Poll: Are you thrilled about iOS 18? Why? AI, customization, others…

[Populus]

So, I was wondering if I’m the only one that likes iOS 18, but not necessarily for the AI stuff, but rather because of the dark mode icons (which admittedly, have room for improvement), the customizable Control Center, RCS support, the Reminders and Calendar apps integration, the revamped Mail app with categories, or other little tidbits…

Maybe most people are wowed by the Apple Intelligence stuff, limited to iPhone 15 Pro, or for the new Siri and the ChatGPT integration, that hopefully will be available to everyone…

Do you like iOS 18 as a whole? Or do you think that, aside from the AI stuff, it is a meh update?

Please vote and feel free to share why you are (or aren’t) enticed about iOS 18.

 

[nburwell]

I’m more a fan of the customization that iOS 18 introduces. I’m not sure how much I’m going to use AI (Apple Intelligence) if I’m being completely honest. Maybe that will change once I try it out. But I’ll hold off until the first public beta drops before trying out the new software.

 

[Populus]

I’m more a fan of the customization that iOS 18 introduces. I’m not sure how much I’m going to use AI (Apple Intelligence) if I’m being completely honest. Maybe that will change once I try it out. But I’ll hold off until the first public beta drops before trying out the new software.

Thank you for your honest opinion! I actually agree with you. You know, for me the new features such as the new Mail categories or the Reminders integration into Calendars, as well as the new dark mode icons and the new control center, are the features I think I’m gonna love the most.

I’m not sure if I will use Apple Intelligence, my iPhone SE 3 doesn’t support it, and it looks like a resource hog anyways. If I need AI I have the chatGPT app.

Thank you for your opinion, and to everyone else for just voting! I appreciate your participation.

 

[TimFL1]

…, or for the new Siri and the ChatGPT integration, that hopefully will be available to everyone…

…

I think the ChatGPT integration is tied to AI, since it uses the semantic index to determine what context information to provide ChatGPT with.

That being said, I think AI is a step in the right direction. Hope they continue to push their own models and cloud services forward to one day compete with ChatGPT and co., but the most exciting reveal for me was RCS Support in Messages (we knew that was coming, but it getting an official tile excites me… just wish they‘d release it as part of the beta already).

Miss me with all that customization stuff, at the end of the day it‘s all just visual gimmicks that don‘t change the way I use my phone…

 

[nortonandreev]

I'm very curious about what iOS 18 would have been like without the AI integration. From my perspective, it seems like Apple started developing certain features, but midway through, the AI hype took over their priorities. As a result, the first beta release doesn't include the anticipated AI features, nor does it fully deliver the other features that might have been completed if not for the shift in focus.

There have been rumors that Apple is calling this iOS update the biggest in iPhone history. But how so? I still consider updates like iOS 7 and 13 to be much more significant in terms of new features.

Anyway, a disappointing release all around. Let's see if the AI features deliver.

 

[Populus]

it seems like Apple started developing certain features, but midway through, the AI hype took over their priorities.

Exactly. I have the same impression.

 

[Populus]

I think the ChatGPT integration is tied to AI, since it uses the semantic index to determine what context information to provide ChatGPT with.

That being said, I think AI is a step in the right direction. Hope they continue to push their own models and cloud services forward to one day compete with ChatGPT and co., but the most exciting reveal for me was RCS Support in Messages (we knew that was coming, but it getting an official tile excites me… just wish they‘d release it as part of the beta already).

Miss me with all that customization stuff, at the end of the day it‘s all just visual gimmicks that don‘t change the way I use my phone…

So do you think the new Siri won’t be that “new” in older devices? It would be a pity, because that means Siri will continue to be garbage on smartphones as new as the iPhone 15.

By the way, do you know if you need a data connection to receive RCS messages? Because you don’t for SMS…

 

[TimFL1]

So do you think the new Siri won’t be that “new” in older devices? It would be a pity, because that means Siri will continue to be garbage on smartphones as new as the iPhone 15.

