IOS 16 BETA 4: Message History, Wallpapers, Lock Screen.

Apple has officially released the fourth beta of the IOS 16 for developers and public beta testers. The update contains a number of new updates as Apple continues to prepare for its public release. Here is the information we have discovered so far.

It has been more than three weeks since the third beta of the IOS 16 was released, since then Apple’s developer team has been busy. As we look at the release notes, there has been a massive list of issues which have now been fixed while heading into this beta.

The beta has been released since July 27, 2022. This beta is not stable nor reliable. There are still a few bugs but most from the third beta have been fixed. Besides the bug fixes, Apple has added more changes to the update.

Messages

Within the fourth beta IOS 16 update, Apple has made fundamental changes on editing and unsending messages in the Messages app. You will have up to 15 minutes to edit a message and 2 minutes to unsend a message.

On top of that, after a message has been edited, both the sender and the receiver can see a log of changes made to a message. If you press on the word Edited below an edited message, you can see the original message.

Messages can be edited five times and be shown within a log of changes visible. When the sender deletes a message, there is no history of that specific message. The recipient only receives an alert that a message has been unsent.

Lock Screen

A few fixes were made to the Lock Screen by Apple to give the user an refined experience. When you create or edit your Lock Screen, there is a new text that notifies you that widgets can be added.

The astronomy Lock Screen has been tweaked. Looking at it, side by side, the sun looks dispersed and shows a brighter white unlike in the third beta version. The other planets seem to have more details and color too.

For the developers, Apple has now introduced the ActivityKit API. This allows live activities to be displayed on the Lock Screen. Your UberEats order or when your cab is getting closer to your location can be shown.

Developers now have the choice to test their apps with this API while preparing for the IOS 16 release this fall.

The last Lock Screen feature that was discovered was a change to the notification center settings. When you view the settings, there is a visual way to separate stack, list, or count instead of just looking at the texts. This is easier to understand the notification settings.

Other Changes

This update also adds the choice to customize the length of undoing a send delay in Mail. Now instead of waiting 20 seconds, you can choose between off, 10 seconds, or 30 seconds.

In the home app, Apple has added new wallpapers, one is of some dispersed flowers in the sun and the other one is a slightly blurred white screen. In health, there is a new date view.

There are also new wallpapers for CarPlay. CarPlay users now have three new options to choose from, along with multiple changes coming this fall.

Presently, Apple is testing iOS 16 with the registered public beta testers and developers. Apple has planned to release it this fall.