Benjamin Mayo
The iOS 16 lock screen experience is undoubtedly a big step forward compared
to what we had before, with animated wallpaper options like Weather and
Astronomy, a sleek overlapping effect for portrait-style photos, the
addition of widgets, the ability to easily switch between multiple lock
screens, and more.
It's not all good news though. We also lost a few capabilities compared to
iOS 15. But we also lost some capabilities compared to iOS 15 in the
process.
Here are three things missing from iOS 16 lock screen experience that
hopefully Apple will bring back in a future update .
Dark mode
The iOS 16 wallpapers are not simply static images. They are dynamic and
lively, and sometimes animated. You can see this in action when you
transition from Home Screen to Lock Screen with a wallpaper like Astronomy;
the perspective of the Earth swerves toward you as you swipe up.
All this investment into dynamism makes it even stranger that dark mode has
been almost entirely forgotten about. Switching your iPhone to Dark Mode on
iOS 16 has no effect on how wallpapers are displayed on the lock screen or
home screen.
On iOS 15 and earlier, most of Apple's stock wallpapers were bundles of
light and dark images, that would automatically switch to match the active
system theme. If you used your own photos as wallpaper, there was a "Dark
Appearance Dims Wallpaper" option that would reduce the brightness of images
in dark mode.
This doesn't exist on iOS 16. The wallpapers ignore the system appearance
setting and look the same all day long.
As such, this is the first time since Dark Mode was introduced that the
stock wallpaper does not have a dark mode look. and the bright vibrant
colors of the iOS 16 stock wallpaper are particularly harsh on the eyes at
night time.
Hopefully, over time, Apple can include Dark Mode versions of its wallpapers
again and bring back a dimming option for your own photos once again. It
would be really cool if you could set the Photos wallpaper to use a
darkening color wash, or apply a black/white filter, when in dark mode, for
instance.
In fact, there's a glimmer of hope in this area. The one exception to the
rule in iOS 16 is the Bubbles wallpaper in the Collections set which does
have the ability to respond to Dark Mode.
When you customize the Bubbles wallpaper, an Appearance menu allows you to
choose whether it should display in always light mode, always dark mode, or
automatic based on the system theme.
Live Photos
Live Photos were one of the hero features of the iPhone 6s generation. They
are a really fun feature that adds a little bit of extra context - a short
video clip before and after - to an image taken on the iPhone.
The iPhone 6s also brought the 3D Touch force-sensitive display. Apple
combined Live Photos and 3D Touch together to allow customers to show off
Live Photos on their lock screen. You could set a Live Photo as your
wallpaper and long-press to play the associated video. When Apple abandoned
3D Touch, the feature remained behind a long-press gesture. Apple even
shipped a handful of their own to choose from with the operating system.
Unfortunately, this is another casualty of the upgrade to iOS 16. It is no
longer possible to set Live Photos as your wallpaper and have them animate.
It will only display the static image. The long-press gesture on the lock
screen has been reclaimed as the route to opening the Wallpaper Gallery
instead.
Again, it would be nice if Apple could work out a way to restore the
functionality and allow people to make moving wallpapers of their own once
more. Perhaps, Live Photos could play their animation as you swipe to unlock
the phone - like how the Earth animates inwards for Astronomy. Or maybe it
could be triggered by a simple tap on the display.
(More) Apple wallpapers
Many Apple wallpapers are lost after upgrading to iOS 16.
Finally, the new gallery view to pick lock screens is theoretically
infinitely scrollable. but Apple didn't really give us many to choose from
in the first iteration of iOS 16.
Technically, there's actually less choice than before. Old versions of iOS
shipped with at least a dozen stock wallpapers to pick from, both "stills"
and "live" ones, including some exclusive wallpapers for that particular
device model.
All of these have been removed in iOS 16. If you want them, you have to go
find the images online and add them to your photo library manually. The only
compensation we have is Apple brought back the iconic clownfish wallpaper,
which dates back to the original iPhone. Also, the iPhone 14 will have some
device-specific wallpapers available.
Nevertheless, it feels like a big miss. With more focus than ever on
personalizing your Lock Screen, this is the time for Apple to flood us with
more options.
They wouldn't have to update them per se. There could be one row in the
gallery that just features all past wallpapers that Apple has ever offered.
And if they wanted to go above and beyond, they could modernize them with 3D
effects like what the clownfish has. but it's not necessary. Moreover, they
could bring even more professional wallpaper in the fold, perhaps by
partnering with Shot on iPhone competition winners and distribute their
winning photos as wallpapers too. Or they could bring across some of the
stunning aerials from the Apple TV screensavers. There's a lot of potential
- we'll have to wait and see if Apple commits.
9to5Mac.
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