Got a new iPhone 16? Do these 7 things first

So you just got a brand new iPhone 16, transferred everything from your old phone, and now you’re ready to play with your shiny new toy. What do you do first? Obviously, you’re going to check out the apps you already have been using on your old iPhone for so long, probably marveling at how fast they load and how smooth and responsive everything is.

Then what? Here are our suggestions for the next things you should do with your iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Pro. And since the iPhone 16 will be the first iPhone most people will have that is capable of running Apple Intelligence, there’s lots of neat new stuff to try out.

Update to iOS 18.2

If you have an iPhone 16-series handset it came with iOS 18, and might even be updated already to iOS 18.1. But you should check if it has the latest version of iOS on it already: iOS 18.2. It arrived in mid-December and adds features mainly for iPhone 16 users like Visual Intelligence, Image Playground, Genmoji, and ChatGPT integration. Plus there are numerous bug fixes and security updates, so you should install it ASAP. To get it, open up Settings, then tap General and Software Update.

Enable Apple Intelligence

You almost certainly got a pop-up screen during setup telling you about Apple Intelligence and giving you the option to turn it on. But it’s easy to just hit “next…next…next” on those screens and not really pay attention.

If you need to enable Apple Intelligence, you can open Settings, select Apple Intelligence & Siri, and then tap Get Apple Intelligence.

Your iPhone will need to have its Device language and Siri language set to one of the supported languages for Apple Intelligence (as of iOS 18.2, that’s English (Australia), English (Canada), English (Ireland), English (New Zealand), English (South Africa), English (UK), and English (US)).

You might enter a little waiting list but that typically lasts minutes or hours rather than days. Then your iPhone will download the Apple Intelligence models, and you’re be good to go in a jiff.

All the Apple Intelligence features may not operate optimally until your phone has completed some background processing and indexing, so keeping it plugged in for a while while it updates is a good idea.

Tweak Camera Control settings

One of the iPhone 16’s hot new features is Camera Control, that new button on the lower right side that’s flush with the edge. It can launch your preferred camera app, act as a shutter button, and even adjust some camera features with swipes and taps.

But it’s a little touchy, and with the default settings it might be more of an annoyance than a benefit. We have a guide to fixing the Camera Control button that describes the settings you can change in detail.

One set of options is in Settings > Camera > Camera Control and the other is in Accessibility > Camera Control.

Dip into both of those menus to tune the Camera Control button and get it operating the way you like it. It will make a big difference! And don’t forget—you can turn the whole thing off if you can’t get it to work the way you’d like.

Set an Emergency Contact and Medical ID

You can do this on any iPhone, but many people haven’t yet and it could save your life one day. So setting up a new iPhone is the perfect time to open the Health app to enter important Medical ID info and set up an emergency contact. Medical ID info can display critical medical info or allergies on your lock screen to a first responder, and an emergency contact is someone who can be called in an emergency by pressing and holding the side and volume buttons.

First, open the Health app. 

Then tap on your profile picture in the upper right.

Tap Medical ID.

Enter any critical medical info a first responder would need to know if you’re in an accident, and an emergency contact you would want to reach.

Customize your Home Screen and Control Center

If this is your first iPhone, or if you just haven’t spent much time with iOS 18 yet, you may not know that you can now greatly customize both your Home Screen and Control Center.

You can add widgets and position them anywhere, tint icons, make icons big with no text, and more. And you can add control center controls for all kinds of third-party apps now, and resize or reorder them.

Check out our guide to customizing your Home Screen or Control Center in iOS 18, and give your fresh new iPhone 16 and fresh new look and feel.

Tweak the new Photos app

Speaking of customizing iOS 18, the new Photos app definitely needs a few tweaks. If you’re a longtime iPhone user, you’ll notice it’s completely overhauled, and if you’re new to the platform you might see a lot of things you don’t necessarily want.

In just a few minutes you can change the Photos app to show only the categories you want, in the order you want, and you can make (and reorder) Pinned Collections that take you right where you go the most often.

Our guide to customizing the Photos app tells you everything you need to know.

Read the manual

Did you know your iPhone actually has a manual? No, it didn’t come in the box…it would never fit in there. Apple keeps it online. But it’s super helpful, with a nicely organized, hyperlinked guide to your iPhone hardware and iOS 15 online at the iPhone User Guide. You’d be surprised at how many useful details are in there, and how much you’ll learn just by reading the instructions!