APPLE iOS 18 The BIGGEST UPDATE IN DECADE

At the Worldwide Developers Conference on June 10, Apple formally unveiled iOS 18, the upcoming operating system that will power all the finest iPhones this fall. The unveiling of iOS 18, dubbed the largest iOS upgrade ever, did not let down. It introduces really new capabilities, like Apple Intelligence, along with long-overdue ones, including customized home screens and app iconography. You've come to the correct spot if you're excited to find out what's new in iOS 18, which phones support it, and when you can download it. Please take a look at what's in store for iPhones later this year by reading on to find out all the information we have right here.

Which iPhones will support iOS 18?

Every device that got iOS 17 will also get iOS 18 — but there's a catch

Luckily, Apple didn't drop support for any iPhone models with iOS 18.

Here's the full list of supported devices:

List of iPhones Compatible with iOS 18

Here is the list of iPhones that support iOS 18:

● iPhone 15

● iPhone 15 Plus

● iPhone 15 Pro

● iPhone 15 Pro Max

● iPhone 14

● iPhone 14 Plus

● iPhone 14 Pro

● iPhone 14 Pro Max

● iPhone 13

● iPhone 13 mini

● iPhone 13 Pro

● iPhone 13 Pro Max

● iPhone 12

● iPhone 12 mini

● iPhone 12 Pro

● iPhone 12 Pro Max

● iPhone 11

● iPhone 11 Pro

● iPhone 11 Pro Max

● iPhone XS

● iPhone XS Max

● iPhone XR

● iPhone SE (2nd generation or later)

How to Check Your iPhone's Compatibility

To check if your iPhone is compatible with iOS 18, follow these steps:

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.

2. Tap on "General".

3. Select "About" to see your iPhone model. If your device is listed above, it is compatible with iOS 18 and can be updated to take advantage of the latest features and improvements.

Updating to iOS 18

Currently, iOS 18 is only available to developers in beta. It will be released to all users in Fall 2024. However, when it's available, you can easily update to iOS 18 by following these steps.

1. Ensure your device is backed up to iCloud or your computer.
2. Connect your iPhone to a Wi-Fi network.
3. Go to Settings > General > Software Update.
4. Tap "Download and Install".
5. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the update.

Conclusion

That's a very different story, though, if you're excited about the Apple Intelligence capabilities that iOS 18 will bring. To operate, these tools need an M-series chip or an A17 Pro system-on-a-chip. That implies that the only two iPhones that can utilize Apple Intelligence at this time are the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. We anticipate that the upcoming iPhone generation will also enable Apple Intelligence, though it's unclear if this will be a free feature or available just on the lowest iPhone 16 devices.

Everything new in iOS 18

A redesigned home screen

iPhone users have new ways to customize the Home Screen, Lock Screen, and Control Center. Users can now arrange apps and widgets in any open space on the Home Screen, including placing them right above the dock for easy access or perfectly framing a wallpaper. App icons and widgets can take on a new look with a dark or tinted effect, and users can make them appear larger to create the experience that is perfect for them.

Control Center has been redesigned to provide easier access to many of the things users do every day, and it gets new levels of customization and flexibility. The redesign delivers quick access to new groups of a user's most-utilized controls, such as media playback, Home controls, and connectivity, as well as the ability to easily swipe between each. Users can now add controls from supported third-party apps into the Control Center to quickly unlock a vehicle or jump right into capturing content for social media — all from one place. 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.

For the first time, users can now switch the controls at the bottom of the Lock Screen, including choosing from options available in the controls gallery or removing them entirely. With the Action button available on iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, users can quickly invoke controls available in the gallery.

Apple is improving privacy in iOS 18, introducing a feature that allows apps to be locked or hidden, which makes them inaccessible without a Face ID scan.

If someone is using your phone and you've locked an app, when they try to open that app, they'll see a popup that says it can't be accessed without secondary authentication. Locking an app can be done by long pressing on it and selecting the Require Face ID option or Touch ID on the iPhone SE.

Not all apps can be locked, with Apple not providing an option for innocuous apps like Maps, Clock, Calculator, and Stocks, but almost every other app can be locked, including third-party apps. When you lock an app, you have the option to hide it as well, which moves it into a locked, hidden apps folder that requires authentication to open.

Locked or hidden apps are not only unable to be opened, but also hidden from search, notifications, and other places across the operating system. Enabling a lock on an app also shows the apps that have access to it, such as apps that are able to write images to the Photos app. Hiding an app means that you will not receive incoming notifications or calls from it, and it will only be available from a "Hidden" folder in the App Library.

