iOS 18 is Apple‘s current operating system for iPhone models, including the new iPhone 16. Previewed during the WWDC 2024 keynote, this software update offers a Home Screen redesign, more privacy features, and Apple Intelligence.
Release Date
iOS 18 has been available since September 16, 2024. Its first beta was released on June 10, with a public beta made available the following month.
Features
iOS 18 is full of new features for iPhone users. BGR has compiled the most important ones here for you.
Home Screen, Lock Screen, and Control Center revamp
In previous iOS updates, Apple has tweaked the Home Screen, Lock Screen, and Control Center. This time, the company has finally taken customization to a new level. Now, apps can be organized in any way, which means they can be placed anywhere.
App icons and widgets can take on a new look with a dark or tinted effect, and users can make apps appear larger to create the perfect experience. In the Lock Screen, it’s possible to choose new widgets instead of the Flashlight and Camera options. Here’s how to customize the iPhone’s Home Screen in iOS 18.
Finally, the Control Center has been redesigned. Users can create new groups of widgets for Home controls, connectivity, and music listening and reorganize the widgets’ locations. The new controls gallery displays the full set of available options, and users can customize how the controls are laid out, including adjusting them to the ideal size and creating entirely new groups. Here’s how to customize the iPhone’s Control Center in iOS 18.
There’s even an over-the-top new interactive flashlight widget. However, with all of these changes, adding a new wallpaper seems more confusing than ever.
Photos app gets the biggest update to date
Apple has an ambitious plan for iOS 18’s Photos app. With its redesign, Apple wants to make it easier for users to find and relive special moments. With a single-view display, it offers new collections to help users browse by themes without having to organize content into albums.
Collections can be pinned to keep favorites easily accessible. While there was a new carousel view, Apple removed it during the beta test in favor of a more simplified experience. Apple says that auto-playing content throughout the app brings libraries to life “so past moments can be enjoyed while browsing.”
If you disliked the new look, there’s a way to almost bring back the old design. Here’s how to fix the iOS 18 Photos app.
Messages get powerful new features
With iOS 18, Apple is adding even more features to Messages. These are the top new functions:
- All-new text effects: You can amplify any letter, word, phrase, or emoji with dynamic, animated appearances
- Personalize messages: Users can better express tone by adding formatting like bold, underline, italics, and strikethrough;
- Tapbacks: Includes any emoji or sticker;
- Schedule messages: Over the iMessage menu, you can schedule a message to send later;
- Messages via satellite: When cellular and Wi-Fi connections aren’t available, you can send and receive texts, emojis, and Tapbacks over iMessage and SMS.
Passwords App and new ways to stay safe
Building on the foundation of Keychain, the new Passwords app makes it easy for users to access their passwords, passkeys, Wi-Fi passwords, and verification codes.
In addition, Apple has released new features that let users lock and hide apps. When an app is locked or hidden, content like messages or emails inside the app is hidden from search, notifications, and other places across the system. Users can only unlock it with Face ID and Touch ID. BGR teaches you how to hide and lock iPhone apps in iOS 18.
CarPlay features
iOS 18 also brings new features for CarPlay users. Here they are:
- Announced Notifications support: Announce Notifications can read aloud your notification summaries when using AirPods or CarPlay.
- Spatial Audio: Drivers can now listen to Spatial Audio songs and albums available in Apple Music and third-party apps while connected to CarPlay. Vehicles with multichannel audio capabilities can enable an immersive sound experience. Spatial Audio with support for Dolby Atmos can also be implemented in compatible vehicles.
- Accessibility: Color Filters, Bold Text, Voice Control, and Sound Recognition accessibility settings are now available in CarPlay in IOS 18, providing a consistent experience between the iPhone and the vehicle.
Everything new with Apple Music in iOS 18
- Event Tickets with Apple Wallet: The new Tickets in Wallet feature improves event information with venue and parking details, in-seat food delivery, and even recommended playlists from Apple Music. It all depends on the promoter.
- Music Haptics: Apple Music has a breakthrough feature coming with iOS 18, but it’s likely not for you. With Music Haptics, Apple brings a new way for users who are deaf or hard of hearing to experience music on iPhone. The company explains: “With this feature enabled, the Taptic Engine in iPhone plays taps, textures, and refined vibrations to the audio of the music.”
- UI tweaks: Apple has tweaked the Shuffle, Repeat, and Autoplay icons with bigger buttons.
You can learn more about Apple Music features in iOS 18 here.
RCS is here
Last year, Apple announced that RCS messaging support would come in 2024. With iOS 18 now available, Cupertino brings RCS-supported texts, better integration on group messages, high-quality photos and videos, and more between iPhone and Android. However, if you don’t see RCS support on your device, you must wait for an update from your carrier.
Still, features like memoji, stickers, edit, and unsend messages will continue to be iMessage-exclusive. You can have a first look at RCS texting here.
