Apple’s latest operating system promises a more personalized, intelligent, and secure iPhone experience.
iOS 18, unveiled at WWDC 2024, is set to redefine how we interact with our iPhones. Packed with innovative features, enhanced privacy, and a fresh design, this update is sure to enthrall iPhone users.
What is it? The next major iOS release.
When is it out? “Later this year”, likely September.
How much will it cost? It will be a free upgrade.
iOS 18 is expected to launch alongside the iPhone 16 lineup and Apple Watch Series 10 later this year. However, developers can already get a taste of the new features by downloading the iOS 18 beta.
Features:
Here’s an outline of the promised features:
1. Home Screen:
Goodbye Grid, Hello Freedom:
- You can now place apps and widgets anywhere on the home screen, not just in a fixed grid.
- This allows for more creative layouts and better integration with your wallpaper.
App Makeover:
- Dark Mode for app icons: Darkens the white parts of icons for a more uniform look.
- Tinting: Apply a color tint to all app icons for a customized aesthetic.
- Sizing: Make icons and widgets larger or smaller for better visibility.
Privacy Power-Up:
- App Lock: Require Face ID, Touch ID, or passcode to launch specific apps.
- Hidden Apps: Hide apps from the home screen and access them through a secure folder.
Customization:
- Lock Screen Customization: Replace the default camera and flashlight controls with shortcuts to other apps or functions (available on iPhone 15 Pro and newer models).
2.Control Center:
iOS 18 brings a major upgrade to the Control Center.
- You can now personalize it like your home screen, adding or removing controls as you wish.
- Multiple pages of controls are also available.
- The two standard lock screen shortcuts – flashlight and camera – can be replaced with other functions, offering more flexibility in accessing your favorite features.
3. Privacy Controls:
iOS 18 enhances privacy with new security features.
- You can now lock apps with a password, Face ID, or Touch ID, or hide them entirely in a secure folder.
- Additionally, you have more control over which contacts apps can access, and Bluetooth connections have been fortified to prevent unauthorized access.
4. Messages:
iOS 18 Messages Get a Major Upgrade
More Expressive Reactions:
- You can now react to messages with any emoji or sticker.
- For extra flair, you can add text effects such as animation to words and emoji.
- Classic text formatting is finally here: bold, italic, underline, strikethrough.
Improved Functionality:
- Schedule messages to send later for better timing control.
- Satellite-enabled iPhones can send texts even without cell service.
- RCS messaging support for enhanced communication with Android users (read receipts, tapback, etc.).
- Green and blue bubbles still remain (for now).
5. Mail:
With the iOS 18 mail improvements, you can
- Categorize your emails according to transactions, newsletters, and personal emails that can be manually overridden if you wish.
- A gist of your email history with a specific contact, Mail will let you do this with a new summary view.
However, This feature, along with other Mail enhancements, will arrive later in the year.
6. Maps:
iOS 18 Maps now offers enhanced hiking and walking features. Users can explore pre-planned routes, including those for U.S. National Parks. These routes provide details like distance and elevation gain. You can also create custom routes and save all plans for offline use.
7. Apple Wallet:
The ios 18 update unlocks a multitude of new features for easier payment:
- You can send and receive small payments between iPhones by simply tapping them together.
- Earn loyalty points for your purchases made with Apple Pay.
- Enjoy a redesigned look for event tickets stored in Wallet, along with relevant event information.
8. Journal:
The iPhone’s new diary app is going through major changes such as:
- Insights:
Provides a central location to view journaling stats, track streaks, and analyze prompt usage.
- Search & Sort:
Improved functionality to find specific entries more easily (details not yet available).
- Mindful Minutes:
Ability to log mood directly within the app (potential integration with the Health app).
- Widgets:
New widgets for home and lock screens let users quickly start entries, view streaks, and receive prompts.
- Automatic Transcription:
Voice recordings are automatically converted to text for easier journaling.
- Export & Print:
Entries can be exported for offline storage or printed for physical copies.
However, it is uncertain if this will be available across all iOS 18 devices (might be limited to newer iPhones).
9. Game Mode:
iOS 18 introduces Game Mode, optimizing your iPhone for gaming. By prioritizing game performance and reducing background activity, you’ll experience smoother gameplay and reduced input lag for controllers and headphones. Here’s all you need to know about this update.
10. Photos:
The Photos App is going through major changes.
Unified View:
- Single screen with two main areas: Photo Library and Collections.
- Swipe down to access the Photo Library grid view.
- The toolbar allows filtering by year, month, and type (photos, videos, favorites), and excluding screenshots.
- The carousel at the top showcases featured photos and favorites, updating daily and customizable.
Collections:
- Organize photos by time and topic.
- Autoplay slideshows for recent photos, and you can also swipe back to view previous days.
- Topic-based sections like Trips, People & Pets, Memories, etc. (to unlock People & Pets you can also set up facial recognition).
- You can also pin collections for easy access to your favorite photo groups.
Apple Intelligence Features (iPhone 15 Pro only):
- A clean-up tool that removes unwanted background objects in photos.
- A memory movies feature that creates video montages with chapters, and music, based on a description (e.g., fishing trip, girls’ day out, etc).
- You can generate new images featuring people in your library.
- Another feature – Genmoji- allows you to turn photos of people into personalized emoji for Messages.
- You can also search images by description.
11. Siri:
- A new glowing border now indicates Siri is listening along with a broader understanding. You can request for files, etc.
- Siri can also complete tasks across multiple apps (e.g., edit an image).
The iOS 18 supports all of the iPhones dating back to the iPhone XS and iPhone XR and newer. Here’s a full list.
Just note that Apple Intelligence needs an A17 Pro chip, so you’ll need the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, or wait for the new iPhone 16 models.
- iPhone 15
- iPhone 15 Plus
- iPhone 15 Pro
- iPhone 15 Pro Max
- iPhone 14
- iPhone 14 Plus
- iPhone 14 Pro
- iPhone 14 Pro Max
- iPhone 13
- iPhone 13 mini
- iPhone 13 Pro
- iPhone 13 Pro Max
- iPhone 12
- iPhone 12 mini
- iPhone 12 Pro
- iPhone 12 Pro Max
- iPhone 11
- iPhone 11 Pro
- iPhone 11 Pro Max
- iPhone XS
- iPhone XS Max
- iPhone XR
- iPhone SE
- (2nd generation or later)
If you want a visual guide, showcasing all the features expected in the iOS 18 update, check out this video.