If you want to turn off the locking feature, you can long press on an app icon and choose the "Don't Require Face ID" option. Turning the lock on and off requires a Face ID scan, so it can't be turned off without your knowledge. Locking and hiding apps is also a feature that works on the iPad.

iOS 18 allows users to change the two shortcut buttons on the Lock Screen to an action of their choice for the first time.

An all-new Photos app

Photos receive its biggest-ever redesign to help users easily find and relive special moments. A simplified, single view displays a familiar grid, and new collections help users browse by themes without having to organize content into albums. Plus, collections can be pinned to keep favorites easily accessible. A new carousel view presents highlights that update each day and feature favorite people, pets, places, and more. Autoplaying content throughout the app brings libraries to life, so past moments can be enjoyed while browsing. Because each user's photo library is unique, the app is customizable, so users can organize collections, pin collections to access frequently, and include what's most important to them in the carousel view.

Powerful Ways to Stay Connected in Messages

Apple has some major feature upgrades coming to the Messages app in iOS 18.

Messages are receiving big enhancements to tap backs, a new scheduled send feature, the ability to format text with bold and italics, new effects, RCS support, and more.

Here’s everything coming to Messages in iOS 18.

Emoji tap backs and new tap back designs

Tapbacks have gone unchanged on the iPhone for years, but in iOS 18 they’re finally getting some big improvements.

For starters, you’ll be able to send any emoji as a message tapback. Gone are the days of being limited to a handful of tapback reactions. Now you can send a tapback with the eyes-looking emoji, or barf emoji, or anything else that fits the occasion. If emoji options aren’t enough, you can also use stickers as tapbacks.

Your most commonly used emoji and stickers will be accessible with a swipe left on the initial set of tapback options that appear, sliding those default options out of the way to present your most used emoji and stickers.

Speaking of those default options, they’re getting a facelift in iOS 18. The classic thumbs-up, heart, and more are being splashed with full color and new designs that will make them fit in better among the wider array of new tapback options.

Schedule messages for later

We’ve all had an occasion where we wanted to send a message later. In iOS 18, that will finally be possible. No more need to ask Siri to remind you to send something later, you can simply schedule it yourself.

Prep a message in iOS or iPadOS 18 and, if you don’t want to send it right away, you can choose a later day and time for it to automatically go out. The option is available by pressing the + button on the left side of the screen and selecting the new Send Later option.

Text formatting and special effects

Messages was the last major Apple app that supported text input but never supported rich text formatting options like bold and italics. That changes in iOS 18, where you can customize the formatting of words in your message to implement the standard four formatting styles:

• Bold
• Italics
• Underline
• Strikethrough

Joining these options are eight neat special effects that can also be applied on a per-character basis:

• Big
• Small
• Shake
• Nod
• Explode
• Ripple
• Bloom
• Jitter

I’m not exactly sure which messaging occasions will call for some of these effects, but they’re nice options to have nonetheless.

RCS support

Apple had previously announced that it would support RCS in 2024, but it was great to see confirmation of that today.

RCS is a newer, more capable text message protocol that serves as a successor to SMS and MMS. Essentially, by adding RCS support in iOS 18, Apple will make your conversations with Android users more reliable than before.

When communicating over iMessage, everything will stay as-is. Your blue bubble conversations don’t change. But in those situations when, say, you’re in a group chat that includes a green bubble friend, RCS should make the experience better for everyone.

iOS 18 introduces Messages via satellite for the times when cellular and Wi-Fi connections aren’t available. Powered by the same groundbreaking technology as existing iPhone satellite capabilities, Messages via satellite automatically prompts users to connect to their nearest satellite right from the Messages app to send and receive texts, emojis, and Tapbacks over iMessage and SMS.3 With Dynamic Island, users always know when they are connected to a satellite. Because iMessage was built to protect user privacy, iMessages sent via satellite are end-to-end encrypted.

Enhancements to Mail

Later this year, Mail will introduce new ways for users to manage their inboxes and stay up to date. 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.

Big Updates to Safari

Safari, the world’s fastest browser,4 now offers an even 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, hotel, or landmark; or listen to an artist’s track right from an article about the song or album. The 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.

