iOS 18 announced with Apple Intelligence, ChatGPT in Siri, Passwords app, Photos and

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Apple has officially announced iOS 18 beta, along with the beta versions of iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia. Here are the biggest improvements and new features for iPhone.

What's new in iOS 18New Customization options

iOS 18 allows users to personalize the Home Screen and Lock Screen with the same wallpaper, and it switches between the two screens seamlessly. You can place app icons or widgets anywhere on the home screen. App icons will automatically become darker when your iPhone switches to Dark Mode. You can manually edit the tint color of the icons, or use let iOS pick the tint based on your wallpaper.



Control Center now supports multiple screens that you can access with a swipe gesture, allowing you to manage media playback, Home Controls, etc. Users may customize the options that are available on the Control Center, using the new Control Center Gallery. The controls can be resized, just like widgets. You can also access the controls from the lock screen, by replacing the camera and flashlight controls. Apple has extended these options to third-party apps, so you can place controls for your favorite apps on the control Center. iPhone 15 Pro users can access the controls by clicking on the Action button.



Privacy control

sApple has introduced an option in iOS 18 that lets you lock an app with your Face ID, Touch ID or pass code. This will prevent other users from accessing the app, when you hand over your phone to them for sharing a video, photo, or to play a game. The new privacy controls prevent sensitive data from locked apps from appearing in search, notifications, Siri and Spotlight, Call History, and Maps routing suggestions. Users can use the hide app feature, which moves a selected app to a hidden app folder that only they can access.

Apps can now be granted restricted access to your contacts, i.e. you can choose which contacts an app will be able to see. Apple is also allowing you to control the way how apps connect to your accessories such as Bluetooth devices, which will prevent the apps from discovering or connecting to other devices, aka secure Bluetooth pairing.

Schedule Messages, Format Text, Add Text Effects, react with new Tapbacks, and use Satellite Messaging

The Messages app in iOS 18 has an improved Tapbacks panel, which lets you react to messages using any emoji or sticker. You can schedule messages to be sent later in the Messages app, for example, to wish someone on their birthday.



iOS 18's Messages app supports text formatting options such as bold, italics, underlined or strike through in any text. There are some new animations in the app, called Text Effects, that you can use to express your emotions in messages. Some text effects examples include shake, nod, explode.

Apple has improved upon its Satellite communication feature which it introduced in iOS 16' Emergency SOS Satellite. Messages in iOS 18 lets you send and receive text messages, emoji and tapbacks via Satellite, when you are not connected to a mobile signal or Wi-Fi network. The messages are end-to-end encrypted. Satellite messaging also works for SMS texting, when you are communicating with people who don't have iMessage. This feature is supported on iPhone 14 or later.
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