iOS 18: A Comprehensive Look at Apple's Latest iPhone Update

iOS 18: Your iPhone Just Got All These New Features

I've used the operating system since it was released in beta after WWDC. In that time, I've explored the features Apple mentioned at its event, and I uncovered a few other features the company didn't mention. Here's what you should know about the new features and improvements iOS 18 brings to your iPhone. You've been able to customize your iPhone's home and lock screens with widgets and different backgrounds, but iOS 18 lets you customize your home screen's apps and layout, as well as your phone's lock screen functions. During the WWDC, Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, showed how iOS 18 lets you arrange your iPhone's apps and widgets on your home screen however you want. Previously, these icons would fill your home screen from top to bottom, sometimes obstructing backgrounds you might like. iOS 18 lets you arrange your icons around your background or in any way you want -- something Android has offered for many years. You can also easily customize the appearance of your app's icons. You can give your icons a dark mode filter or tint your icons to match your wallpaper. The operating system also lets you swap out the camera and flashlight functions on your iPhone's lock screen. That way you aren't accidentally turning your iPhone's flashlight on while putting it in your pocket -- but you might open another app instead. Apple also announced at WWDC that iOS 18 updates your iPhone's Control Center. With the operating system, you can access more controls for things, like whatever music you're listening to and specific apps. You can also change which apps you see, as well as their size, so you have quicker access to the buttons you use more often. And third-party apps are tailoring their apps for the new Control Center as well. For example, you can add an Instagram control to your Control Center so you can easily access the social media app. Other third-party apps will likely follow suit. Your iPhone's Messages app also gets an update with iOS 18. With the latest operating system, you can schedule messages to send later, react to messages with more Tapbacks and format messages and specific words in your messages with text effects. If you want to emphasize something in a text, you can bold it, underline or use other effects to get your point across. The OS also brings Messages via satellite to many iPhones. The feature works similarly to Apple's Emergency SOS via satellite feature introduced on the iPhone 14 and 15 series. Emergency SOS is for making an emergency call even if you don't have a signal, but Messages via satellite will let you send a message to anyone, even without a signal. So you can message your spouse or parents to let them know how your camping trip is going. Apple also brings RCS -- rich communication support -- to Messages, so your iPhone will play nice with your friend or family member's Android device. Read more: Messages via Satellite Is iOS 18's Most Underrated Feature Letting someone borrow your iPhone can be a nerve-wracking experience, especially if you don't want them to see or access certain apps. iOS 18 lets you lock and hide apps. If you lock an app, it will then require your Face ID or passcode to unlock and access it. If you just don't want someone to know you have a certain app on your iPhone, you can stash it in a Hidden apps folder in your App Library. This is similar to removing apps from your home screen without deleting them from your iPhone, but it arranges all your hidden apps in one place. It can be fun to look at memories in your Photos app, but navigating through the app can be challenging if you take a lot of photos. So Apple redesigned your iPhone's Photos app in iOS 18. The redesign should make it easier to find specific photos by organizing your photos in more ways, like in categories like Recent Days and Pinned Collections. Photos will also be organized by theme, so if you're looking for photos from a trip, you should be able to find them faster. The updated Photos app in iOS 18 also lets you filter out receipts and screenshots so they don't clog up your Library. Read more: Apple Photos Redesign Will Help You Find That Specific iPhone Image Apple also introduces a new setting for your iPhone's Camera app with iOS 18. The new setting is called Controls Menu. To find it, go to Settings > Camera > Preserve Settings. "Preserve the previously used camera tool when expanding the controls menu, rather than showing the list of camera tools," the setting's description reads. You can also now record a video and play music at the same time through your iPhone. This also works for screen recordings. While the audio quality for videos with music isn't great, the audio quality on screen recordings is pretty good. Apple turned its password keychain feature into a full-blown app called Passwords. According to Apple, Passwords safely stores all your credentials in one place. It can also sync your passwords across your Apple devices. That way if you change your Netflix password on one device but not on another, the password will follow you so you don't forget it. Read more: Apple's New Password Manager App Will Sync Across Devices and Platforms Apple announced that it's rolling out Apple Intelligence, its spin on generative AI, in iOS 18. However, Apple wrote on its website that these improvements will be available only on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max