iOS 16.5: The New Features to Land on Your iPhone

Download the update now for these features and more.

Apple released iOS 16.5 to the general public on May 18, almost two months after the tech giant released iOS 16.4. The latest iOS update provides some important bug fixes and security patches, brings a few new features to Apple News, and serves up some new wallpapers.

However, some people have said the update drains their iPhone’s battery faster than usual. Apple previously said this isn’t unusual after an iOS update, and iPhones may need 48 hours to adjust to new features within an update. So if your battery does drain fast after this update, that should go away soon.

To download the latest iPhone update, go to Settings > General > Software Update and follow the onscreen prompts.

Below, you’ll find the new iPhone features you get with iOS 16.5. You can also check out the important security patches and bug fixes included in the update.

Pride Celebration wallpapers

Apple added two new preloaded Pride Celebration wallpapers to a new Pride wallpaper section. That section is “designed with the colors of the Pride flag to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community,” its description reads.

You can access the new section by tapping Settings > Wallpaper > +Add New Wallpaper.

Apple News gets some sports upgrades
The Apple News app launched in 2015, and iOS 16.5 brings a Sports tab to the app for the first time. The tab can be found in the toolbar across the bottom of your screen when you open the app. Before, the toolbar displayed tabs for Today, News Plus, Audio, Following and Search. The update gets rid of the Search tab to make room for the Sports tab.

With iOS 16.5, the My Sports scores and schedule cards in Apple News also get an update. Now when you tap the three dots (…) in the bottom right corner of one of these cards, you’ll see an option for Go to Game. Tapping this option will bring up more details about that game.

Here are the release notes for iOS 16.5.

This update includes the following enhancements and bug fixes:

• A new Pride Celebration wallpaper for the Lock Screen to honor the LGBTQ+ community and culture.

• Sports tab in Apple News gives easy access to stories, scores, standings, and more, for the teams and leagues you follow.

• My Sports score and schedule cards in Apple News take you directly to game pages where you can find additional details about specific games.

• Fixes an issue where Spotlight may become unresponsive.

• Addresses an issue where Podcasts in CarPlay may not load content.

• Fixes an issue where Screen Time settings may reset or not sync across all devices.

For more, check out why you should download iOS 16.5 now and how iOS 17 might turn your iPhone into a smart home-esque display. And if you want to try new iOS features before other folks, here’s how to become an Apple beta tester.

Company Allowing Billions of Robocalls To Your Phones Gets Sued By 48 US States

First the FCC, now US state attorneys are punishing robocallers.

The Federal Communications Commission isn’t the only one cracking down on illegal robocalls, as nearly every US state has sued a telecom company accused of allowing over 21 billion robocalls to US telephone numbers, including 7.5 billion that are on the national Do Not Call registry.

The lawsuit was brought by attorneys general of every US state except Alaska and South Dakota along with Washington, D.C. against Avid Telecom for allowing robocalls that misled and scammed recipients of the calls, thus violating consumer protection laws, as Gizmodo reported earlier Thursday.

Avid Telecom is a voice provider that transfers calls to US phone number owners, and the Industry Traceback Group that notifies providers about illegal robocalls coming through their networks notified Avid at least 329 times that it was transmitting said calls. The telecom has “been on notice about this illegal call traffic for many years,” the states claim in the lawsuit.

Of the billions of robocalls, more than 8.4 million “appeared to be coming from government and law enforcement agencies, as well as private companies,” according to a press release from Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry, who is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Avid Telecom allegedly allowed robocalls scamming recipients on Social Security, Medicare, Amazon, credit card interest rate reduction, and of course, auto warranties.

The lawsuit is the result of the Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force of attorneys general from every US state and Washington, D.C., with help from the Federal Trade Commission and Social Security Administration.

The legal action follows the FCC ramping up action on illegal robocalls by making voice providers like Avid Telecom responsible for the scam calls carried through their networks. In addition to setting more restrictive rules, after repeated warnings the agency recently banned a provider from sending calls into the US.

Avid Telecom did not respond to a request for comment by time of publication.

You Can Now Download a ChatGPT App on Your iPhone and iPad

OpenAI’s ChatGPT AI software is officially on iOS.

ChatGPT, the revolutionary and controversial artificial intelligence chatbot, is now available to use as a dedicated app for your iPhone or iPad. OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, released the official ChatGPT application for iOS last week — a smart move, considering all the fakes and copycats that have flooded the market since ChatGPT first came out in late 2022.

