Apple Announces iOS 18 With New Customization Features, Redesigned Photos App, and More

[dominiongamma]

why can't we have the same icons as macOS or vice versa, why do they still ignore this?

I hate the macOS icons honestly and I can see Apple changing them to matching iOS

 

[Marli]

Satellite message will be a game changer for us that venture outside, or live outside the safety of cities..

 

[Jetson]

Customization Setting to Hide the Home Bar in iOS 18​

 

[dburkhanaev]

What else do you want? These are the things most people clamor for. Everyone wants visual changes

Personally I’d prefer bug fixes, stability improvements, and quality of life updates over visual changes.

While we are at things that are aimed at purely the superficial, I’d really like Identity Posters to have an option of a small picture in a circle in a much reduced portion of the UI. I’m okay with folks presenting their uniqueness to the world as long as it’s not imposed on others. The fact that it’s on by default and difficult to disable just heightens the narcissistic tendencies that people have.

I must have been asleep during the presentation, but I don’t see what all the fuss is about. There are persistent bugs in iOS, a sidebar bug that has been in MacOS since Yosemite or Mavericks, and there are certainly bugs in Sonoma, like media sharing turning itself off randomly.

I’m paying good money for the deeply entrenched Apple echo system. Give me a WWDC that’s all about bug fixes.

Tell me that my desktop and documents shortcut in sidebar can finally survive a system restart without having to be re-pinned. For the first time in 4-5 years.

 

[Rychiar]

Personally I’d prefer bug fixes, stability improvements, and quality of life updates over visual changes.

While we are at things that are aimed at purely the superficial, I’d really like Identity Posters to have an option of a small picture in a circle in a much reduced portion of the UI. I’m okay with folks presenting their uniqueness to the world as long as it’s not imposed on others. The fact that it’s on by default and difficult to disable just heightens the narcissistic tendencies that people have.

I must have been asleep during the presentation, but I don’t see what all the fuss is about. There are persistent bugs in iOS, a sidebar bug that has been in MacOS since Yosemite or Mavericks, and there are certainly bugs in Sonoma, like media sharing turning itself off randomly.

I’m paying good money for the deeply entrenched Apple echo system. Give me a WWDC that’s all about bug fixes.

Tell me that my desktop and documents shortcut in sidebar can finally survive a system restart without having to be re-pinned. For the first time in 4-5 years.

I don’t really haves any iOS bugs. Everything is pretty rock solid. And I have no problem pinning shortcuts on the sidebar of MacOS, even ones from network storage stay there just fine.

 

[dburkhanaev]

I don’t really haves any iOS bugs. Everything is pretty rock solid. And I have no problem pinning shortcuts on the sidebar of MacOS, even ones from network storage stay there just fine.

That's great for you. But the bugs do exist. Just because I don't have one or another person doesn't have one isn't an example of the bugs not existing. It's an example of your install on your hardware configuration not having an issue or not having an issue yet. We don't make examples by arguing from the exception as evidence against the rule.

There are posts all over the Apple community forums about the MacOS bugs. I think they are more common than iOS bugs. Some of the bugs might be app-specific. The TV and Music apps certainly need more attention, especially TV. There are many things on the software side where Apple could focus more energy and attention.

I think the move to an annual MacOS update might not have been the best solution. Apple is constantly chasing the new set of features to announce for the annual release of their OS. If making it rock solid means an update every 2-3 years, maybe we'd be best served as consumers to go back to that. If a new version of MacOS needs a cost of $25 to commit more resources to it, maybe we should look at going back to the Snow Leopard model.

I don't know that I want to go back to paying hundreds of dollars for OS updates. But there are bugs and odd quirks that are left behind in MacOS for many years now.

 

[Rychiar]

That's great for you. But the bugs do exist. Just because I don't have one or another person doesn't have one isn't an example of the bugs not existing. It's an example of your install on your hardware configuration not having an issue or not having an issue yet. We don't make examples by arguing from the exception as evidence against the rule.

There are posts all over the Apple community forums about the MacOS bugs. I think they are more common than iOS bugs. Some of the bugs might be app-specific. The TV and Music apps certainly need more attention, especially TV. There are many things on the software side where Apple could focus more energy and attention.

I think the move to an annual MacOS update might not have been the best solution. Apple is constantly chasing the new set of features to announce for the annual release of their OS. If making it rock solid means an update every 2-3 years, maybe we'd be best served as consumers to go back to that. If a new version of MacOS needs a cost of $25 to commit more resources to it, maybe we should look at going back to the Snow Leopard model.

I don't know that I want to go back to paying hundreds of dollars for OS updates. But there are bugs and odd quirks that are left behind in MacOS for many years now.

The TV and music apps having bugs are hardly an operating system problem. If anything, maybe we should go back to separating the apps from the operating system.

 

[Downhilltenago]

The AI features on the iPhone are mostly running on device (if you look into AI LLMs & the hardware needed, ideally 16GB is needed, but can run on 8GB well, but not below that), combination of privacy reasons and also response time reasons.

Android running on less hardware is not running things on device, sending more data off device - which means slower response times, even more so when you're in an area with poor mobile signal service, and also impacts on your data plan. As well as being less secure.

So, whilst yes, Apple have in the past restricted some features arbitrarily to sell new devices, this time there's facts that back up their choice.

Have you met the internet and those that come to Macrumors and say how much they dislike anything apple...

Apple can’t win. People complain when things don’t change, then complain when they do. Never please everyone.

Yep. I agree. I’m personally very intrigued and excited for this update. I personally think they hit it out of the park with this one.