for now. Apple Intelligence will bring improvements to Siri to make the assistant more capable and helpful, it will allow you to create new images called Genmojis and it will bring new writing tools and capabilities to those iPhones. These features weren't included in the initial release os iOS 18, but they are present in the first public beta of iOS 18.1. There's no word on when Apple will release iOS 18.1 to the general public. Read more: What You Need to Know About the First Public Beta of iOS 18.1 With iOS 18, if you're wearing the second generation of AirPods Pro, you'll be able to interact with Siri by nodding or shaking your head. So if you need to be quiet because the baby is sleeping or your partner is on an important phone call, you can keep Siri working without saying a word. Apple's iOS 18 also improves your Notes app. The app gets live audio transcripts, collapsible sections to keep the app organized and the ability to highlight certain phrases. You can also solve mathematical problems in the app while you type. These upgrades are similar to the Notes app upgrades Apple announced for iPadOS 18. Read more: Apple's iPadOS 18 Gets New Controls, Handwriting Features and Math Notes According to Facts and Factors, mobile gaming as an industry is expected to grow by over 13% by 2030. And Apple seems to recognize that with the introduction of Game Mode in iOS 18. Game Mode will minimize background activities on your iPhone to improve your game's performance. It will also have improved responsiveness with AirPods and wireless gaming controllers, Apple says. With iOS 18, iPhone users with a Mac can access their iPhone remotely from their Mac. Apple is calling this feature iPhone Mirroring, and it will work in conjunction with the upcoming MacOS Sequoia. So instead of sending a file from your iPhone to your Mac, you'll be able to just access the file right on your Mac without any extra steps in between. Read more: How Apple Says iPhone Mirroring Will Work SharePlay was introduced with iOS 15 in 2021 and lets Apple users share their screen with other people via FaceTime. And iOS 18 is giving SharePlay an upgrade. "With enhanced screen sharing capabilities, you can draw on someone's screen so they can see what they can do on theirs, or control their screen and take actions yourself," Apple wrote online. Apple said that with iOS 18, your iPhone's Mail app will organize your emails better. Your app will have new categories for things like receipts, newsletters and more. That way you don't have to dig through your emails and find an invitation to a party you forgot to respond to. However, these weren't available at iOS 18's launch and will likely show up in a later update as part of Apple Intelligence. With iOS 18, it's easier to send cash to your friends and family with Tap to Cash. With this feature, you can send Apple Cash directly to others by bringing your iPhones close together, similar to how you can quickly AirDrop a photo or message to someone or NameDrop your contact information to others by bringing your iPhones close together. Speaking of cash, your Wallet app gets an upgrade in iOS 18, too. In the app, you can view your rewards or points balance, and you'll be able to redeem those points with Apple Pay online or in one of your apps. The app also lets you access any installment financing options your bank might offer. Apple also brings new features to your event tickets in Wallet. Apple wrote online that the new features include, "an event guide combining helpful information about the venue with recommendations from Apple apps." Wallet also now lets you easily add a chipped debit or credit card to the app. To do so, go into Wallet, tap the plus sign in the top right corner, tap Debit or Credit Card, then tap Continue and Wallet will ask you to bring the chipped card near your iPhone to add that card. If your card doesn't have a chip though, you can tap Enter Card Details Manually across the bottom of the screen. With iOS 18, your iPhone's Safari app can detect important information on some webpages and highlight it for you. For example, directions and quick links to people and movies should be highlighted and easily findable. Reader will also have a table of contents and summaries of articles in Safari. Most of these features are part of Apple Intelligence though and therefore weren't included in the initial iOS 18 launch. Safari does get a new feature at iOS 18's launch called Distraction Control. This makes it easy to block banners, some pop-ups and more on websites you visit frequently. Read more: Safari's Find on Page Function Has a New Home in iOS 18 When Apple introduced iOS 17 in 2023, it brought offline maps to your iPhones Maps app. With iOS 18, your iPhone's Maps app will get topographical information, too. Maps also gets detailed hiking trail information, including routes from over 50 US national parks, so you can plan your next hike. You can also create your own custom hiking or walking routes in iOS 18. And when you create a route, you can download the route and section of the map to your iPhone for use offline, that way you'll always have a map of your area on you when you're out in nature. Apple also said iOS 18 brings some changes to your iPhone's Journal app. The app will let you log your state of mind, as well as help you track your goals. It will also give you certain stats like writing streaks. You can search within Journal for previous entries so you can find older thoughts and more, too.