The free ChatGPT app does everything you would expect from the web version, which is mostly providing comprehensive answers to your many prompts. Thanks to Bing Search, you can even get access to real-time information, something which ChatGPT has never been able to do (it could only provide data before 2021). There is one new feature exclusive to the iOS app — you can now ask ChatGPT questions using voice recognition.

Don’t miss: ChatGPT vs. Bing vs. Google Bard: Which AI Is the Most Helpful?

If you’re interested in testing out ChatGPT on your iPhone or iPad, we’ll show you how to download the application, sign up for the service, and use ChatGPT to get answers to your biggest and most complicated questions.

And if you need a device to test out the ChatGPT app, check out the best iPhone models of 2023 and our review of the iPhone 14.

Download ChatGPT on your iPhone or iPad
As previously mentioned, there are a ton of third-party applications pretending to be ChatGPT, so you have to be careful when downloading the correct one. If you don’t want to search for it in the App Store, use the link below to download ChatGPT for iOS. You’ll know it’s the correct one if the developer is OpenAI.

Sign in or create an account to use ChatGPT
If you already have an account, hit the Log in button and sign in with your existing email and password.

If you don’t, you can easily create an account using your Apple ID, Google account or email. You’ll then be asked to enter your name and birthday (people age 13 and older can use ChatGPT, but minors may need a parent’s consent) and type in your phone number to verify that you’re a real person.

Finally, you’ll see a single welcome page, where ChatGPT will warn you that its responses may be inaccurate and that you shouldn’t share sensitive information because the chats may be reviewed by AI trainers. Hit Continue to use ChatGPT.

Using ChatGPT on your iPhone or iPad
Now you can use ChatGPT just as you would in your web browser, although the user interface does have a slightly different look on mobile.

To ask ChatGPT a question, tap on the text field at the bottom of the screen that says Message. If you want to use the new voice-to-text feature, tap on the audio icon on the far right of the text field. ChatGPT will ask for access to your microphone. After providing access, you can then speak for as long as you like — tap to stop recording. Hit the enter button to send your prompt to ChatGPT.

In the top right, you can access ChatGPT’s menu, which allows you to rename your chats, delete your chats, view your history, manage your settings and start a new chat.

In your settings, you can subscribe to ChatGPT Plus, which gives you access to OpenAI’s most current language model — GPT-4 — and provides access to ChatGPT, even when demand is high and free users may be locked out. You’ll also get early access to any new features. It’s $20 a month for ChatGPT Plus, but it’s not necessary to pay for ChatGPT on iOS unless you want these advanced features and guaranteed access.

ChatGPT on iOS is currently limited to the US, but will expand to other countries in the following weeks. And for Android users, don’t fret — OpenAI says that ChatGPT will be coming to Android devices soon.

Windows Copilot Puts AI in the Middle of Microsoft’s Most Important Software

A task bar icon shaped like a loop of blue ribbon opens up an entirely new sidebar to tweak your PC, ask questions and control your apps.

Microsoft has begun building an AI chat interface straight into its single most important software product, the company said Tuesday. The tool will perform tasks like summarizing documents, suggesting music, offering tech support for your PC and answering questions you might ask a search engine or AI chatbot.

Windows Copilot is scheduled to arrive in a preview version of Windows via an icon in the task bar that looks like a loop of blue ribbon. Clicking it opens a chat interface sidebar where you can type questions or prompts like “enable dark mode” and click buttons to take actions. Microsoft will begin testing the feature in June, said Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s marketing chief for consumer products.

It’s a major new step in Microsoft’s embrace of artificial intelligence technology. Previously the company had built AI into its Bing search engine and Edge web browser, but Windows is used by millions more people and for many more hours a day.

“We are bringing the Copilot to the biggest canvas of all, Windows,” CEO Satya Nadella said at the company’s Microsoft Build developer conference. The arrival of AI chat interfaces is as important to computing progress as other major moments, like the arrival of the internet or the iPhone, he said.

Read more: Windows 10 Is Being Phased Out. Here’s What That Means for You

And the change reflects a growing seriousness in modern AI. Google has begun building AI directly into search, Gmail, Docs and other key services used by billions of people. Adobe on Tuesday released a beta version of Photoshop that uses AI to generate new imagery. AI remains experimental, but no longer is AI on the periphery of the world’s biggest tech products.

Microsoft also is building its Copilot technology into its Office suite of productivity tools.

Google has taken a different approach with its AI, restricting its more freewheeling chatbot technology to its Bard chatbot and adding more factual, literal tools to search, Gmail and other mainstream tools.

Mehdi thinks that’s a mistake, though. Indeed, he hopes Google keeps the functions separate because that’ll help Microsoft’s prospects, he said.

