Apple has launched iOS 16 to turn your iPhone into a more personal device, that brings the biggest update ever to the Lock Screen, the ability to edit and collaborate in Messages, new tools in Mail, and more ways to interact with photos and video with Live Text and Visual Look Up.

iOS 16 is now available as a free software update for iPhone 8 and later, Apple said in a statement.

In an update later this year, Apple will introduce iCloud Shared Photo Library to give families a new way to share photos seamlessly with a separate iCloud library that up to six users can collaborate on, contribute to and enjoy.

The reimagined Lock Screen in iOS 16 features a new depth effect that artfully displays subjects in front of the time, expressive type styles and colour choices that can change the look of the date and time, and widgets that offer information at a glance.

“Redesigned notifications now roll in from the bottom to offer a clear view of the Lock Screen, and users can choose to view notifications in an expanded list, stacked, or as a count view,” said Apple.

With Focus filters, apps like Calendar, Mail, Messages, and Safari can display only the content that is relevant to a user’s Focus, helping them to find better balance.

Updates to Messages make it possible to edit, undo send, and mark conversations as unread, making it even easier to stay connected.

“With iOS 16, users can now invite friends and family to SharePlay via Messages, offering another way to enjoy synced content like movies or songs and shared playback controls,” the tech giant announced.

In addition, new collaboration features in Messages make working with others quick and seamless.

Now users can schedule delivery of an email ahead of time or cancel delivery of a message before it reaches a recipient’s inbox.

Users can also set reminders to come back to a message at a later date with Remind Later, receive automatic suggestions to follow up on an email if they haven’t received a response, and get automatic alerts when they’ve forgotten to include a recipient or attachment in an email.

“Users can now tap and hold on the subject of an image to lift it from the background and place it in apps like Messages,” said Apple.

Visual Look Up also expands to recognise birds, insects, spiders, and statues, helping users quickly get information about objects and scenes in photos.

Browsing in Safari is even safer with passkeys, a next-generation credential that can’t be phished or leaked, making it more secure and easy to use.

“Designed to replace passwords, passkeys use Touch ID or Face ID for biometric verification, and iCloud Keychain to sync across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV with end-to-end encryption,” Apple announced.

The Fitness app is now available to all iPhone users to help track and meet fitness goals, even if they don’t have an Apple Watch.