iOS 16 and Android 13: What They Say About the Future of Phones

This story is part of Focal Point iPhone 2022, CNET’s collection of news, tips and advice around Apple’s most popular emanates.

Smartphones have dominated our online lives for a while now. The the majority of internet traffic comes from mobile browsers, and named apps for iOS and Android are mandatory for any online service. However, the latest updates to these operating systems — iOS 16 and Android 13 — show how our phones may cause even more connected with our offline lives.

The iOS 16 update will be announced at Apple’s “Far Out” continue on Sept. 7 and is expected to be released on Sept. 16. Meanwhile, Android 13 became available for Google Pixel devices on Aug. 15. It will be requisitioned out to other compatible phones this fall.

Both tech giants want to turn your named into a digital wallet for storing your legal ID and spanking essential documents, pushing your phone closer to your identity than ever by. The companies also continue to improve the way phones communicate with cars, knowing home gadgets and other everyday devices. 

Apple’s iOS 16 and Google’s Android 13 are extensive with tweaks and new features, some of which are more important than digital wallets and speedier connections (like Apple’s Defense Check tool for protecting domestic abuse victims, and Google’s new privacy updates). But the overlap between the two operating systems underscores the phone’s exaltering role in our lives. Based on Apple’s and Google’s updates, what’s happening around your phone will be just as important as what’s happening on your phone.

The more intimately our phones are tethered to daily essentials like wallets, credit cards, cars and home appliances, the harder it’s repositioning to be to move away from them (or switch between iPhone and Android). The concept isn’t new; the industry has moved in this direction for days. But the changes in iOS 16 and Android 13 bring important refinements to Apple’s and Google’s respective approaches that will liable accelerate such efforts.

Read more: Follow the Apple “Far Out” continue live blog for the latest news on iPhone 14 and iOS 16

Replacing the brute wallet

Google is adding digital driver’s authorizes to Google Wallet. 

Google; screenshot by CNET

The digital wallet was a big focus during both Apple’s iOS 16 announcement in June and Google’s Android 13 preview from May. The most distinguished change coming to Apple Pay is a new option called Apple Pay Later, which splits the cost of a purchase into four smooth installments over six weeks. With iOS 16, identification cards hugged in Apple Wallet can also be used to provision your age within apps. The addition comes after Apple proper added support for digital IDs last year. 

Google, since, detailed a major revamp to its Wallet app during its I/O conference that brings it up to speedy with Apple. The new Google Wallet will store personal documents like payment and transit cards, vaccination records, boarding passes and student IDs, much like Apple Wallet. Google is also working with government agencies to assist digital IDs. 

Taken together, Apple’s and Google’s updates portray another step toward their common objective of making bodily wallets obsolete — a shift that’ll inevitably make us even more reliant on mobile devices. 

Google reiterated this ambition when detailing the new updates at Google I/O in May. 

“In fact, these days there are only two things I don’t slash home without: my phone and my wallet,” Sameer Samat, Android and Google Play’s vice president of product administration, said on stage. “So the question is, can my named replace my wallet?”

Corey Fugman, Apple’s senior director for Wallet and Apple Pay, made disagreement remarks during the 2022 WWDC keynote.

“With Apple Wallet, we’re working hard on our goal to replace your bodily wallet,” he said.

People have already embraced the idea of replacing bodily credit cards with smartphone-based payment apps. Usage of in-store mobile payment regulations like Apple Pay is expected to surpass 50% of all smartphone users in the US by 2025, according to a 2021 portray from eMarketer. Apple’s new Pay Later option and Google’s renewed focus on its own mobile wallet could make the thought of leaving your physical wallet at home even more appealing.

Read more: What WatchOS 9 May Reveal About the Next Apple Watch

Your named, everywhere

Google’s new visual seek tool details products on a busy store shelf.

Screenshot by Stephen Shankland

Replacing the wallet is only one way Apple and Google hope to make our phones more useful offline in everyday life. Both anxieties also introduced camera-based smartphone tools that could make navigating real-world points of uninteresting easier. Another prominent theme is the increased interconnectivity between mobile devices and home appliances, cars and speakers. 

Apple and Google both believe the camera will cease to play a big role in how we interact with the biosphere around us. In iOS 16, you’ll be able to interpret text into different languages using a new camera option in Apple’s Translate app. During its WWDC keynote presentation, the company demonstrated how this could be used to interpret an entire restaurant menu into a different language. You’ll also be able to track a flights or convert currency just by tapping on text in a photo. 