Introducing the Passwords App

Building on the foundation of Keychain, which was first introduced more than 25 years ago, the new Passwords app makes it easy for users to access their passwords, passkeys, Wi-Fi passwords, and verification codes. The app also includes alerts for users regarding common weaknesses, such as passwords that are easily guessed or used multiple times and those that appear in known data leaks.

Apple Intelligence Transforms the iPhone Experience

Deeply integrated into iOS 18 and built with privacy from the ground up, Apple Intelligence unlocks new ways for users to enhance their writing and communicate more effectively. With brand-new systemwide Writing Tools built into iOS 18, users can rewrite, proofread, and summarize text nearly everywhere they write, including Mail, Notes, Pages, and third-party apps.

New image capabilities make communication and self-expression even more fun. With Image Playground, users can create playful images in seconds, choosing from three styles: Animation, Illustration, or Sketch. Image Playground is easy to use, built right into apps like Messages, and also available in a dedicated app.

Memories in Photos lets users create the 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. In addition, a new Clean Up tool can identify and remove distracting objects in the background of a photo — without accidentally altering the subject.

With the power of Apple Intelligence, Siri takes a major step forward, becoming even more natural, contextually relevant, and personal. Users can type to Siri, and switch between text and voice to communicate with Siri in whatever way feels right for the moment.

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. When requests are routed to Private Cloud Compute, data is not stored or made accessible to Apple and is only used to fulfill the user’s requests, and independent experts can verify this privacy.

Additionally, access to ChatGPT is integrated into Siri and systemwide Writing Tools across Apple’s platforms, allowing users to access its expertise — as well as its image- and document-understanding capabilities — without needing to jump between tools.

Additional features in iOS 18 include:?

• 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. Maps users can also save their favorite national park hikes, custom walking routes, and locations to an all-new Places Library and add personal notes about each spot.

• Game Mode enhances the gaming experience with more consistent frame rates, especially during long play sessions, and makes wireless accessories like AirPods and game controllers incredibly responsive.

• Users get new ways to pay with Apple Pay, including the ability to redeem rewards and access installments from their eligible credit or debit cards.5 With Tap to Cash, users can send and receive Apple Cash by simply holding two iPhone devices together.6 Tickets in Apple Wallet bring a richer experience for fans, putting key event information like stadium details, recommended Apple Music playlists, and more at their fingertips.7

• 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.

• The AirPods experience gets even more personal, private, and convenient with Siri Interactions, allowing AirPods Pro (2nd generation) users to simply nod their head yes or gently shake their head no to respond to Siri announcements. For even clearer call quality, Voice Isolation comes to AirPods Pro, ensuring the caller’s voice is heard in loud or windy environments. AirPods updates also provide the best wireless audio latency Apple has ever delivered for mobile gaming and add Personalized Spatial Audio for even more immersive gameplay.

• In the Notes app, formulas and equations entered while typing are solved instantly with Math Notes. New collapsible sections and highlighting make it easier to emphasize what’s important.

• 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. Time spent journaling can be saved as mindful minutes in the Health app, and users can log their state of mind right in the Journal. A Journal widget is now available for users to quickly start an entry from the Home Screen or Lock Screen, audio recordings are automatically transcribed, and users can export and print journal entries.

• Calendar becomes even more helpful by showing both events and tasks from Reminders. Users can create, edit, and complete reminders right from the Calendar, and the updated monthly view provides an overview of events and tasks at a glance.

• In the Health app, Medical ID has been redesigned to make it even easier for first responders to find the most important information in an emergency. The Health app can help users better understand their data during pregnancy by making adjustments and recommendations to reflect changes in their physical and mental health.

• Emergency SOS Live Video allows users to share content through streaming video and recorded media. In the middle of an emergency call, participating emergency dispatchers can send a request for a user to share live video or media from the user’s camera roll over a secure connection, making it easier and faster to get help.

• The Home app introduces guest access, providing users with easy ways to grant guests control of select smart home accessories, set schedules for when guests can access the home, and more. For an effortless home entry experience, hands-free unlock with home keys leverages Ultra Wideband technology to allow users to instantly open supported entry locks as soon as they are six feet away from their door. With convenient updates to the Energy category, the Home app makes it easier for eligible users to access, understand, and make more informed decisions about their home electricity use.

• Accessibility updates include Eye Tracking, a built-in option for navigating the iPhone with just eyes; Music Haptics, a new way for users who are deaf or hard of hearing to experience music using the Taptic Engine in iPhone; and Vocal Shortcuts that enable users to perform tasks by making a custom sound.

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