By the way, do you know if you need a data connection to receive RCS messages? Because you don’t for SMS…

I think Siri will be more or less the same. It‘s painful because the one place I want my Siri to be smarter is on the device I use daily with Siri: the HomePod

RCS is sent via data, so you‘ll need a data connection (mobile or wifi). Upside is, it‘s free of charge unlike SMS/MMS in quite a few countries and that it‘s more reliable in terms of delivery notifications.

 

[betabeta]

I like it all, tons of things I always wanted, there is only one thing out of Apple I still want, TouchID, that’s it, I’m still using my iPhone 8 Plus, well I also like the more rounded edges. But yeah, iOS 18 will most likely force my hand or thumb to buy the new 16 pro ultra plus AI whatever they call the thing. I’m all in on the top model especially if the AI has bonus features with the top model. My iPhone 8 still takes pictures sometimes better than newer models, but I feel the AI will be too much to not upgrade. I’m not alone, I’m hearing from a lot of people this might be upgrade worthy. I think this will be the largest upgrade cycle in years, sell out on day one.

 

[zorinlynx]

I don't care for the AI stuff or the Photos changes, but like the home screen and control center customization stuff.

My main concern is battery life and memory usage. LLMs are heavy on memory usage. I love the fact that my 15 Pro Max has 8GB of RAM, apps pretty much never get terminated and multitasking is a dream. My worry is that with the AI engine running half that memory will be consumed by it and we'll be right back to apps being killed left and right in the background like on my previous phone (11PM).

If they provide a switch to completely turn off the AI stuff, that would be ideal. But I get the feeling Apple WANTS people to use this, so you won't be able to disable it.

 

[mblm85]

I'll just be happy if Siri finally understands me and carries out my wishes.

The customisation options are also very appealing. The AI stuff is interesting but more than happy for others to try it out before I join in. At present, I don't anticipate upgrading from my iPhone 15 any sooner than my usual 3 or 4 year cycle.

 

[dburkhanaev]

I think Siri will be more or less the same. It‘s painful because the one place I want my Siri to be smarter is on the device I use daily with Siri: the HomePod

RCS is sent via data, so you‘ll need a data connection (mobile or wifi). Upside is, it‘s free of charge unlike SMS/MMS in quite a few countries and that it‘s more reliable in terms of delivery notifications.

I agree with you that Siri could be smarter on the HomePod, it's pretty weak. In terms of iOS 18 overall, I think it's mostly superficial and cosmetic.

The most interesting thing will be "Apple Intelligence", because Apple will roll it out subtly and unobtrusively as a continuation of the Machine Learning that they have already packed their products with. Or they will bludgeon us with it. Either it can be turned off in part, or as a whole. Any place that has integration with a LLM (misnamed AI), this will be on the device or again can be turned off.

Apple has had ML cores in Apple silicon on iPhone and iPad since the A8 series or so. Machine Learning has been in image processing for photos, pictures for searching by name, location-aware prompts like setting a calendar/reminder event for when you arrive at a place, or for things like DND while driving, etc.

But I've had to let go of Snap (not a big loss) and other chat tools because of nosey "AI" bots that you have to pay a royalty for the pleasure of disabling. They copy in all of your chat or search phrases because you have become a training tool. I can't even shop on Amazon now without "Rufus" taking up valuable UI space in the Amazon app for it's bot or for the tons of keywords it drops all over the bottom of the product page, covering everything up.

I hope this implementation is done much better by Apple. Microsoft hasn't gotten it right. Meta, Snap, Amazon- none of them have done "AI" well. It's just a series of ugly chat bots and their automatic, non-helpful features making you into a product because these companies have created a false hype around a half-baked product, because they need an instrument to recoup their millions spent in R&D.

 

[dburkhanaev]

Thank you for your honest opinion! I actually agree with you. You know, for me the new features such as the new Mail categories or the Reminders integration into Calendars, as well as the new dark mode icons and the new control center, are the features I think I’m gonna love the most.