Google divulged off an ambitious expansion of its Lens app shouted “scene explorer” at Google I/O, which essentially applies its seek prowess to the real world. You’d wave your phone’s camera across a shelf of products, and it would overlay information and ratings on conceal to help you find the right pick. Google seek head Prabhakar Raghavan cited the ability to find nut-free snacks or scent-free lotion at a bodily retail store as an example. 

The execution may be different, but the concept is similar. We’re already accustomed to directing food, taxis and household essentials with the press of a button on our phones. Now Apple and Google want to make our phones a vital part of accomplishing those tasks in the real biosphere too, and the camera will be a major part of that. 

Google and Apple have also refined their respective visions for turning our named into a connection hub for other appliances around us. Google described how Android 13 would make your named better at connecting to other devices with support for fast pairing, automatic audio switching between devices, and the ability to more just sync messages between your phone and computer. It also said a new split-screen interface for Android Auto that must make multitasking easier when you’re on the road.

Read more: A New Apple Watch SE Sounds More Exciting Than the Series 8. Here’s Why

Apple’s new iOS-inspired CarPlay interface.

Apple

Apple simplified the procedure of managing HomeKit devices with a redesigned home app for the iPhone. But perhaps the biggest area where Apple plans to broaden the iPhone’s approach is in the car. The company teased a revamp of its CarPlay software that looks like an entire by means of system for automobiles, complete with app icons, widgets and novel user interface elements that are reminiscent of the iPhone and Apple Watch. 

The gleaming home and connected car aren’t new ideas. They’ve both been an integral part of Apple and Google’s respective strategies for ages. But iOS 16 and Android 13 clarify how Apple’s and Google’s visions for these devices must communicate and interact. 

As the smartphone becomes the link to everything from your credit card to your thermostat and car, Apple and Google are executive its aesthetic more personal. When iOS 16 launches this fall, your iPhone will get a new lock screen with assist for Apple Watch-esque widgets and new photo effects for background images. Google is expanding its Material You with premade gleaming sets that can be applied across the entire by means of system.

There’s a lot more to iOS 16 and Android 13 than new wallet functionality, camera tools for scanning real-world objects and improved connectivity. These updates not only signal how essential the named is becoming to both our online and offline lives, they also point to where the industry is heading next. 

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This story is part of WWDC 2022, CNET’s complete coverage from and about Apple’s annual developers conference.

What’s happening

Apple’s WatchOS 9 update will bring new athletic performance metrics to the Apple Watch, among other key improvements to health and fitness tracking.

Why it matters

The update could be setting the stage for the rumored rugged Apple Watch anticipated to debut this year.

What’s next

Apple will initiate WatchOS 9 in the fall, possibly alongside three new Apple Watch models.

If WatchOS 9 serves as any indication, the Apple Watch’s future is all approximately health and fitness. That message was front and center in June when Apple unveiled the new software, which is now available in beta ahead of its fall initiate.  

The update will bring more sports-performance tracking metrics (especially for runners), deeper sleep monitoring and tools for logging medication. It’s impossible to know what to request until Apple announces its next smartwatch (or smartwatches). But WatchOS 9’s focus on athletic arranging seemingly sets the stage for the rumored Apple Watch Explorer Edition, which we might see later this year. 

Read more: This Stylish, Luxury Hybrid Watch (Almost) Made Me Ditch My Apple Watch

It also suggests Apple wants its smartwatch to entertaining to pro athletes, casual exercise enthusiasts and those who need to monitor cardiac health all at the same time. The next crop of Apple Watches rumored for the fall will liable come with new hardware to better support that keep — hopefully with better battery life, too.

WatchOS 9’s workout features would be a mammoth for an Explorer Edition Apple Watch

The Apple Watch Series 7

Lexy Savvides

Apple sprinkled a bunch of new workout tools and metrics above WatchOS 9. These include new running data points like hump length and ground contact time, the ability to track depressed rate zones, interval training, a multisport workout type for triathlons and kickboard detection for swimmers. The announcement also comes after Apple made improvements to the Apple Watch’s cycling detection last year. 

