Apple Releases First Public Beta of iOS 16.1 With Clean Energy Charging, Live Activities and More

Apple released the first beta of an anticipated iOS 16.1 update to public beta testers today, allowing the broader public to participate in the beta testing process. Today’s beta comes one day after Apple made the beta available to developers.

After installing the required certificate from the Public Beta website, public beta testers who have joined up for Apple’s free beta testing programmed can download the iOS 16.1 beta over the air.

According to Apple, iOS 16.1 will have Live Activities, an interactive notification feature meant to keep you up to date on what’s going on in real time. Live Activities will be featured on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island, but they will not be visible in the beta since developers are currently working on adding compatibility.

In the United States, the update features a Clean Energy Charging feature that forces the iPhone to preferentially charge when reduced carbon emission energy is available, as well as laying the basis for Matter, a smart home standard that Apple promises to embrace this autumn.

Other new features include a resizable Wallet app, updates to the Lock Screen customization interface, and more, which can be found in our iOS 16.1 feature guide. In addition, Apple has seeded a new public beta of iPadOS 16.1.