These Are the Hidden iOS 18 Features You Don't Want to Miss on Your iPhone

You've probably seen marquee iOS 18 features such as customizing your home screen and sending formatted texts, but the latest iPhone system update is filled with lots of other gems -- and that's before Apple Intelligence arrives next month. If you've just upgraded your existing iPhone to iOS 18 or you got an iPhone 16 today, these hidden tricks will improve your phone experience. Every year, we go through the latest iOS and look for any hidden features that aren't only hidden, but that also can and will affect how we use our iPhones every day. If you're running iOS 18, these are a few of the features and settings that Apple didn't really talk about, but that you should definitely know. For more, here are seven iOS 18 settings you want to change right away, how to back up your iPhone the right way and how to fix these two annoying iOS 16 settings. You don't have to press any physical buttons to restart your iPhone if you're running iOS 18. The redesigned control center features all the classic controls you're used to, like brightness, volume, orientation, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, but there are several new controls, including one to restart your iPhone. All you need to do is swipe down from the top-right of your iPhone and press and hold down on the new power button in the top-right of the control center. You can't just tap it though, you have to hold it down for a second or so, and then the slider to power off your iPhone will appear. To turn your iPhone back on, you'll still need to press and hold the physical side button. There are a few ways you can share a Wi-Fi network and password with people via your iPhone, and there's a new way to do it on iOS 18. Using a QR code fills in a few gaps for ways to quickly share your Wi-Fi information: So if you meet any of those scenarios and you don't want to text the Wi-Fi password to them, you can use the QR code. Go to the new Passwords app, go to the Wi-Fi section, tap on the network you want to share and then hit Show Network QR Code. If the other person scans the QR code with their camera, they'll be connected to the Wi-Fi network. The flashlight on the iPhone is getting a big upgrade. While you've long been able to change the intensity of the flashlight, on iOS 18 you can now also adjust the beam width of the light, as long as you have a compatible model. You can go wide, to cover more area with less light, or go narrow, to use more intense light over less area, and everywhere in between. It's a fun feature to play around with for lighting people for photos. To use the new feature, turn on your flashlight (use the lock screen or control center), and a new user interface will appear in the dynamic island. You can change the light intensity by swiping up and down, but to change the beam width, you'll need to swipe left and right. If you tap anywhere in the dynamic island, you can turn the flashlight off and on. Note: This feature only works on iPhone models with the dynamic island, including the iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max, iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. The Voice Memos app is incredibly convenient for capturing ideas or song snippets, but they've always been obfuscated. You can give them a descriptive title, but that doesn't help when you want to find that one memo you recorded that contains the word "porcupine." In iOS 18, though, the app can create transcriptions of your voice memos and search for words that were previously available only as audio waveforms. In the Voice Memos app, tap one of your memos to reveal its controls and then tap the Edit Recording button, which looks like a waveform. Or, tap the three-dots button to the right of a memo and choose Edit Recording. Next, tap the Transcribe button to create the transcription (or view the text if it's already been transcribed). Tap Done. Now, when you use the Search field, the app looks through the transcripts in addition to