On September 9th, Apple held their annual September event, where they released their new software and hardware update for their flagship products, iPhone and the Apple Watch. It’s that time of year again. Apple’s September event. They released their new annual software update for their multiple platforms, iOS, iPadOS, MacOS, WatchOS, tvOS, and VisionOS.
One of the new main features of iOS 18 is the ability to completely customize your home screen. For most people, this is revolutionary. No need to worry about extra apps or software profiles that allow you to do this, because it’s just built into the software. It’s really refreshing to see Apple make a change to their software, and adapting to features that people actually want. This feature introduces new options for customization. You can put icons wherever you want, change their color and size, and even hide apps. This is a huge step for Apple in terms of customer feedback, as many other mobile software, such as Android, have this feature already.
Another big UI upgrade in iOS 18, is the modern redesign of the Control Center. You can now set up multiple pages to reorganize and resize your shortcuts and controls. This updated feature allows for a modernization of the iPhone’s user interface, setting itself apart from other software, like Android, who has kept the same same user interface for years. Third-party apps and developers can now add shortcuts for your Control Center, allowing for a new level of creativity and customization with your personalized Control Center. As part of the Control Center update, you can now customize the shortcuts on your lock screen to be different from the flashlight and camera shortcuts.
Apple added a dedicated Passwords app, allowing you to securely store your passwords in one place. Previously, saved passwords were stored in the Settings app, a frankly stupid choice by Apple, making people have to open their settings app and find the tab for Passwords. You can also share specific passwords with a person, while ensuring that there is end-to-end encryption, so the passwords aren’t leaked.
The Messages app has received a slew of new features. One of them being the “Send Later” option. This allows you to draft a text message and send it later. Messages has RCS support now, allowing Android and iOS users to collaborate easier over text, with higher quality videos and images and the ability to see text reactions. Apple has this sense of exclusivity, that they want to create their own messaging platform, exclusive to iPhone, and now Apple is starting to “get the message”, which is really exciting. Exclusive to iPhone 14 and above, there is the option to now send a text message over satellite, if you have no cell service available in an emergency.
The calculator app has also gotten a rehaul. Now on the iPad, the calculator app has a new feature called math notes Math notes can calculate the answers to word problems and create graphs based on what is written down, essentially creating a built in scientific graphing calculator, within the calculator app. This is one of the first features that Apple has brought to their devices, that is really useful. This is a feature that can really take advantage of Apple news’s AI system, Apple Intelligence, and really brings something new to the market for the first time.
Finally, Apple has completely redesigned the Photos app, using machine learning to detect different categories of photos. It now can detect landscapes, receipts, etc. I really like the way Apple is focused on making the user experience enjoyable and modernized. Consumers really appreciate when they get a new design on their phone because it’s what they see instantly after downloading the update. This new update is a big step forward in Apple’s journey into AI, which was one of their main focuses for this update, or as they like to call it, Apple Intelligence.
Apple Intelligence is at the core of iOS 18. It is exclusively available to iPhone 16 and above, due to the high processing power it requires. Apple Intelligence was first introduced at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference 2024, also known as WWDC, this past summer, but it has recently come to life, in this new update. Apple Intelligence has the ability to summarize emails and personalize your experience on iPhone to a level never seen before. Apple Intelligence can search through your data and answer questions that are personalized to you, like, “What did Mom tell me to do yesterday?”. Apple Intelligence hasn’t been released yet, due to hurdles in the innovation process, but Apple shouldn’t promise an update, when the core of their update isn’t ready yet, with only the developer beta released as of Friday, October 25. Regardless, this is a big step for Apple, in terms of their software and allows them to continue to innovate on their ever-growing ecosystem.
Those are the main features of iOS 18. Although some of them are not out yet, there is much more to look forward to in the next years of iOS, with the power of Apple Intelligence.