CUPERTINO, California — Every year around this time, our smartphones become a reminder to always be ready for change.
That’s because Apple and Google are announcing updates to the operating systems that power our iPhones and Android phones. Soon, the software that makes the devices tick will have design tweaks and new features — in other words, new things to learn.
On Monday, Apple unveiled iOS 16, the next version of its iPhone operating system. It will include new features such as a redesigned lock screen and the ability to edit text messages. Last month, Google introduced Android 13, with a streamlined wallet app for storing credit cards and important documents like vaccination records. Both companies also said they were improving their text messaging apps.
The new iPhone and Android operating systems are coming as free updates to our phones this fall.
Apple and Google often accompany these software updates with pompous language and promises. “Today, we’re going to push our platforms further than ever before,” said Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s CEO, in a pre-recorded video for the event announcing the new software.
But in reality, many of the changes — especially the ability to edit a text retroactively — are incremental improvements that feel like they should have happened a long time ago. Here are the most notable updates to look for.
Apple is overhauling the iPhone lock screen
Apple said it was making a change to the first thing everyone sees when using an iPhone: the lock screen.
In the past, people could only change the wallpaper on their lock screens. But with iOS 16, iPhone users can customize the lock screen by choosing from different fonts and colors for the clock. People can also pin “widgets,” which are basically shortcuts to apps like the phone’s calendar and fitness data tracker, to the lock screen.
These adjustments can help us adapt our phones to our lifestyle. Keep in mind that with the new software, an iPhone user can create a number of custom lock screens for different scenarios.
For example, a lock screen for work can show a background of your office building and contain a calendar widget with your next meeting appointment. A personal time lock screen can show a background of your dog and a motion widget. The idea is that people can switch between lock screens to better suit their needs throughout the day.
Google’s Wallet app is catching up on Apple
The pandemic accelerated the use of mobile purchases as many people switched to contactless digital payments to avoid cash. For more than five years, Apple has had a robust electronic payments offering with its Wallet software for iPhones, which allows people to make credit card purchases and carry important documents such as boarding passes and health records.
Google, struggling to bring its mobile payment technology to market, took the opportunity last month to delve further into payments with Android 13. For years, its Google Pay system has lagged seriously behind Apple’s payment system, as only few Android users knew how to use the technology.
Last month, Google renamed its digital payment app Google Wallet. The company simplified the technology by embedding a wallet shortcut in the Android lock screen. It also plans to expand the software beyond credit cards, with documents such as boarding passes, movie tickets and Covid-19 vaccination certificate.
Google and Apple are expanding their messaging apps
Anyone who has ever texted with a telephone knows the digital divide between the so-called green bubble and blue bubble.
When a text message is sent from an Android phone, it appears as a green bubble on the recipient’s screen, with images and videos often pixelated and distorted. That’s because a green bubble message is sent through the telephone company’s network, which automatically degrades the image quality.
In contrast, messages with blue bubbles sent between iPhone users go through iMessage, Apple’s own messaging service, which maintains a high-quality look for photos and videos.
With Android 13, Google is trying to create its own blue bubble experience. The company is building in its messaging app a technology called Rich Communication Services, which can send high-resolution images and large files. It also allows people to have group conversations like most modern messaging apps.
Apple, meanwhile, is making changes to iMessage to allow iPhone users to edit or retrieve messages after they’ve been sent. Retroactive post editing, which would spare us the embarrassment of bizarre autocorrect typos or the accidental pocket text, is a feature people have been looking for for years.
Both companies strengthen user privacy
Today, no software update would be complete without the statement from a Big Tech company that cares about our privacy. That’s because the tech companies want users to feel safe sharing personal data, especially since European regulators and others have addressed them on the matter.
So, of course, Apple and Google said they offered more protection to user data in their next operating systems.
Apple, which has long allowed iPhone users to give family members and romantic partners permanent access to their location data, said it would allow for greater control over data sharing if an intimate relationship went awry. The new software feature, Safety Check, allows people to quickly review and revoke such data so they can protect their information from abusers.
Google said it would give users more control over what data was shared with third-party apps. In the next version of Android, people will also be able to give apps access to certain photos instead of their entire camera roll – a measure of protection against malicious apps disguised as photo editing software.
Finally
If many of these adjustments seem way overdue, it’s because they are. Just as hardware upgrades for smartphones have become more and more incremental, so does the software push to get better — but unobtrusively.