Additional iOS 18 features
There’s even more Apple available with iOS 18, including:
- In Apple Maps, users can browse thousands of hikes across national parks in the United States and easily create their own custom walking routes, which they can access offline;
- Game Mode enhances the gaming experience with more consistent frame rates, especially during long play sessions;
- SharePlay with Apple Music allows even more users to share control of music playing from HomePod, Apple TV, or any Bluetooth-enabled speaker, making listening together more fun and engaging;
- iPhone Mirror: You can control your iPhone on a Mac running macOS Sequoia; it’s possible to follow notifications and even drag and drop content;
- In the Notes app, formulas and equations entered while typing are solved instantly with Math Notes; you can learn more about the new Notes app here;
- In Journal, an all-new insights view helps users keep track of their journaling goals, and the ability to search and sort entries makes it easy to enjoy past memories. You can learn more about the new Journal app here;
- Calendar becomes even more helpful by showing both events and tasks from Reminders;
- iPhone Contacts app gets a security layer, and Apple now asks if you want to share only a few contacts or all your agenda with an app.
Here are 13 hidden features that you should be using every day on your iPhone.
iOS 18 Apple Intelligence’s major features
Exclusive to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models, Apple offers Apple Intelligence, which is an AI platform built-in with “privacy from the ground up.” These are the main features:
- Writing Tools: Users can rewrite, proofread, and summarize text nearly everywhere they write, including Mail, Notes, Pages, and third-party apps;
- Image Playground: Users can create playful images in seconds, choosing from Animation, Illustration, or Sketch. This app is built right into apps like Messages and is also available in a dedicated app;
- Genmoji: With this function, iPhone users will use AI to generate new emoji characters based on text input, such as “T-rex wearing a tutu on a surfboard.” Learn more about it here;
- Memories in Photos: Users can create stories they want to see just by typing a description. Apple Intelligence will pick out the best photos and videos based on the description, craft a storyline with chapters based on themes identified from the photos, and arrange them into a movie with its own narrative arc;
- Clean Up tool: This Photos app feature can identify and remove distracting objects in the background of a photo without accidentally altering the subject;
- Siri: Users type to Siri and switch between text and voice to communicate with Siri in whatever way feels right for the moment.
- ChatGPT integration: When you feel Apple Intelligence isn’t enough, you can allow ChatGPT to access Writing Tools and other features for a better response.
While Apple Intelligence launched with iOS 18.1, not every feature will be available alongside this update. Here, you can learn everything iPhone users can test so far.
Delayed iOS 18 features
Apple has a lot more to be released later this year.
Mail is getting smarter
Later this year, Mail will introduce new ways for users to manage their inboxes. On-device categorization organizes and sorts incoming emails into Primary for personal and time-sensitive emails, Transactions for confirmations and receipts, Updates for news and social notifications, and Promotions for marketing emails and coupons. Mail also features a new digest view that pulls together all of the relevant emails from a business, allowing users to quickly scan for what’s important at the moment.
New emojis
During every iOS cycle, Apple always adds new emojis. Even though they don’t come with the first major update, the company unveils them during the life cycle of the newest operating system, most likely with version x.4 of that system.
While we already have an idea of the possible emojis coming with iPadOS 18 early next year, Apple will also use generative AI to allow users to create their own emojis. It’s called Genmoji.
Major software updates
With iOS 18 now available, Apple is currently testing iOS 18.2.
BGR will let you know of all major updates for iOS 18:
iOS 18.1 features
iOS 18.1 was released on October 28. The main features regard Apple Intelligence. These are the highlights:
- Writing Tools: Proofread your text, rewrite different versions until the tone and wording are right, and summarize the selected text with a tap.
- Improved Siri: With a new design, Siri can maintain context between requests. Even if you stumble over words or shift what you’re saying mid-sentence, Siri can understand what you actually want.
- Priority notifications: They appear at the top of the stack, letting you know what to pay attention to at a glance. Notifications are summarized, so you can scan them faster.
- Priority messages in Mail: Elevate time-sensitive messages to the top of your inbox, like an invitation that has a deadline today or a check-in reminder for your flight this afternoon.
- Clean Up: This Photos app feature can identify and remove distracting objects in the background of a photo without accidentally altering the subject.
- Summarization: Apple Intelligence can now summarize more than just Messages and Mail notifications.
- Record and transcribe calls in the Notes app: Just hit record in the Notes or Phone apps to capture audio recordings and transcripts. Apple Intelligence generates summaries of your transcripts, so you can get to the most important information at a glance.
- Reduce interruptions: An all-new Focus Mode understands the content of your notifications and shows you the ones that might need immediate attention, like a text about picking up your child from daycare later today.
- Smart Reply in Mail: Quickly draft an email response with all the right details. Apple Intelligence can identify the question you were asked in an email and offer relevant selections to include in your response.