“Customers have told us they’re not a separate thing. They think it’s all integrated,” Mehdi said in an interview. “The ability to be able to ask any question from where you are, to get searchlike answers, that’s a powerful thing for customers.”

Read More: Microsoft Rolls Out Tool That Connects Your iPhone to Your PC

Microsoft added AI-boosted search results and an AI chatbot to its Bing search engine in February. It relies on OpenAI, an artificial intelligence powerhouse in which Microsoft has invested, for the core language processing technology. Thanks in part to the feature, Bing usage crossed the threshold of 100 million people per day, Mehdi said, though he wouldn’t reveal the pace of the growth.

Also at Build, Microsoft announced it’s making plugin technology available to Bing and Windows Copilot so developers can integrate their own software. That’ll let you tap into those apps using Microsoft’s AI interfaces.

And Microsoft announced that OpenAI is using Bing search engine data to help improve its ChatGPT chatbot. Search engines can be used to “ground” generative AI tools that can often make up incorrect information.

Download iOS 16.5 for These Important Security Fixes

The latest software update for iPhones fixes security issues that might be actively exploited.
To download iOS 16.5, go to Settings > General > Software Update and follow the onscreen prompts.

The latest iPhone update patches almost 40 issues and bugs, Apple said in its patch notes, including three security issues that might be actively exploited. These three security issues relate to WebKit, the internet browser engine used in Safari and developed by Apple.

One of these issues could disclose sensitive information to a third party, and another could allow a third party to execute commands on your device without your knowledge. Fixes for these issues are in 16.5 for anyone who missed the release of the first iPhone Rapid Security Response, iOS 16.4.1 (a). The third issue could allow a third party access to more information across your device than is allowed.

The iOS update also patches an issue where someone could access your contacts from your lock screen. While Apple has provided ways to customize your lock screen, some people have run into issues where the lock screen can allow others to access some iPhone features, like replying to messages and even your Wallet.

Other patches in the update include stopping some apps from bypassing privacy preferences, blocking some apps from reading sensitive location information and preventing app termination when opening a PDF file.

For more, you can check out what new features iOS 16.5 brings to your iPhone and what features you may have missed in iOS 16.4.
Apple released iOS 16.5 on Thursday, almost two months after the release of iOS 16.4. The latest iOS update provides a few new features to your iPhone, like a new sports tab in the Apple News app, but you should really download the update for all the security patches and fixes it includes.

iOS 16.5: Apple’s iPhone Update Includes These New Features

You can download the update now to get these features and more.

Apple released iOS 16.5 to the general public on Thursday, almost two months after the tech giant released iOS 16.4. The latest iOS update provides some important bug fixes and security patches, and brings a few new features to Apple News and some wallpapers.

To download the latest iPhone update, go to Settings > General > Software Update and follow the onscreen prompts.

Below, you’ll find the new iPhone features you get with iOS 16.5. You can also check out what features you may have missed with iOS 16.4.

Pride Celebration wallpapers

Apple added two new preloaded Pride Celebration wallpapers to a new Pride wallpaper section. That section is “designed with the colors of the Pride flag to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community,” its description reads.

You can access the new section by tapping Settings > Wallpaper > +Add New Wallpaper.

Apple News gets some sports upgrades
The Apple News app launched in 2015, and iOS 16.5 brings a Sports tab to the app for the first time. The tab can be found in the toolbar across the bottom of your screen when you open the app. Before, the toolbar displayed tabs for Today, News Plus, Audio, Following and Search. The update gets rid of the Search tab to make room for the Sports tab.

With iOS 16.5, the My Sports scores and schedule cards in Apple News also get an update. Now when you tap the three dots (…) in the bottom right corner of one of these cards, you’ll see an option for Go to Game. Tapping this option will bring up more details about that game.

Here are the release notes for iOS 16.5.

This update includes the following enhancements and bug fixes:

• A new Pride Celebration wallpaper for the Lock Screen to honor the LGBTQ+ community and culture.

• Sports tab in Apple News gives easy access to stories, scores, standings, and more, for the teams and leagues you follow.

• My Sports score and schedule cards in Apple News take you directly to game pages where you can find additional details about specific games.

• Fixes an issue where Spotlight may become unresponsive.

• Addresses an issue where Podcasts in CarPlay may not load content.

• Fixes an issue where Screen Time settings may reset or not sync across all devices.

Download iOS 16.5 Right Now

The update fixes a few security issues that might be actively exploited.

Apple released iOS 16.5 Thursday, almost two months after the release of iOS 16.4. While the latest iPhone update provides a few new features to your device, like a new sports tab in the Apple News app, you should really download the update for all the security patches and fixes it includes.

