iOS 18 Public Beta: Exciting New Features Coming to Your iPhone

iOS 18 Public Beta 1: The Features That Could Land on Your iPhone This Year

Apple unveiled iOS 18 at its Worldwide Developers Conference 2024 keynote event in June, and the tech giant released the first public beta of the software on Monday, more than a month after WWDC. At WWDC, the tech giant stated that the next iPhone operating system will include a lot of new features, like more ways to customize your home screen, updates to the Messages app and an updated Siri with Apple Intelligence. Apple said online that the next operating system will be available to the general public this fall. While many people won't get iOS 18 until later this year, developers and beta testers can download the first iOS 18 public beta now. We recommend downloading a beta on something other than your primary device. Since this isn't the final version of iOS 18, these features might be buggy and battery life may be short, and it's best to keep those troubles on a secondary device. Here's what we know about all the new features and improvements iOS 18 could bring to your iPhone this fall. While you've been able to customize your iPhone's home and lock screens with widgets and different backgrounds, iOS 18 will let you customize your home screen's apps and layout, as well as your phone's lock screen functions. During 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. But iOS 18 should let 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. Federighi also said iOS 18 will let you swap out the camera and flashlight functions on your iPhone's lock screen. That way you aren't accidentally turning on your iPhone's flashlight on while putting it in your pocket -- but you might open another app instead. Apple also announced that iOS 18 updates your iPhone's Control Center. With the next operating system, you'll be able to 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. Your iPhone's Messages app will also get an update with iOS 18. With the next operating system, you'll be able to schedule messages to send later, react to messages with more Tapbacks and format messages and specific words in your messages with text effects. So if you want to emphasize something in a text, you can bold it, underline or use other effects to get your point across. The next OS will also bring Messages via satellite to many iPhones. The feature works similar to Apple's Emergency SOS via satellite feature introduced on the iPhone 14 and 15 series. But while Emergency SOS is for making an emergency call even if you don't have a signal, Messages via satellite will let you send a message to anyone, even without a signal. So you'll be able to message your spouse or parents to let them know how your camping trip is going. Letting someone borrow your iPhone can be a nerve-wracking experience, especially if you don't want them to see or access certain apps. But iOS 18 will allow you to lock and hide apps. If you lock an app, it will then require your Face ID or passcode to unlock and access it. And 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 announced iOS 18 will redesign your iPhone's Photos app. The redesign should make it easier to find specific photos by organizing your photos in more ways, like month and year. 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 will also let 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 is turning 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. But on Apple's website, the tech giant said 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. Read more: iOS 18 Might Not Bring Apple Intelligence to Your iPhone 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 will improve your Notes app. Notes will get live audio transcripts, collapsible sections to keep the app organized and the ability to highlight certain phrases. You'll also be able to 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 will be able to 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. With iOS 18, it will be easier to send cash to your friends and family with Tap to Cash. With this new 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 is getting an upgrade in iOS 18, too. In the app, you'll be able to 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 will also let you access any installment financing options your bank might offer. Apple is also bringing new features to your event tickets in Wallet. Apple wrote online that the new features includes, "an event guide combining helpful information about the venue with recommendations from Apple apps." With the second developer beta of iOS 18, Wallet also now lets you easily add a chipped debit or credit card to the app. Now, if you go into Wallet, tap the plus sign in the top right corner, tap Debit or Credit Card, then tap Continue, 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 will detect important information on a page and highlight it for you. For example, directions and quick links to people and movies should be highlighted and easily findable. Reader will also provide a table of contents and summaries of articles in Safari. When Apple introduced iOS 17 in 2023, it brought offline maps to your iPhones Maps app. With iOS 18, Apple said your iPhone's Maps app will get topographical information, too. Maps will also get detailed hiking trail information, including routes from over 50 US national parks, so you can plan your next hike. Apple also announced that iOS 18 will bring some changes to your iPhone's Journal app. Once upgraded, 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'll also be able to search within Journal for previous entries so you can find older thoughts and more. Those are a few of the new features some developers and beta testers will see in the first iOS 18 public beta. That doesn't mean these are the only features coming to the next iOS update or that these changes will stick when iOS 18 is released to the public. As of now, Apple has only said it will release iOS 18 this fall.

iOS 18 Developer Beta 3: The Features That Could Land on Your iPhone Soon

While many people won't get iOS 18 until later this year, developers can download the second iOS 18 developer beta now. We recommend downloading a beta on something other than your primary device. Since this isn't the final version of iOS 18, these features might be buggy and battery life may be short, and it's best to keep those troubles on a secondary device. Here's what we know about all the new features and improvements iOS 18 could bring to your iPhone this fall. While you've been able to customize your iPhone's home and lock screens with widgets and different backgrounds, iOS 18 will let you customize your home screen's apps and layout, as well as your phone's lock screen functions. During 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. But iOS 18 should let 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. Federighi also said iOS 18 will let you swap out the camera and flashlight functions on your iPhone's lock screen. That way you aren't accidentally turning on your iPhone's flashlight on while putting it in your pocket -- but you might open another app instead. Apple also announced that iOS 18 updates your iPhone's Control Center. With the next operating system, you'll be able to 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. Your iPhone's Messages app will also get an update with iOS 18. With the next operating system, you'll be able to schedule messages to send later, react to messages with more Tapbacks and format messages and specific words in your messages with text effects. So if you want to emphasize something in a text, you can bold it, underline or use other effects to get your point across. The next OS will also bring Messages via satellite to many iPhones. The feature works similar to Apple's Emergency SOS via satellite feature introduced on the iPhone 14 and 15 series. But while Emergency SOS is for making an emergency call even if you don't have a signal, Messages via satellite will let you send a message to anyone, even without a signal. So you'll be able to message your spouse or parents to let them know how your camping trip is going. Letting someone borrow your iPhone can be a nerve-wracking experience, especially if you don't want them to see or access certain apps. But iOS 18 will allow you to lock and hide apps. If you lock an app, it will then require your Face ID or passcode to unlock and access it. And 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 announced iOS 18 will redesign your iPhone's Photos app. The redesign should make it easier to find specific photos by organizing your photos in more ways, like month and year. 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 will also let 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 is turning 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. But on Apple's website, the tech giant said 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. Read more: iOS 18 Might Not Bring Apple Intelligence to Your iPhone 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 will improve your Notes app. Notes will get live audio transcripts, collapsible sections to keep the app organized and the ability to highlight certain phrases. You'll also be able to 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 will be able to 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. With iOS 18, it will be easier to send cash to your friends and family with Tap to Cash. With this new 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 is getting an upgrade in iOS 18, too. In the app, you'll be able to 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 will also let you access any installment financing options your bank might offer. Apple is also bringing new features to your event tickets in Wallet. Apple wrote online that the new features includes, "an event guide combining helpful information about the venue with recommendations from Apple apps." With the second developer beta of iOS 18, Wallet also now lets you easily add a chipped debit or credit card to the app. Now, if you go into Wallet, tap the plus sign in the top right corner, tap Debit or Credit Card, then tap Continue, 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 will detect important information on a page and highlight it for you. For example, directions and quick links to people and movies should be highlighted and easily findable. Reader will also provide a table of contents and summaries of articles in Safari. When Apple introduced iOS 17 in 2023, it brought offline maps to your iPhones Maps app. With iOS 18, Apple said your iPhone's Maps app will get topographical information, too. Maps will also get detailed hiking trail information, including routes from over 50 US national parks, so you can plan your next hike. Apple also announced that iOS 18 will bring some changes to your iPhone's Journal app. Once upgraded, 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'll also be able to search within Journal for previous entries so you can find older thoughts and more. Those are a few of the new features some developers will see in the second iOS 18 beta. That doesn't mean these are the only features coming to the next iOS update or that these changes will stick when iOS 18 is released to the public. As of now, Apple has only said it will release iOS 18 this fall.

