iOS 16.5 Beta for iPhone: What's New So Far

[MacRumors]

Apple made the first beta of iOS 16.5 available to developers and public testers last month. So far, only two new features and changes have been discovered for the iPhone, including a Sports tab in the Apple News app and the ability to start a screen recording with Siri. More details about these changes are outlined below.

iOS 16.5 should be publicly released in May, and it is possible that more features will be added in later beta versions. To try out the beta, sign up for an Apple Developer Program membership for $99 per year or the free Apple Beta Software Program.

Sports Tab in Apple News

Apple has added a Sports tab to the News app on iOS 16.5, giving you easy access to news, scores, and schedules for your favorite teams and leagues. This information was previously available in the Today tab, but it is now featured more prominently as Apple continues to push deeper into sports content across its services.

Screen Recordings via Siri

A small but convenient feature added with iOS 16.5 is the ability to ask Siri to start a screen recording. You can say "Hey Siri, start a screen recording" to record a video of your iPhone's screen, and ask Siri to stop the recording when desired. You can still start a screen recording via Control Center after enabling the feature in Settings → Control Center.

Wrap Up

iOS 16.5 is looking to be a minor update so far, which isn't too surprising given that Apple will unveil iOS 17 at WWDC in June. Prior to iOS 16.5, Apple is preparing to release iOS 16.4.1, likely with bug fixes and security improvements.

Article Link: iOS 16.5 Beta for iPhone: What's New So Far

 

[DotCom2]

How 'bout,"Hey Siri, take a pic!" and she automatically just snaps a pic of whatever your camera phone is aimed at and whatever other setting you might have it at goes to photo. I would LOVE this!

 

[tridley68]

What! no new emoji's

 

[TheDarkAngel]

I hope the savings account finally comes in iOS 16.5.

 

[erikkfi]

What if you've turned off Siri because it's stupid and terrible?

 

[Candy Apple+ Nutz]

Refined bugs, guaranteed to stay around longer?

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

What! no new emoji's

No more emoji’s until iOS 17 🫨

 

[zachz]

Well, time to delete News permanently with the Sports tab being placed there. Will use Ground News full time instead.

Will there be a TMZ or celebrity scoop section up front for iOS 17?

Or maybe a Where's Tim? section that follows Timmy around like the kid on Twitter with Elon Musk, now that is news we all need!

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

What if you've turned off Siri because it's stupid and terrible?

It's more like it's outdated and 10+ years behind. Apple needs to take Siri seriously.

 

[DeLaSoul]

Siri Will be replaced by SteveGPT.

It may call you stupid sometimes but hey, you will be hungry and foolish

 

[segfaultdotorg]

iPhoneOS 16.5 Beta for iPhone:​

Fixed that for you.

 

[BobSc]

It's more like it's outdated and 10+ years behind. Apple needs to take Siri seriously.

And what exactly is it that you want out of Siri? How should Apple take Siri seriously?

It seems like you make a lot of damning statements like this without examples and explanations. That ruins credibility.

 

[BobSc]

What if you've turned off Siri because it's stupid and terrible?

I'm quite happy with Siri. It's working better than ever. If it's so bad for you, why are you still using an Apple product?

 

[BobSc]

How 'bout,"Hey Siri, take a pic!" and she automatically just snaps a pic of whatever your camera phone is aimed at and whatever other setting you might have it at goes to photo. I would LOVE this!

I just told Siri to "take a pic". It opened the camera app so I could see the image I was about to capture by pressing that white button. Sounds like you want Siri to just take a pic, any pic, regardless of what is in the image. That's completely useless unless someone is using the camera to try to visualize something on their back side without having a mirror.

 

[Avenged110]

What if you've turned off Siri because it's stupid and terrible?

Then it’s likely going to be listed as somehow still using battery power.

 

[jwdsail]

Any chance Apple has figured out that not everything is a "Game"?

 

[DotCom2]

I just told Siri to "take a pic". It opened the camera app so I could see the image I was about to capture by pressing that white button. Sounds like you want Siri to just take a pic, any pic, regardless of what is in the image. That's completely useless unless someone is using the camera to try to visualize something on their back side without having a mirror.

Well it might seem useless to you but as Don Henley would say, "There's a lot of other people here too!" It would not be useless to me. I often have my hands full and would really like to just say "take a pic" and I wouldn't have to tap on the white button with my other hand. I know, sounds dumb but just think how many times you don't have both hands free.

 

[Clayton630]

In shortcuts, you can now choose between your own icon or the icon of the app involved in the shortcut

 

[alayal]

In shortcuts, you can now choose between your own icon or the icon of the app involved in the shortcut

View attachment 2184551

Also in 16.4

 

[airwalk331]

Does the weather app work again?

 

[Clayton630]

Also in 16.4

Oh sorry I didn’t notice it. Thanks for telling me

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Does the weather app work again?

Seems like it has been fixed. Hopefully, it works just fine from now on.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1643350796669468673

 

[Razorpit]

Well, time to delete News permanently with the Sports tab being placed there. Will use Ground News full time instead.

Will there be a TMZ or celebrity scoop section up front for iOS 17?

Or maybe a Where's Tim? section that follows Timmy around like the kid on Twitter with Elon Musk, now that is news we all need!

It’s nothing more than a circular news dumpster fire.

And what exactly is it that you want out of Siri? How should Apple take Siri seriously?

It seems like you make a lot of damning statements like this without examples and explanations. That ruins credibility.

I’d like it to work for starters.

 

[SouthBronx187]

Apple made the first beta of iOS 16.5 available to developers and public testers last week, and so far only two new features and changes have been discovered for the iPhone, including a Sports tab in the Apple News app and the ability to start a screen recording with Siri. More details about these changes are outlined below.

iOS 16.5 should be publicly released in May, and it is possible that more features will be added in later beta versions. To try out the beta, sign up for an Apple Developer Program membership for $99 per year or the free Apple Beta Software Program.

Sports Tab in Apple News

Apple has added a Sports tab to the News app on iOS 16.5, giving you easy access to news, scores, and schedules for your favorite teams and leagues. This information was previously available in the Today tab, but it is now featured more prominently as Apple continues to push deeper into sports content across its services.

Screen Recordings via Siri

A small but convenient feature added with iOS 16.5 is the ability to ask Siri to start a screen recording. You can say "Hey Siri, start a screen recording" to record a video of your iPhone's screen, and ask Siri to stop the recording when desired. You can still start a screen recording via Control Center after enabling the feature in Settings → Control Center.

Wrap Up

iOS 16.5 is looking to be a minor update so far, which isn't too surprising given that Apple will unveil iOS 17 at WWDC in June. Prior to iOS 16.5, Apple is preparing to release iOS 16.4.1, likely with bug fixes and security improvements.

Article Link: iOS 16.5 Beta for iPhone: What's New So Far

Trash as usual

 

[svish]

Very small update. At least Siri gets a minor improvement.