To download iOS 16.5, go to Settings > General > Software Update and follow the onscreen prompts.

The latest iPhone update patches almost 40 issues and bugs, including three security issues that might be actively exploited. These three security issues relate to WebKit, the internet browser engine used in Safari and developed by Apple.

One of these issues could disclose sensitive information to a third party, and another could allow a third party to execute commands on your device without your knowledge. Fixes for these issues are in 16.5 for anyone who missed the release of the first iPhone Rapid Security Response, iOS 16.4.1. (a). The third issue could allow a third party access to more information across your device than is allowed.

The iOS update also patches an issue where someone could access your contacts from your lock screen. While Apple has provided ways to customize your lock screen, some people have run into issues where the lock screen can allow others to access some iPhone features, like replying to messages and even your Wallet.

Other patches in the update include stopping some apps from bypassing privacy preferences, blocking some apps from reading sensitive location information and preventing app termination when opening a PDF file.

For more, you can check out what new features iOS 16.5 brings to your iPhone and what features you may have missed in iOS 16.4.

Apple’s Rumored iPhone Flip Not Expected Until 2025

Apple has patented plenty of foldable displays, but there’s still only rumors that a folding iPhone is in the works.

Samsung, Motorola and even Google have introduced foldable phones like the Galaxy Z Fold 4, Motorola Razr reboot and Pixel Fold, respectively. As the niche becomes increasingly crowded with Android folding phones, Apple still hasn’t come out with its own foldable, despite evidence mounting for years that the company seems to be tinkering with one, possibly called the iPhone Flip. But rumors say Apple may not launch its own flexible screen device until 2025.

Years ago in 2017, folks predicted that a foldable iPhone could launch in the near future of 2020 — which didn’t happen. Analysts and leakers have been kicking the release date down the road ever since, and rumors and wish lists have hung around as phone fans keep their hopes up. Absent any confirmed details from Apple, here’s everything we know so far about the company’s future foray into foldables.

Release date: The iPhone Flip launch could be in 2025
It seems to be an open secret that Apple is working toward a foldable iPhone. The company has been registering patents for foldable technologies for almost a decade now, and while there’s no guarantee that one will come out even after all that research (remember AirPower?), there’s still been buzz and possible release dates floated for years — though still not one solid enough to get excited about.

Early rumors pointed to 2021 as a potential target date, but the year passed with no foldable iPhone in sight. A March 2021 report from longtime Apple analyst Ming Chi Kuo (via MacRumors) suggested 2023 might be more realistic, if it ever happens. According to Kuo, Apple still needs to figure out technology and mass production issues before bringing a device like this to market, hence the wait. Speculation later in 2021 from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman aligned with Kuo’s predictions: In his Power On Newsletter, Gurman said that the foldable iPhone may not arrive for another two to three years.

But since then, new rumors have pointed to an even later release. Reliable display analyst Ross Young said in February that the foldable iPhone has been pushed back to 2025, and Kuo revised his predictions to 2025 in a tweet on Friday.

“Apple may launch its first foldable product in 2025 at the earliest, which may be a foldable iPad or a hybrid of iPad & iPhone,” Kuo wrote in the tweet.

The rumor mill quieted down since then, and it doesn’t look like we’ll get an iPhone foldable to arrive this year alongside the iPhone 15 expected to launch later this year. But that still leaves two years before Kuo’s prediction could possibly become reality.

Android 14: Every Big Feature Announced at Google I/O Last Week

You can expect Google’s Android 14 software update to arrive later this year.

AI may have taken center stage at last week’s Google I/O event, but Dave Burke, VP of engineering at Google, did touch on a few new customization options coming to the lock screen on Android 14.

Android 14 was first announced back in February, with the release of its first Android 14 developer preview. In April, Google released the first public beta version of Android 14, and the second shortly after Google I/O, which you can download right now (as long as you have a compatible phone, like the new Pixel 7A or Pixel Fold).

More from Google I/O
Google I/O’s Big Reveals: Pixel Fold, 7A, Android 14, AI and More
Google Pixel Fold Hands-On: Samsung Has New Competition
Google Reveals Its AI-Powered Search Engine to Keep Up With Competition
Android 14: The Biggest Features Announced at Google I/O 2023
The public and beta versions of Android 14 so far have brought improvements to privacy and security, like the ability to disable PIN animations to make it safer when unlocking your phone in public, and new features to accessibility, with larger font sizes for the visually impaired and flash notifications for those that are hard of hearing.

While you’re here, check out the best Android devices of 2023.