iOS 18 public beta now available; here are all the new features - 9to5Mac

The iOS 18 public beta is now rolling out for download. This means anyone can now try out iOS 18 and all of its new features. The update includes a broad range of new features for iPhone users, such as new customization options, upgrades to Messages, a completely redesigned Photos app, and much more. Head below for our full recap of everything new in iOS 18... If you're interested in signing up for Apple's public beta testing program, you can do so via Apple's website right here. Apple's new software version will be complete in the fall, at which point it will be released to the general public. For the time being, testers should still expect performance and stability issues when running the iOS 18 public beta on primary devices. iOS 18 adds multiple new ways for users to customize their iPhone's Home Screen. You can now place app icons and widgets anywhere on your Home Screen grid. This allows you to leave blank spaces and have full control over where your icons and widgets appear. iOS 18 also now lets you tint your Home Screen app icons and widgets. You can choose any color you want, or opt for a new dark mode option that turns almost all of Home Screen app icons dark. Control Center has gotten a significant overhaul in iOS 18, giving you full control (ha) over the layout and organization of your experience. You can have multiple pages in Control Center, which you can easily swipe between. There is also a new API that allows third-party apps to donate controls to the new Control Center interface. For example, the Ford app could adopt this API and offer Control Center controls for things like starting your car, opening your trunk, and more. As part of the new Control Center revamp, iOS 18 now lets you customize the two controls that appear on your iPhone's Lock Screen. You can replace the flashlight and camera buttons with any of the new Control Center controls, even including third-party controls. All of these controls can also be assigned to the Action button on the iPhone 15 Pro. iOS 18 includes multiple new features for the Messages app. First, there are new text effects that can be applied to individual words in messages. These options include big, small, shake, nod, explode, ripple, bloom, and jitter. You can also now add formatting like bold, underline, italics, and strikethrough to any letter, word, or phrase in iMessage. The Tapbacks system has been revamped in iOS 18, so you can react to messages using emojis or stickers. Scheduled messages are also now supported in Messages with iOS 18. You can write a message and then choose to have it delivered in the future, such as when you know the other person will be awake. Speaking of the Messages app, iOS 18 includes support for RCS messaging for the first time. RCS unlocks better cross-platform communication between iPhone and Android devices. This includes things like read receipts, typing indicators, better group chat support, high quality photos and videos, and more. RCS support will vary from carrier to carrier around the world. Availability will likely expand as we get closer to iOS 18's general release in September. In conjunction with macOS Sequoia (which is also now available in public beta), iOS 18 adds a new iPhone Mirroring feature for accessing your iPhone via your Mac. This feature allows you to interact with your iPhone, receive push notifications, and move files between both devices. Here's an in-depth look at how iPhone Mirroring works with iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia: iOS 18 revamps the experience of using screen sharing with SharePlay. Now, you can draw on someone's screen so they can see what you can do on theirs, or you can control their screen and take actions yourself. If you provide a lot of iPhone or iPad tech support, this feature will be a lifesaver for you. The Photos app is getting a major revamp in iOS 18, with Apple describing this as the biggest-ever update to the app. There are no more tabs at the bottom of the Photos app, and instead, it features a unified layout that has been simplified into a single view One tent pole of the Photos app is a series of collections. Apple explains that your library is organized by theme, letting you browse by Recent Days, People & Pets, Trips, on a map, and more. The new Photos app is also highly customizable, so you can rearrange and pin different Collections, filter out specific types of content (like screenshots), and more. The search functionality in the iOS 18 Photos app has been completely revamped as well. You can now search by combinations of people, places, and more. iOS 18 brings a new Highlights feature to Safari, which Apple says uses machine learning to surface key information from the webpage you're visiting: Apple has finally given us a dedicated Passwords app. This new app, included in iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia, and visionOS 2, gives easy access to all of your passwords, passkeys, and other login information. The app also stores your Wi-Fi passwords. The Notes app has added a number of new features with iOS 18: Apple continues its efforts to make the iPhone a gaming powerhouse with iOS 18: The Wallet app is getting noticeably better with iOS 18 this year. These upgrades are headlined by a new Tap to Cash feature. By simply bringing your phone close to a friend's iPhone, you can send money instantly - transferring from your Apple Cash account to theirs. Apple Wallet's support for event tickets has also been redesigned in iOS 18, as Apple explains: Event tickets in Apple Wallet receive their greatest transformation ever, with a beautiful new design and richer experience for fans. Tickets in Wallet can put key event information at users' fingertips, such as a map of the venue and parking details; useful services like in-seat food delivery; recommended playlists from Apple Music; local forecasts from Weather; and easy access to location sharing to help fans find their friends when they arrive. A new Tap to Provision feature coming to Apple Wallet this year. When available, this feature will let you add new credit or debit cards to Apple Wallet by simply tapping your card on the back of your iPhone. Apple Pay is also coming to Chrome and other third-party web browsers and computers with iOS 18. Apple says you will just need to scan a code from the website using your iPhone and then complete the payment. Finally, Apple Pay and Apple Wallet are also adding new integrations with rewards and installment payments from banks. Perhaps most notably, Apple says that users in the United States will be able to apply for loans directly through Affirm when they check out with Apple Pay. In the Home app with iOS 18, you can now grant specific controls with guest access. This will help you better manage how and when people can enter your home. You have the flexibility to give access to things like garage openers, alarm systems, and door locks only at specific times. iOS 18 also adds hands-free unlock support for HomeKit smart locks. The idea is that UWB support will make the process truly hands-free, using proximity to automatically lock and unlock doors as you arrive and depart. Unfortunately, you'll need a UWB-enabled smart lock for this to work, and those don't exist yet. You can now set a preferred Home Hub in iOS 18. In the past, the Home app has attempted to automatically select the best Apple TV or HomePod in your house to serve as your Home Hub, but this gives you direct control over which is used. As usual, iOS 18 includes a number of new privacy and security features for iPhone users. First, you can now lock any app behind Face ID, Touch ID, or a passcode. This means no one will be able to open the app without your authentication. More than that, iOS 18 also includes support for hidden apps. The app name and icon are hidden on the Home Screen and in search, and you won't receive notifications from the app. Instead, the app is only accessible via a new hidden apps folder in the App Library and requires Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode to be opened. More new privacy features: Here are some of the new Accessibility features in iOS 18: Outside these headlining features, iOS 18 includes many other changes and new features. These are just some of the new features in iOS 18 available today. A number of new features, including Apple Intelligence, will roll out over the next year. As we've reported before, Apple Intelligence is Apple's suite of AI features that it says will revolutionize how people use their Apple devices. This includes a set of Writing Tools for proofreading and rewriting your text. A new Priority Notifications feature powered by AI will surface your most important notifications first. Apple Intelligence also includes Genmoji, a new feature for creating your own emoji using natural language right from your keyboard. Image Playground is a new feature where you can create original images that can be used anywhere. Siri is also getting a dramatic revamp as part of Apple Intelligence and iOS 18: Powered by Apple Intelligence, Siri becomes more deeply integrated into the system experience. With richer language-understanding capabilities, Siri is more natural, more contextually relevant, and more personal, with the ability to simplify and accelerate everyday tasks. It can follow along if users stumble over words and maintain context from one request to the next. Additionally, users can type to Siri, and switch between text and voice to communicate with Siri in whatever way feels right for the moment. Siri also has a brand-new design with an elegant glowing light that wraps around the edge of the screen when Siri is active. Again, none of the Apple Intelligence features are available in the iOS 18 public beta. These features will be released over the months to come. iOS 18 is compatible with the following iPhone models: Now that the iOS 18 public beta is available, are you planning to try it out? Or will you wait for the stable release in September? Let us know in the comments.

