iOS 16 has added a haptic keyboard option to the iPhone, which adds a small vibration every time you tap a letter when typing out messages and such. Unfortunately, Apple's warning users that turning this on may cost you battery life.
We don't know the extent to which the battery gets drained, only that the Apple Support page for the feature says: "Turning on keyboard haptics might affect the battery life of your iPhone.”
Most recent iPhones (excluding the iPhone SE 2022 and perhaps the iPhone 14 Pro) have good to excellent battery life, so if it's only a small drain on the battery, then you may not even notice a difference. However, if you're a heavy typer, or you're already struggling to get your iPhone through the day without a trip to a wall outlet, this won't be what you want to hear. At least there is one cool new feature that helps prevent battery damage.
I still love the fact Apple's finally added keyboard haptics to the iPhone, and with my iPhone 13 Pro Max, I'm not noticing any major battery drops. So if you're curious, I would at least recommend trying out haptic keyboard feedback on your iPhone for a few days to see if you like it, and if you notice a difference in remaining charge when you get to the end of the day. If you aren't sure how to do it, we can tell you how to enable haptic keyboard on iPhone.
iOS 16 has had some other issues, like over-zealous copy/paste permissions, but mostly we've really enjoyed all its new abilities. The new lock screen customization is particularly welcome, as are the new notification formats and the ability to unsend messages. Plus we also enjoy the "magical meme machine" that is the ability to lift a photo's subject from its background.
As for the future of iPhone software, iOS 16.1 just hit its second developer beta. This adds some more features and refinements, including a more readable battery percentage indicator, Clean Energy Charging and the long-awaited addition of Live Activities.
Next: Many users have been complaining about iOS 16 still draining the battery on their iPhone two weeks after the new OS was launched.
