There are usually multiple features that Apple is not able to finish before the first official release of a major new version of iOS, and this year looks to be no different, with a total of nine iOS 16 features now confirmed to not be present in the first public version of the new OS.
Last year, SharePlay, Digital IDs in the Wallet app, and Universal Control were among a large number of features in iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 that were not available in their initial release, taking several months to trickle out to users.
Apple previewed each of the following features upon announcing iOS 16 at WWDC earlier this year, but they will not be present in iOS 16.0 when it releases to the public tomorrow:
- Live Activities: Follow activities happening in real-time like a sports match or a ride-share with just a glance at the Lock Screen. Third-party apps and App Clips can implement support thanks to the Live Activities API.
- Game Center SharePlay support: Games that use Game Center multiplayer support have SharePlay integration. You can start playing automatically with friends on a FaceTime call.
- Game Center Contacts integration: Contacts shows your friends' Game Center profiles. Tap through to see what they are playing and achieving in games.
- Support for Matter: The new smart home connectivity standard that enables compatible accessories to work together seamlessly and across platforms. Matter allows users to choose from even more compatible smart home accessories and control them with the Home app and Siri on Apple devices.
- Updated architecture for the Home app: Enhancements to the underlying architecture of the Home app to enable faster, more reliable performance and improved efficiency, especially for homes with lots of accessories and multiple controller devices.
- Freeform app: A new digital whiteboard app with a flexible canvas for diagramming projects, aggregating important assets, and brainstorming, with real-time collaboration features and rich multimedia support.
- iCloud Shared Photo Library: A new option in the Photos app to allow users to create a shared photos library and invite anyone with an Apple ID to view, contribute to, and edit it, including favoriting images and adding captions. There are no limitations, and all participants have the same permissions, making it ideal for families.
- Key sharing: The ability to securely share keys in Apple Wallet via messaging apps and Mail.
- Easy Shortcuts setup for iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X: Siri can run shortcuts from installed apps without any setup process (to be available for newer devices immediately without delay).
iCloud Shared Photo Library became the latest feature to be delayed following Apple's "Far out" event earlier this week, but all of the other delays were known upon the initial preview of iOS 16 at WWDC.
Apple says that all of these features are coming in an update to iOS 16 later this year, but it has not yet offered a more specific timeframe for any of them. After months of beta testing, iOS 16.0 will become officially available for download on every compatible iPhone tomorrow. For a detailed breakdown of all of the new features in iOS 16, see our comprehensive roundup.
