid Glass adjustable, which says plenty about Liquid Glass
The new slider is useful, welcome, and mildly hilarious after a year of Apple acting like transparent everything was the obvious future.
Text, Document, Business Card

Apple’s big glassy software future now comes with a way to make it less glassy. In iOS 27, users can adjust the translucency of the Liquid Glass effect, while macOS Golden Gate adds its own Liquid Glass controls under System Settings.

Liquid Glass is still alive across Apple’s platforms, still shimmering through menus and panels, still doing the elegant UI trick Apple clearly likes. The big visual bet has already earned a dimmer switch. After a year of treating translucency like the obvious next step, WWDC’s most revealing design update may be the one that lets people dial it back.

Read more