After over three months of beta testing, iOS 18 will shortly be made available to all iPhones that are compatible with the software.
At the June keynote address for the Worldwide Developers Conference 2024, Apple revealed iOS 18, and on August 29, the tech giant made the sixth public beta of the operating system available. The iPhones of developers and beta testers now sport a plethora of new features thanks to the beta operating system, including changes to the Messages app and additional options for personalizing your home screen. Apple announced online that the public will be able to purchase the upcoming operating system this autumn.
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Customizable Home Screen
iOS 18 adds additional “Dark” and “Tinted” customization choices that allow you to recolor app icons and lets you arrange app icons wherever on the grid of the Home Screen. App icons can also be made to seem larger without having text labels shown beneath them.
New Camera setting
The Camera app on developers’ and beta testers’ iPhones received a new setting when Apple published the second public beta of iOS 18. The Controls Menu is the new configuration. Navigate to Preserve Settings under Settings > Camera.
The definition of the setting is, “When expanding the controls menu, preserve the previously used camera tool, rather than showing the list of camera tools.”
Redesigned Photos app
While browsing through your Photos app can be enjoyable, it can get difficult if you shoot a lot of pictures. According to Apple, the Photos app on your iPhone will be redesigned in iOS 18. With more photo organization options like month and year, the makeover should facilitate finding specific images more easily. Additionally, images will be arranged according to themes, making it easier for you to locate pictures from a trip.
You can now filter out screenshots and receipts from the new Photos app in iOS 18 so that they don’t clutter your Library. The Photos app in early iOS 18 beta versions also had a carousel function, but this was taken out of the third public beta.
Redesigned Control Center
iOS 18 features a facelift for Control Center. It is now more customizable, like the Home Screen, letting you move and resize controls across several pages. The newly designed controls gallery makes it simple to add more controls.
iMessage Enhancements
Among the many new features that iMessage received with iOS 18 were the ability to use any emoji as a Tap back reaction, formatting options like bold and underline, text effects like “Shake” and “Explode,” the ability to schedule messages to be sent later, RCS support for better messaging with Android devices, and much more.
New password manager app
Apple is developing Passwords into a full-fledged application, replacing its password keychain feature. Passwords securely keep all of your login information in one location, according to Apple. Moreover, it can synchronize your passwords across all of your Apple devices. In this manner, in the event that you modify your Netflix password on one device but not on another, the password will follow you around to help you remember it.
Lock and hide certain apps
Especially if you don’t want them to see or use specific apps, lending out your iPhone to someone else can be really nerve-racking. Apps can now be locked and hidden on iOS 18.
When an app is locked, you can access it using your passcode or Face ID to unlock it. You can store an app in a Hidden Apps folder in your App Library if you just don’t want anyone to know you have it on your iPhone. Organizing all of your hidden apps in one location is comparable to removing apps from your iPhone’s home screen without erasing them from the device.
Distraction Control
The new Distraction Control feature, which is built into Safari, lets you hide some website elements, like newsletter sign-up forms and cookie permission prompts. Since it’s not intended to be an ad blocker, Apple says that if you hide an ad banner, it will reappear if and when its content changes.
AirPods and hands-free Siri interactions
You can engage with Siri by nodding or shaking your head if you’re wearing the second generation of AirPods Pro and iOS 18. Hence, you can continue using Siri silently if you need to be quiet because your partner is on a crucial phone call or the infant is napping.
Gaming Mode
Game Mode was first made available on the Mac and is now accessible on the iPhone. Gaming Mode, according to Apple, “dramatically reduces” audio latency with AirPods, “minimizes background activity to sustain consistently high frame rates” during games, and makes wireless game controllers “incredibly responsive.”
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