I’m not sure if I will use Apple Intelligence, my iPhone SE 3 doesn’t support it, and it looks like a resource hog anyways. If I need AI I have the chatGPT app.

Thank you for your opinion, and to everyone else for just voting! I appreciate your participation.

I'm leary that we won't be able to turn the categories off in Mail. I don't want it. Once my mail starts to leave the unified inbox it starts to get missed for great lengths of time. I will never go into the individual categories to process them. I check my mail and handle it throughout the day. I just want it to stay inline. And if the calendar integration with reminders doesn't fit with my workflow patterns, I'll need that to be reversible too.

In the past, I would have been optimistic, because Apple used to have settings that would mostly let things work as they were before with new features being an addition. But these new updates have just been changing the paradigms to whatever Apple has decided is best and you just can't set things back at all. See the "Private" tab in Safari in iOS. I think that was better to be left in a state where the existence of private tabs where ambiguous and not announced when placing the browser into new tab mode. You could also look at Contact Posters. Great features for creatives, teenagers, and narcissists. Not so great to let my contacts take over my phone's screen with whatever personal self-identifying photo of themselves that they think looks "cute", whenever they call me.

 

[Hobbes42]

So, I was wondering if I’m the only one that likes iOS 18, but not necessarily for the AI stuff, but rather because of the dark mode icons (which admittedly, have room for improvement), the customizable Control Center, RCS support, the Reminders and Calendar apps integration, the revamped Mail app with categories, or other little tidbits…

Maybe most people are wowed by the Apple Intelligence stuff, limited to iPhone 15 Pro, or for the new Siri and the ChatGPT integration, that hopefully will be available to everyone…

Do you like iOS 18 as a whole? Or do you think that, aside from the AI stuff, it is a meh update?

Please vote and feel free to share why you are (or aren’t) enticed about iOS 18.

I am the opposite of thrilled.


Not only is this the buggiest beta since iOS 7, but the “features” aren’t well thought out or implemented.

We need a Snow Leopard year for every OS. For the kids out there, Snow Leopard was a release with few new features, but instead focused on optimizing the overall operating system.

Steve Jobs went up on stage and said that. And it was the truth. It was an amazing OS.

I’ve used iOS betas for like 10 years now, and this current iOS 18 beta on my iPhone 15 Pro is buggy as hell and janky AF.

Apple! Refocus! Please! Seriously. Tim Cook seems focused only on the numbers he sees on spreadsheets. The immense momentum of Apple will only last so long.

Take a breath. Refine, perfect, act like you have the confidence of the largest company in the world.

Also while you’re at it try something else new and adventurous other than a $4000 headset. You can afford to be exciting and adventurous. Try new things.

 

[BugeyeSTI]

I am the opposite of thrilled.


Not only is this the buggiest beta since iOS 7, but the “features” aren’t well thought out or implemented.

We need a Snow Leopard year for every OS. For the kids out there, Snow Leopard was a release with few new features, but instead focused on optimizing the overall operating system.

Steve Jobs went up on stage and said that. And it was the truth. It was an amazing OS.

I’ve used iOS betas for like 10 years now, and this current iOS 18 beta on my iPhone 15 Pro is buggy as hell and janky AF.

Apple! Refocus! Please! Seriously. Tim Cook seems focused only on the numbers he sees on spreadsheets. The immense momentum of Apple will only last so long.

Take a breath. Refine, perfect, act like you have the confidence of the largest company in the world.

Also while you’re at it try something else new and adventurous other than a $4000 headset. You can afford to be exciting and adventurous. Try new things.

Forget about this issue:

Snow Leopard guest account bug deletes user data - macOS Discussions on AppleInsider Forums

Reports of a potentially critical Snow Leopard bug that can erase a user's account data have continued to surface since the operating system's debut [Updated with Apple official comment].

forums.appleinsider.com

Snow Leopard wiping home directory after guest log-in?

<p>A few people on the Apple discussion boards have found a problem with Snow Leopard, where the system has deleted their home directories after logging in to the guest account.</p>

www.cnet.com

Snow Leopard was good but it had it's bugs too..

