Tired of reading about the new iPhone lock screen and want to try it out? Really curious to make the most of the external screen with your iPad? There’s good news: Apple released new public betas of iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 this week, and my testing shows they’re stable enough for average users to try them out.
Said be careful. These are pre-release versions – they still have bugs. Final versions haven’t been expected for months, and there’s still plenty of room for improvement
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Some great new features come to iOS 16 and iPadOS 16
Apple unveiled iOS 16 at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, and the undoubted highlight is the improvements to the lock screen. It’s a lot more customizable, and you can add widgets.
and that’s not all. You can send and edit messages. Plus, horizontal Face ID unlock is finally a thing.
iPadOS 16 was also demonstrated at WWDC22 and is more controversial as some of the best features are only for iPads with M-series processors. The biggest changes include: support for floating app windows on the iPad and external displays. But all iPads get a collection of other enhancements.
what a difference a few weeks
Beta testing of iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 had already begun for developers before WWDC22 ended. I used those early versions, but only did so because it’s my job. they were very Unstable. There were new features, but there were random crashes and software incompatibilities. I’ve had to reboot my iPad more times than I can count.
The first public stakes surfaced in early July. And while Apple thought these were ready for testing for average users, I disagreed.
But this week brought the second public beta, which are also the fourth developer beta for iOS 16 and iPadOS 16. There was a three-week wait for these, and my real-world testing shows that Apple used the time to fix many of the worst. Problem.
iOS 16 public beta 2 delivers better battery life
For me, the biggest problem with the previous iOS 16 beta was poor battery life. Betas are usually disabled, but this one was particularly bad, to the point where my iPhone 13 would overheat at any time, I briefly overused it.
This week’s new public beta 2 doesn’t seem to have this problem. I used it for several days just to be sure. Apple will likely continue to make further changes to extend battery life, but the current version is acceptable.
To be clear, iOS 16 still has bugs, but no deal-breakers. At least not for me. YMMV. So, if you’re feeling brave, why not give it a try?
iPadOS 16 Public Beta 2 Isn’t As Small As Before, Either
With the addition of the Stage Manager and floating app windows to external displays, iPadOS 16 is more ambitious than the iPhone upgrade. So it should come as no surprise that iPad users endured a minor experience with the early beta.
I’ve thoroughly tested the capabilities – my iPad Pro is my primary computer and I have an external display connected whenever I’m working. I use the second screen for secondary tasks, including email and Slack. With this setup and the first rounds of beta from June and early July, the operating system repeatedly crashed and some third-party apps crashed hourly.
With the new iPadOS 16 Public Beta 2, most of the serious problems have been dealt with. I still run into problems, but not nearly as often.
Most of the difficulties that I experience come from third-party applications. For example, both Slack and Twitter sometimes give me a black screen when switching between the iPad and the external screen. The only fix is to close them and then open them again.
With that said, iPadOS 16 is a lot more usable than it was a few weeks ago. Up to the point where I think the average user won’t be too disappointed.
go go them
If you’re looking for a project this weekend, and your tolerance for software bugs is high enough, install iOS 16 and/or iPadOS 16.
It’s free and easy. I wrote a guide to walk you through the process. I strongly suggest that you take a look at the backup of your device before installing any beta so that you can revert to a non-beta version if necessary.
Last Alert Time: You Will These beta versions of iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 are known to be prone to bugs as well as problems with third-party applications. If you’re really dependent on your iPhone or iPad, wait until the final version, which will almost certainly debut in September.
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