Apple has now released the iPhone's big update for 2024. iOS 18 brings a slew of changes and new features, including a wider roll-out of Apple Intelligence.
With iOS 18, the iPhone becomes more customizable than it has ever been. Apple is now letting people create their home screen layouts. You can rearrange, resize, and re-color icons and widgets to your liking. You can tint the icons to match your background, and set them to a new dark theme. Apps can also be secured with Face ID, Touch ID, or passcodes.
The Control Center was redesigned this time. It splits controls into multiple groups, which you can scroll through one by one. You can add new controls to these groups and rearrange or resize their icons. You won’t have to rely on the Settings app as much.
The Messages app gets RCS (Rich Communication Services), so you can finally receive proper media files from Android (the bubbles are still green though). Photos app has a nicely reorganized interface and faster search. Mail finally has Gmail-style category tabs.
Safari picks out useful information and shows it as “Highlights” while you browse a website. In reader mode, you get an AI-generated summary and table of contents on top of the article. There’s a new standalone Passwords app that keeps your logins safely synced across devices. Notes on iOS 18 supports live transcription, instant calculator, collapsible headings, and highlighting. There’s a new “Tap to Cash” feature in the Wallet for quick peer-to-peer transactions. Finally, Apple has added a new mood tracker in the Journal app and an Insights tab in the Calendar app to help you stay mindful.
Apple announced Apple Intelligence (and related features) at the last WWDC, but these updates will roll out to the public with later releases of iOS 18. Apple says the upgrades will helpo Siri understand context and the features/settings of your iPhone. It also has “onscreen awareness,” allowing it to “see” what you’re looking at on the screen and take actions based on that. Siri can use that advanced understanding and integration to let you interact with the OS (in and across apps) more naturally. And of course, the same Apple Intelligence also powers new writing and image generation tools.
The iOS 18 update is rolling out now to compatible iPhone models, alongside the similar iPadOS 18 update for iPads.
Source: Apple