A fitness-oriented lock screen, for example, would show statistics such as calories burned and exercise goals alongside a music player. Glance's lock screen will appear in the form of what it calls "spaces," which are essentially curated lock screens designed to fit specific themes. While the company hasn't revealed its US launch timing or other details, it did provide a glimpse at its US lock screen offering on Monday. Glance, which offers entertainment and other digital content on the lock screens of certain Android devices in India and Southeast Asia, is in talks with wireless carriers to launch in the US over the next two months, according to TechCrunch. Like the Apple Watch, the new lock screen should make it easier to see crucial pieces of information without having to dig into apps or even unlock your phone.Ī screenshot from Glance's website showing what its lock screen platform looks like.Īndroid phone owners may have new lock screen options soon But as I've written before, it sounds like iOS 16's new widgets will make your iPhone feel more similar to the Apple Watch, which seems like an upgrade. It's impossible to know how useful this new lock screen will be without spending a significant amount of time with iOS 16. That means developers may soon have another way to reach iPhone owners and prevent their apps from getting buried deep within a user's app library. If you watch Apple's WWDC demo closely, you can even see an option for a Nike widget. Since you can add widgets from apps like Spotify, Google Maps and Outlook to the iPhone's Today View, I wouldn't be surprised to see widgets from third parties available for the new lock screen too. You can even create multiple lock screens and cycle through them, much like Apple Watch faces. Android phones have offered this type of functionality for years, and it's nice to see the iPhone follow suit. The iPhone already lets you place widgets on your lock screen's secondary Today View screen, which you can access by swiping to the right.īut iOS 16 adds widgets to the main lock screen for showing bits of information at a glance, like the temperature, Activity Rings from the Apple Watch and upcoming calendar appointments. You'll be able to customize font styles and colors for the date and time in addition to giving your background photo a magazine cover-like aesthetic.Īs I wrote previously, it's really the new widgets that will bring more utility to the iPhone's lock screen. Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, called it "the biggest update ever" when he introduced the update at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in June. One of the biggest features coming in iOS 16 is the new lock screen. The iPhone's lock screen is getting a big revamp The widget gallery for the iPhone's lock screen in iOS 16. Taken together, changes like these suggest we might not want to swipe past our lock screens so quickly in the future. And Google is reportedly planning to incorporate more bits of information into its own lock screen widget for Pixel phones. Glance, a Google-backed subsidiary of mobile ad tech company InMobi, also reiterated its plans to bring its lock screen platform to the US. You'll be able to see more information quickly and apply stylistic effects to lock screen photos similar to the iPhone's Portrait Mode photography feature. But companies are increasingly looking to do more with that valuable real estate, as evidenced by Apple's iOS 16 update and other changes reportedly coming to Android phones.Īpple's iOS 16 update, which launched in public beta on Monday, will bring more customization options and new widgets to the iPhone's lock screen when it arrives this fall. The lock screen has long been considered an intimate space reserved for personal photos, important notifications and tools like the flashlight. Maybe that wallpaper is a photo of your pet, a picture of a beautiful sunset from a recent vacation or just a cool piece of artwork. What's the first thing you see on your phone each day? It's most likely your lock screen, filled with recent notifications and your lock screen wallpaper. Glance has not provided a timeline for its US debut. These updates suggest companies are trying to make better use of that space.Īpple's iOS 16 update officially launches in the fall and just arrived in public beta on Monday. The lock screen is the first thing most people see when they pick up their phones. Between the launch of iOS 16, lock screen content company Glance's upcoming expansion in the US and updates to Google's Pixel phone widgets, it's clear the lock screen is about to change.
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