Hundreds—maybe even thousands—of tweaks, improvements, and fixes come with iOS 16. Most people know about high-profile, highly touted features like customizing the lock screen, unsending text messages, and editing multiple photos at once. Apple added a lot more but just didn’t publicize them as much. Read on to learn how to use iOS 16’s best hidden features.
15 Cool Hidden Features for Your iPhone in iOS 16
The following features will help you make the most of iOS 16. Some of them aren’t obvious, so we’re including instructions to get you started.
Unsend Emails
The ability to unsend text messages is one of iOS 16’s premier new features. Many people don’t know, though, that a similar feature has been added to the pre-installed Mail app. Yes, if you tapped send too soon, you can now pull an email back. You only have a few seconds, but it can be a real lifesaver.
Control this setting in Settings > Mail > Undo Send Delay > select an option.
Schedule Email Sends
In iOS 16, Mail on the iPhone gets a feature available on many desktop programs: the ability to schedule when an email is sent. This gives you the freedom to write an email when it’s convenient but only send it when it’s best.
To schedule when an email, write the email as you normally would. Inside of tapping the send button, tap and hold the send button instead. Tap Send Later and then select the date and time you want the email to send and tap Done.
Remind Yourself to Reply to Emails
Finally, a better way to remind yourself to reply to an email than leaving it unread or flagging it! in iOS 16, you can set a reminder tied to a specific email. Now you’ll have no excuse for not replying.
To send an email reminder, go to your inbox. Swipe slightly from left to right to reveal the Unread and Remind Me buttons > Remind Me > choose when you want to be reminded.
Mark Texts Unread
Here’s another improvement coming to both Mail and texting via the Messages app: the ability to mark a text message unread. Even better, this works both with plain-old SMS texting and iMessage.
To mark a text unread, go out of a conversation into the main Messages window > slightly swipe from left to right > blue icon to mark as unread.
Recover Recently Deleted Texts in iMessage
Deleted messages are now stored on your device for up to 30 days (though each conversation shows how long until it’s deleted) and can be recovered.
To recover a deleted text conversation, go to the main Messages screen > Edit > Show Recently Deleted > tap the conversation > Recover.
Translate Text and Convert Currency in the Camera App
If you’re an international traveler, the pre-installed Camera app is going to be your best travel companion after iOS 16. That’s because it gets too crucial new features: real-time language translation and real-time currency conversion.
To translate, open Camera > point it at text in another language > square with the lines at the bottom right > Translate.
To convert currency, open Camera > point at a figure in another currency > square with the lines in it at the bottom right > underlined figure.
Lock Hidden Albums in Photos
The Photos app has long offered the ability to hide photos in a folder. The problem, though, was if you could find the folder, you could see its contents. There was no security. Now, in iOS 16, hidden folders are locked automatically. The folders are locked using your Face ID, Touch ID, or passcode.
Easily Manage and Remove Duplicate Photos
If you’ve got a ton of photos on your iPhone, there’s a good chance you’ve got duplicates taking up unnecessary space. Luckily, iOS 16 automatically detects dupes and lets you merge them to save space.
To detect and remove duplicate photos, go to Photos > Albums > Duplicates > Merge > Merge [number] Duplicates.
Disable Memories in Photos
The Photos app’s Memories feature is cool—but it can also be unexpectedly sad. We’ve probably all got a pang of sadness when a new Memory pops up with pictures of relatives, friends, or pets who have passed away. In iOS 16, you can disable the Memories feature completely.
Go to Settings > Photos > move Show Holiday Events slider to off/white and move Show Featured Content slider to off/white.
Lock Your Screen Without Ending a Call
Until iOS 16, locking your phone’s screen while you were on a phone call automatically ended the call. This never made much sense and could sometimes lead to accidental presses of the screen with your cheek or fingers during a call. That changes in iOS 16.
To allow the screen to lock during a call, go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch > move Prevent Lock to End Call slider to on/green.
Speed Up Siri Sending Texts
When you send texts with Siri, Siri repeats the message back to you before it sends to make sure there are no errors or typos. This is useful, but also slow and tedious. In iOS 16, you can skip this confirmation step and just send the message as soon as you dictate it (you risk-taker, you!).
To disable Siri’s confirmation, go to Settings > Siri & Search > Automatically Send Messages > move Automatically Send Messages to on/green.
Create Quick Notes in Control Center
Quick Notes were introduced for iPad in iPadOS 15 and for Mac in macOS Monterey. These little notes can be accessed from anywhere on the device and can be scribbled, typed, or copied/pasted into. In iOS 16, they’re available on iPhone, too. Add them to Control Center and you’re just a swipe and a tap away from a handy Quick Note.
To add Quick Notes to Control Center, go to Settings > Control Center > Quick Note. Then, open Control Center and tap the note with the squiggle in it.
Sort Playlist Songs in Apple Music
It used to be you could only listen to playlists in Apple Music in the order they were created or on Shuffle. In iOS 16, you get the ability to sort playlists by multiple criteria and listen to them in new ways.
To sort playlists, go to Apple Music > Playlists > the playlist you want to sort > … > Sort By > select a sorting option (Playlist Order is the default).
Look Up Wi-Fi Network Passwords
The iOS has offered simple Wi-Fi password sharing since version 11, but the feature only works with other Apple devices and there was no way to see the current password. iOS 16 allows you to see the password.
To look up a Wi-Fi password, go to Settings > Wi-Fi > tap the i next to the network > tap the password > authenticate with Face ID or Touch ID > see the password or share it by tapping Copy.
Delete More Pre-Installed Apps
The option to save space by deleting pre-installed Apple apps was introduced in iOS 10, but there have always been some apps you can’t delete. There still are, but in iOS 16 the list of apps you can get rid of has increased. Now, along with all the other apps you used to be able to delete, you can also clear out space by getting rid of Find My, Clock, and Health.
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