iOS 18 Available Now With These 8 New Features For Your iPhone

[MacRumors]

Following over three months of beta testing, iOS 18 was finally widely released to the public on Monday, September 16. The update is available in the Settings app under General → Software Update on the iPhone XS and newer.

Below, we have highlighted eight key new features included in iOS 18, and Apple shared a complete list of new features and changes last week.

Note that Apple Intelligence features are not coming until iOS 18.1 and later.

Customizable Home Screen

iOS 18 allows you to place app icons anywhere on the Home Screen grid, and there are new "Dark" and "Tinted" customization options for recoloring app icons. You can also set app icons to appear larger, without text labels below them.

Redesigned Control Center

Control Center has been redesigned on iOS 18. Like the Home Screen, it is now more customizable, allowing you to rearrange and resize controls across multiple pages. You can easily add more controls from the all-new controls gallery.

iMessage Enhancements

iMessage received a wide range of new features on iOS 18, including the ability to use any emoji as a Tapback reaction, text effects like "Shake" and "Explode," formatting options like bold and underline, the ability to schedule messages to be sent later, RCS support for improved messaging with Android devices, and more.

Redesigned Photos App

Apple says the Photos app received its biggest redesign ever on iOS 18, with tabs removed in favor of an all-in-one layout. The changes have been controversial, leading Apple to tweak the app's design throughout the iOS 18 beta testing period.

Locks Apps Behind Face ID

iOS 18 introduces the ability to lock any app behind Face ID, Touch ID, or an iPhone's passcode for privacy and security purposes. In addition, you can now hide an app, which moves it to a hidden apps folder that is locked.

Passwords App

iOS 18 includes an all-new Passwords app that surfaces many features previously available through the iCloud Keychain in the Settings app. The app makes it easier to manage passwords, passkeys, two-factor authentication codes, and more.

Distraction Control

Built into Safari, the new Distraction Control feature can be used to hide some website elements, such as newsletter sign-up forms and cookie permission prompts. However, Apple says the feature is not designed to be an ad blocker. If you hide an ad banner, it will become visible again if and when the content of the ad refreshes.

Game Mode

First introduced on the Mac, Game Mode is now available on the iPhone. Apple says Game Mode "minimizes background activity to sustain consistently high frame rates" during gameplay, "dramatically reduces" audio latency with AirPods, and makes wireless game controllers "incredibly responsive."

Read our iOS 18 roundup to learn about even more features.

Article Link: iOS 18 Available Now With These 8 New Features For Your iPhone

 

[The Cockney Rebel]

Looking forward to it.

I don’t do betas.

 

[McWetty]

Bring on RCS!

 

[jz0309]

Looking forward to it.

I don’t do betas.

Probably 10am PDT, and it will take a couple hours to propagate everywhere and you’ll see hundreds of posts “not available for me yet”…
I’ll be upgrading probably later I the week, some of the features listed are quite useful for me

 

[metkis]

Know I’m getting old because I’m most excited about the Password App.

 

[jasonsmith_88]

Not looking forward to the Photos app. Will probably hold off for a few months, if not indefinitely, as everything I’ve seen and read makes me feel like it’ll be a huge regression. I’m so sick of change for change’s sake.

 

[PhantomStar]

I might wait later this week or next as this is a huge update.

 

[yellow8]

I must admit, it was quite a bit of work to make my apps ready for day 1 this year.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

I normally wait until x.1 to update, but with RCS, I might go ahead and update.

I don't care about any of the other changes.

 

[TJFDenver]

I’m not seeing it tomorrow but I believe safari is snappier

 

[2DeedleD]

Know I’m getting old because I’m most excited about the Password App.

Not old. You just have different needs/tastes. Keep prospering.

 

[ouruniverse06131986]

Not updating until I get the 15 pro mac

 

[tasa]

Following over three months of beta testing, iOS 18 will finally be widely released to the public this Monday, September 16. The update should be available to install tomorrow starting at around 10 a.m. Pacific Time (1 p.m. Eastern Time) in the Settings app under General → Software Update on the iPhone XS and newer.

Below, we have highlighted eight key new features included in iOS 18, and Apple shared a complete list of new features and changes last week.

Note that Apple Intelligence features are not coming until iOS 18.1 and later.

Customizable Home Screen

iOS 18 allows you to place app icons anywhere on the Home Screen grid, and there are new "Dark" and "Tinted" customization options for recoloring app icons. You can also set app icons to appear larger, without text labels below them.

