At the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024, Apple unveiled iOS 18 with a host of new features. iOS 18 introduces new customisation options, the biggest redesign ever of the Photos app, Apple Intelligence and so much more.
Let’s take a look at all the new main features that iOS 18 offers.
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iOS 18 introduces new customisation options for the Home Screen, Lock Screen, and Control Center. Users can arrange apps and widgets anywhere on the Home Screen, including above the dock, and apply dark or tinted effects to icons and widgets, or make them larger.
The redesigned Control Center offers quicker access to frequently used controls, allows adding third-party app controls, and lets users customise the layout and size of controls.
With iOS 18, the Lock Screen controls can be switched or removed entirely, and the Action button on iPhone 15 Pro models enables quick access to controls from the gallery.
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iOS 18 introduces Apple Intelligence, the personal intelligence system for iPhone, iPad and Mac that combines the power of generative models with personal context. Apple Intelligence offers new ways for users to enhance their writing and communicate more effectively.
New systemwide Writing Tools built in iOS 18 let users rewrite, proofread, and summarize text in apps like Mail and Notes.
Image Playground allows quick creation of animated, illustrated, or sketched images within apps.
Photos’ Memories feature crafts storylines from user descriptions, and a Clean Up tool removes background distractions
“With Private Cloud Compute, Apple sets a new standard for privacy in AI, with the ability to flex and scale computational capacity between on-device processing, and larger, server-based models that run on dedicated Apple silicon servers,” the company said.
Additionally, ChatGPT is integrated into Siri and systemwide Writing Tools across Apple’s platforms, providing users with its expertise and image- and document-understanding capabilities seamlessly, without the need to switch between tools.
iOS 18 introduces a new Passwords app. This new app simplifies access to passwords, passkeys, Wi-Fi passwords, and verification codes. It also alerts users to common weaknesses, like easily guessed or reused passwords, and those found in known data leaks.
Photos gets its biggest-ever redesign, featuring a simplified single view with a familiar grid and new themed collections that don’t require manual organisation. Users can pin their favourite collections for easy access. A new carousel view highlights favourite people, pets, and places, updating daily. Autoplaying content livens up browsing, and the app is customisable, allowing users to organise and pin collections and personalise the carousel view to feature what’s most important to them.
iMessage in iOS 18 introduces new text effects, allowing users to animate letters, words, phrases, or emojis. Users can format text with bold, underline, italics, and strikethrough, and expand Tapbacks to any emoji or sticker. Also, with the update, messages can now be scheduled for later.
The app supports RCS for better media and group messaging with non-Apple devices. Also, iOS 18 introduces Messages via satellite for the times when cellular and Wi-Fi connections aren’t available.
With iOS18, Safari offers an easier way to discover information on the web with Highlights and a redesigned Reader experience. Using machine learning, Safari can surface key information about a webpage. For example, users can review a summary to get the gist of an article, quickly see the location of a restaurant, and more.
Reader has been redesigned to offer even more ways to enjoy articles without distraction, with a summary and table of contents included for longer articles.
iOS 18 enhances user control with tools to manage app visibility, contact sharing, and accessory connections. Users can lock or hide apps in a secure folder, ensuring private content stays hidden from search and notifications. Specific contacts can be shared with apps, and developers can connect third-party accessories without exposing other devices on the network, maintaining privacy and simplifying pairing.
The developer beta of iOS 18 is currently available through the Apple Developer Program at developer.apple.com, and a public beta will be available through the Apple Beta Software Program next month at beta.apple.com.
iOS 18 will be available this fall as a free software update for iPhone Xs and later.
Apple Intelligence will be available in beta on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPad and Mac with M1 and later, with Siri and device language set to U.S. English, as part of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia this fall.
