iOS 16 will include new ways of interacting with the system and some "fresh Apple apps," Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has said, offering some more detail on what Apple has in store for the upcoming release of iOS and iPadOS set to be announced in a few weeks at WWDC. In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Gurman wrote that while iOS 16 is not likely to introduce a major face-lift to the operating system, it will include new ways of interacting and some "fresh Apple apps."

Users have long-hoped that Apple would bring interactive widgets to iOS ever since widgets were revamped with iOS 14. Widgets were mostly untouched with iOS 15 and remain non-interactive, so there is some hope significant widget changes could be in store for iOS 16.

While I don’t expect Apple to present a full redesign of the software, there should be major changes across the system, new ways of interacting and some fresh Apple apps. The news about watchOS 9 will be significant as well.

Gurman added today that watchOS 9 will also be a "significant" update. Gurman has previously reported that a revamped notification system and new health and fitness tracking features are in the works for iOS 16. Check out our post to learn more about 20+ new features we're expecting for iOS 16 and watchOS 9.

Article Link: Gurman: iOS 16 to Include New Ways of System Interaction and 'Fresh Apple Apps'

I predict iOS 16 will have new features. At least one. If you don't have anything new to say, maybe don't do a weekly newsletter just because.

But but but… the icons are the same!!!
😭😭😭
Garbage update, Steve Jobs would never, Tim Crook bad, I need my new icons (that i’ll get bored of after 15 minutes of playing with) and I need them now!!!
/s

idk why people want a redesign so badly. iOS is iconic and looks great as it is and the general look is shared across all Apple platforms. A new design would only bring a ton of bugs, inconstancy with many third-party apps and complains from many people.

But hey, at least it would feel new for a month.

HeavenDynamic said:

idk why people want a redesign so badly. iOS is iconic and looks great as it is and the general look is shared across all Apple platforms. A new design would only bring a ton of bugs, inconstancy with many third-party apps and complains from many people.

But hey, at least it would feel new for a month.

People just don't know what they want. If you compare iOS 7 to iOS 15, there were actually quite a few redesigns already. A lot of it does not look like the original vision any more besides some of the remaining icons (even most of them were redesigned in the meantime, even if just slightly).

I hope one of those "fresh Apple apps" is a calculator for the iPad.

ps3zocker said:

People just don't know what they want. If you compare iOS 7 to iOS 15, there were actually quite a few redesigns already. A lot of it does not look like the original vision any more besides some of the remaining icons (even most of them were redesigned in the meantime, even if just slightly).

iOS 11 and 13 were redesigns imo
Just not as drastic as iOS 7 but they clearly lead the way for the general UI look across all systems.

Eminemdrdre00 said:

I hope one of those "fresh Apple apps" is a calculator for the iPad.

And Weather. This is a running joke at this point.

HeavenDynamic said:

idk why people want a redesign so badly. iOS is iconic and looks great as it is and the general look is shared across all Apple platforms. A new design would only bring a ton of bugs, inconstancy with many third-party apps and complains from many people.

But hey, at least it would feel new for a month.

Because people get bored, and don’t realize that these days all of our devices are basically appliances.
People don’t want to have to relearn how to use their phone every couple years or so, and Apple knows this.
iOS 6 to 7 was a one time thing, the iOS team was completely restructured with A guy with pretty much the opposite design philosophies as the previous leader put in charge, so of course there was going to be a big change.
And even that change upset a lot of people, and it took a while before they got it just right. And now they have something that most people are familiar with and that most people are happy with, there’s absolutely no reason to change it.

I hope there will be a dedicated app for AirPods, AirTag, MagSafe Battery Pack,...

With SwiftUI becoming more and more mature, anyone could have taken this guess about new apps.

It's becoming easier for Apple (and anybody) to craft new apps or rebuild them with gorgeous designs.

PsykX said:

And Weather. This is a running joke at this point.

None of these matter. There are loads of great third party calculators, weather, and so on.

What is needed is to stop treating iPadOS like iOS. The iPad is not a phone. iPad users need a real operating system. The iPad needs a desktop, not a "home screen." Better usage of the space. Free placement of icons. Nuke the stupid grid. Its great on a phone. Not on an iPad. All that horsepower, all that real estate. And still 2 / 3 apps together. We've got a magic keyboard on which the iPad "floats". Now give us floating windows! 16 versions and it's still iOS for a computer. FFS

return2sendai said:

None of these matter. There are loads of great third party calculators, weather, and so on.