 

[dburkhanaev]

Yep. I agree. I’m personally very intrigued and excited for this update. I personally think they hit it out of the park with this one.

I think some of it’s interesting and obvious Apple can implement changes that are going to be hit or miss with their customer base.

But we can’t say that Apple hasn’t been a little bit off putting by the way they have rolled out some updates. There are some things that you can see ahead of time that need an “off” button. Or need a deep dive customizations in the settings app. The fact that Apple misses that sometimes unnecessarily pisses people off.

You can’t think that people would be happy if you have custom ring/text tones for years- some tagged to contacts specifically, but then users would be happy when you (briefly) kill custom tones.

When you implement Contact Posters you can’t tell me that it’s unforeseeable that maybe some of your customers won’t like having their phone’s caller ID screen hijacked by a contact using a photo that might not be NSFW, but not appropriate either.

You can’t tell me that when you added this little caps lock “A” indicator that floats on a screen during typing might not have to be turned on for all users because some folks know how to use a keyboard and they can see the little green light beside “Caps Lock”. And that little UI might be annoying.

That the ML and email categories might be great for some users, but some of its users might just want a toggle that doesn’t part out their email into categories, making email get lost whilst wasting UI space for a feature that not everyone wants (iOS 18).

Add stuff. Make improvements. Put out new features. But by god let’s not make excuses for Apple not having a toggle to turn off the nonsense or at least a customization to respect previous UI behavior.

Some of this isn’t better. Some new “features” like Contact Posters only serve teens, children, and narcissists. Some of Apple’s iPhone customers are professional adults. Let’s allow options to curb the juvenile tendencies that Apple sometimes want to serve.

 

[Downhilltenago]

I think some of it’s interesting and obvious Apple can implement changes that are going to be hit or miss with their customer base.

But we can’t say that Apple hasn’t been a little bit off putting by the way they have rolled out some updates. There are some things that you can see ahead of time that need an “off” button. Or need a deep dive customizations in the settings app. The fact that Apple misses that sometimes unnecessarily pisses people off.

You can’t think that people would be happy if you have custom ring/text tones for years- some tagged to contacts specifically, but then users would be happy when you (briefly) kill custom tones.

When you implement Contact Posters you can’t tell me that it’s unforeseeable that maybe some of your customers won’t like having their phone’s caller ID screen hijacked by a contact using a photo that might not be NSFW, but not appropriate either.

You can’t tell me that when you added this little caps lock “A” indicator that floats on a screen during typing might not have to be turned on for all users because some folks know how to use a keyboard and they can see the little green light beside “Caps Lock”. And that little UI might be annoying.

That the ML and email categories might be great for some users, but some of its users might just want a toggle that doesn’t part out their email into categories, making email get lost whilst wasting UI space for a feature that not everyone wants (iOS 18).

Add stuff. Make improvements. Put out new features. But by god let’s not make excuses for Apple not having a toggle to turn off the nonsense or at least a customization to respect previous UI behavior.

Some of this isn’t better. Some new “features” like Contact Posters only serve teens, children, and narcissists. Some of Apple’s iPhone customers are professional adults. Let’s allow options to curb the juvenile tendencies that Apple sometimes want to serve.

Great post. I’m not a fanboy first and foremost. I’ll be the first to hold Apple accountable. To each their own but I like what they announced. I see myself using all of these features daily. Some people complain about the apple phone now feeling too much like an android. Those same people complained for years Apple was stagnant and was behind the curve. I personally was ready to leave for Android based on phone options, as I like the flip design a lot. However, I like what they announced and they convinced me to stay. I’m excited for this update and choose to see the positive it brings.

 

[dburkhanaev]

Great post. I’m not a fanboy first and foremost. I’ll be the first to hold Apple accountable. To each their own but I like what they announced. I see myself using all of these features daily. Some people complain about the apple phone now feeling too much like an android. Those same people complained for years Apple was stagnant and was behind the curve. I personally was ready to leave for Android based on phone options, as I like the flip design a lot. However, I like what they announced and they convinced me to stay. I’m excited for this update and choose to see the positive it brings.

I was underwhelmed. But I don’t fault what was announced. Most of the changes are refinements that do need to happen.

My point still stands. If they roll out a paradigm changing refresh, they need to be thoughtful about customization. Some changes need a way to make it hide-able.

The calendar reminders I will use. I absolutely abhor the nonsense that is categories in email. But someone, perhaps many, will find this to be a needed/useful feature. I don’t want to be “forced” into this category paradigm without an option to turn it off. I don’t like email categorization obscuring email and increasing the risk of important things being left unread/unseen.

Apple does this thing where they add a thing that is needed. But sometimes they can avoid flack by putting an “off” switch on the most jarring changes; where the slowest person in the room can see the ire coming.

 

[Downhilltenago]

I was underwhelmed. But I don’t fault what was announced. Most of the changes are refinements that do need to happen.

My point still stands. If they roll out a paradigm changing refresh, they need to be thoughtful about customization. Some changes need a way to make it hide-able.

The calendar reminders I will use. I absolutely abhor the nonsense that is categories in email. But someone, perhaps many, will find this to be a needed/useful feature. I don’t want to be “forced” into this category paradigm without an option to turn it off. I don’t like email categorization obscuring email and increasing the risk of important things being left unread/unseen.

Apple does this thing where they add a thing that is needed. But sometimes they can avoid flack by putting an “off” switch on the most jarring changes; where the slowest person in the room can see the ire coming.

I get it. I like the new stuff