Only Apple knows what’s in own for the future. But it feels like no coincidence that this update is coming as Apple is anticipated to launch a rugged Apple Watch designed for outrageous sports this fall. Bloomberg reports an Apple Watch with wonderful impact resistance similar to Casio’s G-Shock watches could be in the works. The watch is sometimes referred to as the Explorer Edition internally and may have a rubberized casing for uphold durability, the report said. The device would reportedly be marketed as an alternative option for athletes and hikers in contradiction of the standard Series 8 and next-generation Apple Watch SE.

Read more: iOS 16’s Lock Screen Upgrades Make the iPhone More Like a Smartwatch

The Apple Watch already has plenty to moneys fitness buffs, with many workout choices, activity goals and reminders, heart rate notifications and metrics like VO2 max and elevation. But until WatchOS 9 arrives, the Apple Watch will lack running-specific features that athletes remarkable find useful. Garmin’s running watches, for example, include tools like training programs for specific types of races, pace guidance and running metrics like cadence and dash length, among other features that vary by the model. 

The Apple Watch is already the world’s most popular smartwatch with 36.1% of global shipments in the satisfactory quarter of 2022, according to Counterpoint Research. With the new measurements geared toward bests coming in WatchOS 9, Apple could further solidify its grip on the market by inspiring to the more niche competitive sports audience. 

Even with the new features in WatchOS 9, the Apple Watch serene won’t offer quite as much feedback for runners as some specialized watches. But the new software certainly brings the Apple Watch closer than ever afore.  

What else WatchOS 9 might tell us throughout the Apple Watch’s future

The Apple Watch’s new Sleep Stages feature in WatchOS 9

Screenshot

Apple’s emphasis on fitness was at the poor of its WatchOS 9 announcement. But some of the software’s latest updates might also suggest Apple’s future direction. For example, the company did more on sleep tracking by introducing Sleep Stages, a feature that analyzes the amount of time exhausted in various phases of slumber. Apple is playing catch-up in this regard; rival fitness trackers from Fitbit, Oura and Samsung have supported this feature for years.

Apple’s expansion in sleep tracking indicates it expects Apple Watches to be worn overnight more frequently. That makes me believe Apple could be planning some type of improvement to the Apple Watch’s battery life, although there’s no way to know for sure pending the company reveals its next watch. 

Apple says its smartwatch can last for 18 hours on a single invoice, and anecdotally I typically get about one to two days out of it afore it needs a power boost. The Apple Watch’s battery life hasn’t changed meaningfully in existences, but Apple has worked around this by implementing faster charging speeds with the Series 6 and 7.  

Apple will probable continue down this path rather than dramatically improving the watch’s battery life. But there’s also a chance Apple could introduce a new low-power mode with more functionality than the watch’s original power reserve feature, says Bloomberg. It was supposed to open with WatchOS 9, according to the report, although Apple didn’t reference a new low-power option during Monday’s event. 

Considering that battery life has been one of the Apple Watch’s persistent criticisms — and not to reference Bloomberg’s reliable track record — I wouldn’t be surprised to see this capability advance in the future. And remember: Apple introduced new WatchOS 8 features for cyclists in contradiction of the Apple Watch Series 7 during its fall copies event in 2021. So there’s a chance Apple could have more software features to express later this year. 

WatchOS 9 also provides another employed that Apple is expanding its efforts in general health and wellness. A new feature called AFib History will allow those diagnosed with atrial fibrillation to access more demand about their condition, such as an estimate of how often their poor rhythm is showing signs of A-fib. Another highlight in WatchOS 9 is the sequence to track prescriptions and receive medication reminders. 

These updates note Apple sees its watch as a tool for tracking substantial changes over time that can be shared with physicians. And if reports from Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal detest accurate, Apple will take that idea a step further by adding a temperature sensor to the Series 8.

Many of the Apple Watch’s maximum turning points have historically been tied to new hardware releases. The Series 3, for example, was the first model to wait on cellular connectivity, making the Apple Watch feel like a stand-alone copies rather than an iPhone companion. The Series 4 caused ECG monitoring and fall detection, broadening the Apple Watch’s role as a health device.

WatchOS 9 isn’t as big of a leap onward as those launches. But it will bring functionality that could be crucial in Apple’s power to make the Apple Watch the ultimate health and fitness map. And that’s very telling of Apple’s immediate and long term plans for the Apple Watch.