Another mid-year, and another iOS iteration release. The iOS 18, announced on June 10, 2024, was released to the general public on September 16th. With promises of more customizations, the anticipated redesign to photos, integration of the cleverly named AI features – Apple Intelligence (always nails it with the branding), and enhancements to the messages and mail, there is a lot to unpack here.
So, should you update your iOS right away or should you wait for the 18.1 updates expected to be released in October? Read on to learn everything you should know about iOS 18, before updating your phone.
Home Screen, Control Center, and Lock Screen Customization
iOS has always been scrutinized for its lack of customizations on the home screen and lock screen, especially by Android users. But not anymore. The new iteration offers new ways to arrange their home screen by arranging their widgets and app icons and placing them anywhere on the screen.
In the earlier versions, the widgets and icons would be filled automatically from top to bottom, often covering the beautiful picture you have chosen in the background. Additionally, users can also customize the theme (light or dark), tint, and size of the icons to tailor to their preferences. This allows you to frame the elements according to the background or create your ideal layout for each page.
Next up is the new and redesigned version of the control center. The iOS has made the control center more flexible and added powerful groups of controls that include favorites, media playback, home controls and connectivity, and a new controls gallery featuring options from third-party apps. It is more convenient that the gallery featuring options is just a swipe away, especially when you consider the time it would have taken you to find them otherwise.
You should also be happy that now you can access the controls you’d like from the action button. And the first time in iOS history, users can change the controls you can find on the lock screen. You can select the ones you want, remove the ones you don’t, and even remove the lock screen controls entirely.
Lock and Hide Apps
Though your iPhone is a personal device, sometimes you may need to hand it over to someone else to take a picture or maybe to make a call. Though it can be a close friend or a family member, you may not want them to access certain apps, or even let them know you use it. In these cases, you can either lock your app or hide them. You can access all your hidden apps in one place.
Redefined Photos
Photos get a new and simplified look with automated organization tools. The new Photos can automatically organize your photos into categories such as recent days, people & pets, and trips utilizing on-device intelligence. This will take out the time it would’ve normally taken for you to find a specific moment in the memory role. You can also customize the layout according to pin your favorite collections in an easily accessible way.
Upgraded Messages and Mail
The Messages app also gets a remodeling in the new iOS version. Some of the new features added to the Messages include scheduled messages, reactions with more tap-backs, text effects for selected words, and more.
However, one of the most talked about features added to the messages app is of course the Message via satellite feature. Apple uses satellites to facilitate sending messages even if no cellular reception is available. This feature works similarly to the SOS call feature introduced along with the iPhone 14.
According to the official press release of Apple, intelligent categorization in the mail is an upcoming feature that will be released later this year. The primary category will focus on time-sensitive information. Whereas, emails from businesses will all be curated into their own separate category with tags such as transactions, updates, and promotions.
Also Read: iPhone, Android Users Get Google’s Instant Search
New Password App
Password app makes it easier for users to manage all their credentials like passwords, passcodes, and verification codes in one place. You can sync the data across the devices and it is secured with end-to-end encryption. Additionally, the app can also help increase the strength of your password by indicating to you how easily can the password be guessed.
Game Mode
Enhance your gaming experience by using the all-new Game Mode with more consistent frame rates. The Gaming mode can make the response time of Airdrops game controllers and other Bluetooth devices faster. The Game mode can also reduce background activities to let the processor handle the game more efficiently.
iPhone Mirroring
With the iPhone Mirroring feature, Mac users can access their iPhones remotely from their Mac. This feature works with the upcoming MacOS Sequoia. This allows users to access their files on iPhone directly from their Mac, without going through the steps of selecting and sending the files.
New Browsing Features on Safari
iOS 18 takes the efficiency of the Safari web browser to the next level with the addition of some exciting and functional features. Now, the browser can highlight key information such as the address of a location, a summary of the web page, or more information about the movie, TV show, or song, once the webpage is loaded. This will help you quickly find what you need without going through the entirety of the long webpage.
Another notable addition to Safari is the Distraction Control feature, in which the user can hide items on the webpage that they find disruptive to their reading experience. You can hide sign-in banners, content overlays, or other elements in a website.
Upcoming Apple Intelligent Features
The much anticipated Apple Intelligent features are reported to be released next month. It can understand and create language and images, take certain actions across the apps, and help users simplify everyday tasks. Some of the features of Apple Intelligence include:
- AI-powered writing tools: rewrite, proofread, and summarize texts in various applications
- Photos app enhancements: In the photos app, you can create personalized movies and search for specific moments in the videos, or search photos with natural language. It also allows users to remove distracting background objects from the images.
- Siri improvements: Siri gets a literal glow-up on this new edition with an elegant glowing light when active. Users can seamlessly switch between talking, and typing, and it can maintain a broader range of questions about Apple devices.
- Summarise calls: Users can record and transcribe audio and call recordings, and summarise the conversation to help recall key points. When recording calls, it will notify the participants automatically.
Additional Features
The above-mentioned are some of the most notable features of iOS 18. There are many more features included in this new version of the operating system. Listing some of them below:
- Find hikes on Apple Maps
- New ways to pay with Apple Pay
- Notes app solves mathematical problems while typing
- Calendar can show events and tasks from reminders
- New features on Journal
- Upgraded home apps
Read More: Apple Files Patents for Mobile Payments on iPhone, iPod
Conclusion
iOS 18 is out now with many advanced features and upgrades that iPhone enthusiasts have been waiting for. In this article, we have reviewed the most notable features of this new iOS version. It is compatible with iPhones XR and up. However, some of the advanced Apple Intelligence features will only be available from next month.