the titles for results. The text is also available throughout iOS - when you perform a search from the home screen, you'll see Voice Memos as a category with the memos that include the search term (you may need to tap Show More Results to reveal it). Is your home screen feeling a little too cluttered? If so, this new feature could help. Now with iOS 18, you can get rid of app labels, or the names of the apps that you see underneath each app icon on your home screen. If you can recognize an app from just the icon, who needs the label? On your home screen, press and hold down on any blank space, until you enter jiggle mode, and then hit Edit > Customize. A menu will appear at the bottom of the screen; choose the Large option, which will make your app icons slightly larger and remove the app labels. Not every iOS app has a widget for your home screen, but if it does, you don't need to dig through the widget edit page to find it. If you're running iOS 18, and there's an app that you want to turn into a widget, you can do so very quickly right from your home screen. On a supported app, press and hold down on the icon on your home screen to bring up the quick actions menu. If the app has a widget, you'll see an app icon next to a variety of widget icons (up to three). Tap on any of the widget icons to change the app to a widget. If you want to go back from the widget to the app, go to the quick action menu and hit the app icon on the left. No lie, it's satisfying when someone asks, "What song is this?" to be able to activate Music Recognition on the iPhone and get an answer quickly. But to get the answer means very noticeably asking Siri to run Shazam or activating Music Recognition in the control center. Wouldn't it be fun to let your friends think you've been blessed with an encyclopedic knowledge of pop music? In iOS 18, you can come close using the Action Button (currently available just on iPhone 15 Pro models). Go to Settings > Action Button and swipe through the options until Recognize Music is selected. To make it work, just press and hold the Action Button for a couple of seconds. Shazam appears in the dynamic island to listen to what's playing and identifies the song. If you're sneaky about activating Shazam and peeking at your phone, no one needs to know you got some help from a supercomputer in the cloud. A lot is changing in the Photos app in iOS 18, from the way things are organized to the ability to use generative AI to remove objects in images (coming next month). Apple has also tucked a few surprises into the app to help you sort through your library. Scroll down past the main library itself to view categories such as People and Pets and Memories until you reach Utilities. Tap it to view the full list - but note that a new feature of this interface is the ability to swipe left to view additional panels. Prior to iOS 18, Utilities included options to view hidden, recently deleted and duplicate photos. Now, it includes many more options. Tap Handwriting to view images with handwriting in them. Looking for images that are illustrations and not photographs? Tap Illustrations (though in our testing this seems to grab a lot of screenshots, too). Did the hosts of your favorite podcast say something especially funny or thoughtful that you want to share with someone? In the Podcasts app in iOS 18, you can send an episode to a friend with the playback advanced to that moment -- but the capability isn't easy to find. Tap the Now Playing bar in the app at the bottom of the screen to view the playback controls and pause the episode. Use the progress bar to go back to the start of the section you want to share. Next, tap the More (...) button and choose Share Episode. In the sharing options that appear, tap From Start below the episode title, and then select From [the current time]. Tap Done. Lastly, choose the method of sharing, such as via Messages or Mail. When the recipient receives the shared episode and opens it in the Podcasts app, they'll see the option to Play from [the time].