iOS 18: 5 essential features to try in the new public beta

I've been using iOS 18 since the Developer Beta dropped, here's what I would try if you get the Public Beta Whether you've been waiting to finally break your iPhone's home screen grid and put apps or widgets wherever you like, or really want to dive head first into the new Photos app or send a message with a wavy effect over the text, you're one step closer as Apple's iOS 18 hits as a Public Beta today. It lands alongside the iPadOS 18, watchOS 11, macOS Sequoia, and tvOS 18 Public Betas, all of which carry some risk as they're not final software. I've been using iOS 18's Developer Beta and a few others since they dropped shortly after Apple's WWDC 2024 keynote, and I'm sharing the five experiences you'll want to try if you opt for the Public Beta. Just know some bugs, glitches, and even reduced battery life might come along for the ride. Most importantly, though, if you're looking for Apple Intelligence, it isn't yet in any of the betas - public or developer. Considering TechRadar's TikTok of iPad's Calculator app being announced has over 3.5 million views, it's safe to say folks are eager to try it. And here's some news - the headlining feature Math Notes, which completes easy and more complex equations in mere seconds, is also coming to the iPhone. You'll definitely want to give this a go. When in the Calculator app on iOS 18, you'll tap the icon that looks like a calculator in the bottom left corner and select "Math Notes". You'll then be presented with a blank screen resembling a fresh Notes app page. From there, you can write out '1 + 1 =', and as soon as you write that final sign, your iPhone works and solves the equation in an instant. It even matches your handwriting style. The experience here is more cramped than on an iPad, but it is still handy and a seamless way to solve some math problems quickly. Math Notes will also save and sync across your devices, so you can review previous equations should you need them. In the world of customization, Apple's opening many doors with iOS 18, and you'll be able to start playing with many of them in the first Public Beta. I'm fully expecting a resurgence in ways to customize your iPhone's home screen to appear on TikTok and Reels. The first thing to try out here is breaking the traditional iPhone grid - you no longer have to place apps in a row and can effectively have spaces in between them. You could have one app in the top left corner and all empty spots until the bottom left corner. The possibilities are pretty infinite here, but as Apple highlighted during the keynote, you can better see your wallpapers here and really achieve whatever aesthetic you're looking for. It's pretty fun, and I recommend creating new pages and trying out your look before fully committing to it. Additionally, you can adjust the icons' size further and apply effects to them individually. When you long-press on your home screen to rearrange icons, tap 'edit' in the top corner, and then 'customize'. You'll see four options for adjusting app icons. You can have them set to light or dark, but you can also generally apply a tint effect similar to Android's Material You effect. Depending on the original design of the app icon, especially third-party ones, the tint color can look a bit jarring, but it does let you quickly achieve a uniform look. I'm especially fond of the dark mode icons. Whether you don't want to bother a friend late at night or don't want to forget to send a celebratory greeting someone's way, Apple is finally letting you schedule an iMessage. It's quite handy and integrated right inside of Messages - you'll type out a message as normal, then tap the "+" on the left and tap 'Send Later'. From there, you can pick the date and time via a scroll wheel, which will send automatically then. Additionally, there are a few other Message enhancements, like being able to react with any available emoji to a message, and the historical tapbacks are now in color with some updated designs. You can also add text effects like 'Bloom', 'Small', or 'Nod' to spice up your texting. The other major change is that RCS support is here and works in the beta. Just like the Home Screen, Control Center is getting a makeover and will let you make some customizations with iOS 18. For one, it's now set up in different pages so a swipe down the middle, or on the right sidebar, lets you easily jump between the favorites, music control, home control, and network settings. But a long press just on the page, lets you add a control, resize one and move all of them around on a grid. So if you love using the flashlight - and there is good reason with the upgrade that well-deserved feature got - you can put it front and center. Furthermore, there is an open API for developers, so third parties can now create Control Center specific widgets. It's all very cool and really lets you make changes to benefit your workflow and the items you deem the most important. Right after playing around with your home screen, I highly recommend customizing the Control Center if you're diving into the iOS 18 Public Beta. This is technically an iOS 18 feature that requires macOS Sequoia - and vice versa - but iPhone Mirroring is definitely a reason to opt for the Public Betas this year. Essentially, it brings your iPhone screen to your Mac and lets you use it in its entirety. Not necessarily a necessity, but it can be useful when you think about it. Say you're working from your living room on your MacBook Air and left your iPhone on your nightstand, or it's in StandBy Mode on your desk while you're working from an iMac, but you want to use an iPhone app; you can easily connect to your iPhone. The StandBy Mode scenario is a bit neater, as it lets the iPhone still function in StandBy mode and gives you access to the iOS experience on your Mac. The best part might be that iPhone notifications will now stream to the Mac, and you can customize which ones come through. This way, you can turn off Instagram or TikTok but keep smart home alerts, Tesla ones, and others you deem necessary. I think the best notification to receive via your iPhone on your Mac now is that your "Apple Watch is now fully charged," though. So whether you've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the iOS 18 Public Beta or have read through this list and want to give it a go, the time is now. Apple is officially seeding the Public Beta of iOS 18 alongside iPadOS 18, watchOS 11, macOS Sequoia, and tvOS 18. While Apple Intelligence isn't here just yet, there are still a lot of features to cover and get to play with. Of course, there is still hope that we'll get to preview those features, but Apple has promised that its AI feature set will ship in beta this Fall. If you're sold, head over here for our guide to installing the Public Beta of iOS 18 and know that you'll need an iPhone XS or newer and an iPhone SE second-generation or later.