You can learn more about this software update here. It also includes security patches and bug fixes with it.
iOS 18.2 beta features
Apple is already testing iOS 18.2. This software update is expected to be released later in December. Here’s what we know so far:
Apple is expanding Apple Intelligence features:
- Genmoji support: Create custom emojis by combining two figures; users can type a prompt like “monkey with pink hat” to make an entirely new emoji — here’s how to use Genmoji on your iPhone
- Image Playground: Users can create playful images in seconds, choosing from Animation, Illustration, or Sketch. This app is built right into apps like Messages and is also available in a dedicated app — here’s how to request access to Image Playground so you can use Genmoji
- ChatGPT integration: When you feel Apple Intelligence isn’t enough, you can allow ChatGPT to access Writing Tools and other features for a better response — how to stop Apple Intelligence from making you confirm every ChatGPT request
- Visual Intelligence: It helps users learn about objects and places faster than ever. Users can click and hold Camera Control to pull up the hours or ratings for a restaurant they pass, add an event from a flyer to their calendar, quickly identify a dog by breed, and more
- Image Wand: “Rough sketches can be turned into delightful images, and users can even select empty space to create an image using context from the surrounding area” in the Notes app
There are other functions coming with this update:
- All-new Mail app: Mail is introducing new ways for users to manage their inboxes. On-device categorization organizes and sorts incoming emails into Primary for personal and time-sensitive emails, Transactions for confirmations and receipts, Updates for news and social notifications, and Promotions for marketing emails and coupons. Mail also features a new digest view that pulls together all of the relevant emails from a business, allowing users to quickly scan for what’s important at the moment
- Change default apps: iOS 18.2 lets iPhone users change the Messages and Phone default apps
- Volume Limit: The Settings app now has a new Volume Limit control. This lets you limit how loud your iPhone speakers can play media
- Voice Memos: During the iPhone 16 event, Apple announced the iPhone 16 Pro would get a Voice Memos upgrade. With iOS 18.2, users can layer multiple tracks on top of each other.
Apple reveals iOS 18 accessibility features before WWDC 2024
Before WWDC 2024 kicked off, Apple announced several accessibility features coming to the iPhone. Here are some of them:
- Music Haptics: Music Haptics is a new way for users who are deaf or hard of hearing to experience music on the iPhone. With this accessibility feature turned on, the iPhone’s Taptic Engine plays taps, textures, and refined vibrations to the music’s audio. Music Haptics works across millions of songs in the Apple Music catalog and will be available as an API for developers to make music more accessible in their apps.
- Wide Range of Speech: With Vocal Shortcuts, iPhone and iPad users can assign custom utterances that Siri can understand to launch shortcuts and complete complex tasks. Listen for Atypical Speech, another new feature, gives users an option for enhancing speech recognition for a wider range of speech.
- Vehicle Motion Cues: Vehicle Motion Cues is a new experience for iPhone and iPad that can help reduce motion sickness for passengers in moving vehicles. With Vehicle Motion Cues, animated dots on the edges of the screen represent changes in vehicle motion to help reduce sensory conflict without interfering with the main content.
- CarPlay gets Voice Control: Accessibility features coming to CarPlay include Voice Control, Color Filters, and Sound Recognition. With Voice Control, users can navigate CarPlay and control apps with just their voice. With Sound Recognition, drivers or passengers who are deaf or hard of hearing can turn on alerts to be notified of car horns and sirens. For users who are colorblind, Color Filters make the CarPlay interface visually easier to use, with additional visual accessibility features including Bold Text and Large Text.
Official iOS 18 download
iOS 18, codenamed Crystal, has been announced on June 10. The official download has been available since September 16, 2024.
How to download iOS 18
Here’s how to download iOS 18:
- On your iPhone, open the Settings app
- Tap on General and Software Update
How to download iOS 18 beta and public beta
iOS 18 beta has been available since June 10, and the public beta since July 15, 2024. After enrolling in the Apple Beta Software Program, follow the steps below:
- On your iPhone, open the Settings app
- Tap on General and Software Update
- Tap on Beta Updates and enable iOS 18 Public Beta
Here we detail nine reasons to install the newest beta. Or, if you need to, here’s how to uninstall the iOS 18 beta. So far, using beta gives you early access to Apple Intelligence features.
Supported devices
With iOS 17, Apple ditched the iPhone 8 and iPhone X models from its lineup. With iOS 18, Apple continues to offer support for the same iPhones. However, Apple Intelligence features will be exclusive to iPhone 15 Pro models.
That said, these are the iPhone models that can run this new system:
- iPhone XR, XS, and XS Max
- iPhone 11
- iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max
- iPhone SE (2nd gen)
- iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12
- iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max
- iPhone 13 mini and iPhone 13
- iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max
- iPhone SE (3rd gen)
- iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus
- iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max
- iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus
- iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max
- iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus
- iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max
Review
In our iOS 18 review, BGR praises the redesign available with this software update. However, the most important features aren’t here yet.
iOS 18 has several quality-of-life improvements, and even if you can’t enjoy Apple Intelligence, Cupertino has lots of features that will almost make you feel like you’re using a new device. This is the beginning of a new era, even if we can’t enjoy it just yet.
