Photo: trendblog.com

By: Nick Gambino

Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is next week and that means a new iOS. The next in line is iOS 16 and there are plenty of rumors as to what we might see.

The WWDC will once again be held as a virtual event. It kicks off on June 6 and will go until June 10. We expect them to unveil iOS 16 and all of its new features on that first date during a scheduled keynote.

Bloomberg says we’re not getting a major redesign, despite what some are saying. It will look a lot like the current iOS 15. That doesn’t mean of course that we’re not going to see a ton of new features.

As with everything else released by the tech majors, there are plenty of rumors, many of which won’t pan out. Here are some of the more plausible features you can expect to see next week.

 

Notifications

According to Bloomberg, Apple is going all in on a Notifications upgrade. Someone in Tim Cook’s camp has it in their head that they’re failing their broad user base on notifications. I’m sure they have a justification for this, though it’s not something I have attention on.

What this Notifications upgrade looks like exactly isn’t clear. The company has made significant changes over the last couple iOS releases including adding Focus Mode and Notification Summary.

Apparently, they are also working on an always-on screen where widgets would allow you to glean quick info from glanceable notifications  

 

Messages

If rumors are to be believed, Apple will be making tweaks to Messages in order to create a more social media-friendly aspect. This would make sense considering the success of Messenger and DM portals like Instagram. They also may add better audio features to the app, something it could use.

 

Health

This is another area that Apple puts a lot of focus on, especially with regard to Watch integration. You can expect to see more ways to track your health through a symbiotic iPhone/Watch relationship.

To wrap up, we’re not expecting any blow-your-mind reveals for iOS 16 at WWDC. It should look similar to what you’re working with now but with some customizable new features.