iOS 18 public beta hands-on review: A work in progress

Evaluating iOS 18 at this point is an exercise in waiting for the other shoe to drop. Though the iOS 18 public beta is now available for download and ready to install on any supported iPhone, it's missing some rather critical features at this point in the form of Apple Intelligence. That's Apple's description of the AI-powered features that are coming to some iPhones later this year. Apple Intelligence is highlighted by a much more intelligent Siri that can handle more complex tasks, but there are also image generation tools, writing suggestions and smarter notification summaries that promise to make it easier to get things done from the comfort of your iPhone. And as of this release of the iOS 18 public beta, none of those features are here. They're coming, mind you -- Apple expects to launch its AI push at some point during the summer, though rumors suggest some of the Siri upgrades may not be fully realized until 2025. Plus, it's worth noting that you need an A17 Pro-powered iPhone or later to support Apple Intelligence. That limits these features to the iPhone 15 Pro models that came out last fall In the meantime, we're left to talk about iOS 18, which feels like reviewing the concert based on the warmup acts while the headliner is still chilling in the green room. Apple will likely bristle at that metaphor, since iOS 18 is a fairly full-featured update in its own right, with plenty of enhancements and new capabilities. If you don't have an iPhone capable of running Apple Intelligence features -- and that's a lot of us, actually -- iOS 18 delivers a lot of positive changes. In this iOS 18 hands-on, I'll share some initial impressions of the software update, having explored it on an iPhone 14 the past few weeks. iOS 18 compatibility: What iPhones support iOS 18? Apple Intelligence may be limited to select models when it arrives later this summer, but the iOS 18 update as a whole takes a much broader approach. Any phone that could run iOS 17 will be able to upgrade to the new iOS version. So that means if you have an iPhone XR/XS/XS Max or newer, you're still good to upgrade, and that includes the 2020 and 2022 editions of the iPhone SE. That said, as with past iOS updates, some iOS 18 features will require more recent hardware. For instance, you'll need an iPhone 12 or later to take advantage of the new audio transcription tools in the Notes and Phone apps, while a TV feature that boosts dialogue so that it's more audible requires at least an iPhone 11. We've got a summary of which iOS 18 features have specific hardware requirements, as well as ones that are restricted to specific regions. iOS 18 home screen customization: A new look, again Apple Intelligence may not be a part of the current iOS 18 public beta, but this version of the software does introduce a fairly significant change to the look of your iPhone's home screen. And it's a feature anyone able to run iOS 18 on their iPhone can enjoy. You can now customize the look of your home screen, forsaking the usual grid of app icons to place those apps anywhere you want on the screen. Say you've got a favorite photo that you like using as your home screen wallpaper -- you can now arrange your apps to frame the image instead of covering it up. Or you can group apps with complementary functions and features together in a screen section of your choosing. Really, the look of how apps and widgets get arranged on your home screen is now entirely up to you. That's not all you can change. iOS 18 also allows you to change the look of app icons too, opting for light or dark versions, or even an automatic mode that adjusts when your phone goes into Dark Mode. If you prefer, you can change the way app icons are tinted -- opting for a color that provides a better contrast with your wallpaper or just picking a particular hue because you like its look. You can switch between small and large sizes for the icons, too. If I have a complaint here, it's that Apple doesn't go far enough with the customization options, particularly when it comes to adjusting the app icons, which is an all-or-nothing affair. Maybe I'd like to tint my productivity apps blue to set them apart from other app icons or I'd like each different home screen to feature a different app icon color. But Apple limits me to one tint for every icon -- a limitation that makes even less sense when you consider that you can arrange your app icons in different ways on every individual home screen. That complaint aside, this is a very welcome change to iOS, which has often come under fire for lacking Android's personalization features. You can't really make that argument anymore after recent iOS updates have let you place widgets on your home screen, change up the look of the home screen and now place app icons anywhere you'd like. Apple clearly recognizes that we treat our phones like an extension of our personalities, and it continues to roll out changes to its iPhone software to let us better express ourselves in that manner. iOS 18: A new look for the Control Center The customization in iOS 18 doesn't stop with the home screen. Apple has also given the Control Center a makeover with this update, and it lets you rearrange controls to position them however you want. That includes resizing controls by dragging their lower right corner to expand or shrink them. For the first time, you can even change the camera and flashlight controls on the bottom of the lock screen to provide shortcuts to other controls. I've added a quick link to have Shazam identify songs to my home screen so that I don't have to jump into the Control Center and find that shortcut myself. If you've got an iPhone with an Action Button -- the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max at this point, though the fall's iPhone 16 releases could expand the number of supported devices -- you can link up that button to any control available in iOS 18's controls gallery, giving you another shortcut that's just a press away. The Control Center itself has expanded into four panels, led off by a main page that includes all your favorite controls and looks a lot like the Control Center found in iOS 17. But scroll down and you'll find a separate control panel for media playback, followed by a dedicated screen for Home controls that provide one-tap access to smart home devices and scenes you've created using the built-in Homes app. The fourth panel is a Connectivity screen with access to things like AirPlane mode, VPNs, hotspot features and more. Part of me wishes Apple gave you more control over the order in which these panels appeared. I don't have a lot of smart home appliances, for example, but I do see myself making use of the connectivity panel. It would be nice if I could flip the order so that the panel I'm more likely to access appears ahead of the one I have little use for. Apple has a decent workaround where shortcuts to the four panels appear in a descending row on the right side of the screen -- you can just tap the icon to jump to the panel you want. I like the fact that you no longer need to go into the Settings app to adjust the Control Center layout -- iOS 18 gives you the ability to edit the look of the main panel from directly within the Control Center itself. And once the full version of iOS 18 comes in the fall, I expect we'll see a lot of third-party apps release their own controls now that Apple allows you to add those to iOS 18's Control Center. iOS 18 Photos: An acquired taste Of all the changes to iOS 18, the one with the potential to be most divisive is the redesigned Photos app, which gets the biggest overhaul in the app's history. The tabbed interface of iOS 17's Photos that lets you jump from your library to albums to For You collections is gone. Instead, everything's on a single screen and you scroll to find things. A downward swipe takes you deeper into your library while an upward swipe lets you explore collections, automatically assembled memories and other photos grouped by categories like People & Pets, Trips and the like. The new look takes some getting used to. For instance, if you don't notice some tiny dots below the photo library, it may not be immediately clear that if you swipe right or left, you can call up collections of photos. The app picks what highlights you see initially, but you're able to customize what shows up in the carousel. Scrolling down to see various collections of photos can make you feel like you're missing something -- ironic, since the motivation behind this redesign is to help you better find things in your library. At this stage, I'm willing to chalk up my reaction to the Photos app redesign as resistance to change that will fade as I get more accustomed to the app's new look. I suspect people trying out the iOS 18 beta may go through the same kind of growing pains. At least Apple has added some clever tools for finding the photos you want. When you swipe into your photo library, tabs appear to let you sort images by years and months. There are other filters, too, for how images get sorted and for filtering out the results you don't need to see. That latter tool is particularly helpful for removing the screenshots stored in your photo library from view. iOS 18 Messages: Two practical changes amid the fun Given the popularity of iMessage as a messaging platform, you'd expect Apple to make a few improvements to the Messages app. That's certainly the case with iOS 18, though I'd categorize a lot of the additions as light-hearted rather than essential additions to the messaging mix. For instance, iOS 18 lets you use any emoji or sticker you've got stored in your sticker drawer as a tapback. This will doubtlessly thrill anyone who relies on emoji as a communications tool. But for the oldsters like me, it's just another thing to nod and smile politely at. A more widely appealing change is the addition of new text effects that can cause your messages to shake, ripple or even explode -- you access them by tapping on your message and selecting Text Effects from the menu. There, you'll even find ways to format words or entire texts with bold, italic, underline or strike-through formatting. Easily, the most practical change to Messages is the ability to schedule texts to be sent later. This is ideal for those times late at night when you think of a message late at night but don't want to send it out until a more appropriate hour. Just tap the Plus (+) button where you access functions like the Messages Check In feature or Digital Touch, and tap Send Later. A blue timer will appear over your text listing when the message will go out; tap it to adjust the day and time. If you've got an iPhone 14 or later, you can take advantage of Messages via satellite, which lets you connect over iMessage even without cellular or Wi-Fi connectivity. Instead, you're using satellites, as the name of the feature confirms, and you get the full benefit of the iMessages platform when texting other iPhone users -- that means emoji and tapbacks in addition to text messages. (Texting with a non-iPhone user? You can still send and receive messages using SMS.) I haven't made any forays into places remote enough to give this feature a test, but if I do, I'll update this hands-on review. Another feature I haven't had a chance to test just yet is iOS 18's newfound support for RCS, or the Rich Communications Service that's become the favored messaging platform for Android. The addition of RCS means that features normally off-limits to cross-platform messages -- read receipts, typing indicators and high-quality images and videos -- will now be part of your texts with Android users. Your messages won't be encrypted end-to-end like they are when you text other iPhone users, but RCS is definitely more secure than the SMS/MMS platforms previously in use. The green bubble/blue bubble divide remains, even with RCS support now part of your