 

[Macaholic868]

The ability to customize iOS in the way that iOS 18 now allows you to is neat and I’m sure I’ll use it in time but right now I don’t feel compelled to do it. It’s cool that you can but it doesn’t do anything in terms of the ability for the phone to make my life easier.

It’s going to all boil down to what Apple Intelligence does and doesn’t allow me to do. Siri in particular. If the enhancements to Siri allow me to have natural language interactions with the device including the ability to ask follow up questions and to have Siri control not just the Apple native apps but ultimately gives developers the ability to allow Siri to do things within 3rd party apps that will be huge for me based on my use case. The other things Apple has pointed out that Apple Intelligence will allow look like they’ll be neat, but I don’t think they’ll be a game changer in the way a modern day AI infused Siri would so it’ll all boil down to that for me.

 

[Populus]

Forget about this issue:

Snow Leopard guest account bug deletes user data - macOS Discussions on AppleInsider Forums

Reports of a potentially critical Snow Leopard bug that can erase a user's account data have continued to surface since the operating system's debut [Updated with Apple official comment].

forums.appleinsider.com

Snow Leopard wiping home directory after guest log-in?

<p>A few people on the Apple discussion boards have found a problem with Snow Leopard, where the system has deleted their home directories after logging in to the guest account.</p>

www.cnet.com

Snow Leopard was good but it had it's bugs too..

Indeed, most of us remember it as a smooth and stable release because of how polished it became during the second yeat (yes, desktop operating systems weren’t released yearly back then), because of how buggy Lion was by comparison, and because the magic of Steve’s word in stage. But it actually implemented big internal changes and like you said, it was quite buggy during the first iterations.

It has become a bit mystified, but I’d say Mavericks or Sierra were pretty solid and stable releases as well.

What I think Apple’s software need is a longer development cycle. They could focus one year on iOS and iPadOS, and the next year release a new macOS (and maybe a smaller iOS refresh because I understand new software drives iPhone sales)

 

[BugeyeSTI]

Indeed, most of us remember it as a smooth and stable release because of how polished it became during the second yeat (yes, desktop operating systems weren’t released yearly back then), because of how buggy Lion was by comparison, and because the magic of Steve’s word in stage. But it actually implemented big internal changes and like you said, it was quite buggy during the first iterations.

It has become a bit mystified, but I’d say Mavericks or Sierra were pretty solid and stable releases as well.

What I think Apple’s software need is a longer development cycle. They could focus one year on iOS and iPadOS, and the next year release a new macOS (and maybe a smaller iOS refresh because I understand new software drives iPhone sales)

iOS12 was one of the least buggy versions I've used. I still have a 6S on 12.4 and it is smooth as silk. I wouldn't mind Apple skipping all the new features just to work on fluidity, stability and excellent battery performance in iOS18. It would make a large amount of users happy but I also think a equally large amout of users want to see significant changes made every year. I can only hope iOS18 will be better than the last couple of versions of iOS. I'm still sore over the loss of 3D Touch and the dock on WatchOS!

 

[Nermal]

The only feature I'm looking forward to is "iPhone Mirroring", which is promoted as a MacOS feature but likely requires iOS 18.

On the phone itself I really just want some bug fixes. For example, it would be nice if Safari's history window wasn't blank occasionally, and it would be good if they fixed the close button on tabs...

 

[xxFoxtail]

Edit: I probably rambled too much about the AI features here, so deleted it.

 

[Sir Ruben]

Now that the dust has settled and we are on Beta 3 I find iOS18 to be a very underwhelming update. My main reason for saying that is that the AI feature set just isn't ready. Personally they should have left AI until iOS19 and used the time to really polish it up. At present Apple Intelligence is a mish-mash of different AI features that are all at different stages in development but not present in the OS.

Without the Apple Intelligence elements its just a pretty minor update really.

 

[HouseLannister]

I have never been "thrilled" about any OS. My life is kind of boring, but it takes more than some dark mode icons and blank space on my home screen to get me "thrilled."