Apple’s latest iOS 16.1 beta manages a significant complaint about the battery percentage indicator introduced with iOS 16: the battery icon will be filled in based on how much juice it has.
The battery percentage still emerges within the icon, which personally isn’t my favored design, but now the whole thing peeks a lot closer to how it should have been from the start.
Here’s an example of the revised indicator from a colleague running the newest iOS 16.1 beta. Users in the iOS beta subreddit shared examples as well.
The improved indicator isn’t the only battery status update. iOS 16.1 beta 2 can also show the battery percentage above the time on your lock screen when you begin to charge your device.
We don’t know when Apple will release iOS 16.1 publicly, but fingers crossed, it will arrive sometime soon. The company is also working on fixes for issues that have cropped up following the release of iOS 16 and the iPhone 14 and 14 Pro last week, including frequent “allow paste” prompts and unexpected camera shake in some apps while using the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max.
Apple on Tuesday released iOS 16.1 beta 2 to developers. The update, expected to be released to the public in October, comes with exciting changes and new features.
One of the new components of iOS 16 is the opportunity to promote the battery percentage in the status bar for iPhone X and, subsequently, for the first time. While the first beta of iOS 16.1 enabled this feature for even more iPhone models, such as iPhone XR and iPhone 12 mini, Apple has still been working on its new battery indicator.
The battery icon didn’t match the battery percentage as it drained. After multiple complaints, Apple reconsidered this aspect and introduced a redesigned version of the battery indicator with iOS 16.1. The new indicator has a dynamic icon that changes according to the battery level.
Since the introduction of the first iOS 16 beta, Apple has removed the more prominent charging indicator from the iPhone lock screen. This indicator has been added to the system with today’s beta. Once the iPhone is plugged into the charger, you’ll see an indicator with the battery percentage rather than the top widget for a few seconds after turning on the screen.
iOS 16 introduced new permission to copy and paste between apps. This way, the user is informed when apps try to paste from the clipboard, which can sometimes happen unintentionally. Unfortunately, however, this alert repeatedly appears to users even after allowing a specific app to access the clipboard. With iOS 16 beta 2, Apple has fixed this issue.
Another bug that has been bothering some iOS 16 users is three-finger gestures. Since iOS uses a three-finger tapping gesture to reveal the copy and paste menu, some apps and games have been impacted by a bug in which the system doesn’t correctly recognize any other three-finger gestures. It has now been fixed with today’s beta.
Other new features were added with the previous iOS 16.1 beta. It includes Clean Energy Charging, uninstallable Wallet app, Live Activities API, more accessible access to home screen customizations, and early support for the Matter protocol.
The update will be released to all users next month along with iPadOS 16.1, which will be the first release of rendition 16 for iPad users.