What is needed is to stop treating iPadOS like iOS. The iPad is not a phone. iPad users need a real operating system. The iPad needs a desktop, not a "home screen." Better usage of the space. Free placement of icons. Nuke the stupid grid. Its great on a phone. Not on an iPad. All that horsepower, all that real estate. And still 2 / 3 apps together. We've got a magic keyboard on which the iPad "floats". Now give us floating windows! 16 versions and it's still iOS for a laptop replacement. FFS

Actually no there aren’t. At least what’s free is becoming garbage and riddled with ads like weather channel app on iPad. Don’t even defend apple on that one. Everyone knows it’s getting pathetic at this point the damn iPad doesn’t have a built in calculator either.

Eminemdrdre00 said:

I hope one of those "fresh Apple apps" is a calculator for the iPad.

Seriously, iLogic Pro please. iFC Pro (even though I already have Lumafusion). Thank you. My M1 ipad is ready.

jonnyb098 said:

Actually no there aren’t. At least what’s free is becoming garbage and riddled with ads like weather channel app on iPad. Don’t even defend apple on that one. Everyone knows it’s getting pathetic at this point the damn iPad doesn’t have a built in calculator either.

Buy a good app. Jeez. You can crash a thousand dollars on an iPad but not a few dollars on a good calculator or a subscription to a good weather app?

I like Mark Gurman, but this is just too vague a prediction to be interesting.

I'll make my own more specific prediction: 3 GB RAM will NOT be a hard requirement.
iOS/iPadOS 16 will support 2 GB devices like iPhone 7, iPhone 8, and iPad 6th generation.

Lounge vibes 05 said:

But but but… the icons are the same!!!
😭😭😭
Garbage update, Steve Jobs would never, Tim Crook bad, I need my new icons (that i’ll get bored of after 15 minutes of playing with) and I need them now!!!
/s

I also need a new Home Screen. Don’t ask me for specifics, just “new” 😉

HeavenDynamic said:

idk why people want a redesign so badly. iOS is iconic and looks great as it is and the general look is shared across all Apple platforms. A new design would only bring a ton of bugs, inconstancy with many third-party apps and complains from many people.

But hey, at least it would feel new for a month.

iOS stopped being iconic since iOS 7. That redesign was quite awful. It has been polished a bit over the years but it’s still quite bad. A complete reset is needed.

ps3zocker said:

I predict iOS 16 will have new features. At least one. If you don't have anything new to say, maybe don't do a weekly newsletter just because.

Gotta get the clicks and $$

User 6502 said:

iOS stopped being iconic since iOS 7. That redesign was quite awful. It has been polished a bit over the years but it’s still quite bad. A complete reset is needed.

The iOS 7 re-design was awesome IMO.

HeavenDynamic said:

idk why people want a redesign so badly. iOS is iconic and looks great as it is and the general look is shared across all Apple platforms. A new design would only bring a ton of bugs, inconstancy with many third-party apps and complains from many people.

But hey, at least it would feel new for a month.

It sure is "iconic" alright. Staring at a screen of icons. I would be happy if they let us put apps from the bottom up. Phones are getting larger yet still have to go top-down with icons. Not to mention it would impact the "iconic" look 0 by allowing to choose from putting bottom up or top down.

return2sendai said:

None of these matter. There are loads of great third party calculators, weather, and so on.

What is needed is to stop treating iPadOS like iOS. The iPad is not a phone. iPad users need a real operating system. The iPad needs a desktop, not a "home screen." Better usage of the space. Free placement of icons. Nuke the stupid grid. Its great on a phone. Not on an iPad. All that horsepower, all that real estate. And still 2 / 3 apps together. We've got a magic keyboard on which the iPad "floats". Now give us floating windows! 16 versions and it's still iOS for a computer. FFS

Agree with most of your post, but the App Store calculator apps all suck for one reason.
Calculators don't usually randomly have ads pop up and bother you.
Also, Apple bought DarkSky, they should absolutely bring a weather app to the iPad.
Outside of that, I agree.

vyspirit said:

I hope there will be a dedicated app for AirPods, AirTag, MagSafe Battery Pack,...

And a way to manually update them outside of the plug and pray method they currently use.