iPhone. iOS 18 Notes: What an updated app should be I used to scoff at people who used the built-in Notes app on their iPhone for anything other than jotting down quick lists, but each successive iOS update seems to add new features that seamlessly integrate with what's already done. Notes is practically a full-fledged writing tool at this point, and iOS 18 adds even more capabilities that make this built-in app the first place you should stop when you've got to put ideas down on (virtual) paper. In iOS 18, Apple has integrated the calculator into Notes to support a new Math Notes feature. There are flashy elements, like the ability to sketch out equations on your phone's screen and have the calculator solve them, though this particular use of Math Notes is better suited for the larger screen of an iPad and the precision of a stylus like an Apple pencil. (For more, see our iPadOS 18 hands-on.) A far better implementation of Math Notes has you type out formulas that the feature can solve. As an example, I can keep a running tally of expenses that automatically adjusts as I add new numbers to the mix. Changes in Notes don't stop there. Instead of jumping over to the Voice Memos app when you want to make a recording you can link to in your note, the app now comes with an integrated recorder. Even better, Notes transcribes audio recordings and phone calls -- even highlighting the text during playback -- so that you have a written searchable transcript for your notes. As with similar features on Android devices, transcription accuracy is hit and miss. A recording of me reciting Anthony's funeral oration from "Julius Caesar" had some notable errors, though we can maybe chalk that up to the fact that Shakespeare's words did not come trippingly off my tongue. Fortunately, ou can edit transcripts, though you have to add them to your note first, which seems an unnecessary step. If you go to the trouble of fine-tuning the layout of your notes, you'll appreciate the addition of collapsable section headers, which let you better organize notes and hide sections of text in lengthier files. Another new feature lets you change the color of text, essentially allowing you to highlight sections of a note for easier skimming. iOS 18 Safari: Summaries at your fingertips The changes to Safari in iOS 18 aren't nearly so substantial, but they will potentially save you time if you know where to find them. A new Highlights feature in Safari focuses on key information about that particular web page. Right now, the primary use for Highlights appears to be directions and operating hours, as I've been able to pull up maps to various sights around San Francisco. (In fact tapping that summary box takes me to the Maps app where I can get driving directions.) Other potential Highlights let you explore more with people, movies, music and TV shows. The trick to highlights is knowing how to access it, as those summaries don't appear automatically. Instead, look to the Safari address bar where a tiny purple AI icon appears on what you'd normally tap for more information. If Highlights is to become better integrated in the Safari browsing experience, it feels like Apple should make that visual cue more obvious, and the information itself will need to appear with great consistency. Safari's other big change -- a redesigned Reader feature -- is accessed the same way. Reader lets you see web articles in a more readable format, with everything stripped away but the text and some key images. In iOS 18, you get a summary at the top of the reader display, with longer articles adding a table of contents, too. The summaries are accurate enough, though probably not thorough enough to save you much in the way of time. Presumably, if you clicked on the article, you're interested enough to read it no matter what Reader's summary tells you. But with Apple Intelligence missing in action in the current iOS 18 beta, this is probably your best current look at what Apple's inclusion of AI in iPhone features brings to the table. iOS 18 privacy and security: New password manager, hidden apps Any iOS update tends to bring with it new attempts to shore up security and privacy on your iPhone, and iOS 18 is no exception. Two changes are part of the iOS 18 public beta that deserve some attention -- a new Passwords app and the ability to secure any app you want to the point where you can even hide it from public view. The Passwords app builds on Apple's keychain for managing passwords. It's a one-stop storage vault for all the passwords you've accrued for various apps and websites. Not only does this help with auto filling in your credentials, it also makes searching for passwords a lot easier. Other tools include alerts for compromised passwords and syncing your passwords across all the Apple devices you own (assuming they're updated to the latest versions of their software, one presumes). I confess that I find the Passwords interface intimidating, as it's a long string of apps and websites I had forgotten I ever accessed, including some online tools I last used when I worked for a previous employer a decade ago. So I've probably got some password management ahead of me. Still, this seems like a sensible addition to iOS 18 that should put control over passwords right in your hands. I'm more pleased with the ability to secure apps by requiring a Face ID unlock in order to access them. This adds an extra layer of protection in case your phone is ever unlocked, as you can keep anyone who happens to have your phone from accessing sensitive data in apps that remain unlocked until you verify them. For more security, you can opt to hide apps from public view, where they'll be stored in a folder that only you can access. Best of all, data from locked and hidden apps won't show up in searches, so you won't inadvertently defeat the purpose of securing them in the first place. There's been some smirking about this feature, as if it would only be used to hide nefarious or embarrassing activity. But I see it as a practical step in a world where you keep a lot of health, banking, and personal information on your phone, and maybe you don't want people popping into the Health app to see what kind of medications you take. This is a great addition by Apple at a time when our phones house a lot of critical data about ourselves. iOS 18: Other updates of note We're roughly half-a-billion words into this hands-on review, and we've only scratched the surface about the changes Apple has made. Here's a summary of some of the other improvements I've spotted during my hands-on time with iOS 18. Calendar/Reminders integration: You can now create a reminder in the Calendars app, linking it to a specific time and date, and it will also appear in Reminders. (The reverse also works, with tasks in Reminders showing up in your Calendar.) This is a sensible blending of cross-app functionality that saves you the hassle of jumping between apps to keep things synced up. Hiking maps for Maps: I've often complained about Maps' limited utility if you like hiking, so I have to credit Apple for adding topographic maps to iOS 18. You'll find all 63 U.S. National Parks supported in the app, and I hope it expands to add state and regional support. The feature works best when you take advantage of the offline maps feature Apple introduced last year. Tap to Cash and venue info in Wallet: There are two improvements in the Wallet app I haven't had a chance to test, but hope to once the iOS 18 beta becomes more widespread. Tap to Cash lets you exchange cash payments with other iPhone users simply by placing your phone next to theirs and making an AirDrop-like transfer. Think of it as a way of cutting out Venmo or PayPal from the process of paying back friends and family. Meanwhile, when you stash tickets in Wallet, participating venues can add information like maps of the venue, when the gates and parking areas open and more. Apple also says that the Wallet app can surface other recommendations -- relevant playlists for upcoming concerts, recommendations for nearby eateries, and links to Find My so you can track down the people you're attending the event with. Journal improvements: I haven't made much use of Journal since Apple added the app a year ago, but some new gamification features in iOS 18 like streaks and stats figure to help get you in the habit of writing on your phone. The app now integrates with another iOS 17 addition, the Health app's mood tracker, so you can see the impact reflective writing is having on your outlook. Fitness fixes: As I had hoped, the iOS 18 version of Fitness adds some of the improvements coming with the watchOS 11 update such as the ability to pause your move goal progress when you're injured or taking a rest day so that you don't lose any streaks. You can also adjust your move goal on a daily basis to better reflect that some days feature more intense workouts than others. iOS 18: What's not in the beta Apple Intelligence isn't the only feature you won't find when you install the iOS 18 public beta. Mail is getting a big change this year -- your inbox will be broken up into different categories for better organization -- but Apple has already alerted us that those changes won't come until later in the year. That suggests Mail improvements may have to wait until a subsequent update following the full release of iOS 18 in the fall. That happens a fair amount with some iOS updates, so it's nothing really to fret about. When it does come, the Mail improvements figure to bring some order to the chaos of your inbox, with a Primary view for messages from family, friends and colleagues, plus time-sensitive emails that float to the top of your inbox. Other categories include Transactions, Promotions and Updates, which handle things like receipts, sales promos, and newsletters, respectively. As we continue to go through the iOS 18 public beta, we may come across other missing-in-action features. If so, we'll update this section accordingly. iOS 18 public beta: Should I upgrade? Deciding whether to install a beta software or not boils down to risk tolerance. Even the most polished betas run the risk of bugs or having critical apps that you depend on not run the way they should. That can be a problem when we're talking about a device as essential to day-to-day living as a phone. Generally, I suggest that people wait to install an iOS beta unless they have an old iPhone lying around so that they can try out things without any risk. With iOS 18, I'm going to have to insist on approaching this initial public beta cautiously. The version of iOS 18 that Apple is releasing to the public is much more stable than the initial developers release that came out right after June's WWDC keynote. Yet, bugs persist, with apps occasionally crashing for no apparent reason. That's all right for those of us who test software for a living, but if you just want your phone to work like it's supposed to, that's a risk not worth taking. Let's put it this way: the iPhone 14 I've been using to run the iOS 18 beta is not my everyday phone. The device I depend on for daily use still runs iOS 17. And it's probably going to stay that way until another public beta update comes along. That's the good news with Apple's iOS beta process, though -- it's long and thorough. Between now and the likely fall release date for iOS 18, we're expecting a lot of beta updates that will stamp out any performance issues and role out more polished features. It doesn't hurt to wait an update or two to make sure things are a bit more solid. iOS 18 public beta outlook If anything, spending time with the iOS 18 beta has convinced me that there's more to this update than Apple Intelligence. Certainly, Apple's push to include more AI-driven features on its phones is exciting, but there are enough new capabilities in iOS 18 right now to make it a worthwhile update -- once the beta becomes a little more polished, that is.