I've used iOS 18 for months. Here are 10 reasons to update now | Digital Trends

On September 16, Apple launched the new iOS 18 update for the iPhone, and while the company always says it's the biggest update ever, this year, that's true. So many new iOS 18 features will delight you, but many of these are also fundamental changes to how you use your iPhone. I've been using iOS 18 in beta for months and love many of the new features. They've breathed new life into my iPhone 15 Pro Max and will do the same for all iPhones that support the update. Recommended Videos Such a big update may be daunting, but if you've been on the fence about installing the update, there are many features that you're missing out on. Here are 10 reasons why you should update to iOS 18 right now. A whole new home screen experience The most noticeable change to iOS 18 is the all-new home screen experience. Since the first iPhone, apps have been forced to automatically follow the app before, with Apple preventing you from having any gaps on your home screen. That's all changed in iOS 18. If you've been jealous of your Android fans who can organize app icons around their wallpaper, the wait is over. iOS 18 allows you to move apps around and place them wherever you want on the home screen. The restrictions have little nuances, but for the most part, you have the freedom to arrange everything as you wish. There's still no app drawer, but the App Library still exists to the right of your home screen, and there are some welcome improvements there as well. Alongside the changes to home screen layouts, you can also finally customize the size of widgets on the fly thanks to new handlebars that make it easy to resize from an app icon to the largest size. If you've been waiting for the ability to make your iPhone truly yours, not just in layout, iOS 18 is worth upgrading to. Every app and widget can now take on a tinted look, so they look incredible in dark mode. You can also change the tint to match your wallpaper's colors perfectly. iOS 18 ensures every iPhone can be unique, and the home screen improvements are revolutionary for all iPhone users. Hiding apps is easier than ever When's the last time you handed someone your phone -- whether to read a message, look at maps, or see a particular photo -- and had that momentary panic that they might also see something they shouldn't? Whether it's a private photo, a specific message, or the apps that are your guilty pleasures, we all have things we want to keep private. Thankfully, iOS 18 finally allows you to ensure that someone only sees what you want them to. Now, you can lock any app so that it requires you to authenticate -- whether via Face ID or Touch ID if you're using an iPad or older iPhone -- for someone to access the app. Sometimes, that's not enough, and if you have specific apps that you want to completely hide, you can hide them in a new private folder in the App Library. To access the app, you'll always need to navigate to the App Library and authenticate yourself, but it's a fantastic feature that ensures the things that matter to you always stay private. New Control Center customization iOS 18 is all about customization and personalization, and it isn't just limited to apps and the home screen. Now, you can completely customize the all-new revamped Control Center. I love this feature as I have removed all the features that don't matter to me -- such as home controls -- which ensures I have quick access to everything that does. The biggest improvement is that you can not only edit what's in the Control Center (which was present in previous versions of iOS) but also create multiple control centers that you can swipe through. I've created a separate one with a widget that provides quick access to all my connectivity options, making changing Wi-Fi settings or Bluetooth devices effortless. Texting with non-iPhone users is much better We've all been in group texts or sending messages to non-iPhone users and either had poor-quality photos and videos, that annoying text that someone liked your message, or the lack of read receipts. iOS 18 solves this and arguably adds the biggest reason everyone should upgrade: RCS messaging. You may have seen Google's petitions to (aka trolling of) Apple about adding the next generation of text messaging, and you can finally send long messages or high-quality photos and videos and see when your non-iPhone friends have read your messages. They must agree to send read receipts for the latter, but RCS completely transforms the non-iMessage experience. Texting a non-iPhone user still appears as a green bubble, so there's no solution for that just yet. Your carrier must also be supported, but RCS improves everyone's messaging experience. Helpful (and adorable) iMessage updates It's not just sending messages to non-iPhone users that's better; iMessage has also been improved. Now, you can schedule messages and even send cute reactions with any emoji on the keyboard. Rather than sending someone a message that could disturb them, you can easily schedule it when you think they'll be awake. This is the ideal solution if you want to wish someone a happy birthday but don't want to stay up or want to schedule a message that you won't be coming to work and don't want to wake up early. I've always thought Tapbacks and reactions in iMessage were limited, especially the latter. Now, you can use any emoji as a reaction, not just in iMessage, although if you send it to someone with RCS, they'll see a generic thumbs-up emoji. Tapbacks also elevate the messaging experience by letting you animate any text you write with cute effects that can be replayed repeatedly and are guaranteed to bring a smile to the other person's face. Apple's new Passwords app Are you using the same password for every online service, writing them down on paper, or saving them in a text file on your phone or computer? Stop right