Summary
- Customize your home screen: iOS 18 allows for extensive customization, including moving apps, setting custom icons, and adjusting colors.
- New control center: The control center gets a transparent look with more features and customization options for managing your phone efficiently.
- Messages improvements: iOS 18 introduces RCS support for texting Android friends, send later feature, custom emoji reactions, and text stylization options.
Following months of rumors and leaks, iOS 18 has officially been revealed. Previewed during the main keynote of Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), this major software update has a ton of new features and improvements for iPhone users. From customization, privacy features, and more, there's something for everyone in iOS 18.
Customize your home screen
Finally
Starting with customization, Apple is giving users a ton of control over their home screen. Just like Android users have had since 2008, you'll finally be able to modify your home screen in the way that you see fit. From moving your apps around your home screen properly to setting custom icons, you'll have way more control than you've ever had before. Apps will even adjust to dark mode, and you can tint them to be whatever color you want.
Apple Intelligence
The shiny new feature
If you wanted your phone to be smarter, then Apple Intelligence is it. Bringing on-device AI, Apple's "Private Compute Cloud", and ChatGPT to your smartphone, you'll be able to compose messages, generate images, and do more with your phone in ways that you previously haven't been able to. You'll even be able to do things like ask Siri "What podcast did my wife send me the other day?" and it will contextually pick up who your wife is and what that podcast was.
The only downside to this feature is that it requires a device with an A17 Pro chip in it, meaning it's limited to the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max right now.
Apple Intelligence is bringing generative AI to your iDevices
Apple Intelligence is Apple's answer to the AI revolution, and it's coming to MacOS Sequoia and iOS 18.
New control center
Managing your phone has never looked so good
Apple's control center is getting a revamp in iOS 18, with a new look that has more features, too. The control center is a great place on your iPhone to control most of your phone's features, such as flashlight, connectivity, focus mode, brightness, volume, and more. With iOS 18, it gets a new, transparent look, and you'll be able to customize it and move things around in the control center to fit the way that you prefer to use your phone.
Messages is getting even better
Including a quick nod to RCS support
Apple confirmed in a brief sentence and a single image that RCS is coming to its Messages application. That means you'll be able to text your Android friends over RCS if you have an iPhone, but the details of how it will work remain scarce at present. Apple went in-depth about some of its other features coming to iOS 18's Messages app though, including a send later feature that lets you schedule texts, along with custom emoji reactions to messages.
Messages is also adding the ability to stylize text, where you can add effects and use formatting like italicization, underlining, and bold text.
Complete redesign of Photos
An entirely new approach to Photos
Apple's Photos app has been redone from the ground up. It's now a single view that moves and morphs around your inputs, keeping a photo grid at the top and a library at the bottom. Below the grid, you'll see collections that allow you to browse topics by time, people, memories, trips, and more. You can even see photos from "Recent Days", and group people by their faces.
Game mode
For those who like to game on their iPhone
If you're a gamer and like to play games on your smartphone, then you're going to love game mode. It minimizes background activity, maximizes your battery life and performance, and decreases latency to controllers and AirPods.
iOS 18's developer preview is available now
Betas will come next month
If youi're an iOS developer, you can try out iOS 18 right away. If you're not, then you'll need to wait for the public beta which will drop next month.