This story is part of Focal Point iPhone 2022CNET’s collection of news, tips and advice on Apple’s most popular product.
The official launch of iOS 16 it’s almost here (Here’s how to watch Apple’s “Far Out” event This day). If you have tried the iOS 16 public betayou may have already figured out what your new favorite features are. Some of the fan favorites so far are the battery return percentage to the icon, text message editing you have already sent and automatically remove people or pets from your photos.
read more: Apple Event Live blog: iPhone 14, Apple Watch Series 8 and more
The least popular features? The new search button on the home page might be too easy to accidentally tap, and the unexpected personal photo popups might be a bit also staff.
Fortunately, there is a way to remove or disable some of the most annoying features and settings in iOS 16. See how to disable these irritating settings below. Also, if you want to learn more about what iOS 16 has to offer, check out these hidden featuressuch as password-protected photo albums and two new features available in Apple Maps.
Read more: iOS 16 can reveal the secrets of the iPhone 14
Prevent personal photos and videos from appearing unexpectedly
Apple’s artificial intelligence helps display photos and videos in various places on your iPhone that it thinks you’d like to see—as a friendly reminder of family vacations, couple photos, and holidays—but you might not always want your personal photos appear unexpectedly. especially if they are private, embarrassing, or inappropriate.
Fortunately, with iOS 16, you can now prevent Featured Photos, as well as curated collections known as Memories, from appearing in photo widgets on your home screen and in the Find and For You sections in Photos.
To block these custom photos, start the Settings application, enter Photos and disable Show Featured Content. All featured content will no longer appear on your device; instead, it will only be available in your photo library and albums.
Once Show Featured Content is turned off, your device’s featured photos and memories should be gone.
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Prevent the side button from accidentally ending your phone calls
The Side/Power button on the side of your iPhone allows you to quickly sleep and wake your device, but if you accidentally press it during a phone call, it will prematurely end your call. If that’s something you’ve encountered in the past, iOS 16 finally lets you prevent that from happening.
In Settings, go to Accessibility > Play and disable Lock to end call to prevent the side button from ending your calls. If you accidentally press the side button, your screen will go to sleep, but you’ll stay on your phone call, uninterrupted.
This feature is hidden in the Accessibility section of your settings.
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Remove the search button from your home screen
The search feature on your iPhone lets you quickly find what you’re looking for, whether it’s a text message, a third-party app, a file, a note, and a location—just about anything on your device or on the web. And the best thing about the feature is that it is easily accessible from the home screen; all you need to do is swipe down anywhere on the screen and it will appear.
And iOS 16 has added another way to access Search from the home screen, via a small button just above its dock. Unfortunately, it’s easy to accidentally activate it, because it’s close to where your thumb might go when you scroll between the various home pages.
Fortunately, like many new features in iOS 16, this one can also be turned off. Just launch the Settings app, go to Starting screen and disable Show on home screen to remove the search button from the home screen. The search bubble should be gone, replaced by little dots that represent your various home screens.
Even if you remove the Search button, you can still access the feature by swiping down from anywhere on the home screen.
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Go back to old lock screen notifications
Apple’s latest redesign brings customizable widgets, fonts, and colors, a wallpaper gallery, and a stylized date and time on the lock screen, as well as an overlooked change to notifications. Instead of appearing at the top of the lock screen, notifications now appear at the bottom, which you can then tap to make them appear full screen.
However, not everyone can be happy with this change. If you want to go back to the way notifications appeared in iOS 15, launch the Settings app and go to Notifications > Show as. You will then see three options:
- Count: Notifications appear as a numbered count at the bottom of the screen.
- Stack: Notifications appear in a stack at the bottom of the screen.
- Ready: Notifications appear completely on the screen.
To go back to the previous notification style, choose the Ready option.
You can also pinch the notifications to switch between the three Show As options.
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