now! Online crime is rising rapidly, and everyone should use a password manager to create randomized, secure passwords for all their services. Rather than pay for a premium service like 1Password, Dashlane, or LastPass, Apple has rolled out an all-new Passwords app in iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia. This revamps the entire Passwords experience and ensures you don't need to pay for a premium service. It will also sync passwords and codes to Windows, iCloud via the browser, and even the Apple Vision Pro. Apple has previously used iCloud Keychain to store passwords, but accessing and editing the data has been challenging. The new Passwords app fixes this and is an ideal way to ensure your data is always safe and secure. You'll eventually be able to import passwords from other password manager apps, but it's unclear exactly when Apple will roll this feature out. Lots of changes to the Photos app Apple Photos is the home of all your memories, but for many years, it's followed the same design and flow. In iOS 18, if you fire up Photos, you'll notice that it feels very familiar but has undergone a substantial transformation. The new Photos app has many features that make it worth updating your phone. First, instead of separate tabs and sections, you now have a fantastic unified view of all the images you've taken or downloaded. The Photos app will automatically create relevant collections that it believes you will enjoy, including those in the For You tab before and any albums you have created. There are also new filter and sorting options to make finding the image you're searching for easy. You can easily sort by capture date or just filter images to ones you've taken recently. There's also the ability to filter by your favorites and things you've edited; you can also just see photos or videos or even only see screenshots. The Photos app also gains new AI features, at least it will when Apple Intelligence starts to roll out in October. A new Clean Up photo-editing tool works similarly to Google's Magic Eraser and helps you edit unwanted people and objects in your photos. Memory Maker can create a custom movie using existing photos and videos with a prompt. Lastly, the search is improved and more intuitive to find the exact images and videos you want. A much better Notes experience Quick: what's the square root of 47 times 24 divided by 16? I don't know the answer, but the Notes app now does. It can make you a math wizard and solve problems you've typed out. In particular, it blends natural language extremely well with common variables and functions like the equals sign. For example, if you want to send your roommate a breakdown of their share of the monthly bills, you would previously have had to do the calculations in one place and then type it all out in normal language in Notes or Messages. It was convoluted and alongside the calculator app on the iPad (finally!!), Apple is aiming to solve these everyday problems. In particular, the Notes app is smart at understanding natural language, which also acts as a variable. Adding the equals sign after a word (such as rent) means you can type rent later, and it can pull up the original number. This is how our brains work, and finally, your phone can work with how you think. These changes have been coming for a long time but feel magical. Call recording and a T9 keyboard It's strange to commend upgrades to a phone app, especially considering that few people still make regular phone calls. But I do, and I love the new phone app in iOS 18. A few small tweaks have vastly improved my day-to-day life. First, Apple finally joined the party with T9 dialing. You may not know what that word means, but you'll recognize the feature if you've used any phone other than the iPhone. Android phones -- and the phones that came before smartphones -- can search for a contact in the dialer just by typing the letters of that person's name, but the iPhone couldn't until now. You no longer need to go to the contacts tab. The improvements don't end there; you can now also record and transcribe calls without using another app or device. After placing a call, you'll see a new record button in the top-left corner. Everyone on the call is notified that it's being recorded via an audio message, and call recordings are saved to the Notes app. You can revisit any call from the Notes app and re-listen to it, but if you'd rather not listen to the whole thing, Apple Intelligence will also provide you with a full transcript or a call summary. This is nifty and super handy when you're talking to a company or person and discussing things that you'll want to recall in the future. Send cash with just a tap iOS 18 also lets you quickly send and receive money from someone without exchanging personal details. Running a lemonade stand? A side hustle? Are you trying to send someone money to split the bill? Now, there's no need to sign up for payment services like Square or give someone your phone number; instead, you can just tap to pay them, or they can quickly tap their iPhone to yours to pay you. This feature works across iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch and means you can quickly exchange money without relying on apps like Venmo or Zelle. It uses Apple Pay on both devices and given how reliable and familiar Apple Pay is, it's a great feature for anyone who regularly sends or receives money. iOS 18 is a really big deal Many other iOS 18 features, like changes in Safari and improvements to Journal, are worth updating your iPhone for, but the ones above have vastly improved the iPhone. If you're switching from Android to the iPhone, these features make the experience far more familiar, and the tint coloring on the home screen is second to none. To get iOS 18 on your iPhone today, go to the Settings app, tap General, and tap Software Update. The update should be waiting for you. Enjoy it!