iOS 18 has Now in public beta Apple is again giving you more control over your iPhone’s layout, but the most exciting upgrade, Apple Intelligence, is noticeably (but not surprisingly) absent.
The update also brings some improvements to native apps like Photos, Messages (RCS! Surprise!) and Notes, but Apple Intelligence is set to add even more features and tricks. While you’re waiting for the ability to generate your own emoji, there’s still plenty to explore – it’s just a little more bland than what Apple teased at WWDC.
you can Access iOS preview by Register on Apple’s websiteClicking on this will take you to the Software Update section of your iPhone. As always, make sure to back up your iPhone first to make sure it’s compatible. (iOS 18 works on 2018’s iPhone XS and XR and newer phones.)
iOS 18 allows for even more customization
Beyond app folders and widgets, iOS 18 also brings more functional and aesthetic customization. In addition to the new dark look, you can now tint everything with any color you like. Unlike iOS’ previous dark modes, this time individual app icons will also be “darkened” to be more consistent with the dark theme. You can also let iOS choose a color based on your iPhone’s wallpaper. If that sounds familiar, that’s because Material Uwhich Google introduced to Android in 2021.
You can also increase the size of app icons ever so slightly, but without reducing the number of icons you can cram into a single pane. This removes the text labels, so you can be sure to know which app icon is which without words. And in an exciting move for dozens of obsessives around the world, you can move icons outside of the left-aligned top-to-bottom snap grid. Want your Safari icon to float alone in the bottom-right corner? You can now do just that.
iOS 18 introduces two new ways to protect your apps: You can set apps to be locked or hidden. Locking an app requires FaceID access, which can be useful for photos and a bunch of other apps if you often share your phone with kids. It also means that when you run your sp, information from it won’t be visible and won’t pop up around other parts of iOS, like search and notifications. You can also hide an app, in which case it goes into a dedicated folder that’s locked with FaceID.
Apple has also revamped the Control Panel and Settings drop-down menus, adding a dedicated Control Gallery for adding things like smart home shortcuts and startup timers, similar to how iOS introduced widgets a few years ago.
This could have made the control panel cluttered, but Apple has split it up into four tabs. You can go to a specific section by tapping the little icon on the side, but you can also access all sections with one continuous scroll. The most used features are at the top, while the other sections group together smart home controls, entertainment playback, and connectivity. Lost your hotspot shortcut? Here it is. All controls are also resizable, allowing you to prioritize the ones that are most important to you.
Finally, you can now customize the controls on iOS’ lock screen as well: if you never use the flashlight, you can swap it for something more practical like a timer, or use it as a shortcut to Shazam in an emergency.
message
RCS (Rich Communications Services) has arrived on iPhone, at least on iPhones with iOS 18. RCS brings together advanced text features like richer images, large file attachments, voice memos, group chats, read receipts, and more. But since all of this is available through iMessage on iOS, RCS doesn’t seem like much of a new feature.
But if your friends are split between Android and iOS, you can start using Messages just like any other third-party messaging app. Does it have all the features of WhatsApp? No. Can it do everything iMessage can do? No.
But it can be useful. For example, RCS lets you send messages over Wi-Fi even when you don’t have a cellular signal. I’ve been late to an appointment before, or stuck on the subway with no signal, and I couldn’t send a text to let the other person know. RCS lets you send those messages if you connect to the Wi-Fi network you’re passing by.
There’s more progress beyond RCS. You can now schedule text messages, just like you already do with work chat apps and email. If you love Apple’s recent introduction of message tapbacks (emoji reactions), you can now get tapbacks on any emoji, including unique live stickers based on photos and images. To get even more expressive, iOS 18 also adds italics, bold, underline and strikethrough formatting, as well as cute word animations that are like WordArt come to life. It’s silly, fluffy and nonsensical. I love it.
photograph
Apple is hiding some big changes to how the Photos app is structured, but it reflects the fact that many of us have owned our iPhones (and photo libraries) for 15 years or more. And we’re not going to look at all of those photos. We probably don’t even look at most of them. In iOS 18, Apple is doing away with the Library, For You, Albums, and Search tabs. Instead of your most recent photos, screenshots, and videos taking up most of the screen, space is made available for your most recent content, curated albums, memories, and more.
It’s a controversial approach, and I think your reaction will vary depending on how you interact with your photos: I know where my favorite photos are and how to find them, but other people I associate with are often pleasantly surprised when a service or device automatically curates photo albums from their day trips or vacations for them. This redesign seems to be targeting those people.
What about Apple Intelligence? Eventually, it will add some extra tricks, like Clean Up, which helps you erase unwanted objects in your photos. It’s a feature that Pixel (and Galaxy) phone users have been enjoying for a while, but we’re eagerly waiting for Apple Intelligence to come along to test it out. For more details on what’s coming to Gallery in iOS 18, check out this article from my colleague Cherlynn. A detailed article on what Apple did to the Photos app.
Other iOS 18 highlights
For those who use the Notes app daily (yes, I do), iOS 18 also brings a nice advancement: you can now transcribe conversations and meetings directly in the app. At the time of my testing, you need to make sure your iPhone is set to US English and your region is set to the US in order to see the transcription icon shown in the image above.
There’s also Math Notes, accessible from the Notes app or Calculator, where you can write out sums or calculations and your iPhone will solve them for you, and it’ll remember the numbers for future calculations. It’s a bit niche, but it’s certainly useful if you’re trying to put together a holiday budget or a DIY project.
For me, I found the new collapsible subheadings in Notes to be more useful. I have some lengthy Note files, and now I can organize them better and I don’t have to search for specific words to find what I need.
Apple is taking a similar approach to Reader in Safari, which lets you add a table of contents and even create a summary before you start reading an article, so if you’re reading a lengthy recipe introduction, that might be a red flag. I say “maybe,” though, because at the time of writing I wasn’t able to test this on any of the sites I visited.
There’s also a new Passwords app, which is an easier way to access your iCloud passwords than having to dig into your iPhone’s settings. The app separates your passwords into different categories, including accounts, codes, Wi-Fi networks, and passkeys, and, cleverly, supports the iCloud for Windows app and Chrome extension. It also lets you share your password collection with visitors, friends, and family.
Apple is also experimenting with smart home features within iOS 18. If you have an iPhone (or Apple Watch), it’s adding an Express Mode that will automatically unlock your connected door when you approach it, while Apple has created a Guest Access tab that lets you grant access to parts of your smart home and schedule times for your garage door to remain unlocked when, for example, packages are delivered.
summary
My initial impressions of iOS 18 are more limited than I expected. Apple Intelligence and most of the exciting features teased at WWDC are not included in this public beta. Without them, iOS 18 is similar to iOS 17.5: it has more features, but most of them are incremental.
RCS is finally Here, they’ve added more features to cross-OS text messaging (potentially worrying the likes of WhatsApp), while elsewhere Apple has focused on upgrading and enhancing its native apps. The company has made some…interesting choices. iOS 18 also improves Calculator, adding math notes, calculation history, and a new scientific calculator view.
The public beta has been relatively stable and is recommended for anyone looking for early access to the latest iPhone features, but without Apple Intelligence, we’ll have to wait before drawing any more meaningful conclusions about iOS 18.
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