OPINION : Apple giving up ultimate ascendance over itsLock Screen in iOS 16is a much big floor than it appears . The most significant revamp ever to theiPhonegateway shows Apple lastly accepts that individuality matters .
With its Lock Screen changes in iOS 16 , Apple is trust substance abuser to make a look that truly represents their personality , and is giving them the sizeable tools to make it chance . This was n’t always the case , and the firing of the Lock Screen harbinger this week feel new and exciting .
For yr , making the iPhone software system your own felt insufferable , beyond customising the wallpaper . The time and date has always been in the same position , in the same colour , in the same font . Notifications landed in the same spot , directly beneath the clock .
Get past the Lock Screen and everyone had the same uniform radical of app icons , yieldingly arranged . Many were even undeletable . It was little curiosity fans of rival manufacturers demand slap-up pleasure in take fun of the so - call “ iClones ” . We all calculate the same using them .
That convert slightly when Apple in conclusion relented and allowedhome screen unrecorded contrivance in iOS 14 . Perhaps see what the community and third - party developer had achieved in creating attractive and unique looks and layouts for the iPhone Home Screens has convinced Apple to loosen the traction on the Lock Screen too ?
Perhaps it was Google initiatives likeMaterial You in Android ? Android users have always had far more customisation options , but that go to a new level in Android 12 , leading to some enormously expressive pattern from substance abuser .
Lock Screen unlocked
Whatever the intellect , iPhone owners will now be able-bodied to customise the clock font and colour to equalise predominant color within the icon take for the wallpaper . That photo will take preference , intelligently overlapping the clock . Widgets are fall to the lock screen and third - company apps are ask in too .
hot sports scores , or even the advance of your Starbucks order will intend you do n’t have to delve into an app . Notifications will build upwards from the infantry of the display , ensuring your lock screen design is n’t overshadowed . you’re able to contrive multiple Lock Screens for different situations or moods , or even enjoy a full screen music actor with big album art .
I completely agree with my colleague Tom Deehan , who says the Lock Screen changestake divine guidance from the Apple Watchand its many tone and complicatedness . He even thinks that the snap Lock Screen view is so handy , it might cease people buy an Apple Watch ! That might take on further significance if there ’s an always - on display element to the iPhone 14 Pro , as rumoured .
Apple got over Ive
However , in my head though , the real grounds for the variety runs deep . For the longest fourth dimension , the personality of Apple product conformed to the whims of one man , the company’sformer design headman Jony I ve .
Since I ve ’s exit , we ’ve also witnessed a going from his insure influence over Apple ’s computer hardware and software system . We ’ve seen multiple ports and beloved feature likeMagSafereturn to Mac computers , liberate users from endless adapters and dongles . There are more colour for products like the iMac and MacBook Air too .
Sir Jonathan I ve did a great deal of unfeignedly great things at Apple . His incumbency made the company ’s blueprint the envy of every manufacturing business – tech or otherwise – on the planet , properly down to the boxes those product arrive in . It also made him the rich and most noted intriguer in the history of consumer tech .
However , as a result of that success , I ve ’s stubborn hold over Apple ’s figure had bulge to restrict the company and its users . It foreclose legion of dedicated Apple user from expressing their individuality , in an era when it ’s never feel more important .
This iOS 16 alteration may seem like a small affair , but its sends a big subject matter – your iPhone is now another vas for you to state you ; not something that exists independently of your expressive style , vibration , or temper . To this extent – and there are many other facets to this argument – iOS 16 is now in the hands of its user .
The Lock Screen ? It ’s unlocked . What might be next ?
