Apple introduced its upcoming iOS 16 and iPad OS 16 releases at the WorldWide Developer Conference (WWDC) last month, and since then it’s sent out a few pre-release builds to developers. Starting today, however, you can also participate in the testing of the upcoming releases, as the public beta program is now live for iOS 16 and iPadOS 16.
This means that if you have a compatible iPhone or iPad, you can now easily sign it up for the beta program, and you’ll receive the first public beta later today as an over-the-air software update. From then on, you will also receive subsequent public beta versions as software updates, until the final release hits the market this fall. Once you’ve installed that, you’re off the beta track.
Since this is the first public beta, don’t expect it to be flawless – far from it. There are probably a lot of issues with it and annoying bugs, so rocking it on your headphones or tablet isn’t really recommended.
iOS 16 has a lock screen that can be customized with wallpapers, clocks, and widgets, while notifications now come in from the bottom. Multiple lock screens are also supported and can be linked to focus modes.
The Messages app has also gotten some updates, including support for editing, deleting, and marking messages as unread, while SharePlay is no longer limited to FaceTime so you can use Messages to interact with the people you share content with. Speaking of FaceTime, calls can be forwarded from one device to another, while the Health app now tracks the medications you’re taking — if you want to, of course.
There are many more interesting new things in this release for you to play around with – for example, the iPad gets its own Weather app and a new multitasking system called Stage Manager.