iOS 18 preview was full of great surprises, but I assure you no one expected Apple to go this hard when redesigning the iconic flashlight tool. In the first developer’s beta of iOS 18, people noticed that Cupertino tweaked the flashlight widget so it would become more vivid on the iPhone’s Dynamic Island.
While the iPhone’s flashlight widget on iOS 17 helped users be aware that they might have turned the flashlight on accidentally, iOS 18 wants this feature to take the spotlight, as Apple gave it a big revision.
As demonstrated by an X user, iOS 18’s flashlight widget offers more than just brightening the environment or not.
With this change, users can increase or decrease brightness, but the width of the flashlight in iOS 18 can also be changed. The gestures are as simple as you’d imagine:
- To increase brightness: Slide your finger up on the screen (or down to decrease brightness)
- To increase the width: Slide your finger to the right side to increase the width (or left to decrease it)
You can also tap the flashlight animation to turn it off without disabling it. The toggle is available from the Control Center or Lock Screen, or you can just ask Siri to turn it on.
This change is particularly helpful for many reasons: If you need to find an object in the dark, if you’re trying to look for something in a small whole, or if you just need some light in a dark environment, you can use an iPhone’s flashlight width and increased brightness for the best experience.
Besides that, iOS 18 is also improving several apps, such as Messages, Notes, Calculator, Safari, Mail, and many more to come.
That said, it’s important to note that we’re still in beta 1 of iOS 18, and features can change (improve or be removed). We hope the new flashlight animation will be available for all iPhone users later this fall.