More customization options for your lock screen
A few customization options to the lock screen are coming to Android 14 later this year, demoed at the Google I/O keynote.

You now have the ability to add your own personalized clock to the lock screen on Android 14, choosing the font, color, size and design. There are also new shortcuts, which allow you to quickly jump into your most frequent activities, like turning on your flashlight, opening your wallet for payment or launching your camera to scan a QR code — directly from your lock screen.

Emoji and cinematic wallpapers
Android also has a couple new wallpaper options, including emoji and cinematic wallpapers, coming to Android, but not exclusive to Android 14.

The emoji wallpaper feature lets you choose up to fourteen different emoji, browse through various patterns and select a colors pattern to create a unique wallpaper for your home and lock screen. Emoji wallpapers are interactive, so the emoji will react any time you touch them.

With the cinematic wallpaper feature, you can turn any photo in your camera roll into a 3D image with motions effects to add as your backdrop. A sparkle icon button will give your photos a parallax effect as you tilt your device.

There are also generative AI wallpapers
Don’t have a wallpaper you’re happy with? Google has a new feature in Android that allows you to create a unique wallpaper with generative AI. To start, you choose a theme — for example classic art or mystical botanicals — and then a wallpaper is created. At the bottom of each wallpaper is a prompt that can be edited to further customize the existing wallpaper. Each prompt will also have several options you can swipe through.

A major update to Find My Device
Google is taking a page out of Apple’s playbook by improving how you find your missing devices, leveraging the millions of Android devices out there. For example, if you leave your Google Pixel buds at the airport, you can use any nearby Android devices to help you better locate your Android-powered phone. And if you have any third-party trackers, like Tile, on other items you own, you’ll be able to track them via Find My Device as well. This feature isn’t unique to Android 14, but will come to Android around the same time as the latest mobile operating system.

Unknown tracker alerts
Another feature coming to Android this summer is the ability to receive automatic notifications if your phone senses an unknown tracker following you. Apple and Google are working together to give people the information they need to quickly find out if they’re being possibly tracked by a stalker or thief — something that has been happening in the last few years. These unknown tracker alerts allow you to view a rogue tracker device, like an AirTag, on a map and force it to play a sound so that you can find it. You’ll even get instructions on how to disable the tracker completely, in case you’re concerned about your safety.

Microsoft Adds Bing AI Chat Widgets: How to Get Them on iOS and Android

SwiftKey now also has the capacity to compose text for you using AI.

Microsoft is marking 100 days since launching artificial intelligence-powered search on Bing with a few updates to the system. One of those is adding a chatbot widget for phone screens across both iOS and Android.

“This week, we’re launching a new Bing Chat widget,” Microsoft said in a blog post Tuesday. “Soon, you’ll be able to click the Bing icon to land directly in the new Bing Chat experience, or click the microphone icon to verbally ask a question.”

Microsoft in February unveiled Bing search powered by the large language tech behind ChatGPT, saying its search engine is now an “AI-powered co-pilot for the web.” Search results began incorporating info from OpenAI as well as Bing adding a chat window to help you with things like making shopping lists, summarizing PDFs, generating LinkedIn posts and giving advice to your queries.

The Bing AI chatbot was opened to everyone with a Microsoft account in early May, though it was limited to the Edge browser on computers, phones and tablets and the Bing app.

Tuesday’s news means it’s now available as a widget too.

Microsoft also announced it has brought AI-powered Bing to the Compose feature in the SwiftKey keyboard, “which will now draft text for you according to the parameters you suggest — not just the subject matter but also the message tone, format and length.”

It’s also improved the quality of chats in other languages than English and added the ability to continue your chatbot conversation between your mobile device and your desktop.

How to add the Bing widget to your Android phone
Download the Bing Chat app.
On your home screen, touch and hold on an empty space until your home screen zooms out.
Tap Widgets.
Scroll through the list or use the search function to find the Bing AI chat widget.
Touch and hold on the widget.
Slide it to where you want to place it on the Home screen.
Lift your finger, and the widget will be in place.
How to add the Bing widget to your iPhone
Download the Bing Chat app.
On your home screen, touch and hold an empty space until your apps jiggle.
Tap the add (+) button, located in the upper left corner.
Select the Bing AI chat widget.
Choose the size you want the widget to be.
Tap Add Widget.
Tap Done.
After Microsoft introduced the Bing AI chatbot in February, rival Google followed with AI Bard in March. CNET has broken down ChatGPT as well as Bing and Google Bard to work out which is the most helpful chatbot.

Editors’ note: CNET is using an AI engine to create some personal finance explainers that are edited and fact-checked by our editors. For more, see this post.