Without Apple Intelligence, iOS 18 beta feels like a TV show that's waiting for the finale | TechCrunch

At this year's Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple divided the keynote into two parts: regular OS updates and an introduction to the company's AI features. Apple is drawing a line between these two sections because Apple Intelligence features will become available this fall. It means that those features likely won't be there with the 18.0 release; major iOS updates are usually timed with new iPhone releases in September. Apple Intelligence features are also not available in the developer beta, which is available now. It might be a while until we get a taste of them. That's why the current iOS 18 beta release feels like the first half of a two-part TV show: It's pretty good, but we need to know more. If you remove Apple Intelligence from iOS 18, customization is the marquee feature. Simply put, you can now move more buttons. First, you can arrange icons on your home screen in any way you want and even keep some icon slots empty. This allows you to create different patterns with icons on the screen. You can customize icon colors to create a unified look. This way, you don't need to rely on the tedious Siri Shortcuts workaround to do this. iOS 18 lets you switch to dark icons, give them a specific tint through a color palette, and also make them larger (this will hide the app name). Given that it's early days, the tinted apps don't look great with some colors. Apple has already improved dark tint icon support for some third-party apps with the third developer beta. The Control Center now has a paginated experience. The default four pages are standard controls page, media playback, home controls for smart devices, and connectivity controls. You can add or remove controls to each page and also add new pages if you want. This makes it easier to perform quick actions without having to open certain apps. There is a new controls gallery that lets you search for controls and easily add them. Apple has opened up the Control Center to third-party apps, so we will see more apps offering interactions with their service with an icon. One of the best things to come out of this update is that you can replace the default icons for the flashlight and camera on the lock screen through the controls gallery. Plus, you can also choose a new action using the action button. Apple has redesigned the privacy and security settings to show you what information different apps access at a glance. The menu is now divided into different data types: Calendars, Contacts, Files & Folders, Health, Media & Apple Music, Photos, Reminders and Wallet. You can tap each category and see what apps are accessing this information. With iOS 18, Apple will allow you to lock or hide apps from the home screen. In both cases, you will require a Face ID, Touch ID, or passcode authentication to open the app. You can long press on an app from the home screen to lock or hide the app. For hidden apps, you will see a new hidden apps folder in the App Library. When you lock or hide an app, notifications for that app don't appear on the system. Plus, the content from within the app doesn't appear within the search. Apple has also introduced a new dedicated Passwords app, moving the saved credentials from a tab in Settings to make this information easily accessible. The new Passwords app has also learned a few new tricks. You can see all your passwords and passkeys, all websites and apps with Sign in with Apple credentials, and Wi-Fi passwords. You can also access two-factor verification codes from this app and create groups with friends or family members for shared credentials. Apple said that all your synced data for this app is protected by end-to-end encryption across devices. At the moment, the app doesn't allow you to store credit card information like 1Password. The new software update adds better contact-sharing permission. Now you can share select contacts with an app rather than giving it access to all contacts. There is also a new menu for setting up Bluetooth Accessories, which also prevents these apps from accessing other devices on the network. Apple has gotten rid of the bottom bar with its major Photos redesign this year. The overall philosophy is that the company has decided to pack everything in a unified view. The top carousel shows your library, featured photos, featured memories, favorites and videos by default. You can add or remove different elements from this carousel. You can directly access the library in the default view and scroll down to see the albums and other different collection folders such as Recent Days, People & Pets, Pinned Collections, Memories, Trips (a new feature), Utilities and Media type. You can customize the visibility and order of these items. Apple noted in the keynote that it is using "intelligence" (not Apple Intelligence) in the Photos app to create new collections like a group of people and trips based on people appearing in photos and the time and location of images. The library now has more filters such as all, favorites, edited photos, videos, and screenshots to let you traverse through a trove of images swiftly. The grid view offers bottom tabs of years and months (apart from all), and when you tap on them, you can see highlights from that timeline. The company's idea with this redesign is to resurface some old photos regularly through this interface without having to solely rely on the Memories feature. Apple introduced many language-related updates with iOS. There is a new multilingual and multiscript keyboard, support for Hindi in the translate app, and support for Arabic in Live Text. You can also customize your lock screen and contact cards with numerals and fonts in the non-Latin script. iOS 18 brings language search tuned for Assamese, Bangla, Devanagari and Gujarati scripts, allowing you to search for similar-sounding words with different spellings. The transcription feature is now used across the system, including for call recording, notes, voice memos, and a new way to add entries to the Journal app. Notes app allows you to add live transcriptions for events like lectures. It also stores transcripts for call recordings. The phone app now gains a search function to let you look through call history and contacts. You can also use the keypad to type a name or a number to look for contacts (like on a basic feature phone). Apple is expanding Live Voicemail to more regions with support for Indian English, Mandarin and Cantonese. The Control Center now has a new toggle that lets you easily switch SIM. During the call, the system has an automatic mic mode to switch between standard, voice isolation, and wide spectrum modes. Messages get new text effects and formatting along with support for tapbacks using any emoji or sticker. The app now lets you schedule messages for later, but the menu for that is hidden under the "+" sign. Apple should move that to a long press of the send button like in other messaging apps. Apple made a brief mention at the keynote that Messages app now supports RCS (Rich Communication Service). That means your friends on Android can send high-quality media files and also look at read receipts and typing indicators for a better group messaging experience. But this doesn't take away their green bubbles. U.S.-based users can also connect to someone through the new Messages via the Satellite feature. Apple is catching up with Android by offering features like icon customization and language support. But even if Android had those features a gazillion years ago, it's good to see those features land on iOS. Some of these features will also require a few iterations to look better. With iOS 18, Apple is also evolving its apps, such as Calculator, Notes, Journal and Password, to suit advanced usage. Despite all these changes, everyone will be watching out for when the company releases Apple Intelligence features. But with varied and unspecified timelines of feature rollout, we don't know how much Apple Intelligence we will get to experience in the next few months. It's too early to declare this TV show a hit.

