Apple today released iOS 16.5 to the public with support for new features, including updates to the Apple News app layout and new Siri commands enabling the virtual assistant to start and stop screen recordings. iOS 16.5 also introduces bug fixes for Spotlight, Podcasts, CarPlay, and Screen Time.

According to Apple’s release notes, iOS 16.5 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

Apple iOS 16,5 release notes

The revamped design for the News app introduces a new Sports tab which replaces the standalone Following tab. The five dedicated toggles are Today, News+, Sports, Audio, and Following. The old Search and Following tabs have been combined into a single Following toggle to make way for the Sports tab:

In iOS 16.5, iPhone users can now ask Siri to initiate a screen recording by simply saying “start a screen recording.” To stop and automatically save a screen recording, users can then ask Siri to “stop screen recording.” If a user triggers a screen recording using Siri, the Dynamic Island animation is slightly different on the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max:

Apple also released updates across the following platforms offering similar features:

• iPadOS 16.5
• macOS Ventura 13.4
• watchOS 9.5
• tvOS 16.5

Apple could announce the first beta of iOS 16.6 as soon as this week, according to MacRumors, citing evidence from a reliable source. iOS 16.6 is likely to be the last update to iOS 16 before iOS 17 launches later this fall.

iOS 17 is expected to debut at WWDC 2023 and is thought to offer numerous quality-of-life features across the board. Apple’s next major iOS release could include updates to Health and Wallet, app sideloading and third-party app stores in Europe, Control Center redesign, and more.