Gurman: Apple Finished iOS 16 Development Last Week Ahead of iPhone 14 Event Planned for September 7

Apple engineers wrapped up development of the initial version of iOS 16 last week, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. This likely means that Apple has few to no major new features or changes planned for the remaining iOS 16 betas and will instead focus on bug fixes in the final weeks before the software update is publicly released.

iOS 16 Lock Screen Customize
In the latest edition of his "Power On" newsletter, Gurman reiterated that iOS 16 and watchOS 9 are planned for release in September alongside new iPhone 14 and Apple Watch Series 8 models, while he expects iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura to be released in October.

Here's the exact quote from Gurman's newsletter:

The iOS 16.0 update, which Apple engineers finished work on this past week, is due to launch in September alongside watchOS 9. Those updates will correspond with the new hardware. The macOS Ventura and iPadOS upgrades, on the other hand, are now scheduled for October (after Stage Manager-related delays to the iPad software) to match the new hardware lineup.

iOS 16's major new features include a customizable Lock Screen with widgets, the ability to temporarily edit or unsend an iMessage, iCloud Shared Photo Library for sharing photos with family and friends, a revamped Home app, and more. Apple also reintroduced a battery percentage icon in the status bar on most iPhones with a notch.

Gurman recently reported that Apple is planning to hold an event on Wednesday, September 7 to unveil new iPhone 14 and Apple Watch Series 8 models. Apple would likely also announce release dates for iOS 16 and watchOS 9 at the event, which Apple has yet to officially confirm. Gurman believes Apple is likely to hold another event in October focused on new Macs and iPads, including updated iPad Pro models with the M2 chip.

Related Forum: iOS 16

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Top Rated Comments

azentropy Avatar
37 months ago
More like they finished the version that will go on the new iPhones initially.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
37 months ago

Noob question : what’s the point in releasing betas if it is finished anyway ? ?
To make sure the software is stable and reliable for the general public. Apple also takes the feedback very seriously.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
37 months ago
Makes sense since the last beta was very small and incremental.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PsykX Avatar
37 months ago
A bit surprised...

What about Xcode ?

They didn't even release a new beta this week and I can't test my apps on my iPhone this week, because iOS 16 has a more recent build than Xcode. This is annoying.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Cobold Avatar
37 months ago

Which is the build we get as the public release. Anything else is 16.0.1 shortly after.
Not necessarily. Last year, the first iPhone 13-series iPhones were preinstalled with iOS 15.0 build 19A341 and 19A345.
The build we got as the public release was 19A346.

You had to update your brand new iPhone 13 to the "final" build as an update labeled as "iOS 15.0", just increasing the build number bot not version number (still 15.0).

iOS 15.0.1 was build 19A348, whitch came out in October.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Premium1 Avatar
37 months ago

Noob question : what’s the point in releasing betas if it is finished anyway ? ?
Even it being "finished" there are bugs they want to work out, plus the added features that will come later on. Also the "finished" version is just what they load onto the new iphones, it doesn't mean they are done working on it.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)