iOS 18 review: features, Apple Intelligence, customization

Apple did something unexpected with iOS 18 across nearly every feature outside of the anticipated Apple Intelligence -- it listened by offering more customization and control. It is no secret that investors and pundits were clamoring to know more about Apple's AI plans. However, now that we see Apple Intelligence will be a slow launch mostly limited to new hardware, it is clear why iOS 18 is so much more than AI. When the Android vs iPhone wars were at their peak in the 2010s, you likely heard that one of the biggest reasons to choose Android was customization. Apple's simple grid of icons was laughable to the amusement park that was Android home screens. Blame industry trends or Jony Ive leaving, but Apple finally gave way to giving users something they had never given them before -- options. Alternate app icons opened the door to the idea that an iPhone could be personalized. While Apple Intelligence appears impressive in some aspects, it isn't available to test. So, this review will focus on iOS 18 outside of AI, especially since this will be how iOS looks to most people around the globe anyway. And funny enough, it seems nearly every feature has something to do with personalization. Apple has handed out a slow drip of customization features since iOS 14 introduced widgets on the Home Screen. Every update since has placed more emphasis on custom layouts, controls, and themes until what seems to be the pinnacle of iOS 18. It isn't just about negative space on the Home Screen or tinting icons -- it's about control. Combine interactive widgets, custom icons, negative space, custom Lock Screens, wallpapers, and Focus Modes, and you get a device that is truly yours in any and all contexts. Even outside of launching portions of the operating system like the Home Screen, Lock Screen, and Control Center, Apple has looked for more ways to customize the user interface. For example, Safari has Tab Groups and Profiles that change with Focus modes and can offer different Start Pages for each. Customization is taken a step further with Photos in iOS 18, where the user can configure the app's layout. Different albums and smart groups show up in the interface, new ones can be created and added, and it results in a highly controllable interface. The only thing missing from app icon tinting and the new Photos apps are Focus Filters. Imagine entering a Work Focus where Photos only shows albums related to product photography, screenshots, and other relevant work based on collections you've curated. Let's get into the specifics of these updates. Apple's Home Screen has several new options for user customization. They include the ability to leave blank space on the Home Screen, adjust icon sizes, switch to dark icons, or add a tint. When customizing the icons, they affect every icon including those shown in the App Library, folders, and Spotlight search. It is a setting that is locked in no matter what Focus is active, for now. Users have been requesting the ability to add blank space for years. Apple pitched the feature as a way to uncover parts of a wallpaper, like a pet's face. App icons can also be set to a large mode that hides the text labels on icons and widgets. The labels disappear from everywhere, so it might be difficult to identify some apps in the App Library if you don't have the icon memorized. Dark mode icons are a new feature that swaps the color palette of glyph-style icons to one with black backgrounds and dark accents. Apple's app icons have never offered alternative icons until now, and the change is striking. Third-party apps that don't have complex colors or designs in the foreground or background are algorithmically darkened too. It can lead to some interesting results, but since Apple is forcing the change, developers will need to optimize icons or be left with subpar dark icons. Purists who wanted dark mode and themes were left with bright white icons from Apple. It necessitated creating custom launchers with Shortcuts to get appropriately themed icons. Shortcuts and widgets were also used to theme the Home Screen, but Apple has made it much easier with iOS 18. The tinting option automatically sets icons to dark mode and then applies a color filter to elements of the icon. It appears to be a rudimentary implementation at first glance since it is a brute-force application to all icons and widgets. However, Apple has given developers the ability to submit layered icons to take advantage of the filtered mode specifically. We'll have to evaluate how that looks in the fall. Dark and light icons can be set to automatically switch based on time of day, similar to system-wide light and dark mode. Also, there's a sun icon that can be used to dim the wallpaper. Apple didn't change much about the Lock Screen, but what it did change is significant. The flashlight and camera buttons have been on the Lock Screen since iPhone X, but they're now user-replaceable. I've had some trouble with this update because I always want the flashlight there, and muscle memory has me ruined on the camera button. I tried Halide in the camera slot, and it became a task to remember which camera app I wanted and when. After I break the muscle memory, I expect things will be better. One option is to make the button a Shortcut, which could then run an action menu. Thankfully, the button customizations are tied to Lock Screens, which means they can change with Focus. Still, it'll take a while to find what I want to be different there if anything. Control Center has been rebuilt as a multi-page user-customizable tool. It can include multiple sizes of icons and controls for system features and third-party apps. It feels a little redundant to have a Home Screen, Lock Screen, Today View, and now Control Center with ways to access information and controls. However, Control Center stands out as a unique addition to the customization game since it is always a swipe away. Reorganize system controls to your heart's content. Change the size of a widget to take up a single block or an entire page, depending on the control. Once you've filled a page, a new one can be created up to 10 pages. Reaching these pages isn't a chore since you can swipe down from the top left and continue sliding in one motion until the desired page is reached. It is quite a compelling upgrade, even without access to third-party apps during the beta. It'll be interesting to see PCalc as a launcher option or other unique controls provided by various apps like Widgetsmith. Once you've packed a page full of controls, it can become quite the sliding tile puzzle trying to get everything in its place. Jiggle mode is as infuriating as ever when you're trying to organize a single icon into a row of other icons that can potentially blow up your entire page. And there's no undo button. Adding an undo button would make editing these pages much easier. We're over 1,000 words in and haven't made it to feature updates just yet. That's how big the customization updates are. Apple didn't stop there, though. Its various system apps and services have also been updated for iOS 18. Apple redesigned the Photos app by removing its tabbed interface in favor of a unified one. The single view can be a bit overwhelming at first, but it does offer some useful organization and customization. Anecdotally, I've encountered people who have no idea what the Photos app does beyond showing a list of photos in capture order. The other pages were left neglected unless they needed to recover a deleted image. The unified design brings everything to the front, which should help surface some functions that were hidden before, like the Memories or Map features. Swiping on the main library view brings up custom memories and collections. Below that is a series of different sorting options based on faces, pets, trips, albums, and more. Everything that was in the previous Photos app is still here in iOS 18, but it just might take some getting used to the new interface. Customizing it is key to getting it right, though it does feel like the options are limited for now. I'd love to see Apple bring Focus Filters to the Photos app. Allow me to show screenshots and documents in the Work focus, show people and places in Personal, and show food in Fitness. Safari has a new Highlights feature, and Reader view has been upgraded. Highlights can provide quick links to Maps, Music, or other apps that surface from the current webpage. If you go to the new Reader view, it can provide a summary of the page and offer a generated table of contents. The summary is shown in the Highlights view, and Reader view when available. Apple Intelligence isn't required for the new Safari features to work. They pull information using data detectors for map links, dates, music, and more. So far, I have seen Highlights, summaries, and tables of contents on select older webpages. They are interesting tools that could help users browse the web without trying to destroy it. Journal upgrades include a new search tool with filters and insights. These are welcome updates after a relatively stale initial launch with limited options. The journal entry process hasn't changed. Users still tap a giant plus button to add text, images, or suggestions to an entry. An excellent addition is the ability to tie Journal to Apple Health. Every minute in Journal is logged as mindfulness minutes, and users can log State of Mind in line with the entry. The search button in the top right corner enables users to search using keywords or filter entries based on content like photos, activity, or places. There's also a new option to print entries, which also allows users to convert the print option to a PDF for exporting. The Insights screen provides various metrics like streaks and total word count. Streaks are a significant motivator for keeping up a healthy journal habit, and they are a welcome addition to Apple's app. Streaks do require the user to actually put an entry in every day or every week. Backdating entries won't artificially complete a streak. I can see I've got an entry for every day since Journal was released in October. As the time of publication, I have a 35-week streak, but my longest daily streak is 44 days because I backfilled some entries. I also have more days journaled than the app has been available because I've manually entered some entries from Day One going back to 2018. I'm excited to keep journaling with Apple Journal. It will be easier than ever, thanks to new widget options and metrics. It isn't a perfect app yet, but it has a bright future as long as Apple doesn't forget about it. I'd love to see third-party apps suggest entries and for the app to be more proactive in generating automatic entries based on available data. Apple's updates to Messages continue the trend of offering users options, whether they want them or not. Tapbacks got a big upgrade, and there's a send later option, but everything else will likely be used by a select few. Tapbacks were previously limited to a set of colorless reactions, but now they're able to be any emoji. It's a simple system that utilizes the existing interface, so users will likely have an easy time adapting. Send Later is an excellent option for power users, and it is available in the app drawer. Simply write the text and select a date and time within the next two weeks. Formatting texts and text effects look like interesting options, but they'll likely suffer the same fate as previous text effects. Few users will know they are there, and you'll have at least one aunt who overuses them. Effects like jitter, shake, and explode are fun. I'm interested in seeing how these get adopted outside of nerd audiences. The text effect section is prominent in the suggestions bar below the text box, so it may mean users will discover it easier than a long press. The biggest update to Messages had the least time on screen -- RCS. Green bubble texts with compatible users on compatible networks will be upgraded from SMS to RCS. The upgrade allows for typing indicators, high-resolution images and videos, and tapbacks. The implementation is in its early days, and we'll have to see what the iOS 18 launch looks like to understand the implementation fully. Apple Notes got two significant updates -- math notes and voice memos. Math notes on iPhone isn't quite as impressive as it is on iPad, but it still works when typing out equations. Integrating Voice Memos into Apple Notes enables users to record audio while typing into their notes app. It is a feature that's been around in many third-party apps for years. However, Apple takes it a bit further by automatically transcribing audio and making it searchable. Users can also take the transcript of the voice memo and add it to the note as text. The update overall is minor in scale. It does elevate the Notes app so users can rely on Notes instead of third-party options if all they need is voice recording and transcription. But power users will likely still need other apps. Another seemingly minor but elevating update brought Reminders to Calendar. It is a simple integration with the ability to create, view, and manage Reminders in line with Calendar events. It isn't anywhere near as complex as Fantastical's integration or other third-party apps. However, like with the Notes updates, it may be enough to convince some users to stick with Apple apps, as they are "good enough." There are several views available, like stacked or compact bars in the month view. The single-day view crams Reminders into a tiny scrollable interface at the top, which isn't ideal if you have a lot of reminders in a day. Apple does offer a list view, which makes managing multiple Reminders alongside Calendar events more viable. However, at that point, you may just want to go back to the Reminders app. Power users won't be coming back to Apple Calendar, but I'm happy to see Reminders integration. Hopefully, Apple will continue to add such cross-app features in future updates. There is a lot in iOS 18 that are smaller updates and features that I'd still like to call out here. As I said earlier, there is quite a lot here, even without Apple Intelligence available to discuss. The Password app is a big finally for iOS 18. There's not much to it if you're familiar with the password section of Settings, except it includes network passwords and filtering options. Apple added guest access to the Home app, but I haven't been able to test it yet. It is an exciting feature that should vastly improve how I handle visitors or pet sitters when I'm away. Another tiny "Sherlock" is Apple's addition of hiking routes to Apple Maps. While this feature won't be as fleshed out as AllTrails, it does provide useful information when at known trails and national parks. Game Mode automatically turns on when playing a game, but I'd actually prefer to see this as a Focus Filter instead. Maybe you don't need game mode when playing Sudoku, but if you connect a game controller, it would mean you're ready for more serious gaming. SharePlay extends to AirPlay and Bluetooth devices like HomePod and Beats Pill. I loved the implementation with CarPlay and am very happy that it is available everywhere now, even for people without Apple Music subscriptions. The ability to hide and lock apps has been a long time coming. I find it humorous that TikTok decided this was a sign that iOS 18 was a "cheater's paradise." It's just a useful utility, especially if you're letting a kid use your smartphone. Apple finally locked down contact sharing in apps, but it feels like a half-step. Users can still just say "allow full access" if they're in a rush, which solves nothing. Apple should treat contact access as seriously as it does location access. It has become tradition for Apple to reveal things at WWDC that won't be available right at launch. This year, it's the new Apple Mail categorization feature, which is separate from Apple Intelligence. Mail categorization is something I've wanted for a while. Third-party apps like Edison Mail does a great job sorting content, but I'm excited to see Apple do it in a way where I'm certain privacy will be preserved. The most obvious part of this review that's missing is Apple Intelligence. Apple's take on AI may appear in the developer betas in some form later in the summer, but even that isn't certain. Apple Intelligence launches to the public as a beta feature alongside the iOS 18 release in September. The Siri upgrades likely won't be available until spring 2025 if rumors are to be believed. So far, the most significant updates around iOS 18 are tied to personalization and control. Apple Intelligence will undoubtedly step in and take over the conversation in the coming months, but for now, I'm happy to have had a view of the update unclouded by AI. Part of what makes an iPhone personal is the ability to customize it top to bottom with the way it looks and behaves given different contexts. iOS 18 has enhanced that further with new control over the Home Screen, Lock Screen, and Control Center. Apple also made apps more useful with more cross-app functionality, more developer APIs, and better Shortcuts implementation. Safari is smarter, Photos is more personal, and Journal is a much stronger app overall. I'm excited to see how iOS 18 evolves through the beta period over the summer and how Apple Intelligence affects the operating system as a whole. AppleInsider will revisit iOS 18 as new features become available throughout 2024. It is clear Apple had an internal focus on Apple Intelligence while developing iOS 18. It is an overall smaller release compared to previous years, but the included features make up for lack of volume. Even when considering Apple Intelligence, the score wouldn't improve much since a very small percentage of the user base is getting access. Of the 24 compatible models, only 2 get the advanced features. Apple will release iOS 18 a few days before the iPhone 16 is launched in September. Every device that can run iOS 17 is getting iOS 18. The following devices can be updated to iOS 18: There will be more to say about iOS 18 once Apple Intelligence begins rolling out to beta testers. Stay tuned to AppleInsider for extensive coverage of Apple's first attempt at AI. Wireless carriers are offering aggressive incentives on iPhone 15 devices in anticipation of the iPhone 16. You can jump straight to the offers from the carrier of your choice below -- or head over to our iPhone deals roundup to compare promotions across retailers.

