Questionable iOS 16 leak shows big, interactive widgets
Plus redesigned icons
We’ve only just got iOS 15.3, but now we’ve also seen what could be a major iOS 16 feature, in the form of big, interactive widgets.
LeaksApplePro has shared an image of how these might look, as you can see below. They appear to house numerous normal widgets, and can house not just app widgets, but also Control Center toggles and other shortcuts.
According to the source, these widgets are referred to as InfoShack internally, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’d launch with this name.
🔴EXCLUSIVE: iOS 16.Be prepared for interactive widgets! Apple is now working on these “big widgets” internally named InfoShack.Will tell you more about them soon. pic.twitter.com/GZF9zYjOswJanuary 26, 2022
Notably, the design of the icons in this widget is a lot more like those in macOS Monterey than in iOS 15, so if this is accurate it’s possible that iOS will also be getting redesigned icons, bringing the operating system more in line with how thing looks on Mac.
However, it’s worth taking this leak with a serious helping of salt, because – as spotted by Phone Arena – the Apple TV remote toggle shows a picture that’s nothing like either the current iOS one, or the actual Apple TV remote.
Given that the current Apple TV remote icon looks just like the real thing, it seems unlikely that Apple would change the design – unless it’s also releasing a new physical Apple TV remote. That’s possible, but it also makes us very skeptical of this leak.
The source also claims that there’s a lot of work to do and things could change, so even if the leak is genuine, it might not reflect what iOS 16 ultimately contains.
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Analysis: what we know about iOS 16 so far
iOS 16 will probably be unveiled at WWDC in June, though it likely won’t launch in finished form until September, so there’s a long wait yet.
Unsurprisingly then we’ve heard very little about it so far, though we have heard that Apple might be dropping support for the iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus, and the original iPhone SE, leaving them stuck on iOS 15.
But beyond that this new leak is about all the iOS 16 information that we have, and we’re not terribly convinced by it. Hopefully lots more details about this upcoming software will leak before long though, so keep an eye on TechRadar for all the news as it happens.
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James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.