Redesigned Control Center

Control Center has been redesigned on iOS 18. Like the Home Screen, it is now more customizable, allowing you to rearrange and resize controls across multiple pages. You can easily add more controls from the all-new controls gallery.

iMessage Enhancements

iMessage received a wide range of new features on iOS 18, including the ability to use any emoji as a Tapback reaction, text effects like "Shake" and "Explode," formatting options like bold and underline, the ability to schedule messages to be sent later, RCS support for improved messaging with Android devices, and more.

Redesigned Photos App

Apple says the Photos app received its biggest redesign ever on iOS 18, with tabs removed in favor of an all-in-one layout. The changes have been controversial, leading Apple to tweak the app's design throughout the iOS 18 beta testing period.

Locks Apps Behind Face ID

iOS 18 introduces the ability to lock any app behind Face ID, Touch ID, or an iPhone's passcode for privacy and security purposes. In addition, you can now hide an app, which moves it to a hidden apps folder that is locked.

Passwords App

iOS 18 includes an all-new Passwords app that surfaces many features previously available through the iCloud Keychain in the Settings app. The app makes it easier to manage passwords, passkeys, two-factor authentication codes, and more.

Distraction Control

Built into Safari, the new Distraction Control feature can be used to hide some website elements, such as newsletter sign-up forms and cookie permission prompts. However, Apple says the feature is not designed to be an ad blocker. If you hide an ad banner, it will become visible again if and when the content of the ad refreshes.

Game Mode

First introduced on the Mac, Game Mode is now available on the iPhone. Apple says Game Mode "minimizes background activity to sustain consistently high frame rates" during gameplay, "dramatically reduces" audio latency with AirPods, and makes wireless game controllers "incredibly responsive."

Read our iOS 18 roundup to learn about even more features.

Article Link: iOS 18 Available Tomorrow With These 8 New Features For Your iPhone

This is an actual significant update although it is a catch up to features we should have had 10 years ago. iOS17 was my all time smallest update, they should have just made it a 16. something

 

[CarAnalogy]

Bring on RCS!

Yes exactly. My Verizon line claims to support it (on the RC), but it’s not working yet. Hopefully that changes tomorrow.

 

[Dulcimer]

The most compelling feature here are the messaging enhancements. No more cringe “HAHA” tapbacks!

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

Place app icons anywhere we want, how long we have waited 🙏

 

[Chungry]

I’m on the beta of iOS 18.0 (22A3354) but turned off beta updates. Hopefully I get the final release. RCS has been a game changer. The icon arranging is a finally sort of thing after all this time. The rocky road to getting what ought to have been table-stakes features has me seriously eyeing Android going forward. Apple is happy to pack all sorts of pro camera features I’ll never use into phones but quality-of-life improvements have a hard time making the cut.

 

[now i see it]

While the official release of iOS 18 isn’t technically called a beta. It most certainly is in every other way.
Kind of tragic that every year IOS has to start out so rough — breaking things that were already fixed.

 

[CharlesShaw]

Know I’m getting old because I’m most excited about the Password App.

Ditto! Also pleased about locking apps behind FaceID. Doing lots of digital Swedish death cleaning lately, and am determined to simplify everything on my end before the update. I've finally promoted my old "iTunes" ID --which has always been my secondary Media & Purchases ID--into the role of primary ID, got it an iCloud email, and will migrate away from having to use my previous primary email.

 

[pappkristof]

Where can we download the wallpapers shown on the first image (with the colorful icons)? Thanks.

 

[LoveToMacRumors]

Keeping my iPhone 13 pro on ios 15, best decision ever. Just changed the battery yesterday, feels as fast as i got it the first day.

 

[ZipZilla]

RCS and the Password manager make this a must-have. Now to make sure my Android family members have RCS turned on

 

[Rychiar]

Not looking forward to the Photos app. Will probably hold off for a few months, if not indefinitely, as everything I’ve seen and read makes me feel like it’ll be a huge regression. I’m so sick of change for change’s sake.

Apart from the photos app what here could possibly be seen as a regression? Rcs alone is worth it. I’m so sick of turning on airplane mode just to send anything to android users over wifi

 

[infinitejest]

I must admit, it was quite a bit of work to make my apps ready for day 1 this year.

Out of curiosity, how did you know what you needed to adjust / what they changed? Do they give out some kind of info that helps developers to know what needs to be changed?
I’m not a developer btw, it’s just something I’ve always wondered about.

 

[Entilzha]

Bring on RCS!

I’ve been running the 18 RC and I will say I completely forgot about RCS till I noticed it enabled with one of my android using friends in texts.

Completely transparent for me, except for the “Text Message - RCS” showing in the text box before I start typing.