Here are all the new features that won't arrive until iOS 18.1 or later - 9to5Mac

Apple's software platforms are getting big updates this fall, especially the feature-packed iOS 18. If you've installed the public or developer betas, though, you may have noticed that not everything announced by Apple is available in the beta. That's because some key features are not coming this fall with iOS 18.0. Here's the full list of features we know won't arrive until iOS 18.1 or later. Apple Intelligence's fall arrival will bring with it a new Siri interface and select new capabilities, but some of the most powerful Siri upgrades will be added some time over the coming year. Siri abilities coming later include having on-screen awareness of what you're doing at any given time so that you can say, for example, "Use this as their contact photo" and it will understand the context and perform the action accordingly. Similarly, Siri's deeper knowledge of in-app functions and ability to, say, play the podcast that your significant other sent you, won't arrive until some time in the year ahead. Apple has big updates coming for popular apps like Notes and Messages this fall. Another core app getting some nice upgrades is Mail, with new features like the auto-categorization of messages in your inbox. Unlike those other apps though, Mail's improvements won't arrive until later in the year. This one shouldn't be too surprising, since the Vision Pro first launched just a few months ago, but some of the best visionOS 2 features won't arrive until later this year. Here are the features coming in visionOS 2.1 or 2.2: Compatible devices will be able to create custom emoji (Apple calls them Genmoji) when iOS 18 debuts in the fall. But every year there is a set of new built-in emoji added to iOS, and this year's additions were recently previewed but they won't arrive on your devices until later in 2024 or early in 2025. The biggest news for Apple's software this year is Apple Intelligence. While the core Apple Intelligence features are set to arrive this fall as part of iOS 18 and more, it's important to know that Apple is labeling this initial AI release as a beta feature. So expect issues and inconsistencies to get worked out in the weeks and months following the fall release. A tentpole feature of macOS Sequoia is the ability to mirror your iPhone on your Mac and interact with it there. But one aspect of this new feature won't arrive until later: the ability to seamlessly drag and drop files and photos between your two devices. Once it debuts, cross-device drag and drop is set to be an even quicker way to transfer files than AirDrop is, but we'll have to wait just a bit longer. The Home app in iOS 18 is getting some nice upgrades, but most of them won't arrive until later. The two main features coming later this year are support for adding robot vacuum cleaners as compatible devices, and the ability to view your home electricity use inside the app.