iOS 18 is finally here. On Monday, September 16, 2024, Apple released iOS 18. And it’s coming to phones as old as the iPhone Xs series that was released in 2018. That’s pretty impressive, though Google and Samsung are aiming to surpass Apple now, with promises of 7 years of updates.
This is a fairly big update to the iPhone, even though it might not sound like it. Apple has actually published a 22-page PDF detailing all of the changes in iOS 18. Though a few pages are dedicated to Apple Intelligence, which is part of iOS 18.1 and later, and not iOS 18. In this article, we are going to aim to tell you everything you need to know about iOS 18, and will continue to update this when updates come out, including iOS 18.1, iOS 18.2, etc.
When was iOS 18 announced?
iOS 18 was officially announced at WWDC in June 2024. Following that announcement, we had a boatload of different beta updates, all the way up to iOS 18 Developer Beta 8, while at the same time also releasing beta updates for iOS 18.1 – which included Apple Intelligence features.
iOS 18 officially launched and was available for all compatible iPhones on September 16, 2024. Here’s how that compares with the past few years of iOS updates.
- iOS 17 – September 17, 2023
- iOS 16 – September 12, 2022
- iOS 15 – September 20, 2021
- iOS 14 – September 16, 2020
- iOS 13 – September 19, 2019
iOS 18 Updates
The first iOS 18 beta was released on June 10, 2024. While Apple doesn’t typically release a timeline for betas, they do generally launch about every two weeks through August. So we could see six or seven betas this year. There are also two tracks of betas, with Developer Beta and Public Beta. We would recommend sticking with the Public Beta, as it is typically a bit less buggy.
- iOS 18 Developer Beta 1 – Released on June 10, 2024
- iOS 18 Developer Beta 2 – Released on June 24, 2024
- iOS 18 Developer Beta 3 – Released on July 8, 2024
- iOS 18 Developer Beta 3 Re-Release – Released on July 15, 2024
- iOS 18 Developer Beta 4 – Released on July 23, 2024
- iOS 18 Developer Beta 5 – Released on August 5, 2024
- iOS 18 Developer Beta 6 – released on August 12, 2024
- iOS 18 Developer Beta 7 – Released on August 19, 2024
- iOS 18 Developer Beta 8 – Released on August 28, 2024
- iOS 18 Final Release – Released on September 16, 2024
Which iPhones are supported?
Unlike Android, Apple does not guarantee updates for a certain number of years. While the iPhone 6 did get updates for what seemed like ever, more recent phones have stopped receiving new versions of iOS much sooner. The iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and X were dropped with iOS 17.
With iOS 18, Apple is sticking to the same group of iPhones that are getting updated. So that’s going to be the iPhone Xr (released in 2018) and later. Here’s the full list:
- iPhone 15
- iPhone 15 Plus
- iPhone 15 Pro
- iPhone 15 Pro Max
- iPhone 14
- iPhone 14 Plus
- iPhone 14 Pro
- iPhone 14 Pro Max
- iPhone 13
- iPhone 13 mini
- iPhone 13 Pro
- iPhone 13 Pro Max
- iPhone 12
- iPhone 12 mini
- iPhone 12 Pro
- iPhone 12 Pro Max
- iPhone 11
- iPhone 11 Pro
- iPhone 11 Pro Max
- iPhone XS
- iPhone XS Max
- iPhone XR
- iPhone SE (2nd generation or later)
What features are coming with iOS 18?
iOS 18 is now available for download, which means that we now know all of the changes and features that are available with iOS 18. As mentioned before, Apple did release a 22-page PDF detailing every change in iOS 18. This PDF goes very in-depth into every little change, we won’t be doing that here, but if you’re interested, you can read that PDF yourself for all of the changes.
Control Center Customization
With iOS 18, Apple is adding new Control Center customization, which will allow you to move controls around, and even resize them. Apple is also adding multiple pages, which includes a full page for media controls, and another full page for smart home controls. While the rumors about this made it sound pretty clunky, this is actually a really good layout for everything that the Control Center handles these days.
Apple is also extending support for Control Center with a new API so that other app developers can use the Control Center toggles if they want to. One of the examples that Apple used was with Ford, where you can easily pre-condition your EV right from the control center. And as someone that owns an EV, that’s really nice to have.
Home Screen Customization
Apple is finally bringing a decent amount of home screen customization to the iPhone with iOS 18. Now, users will be able to put icons anywhere they want. So we can get rid of that grid finally. It’s somewhat odd that it took Apple this long to do this, but here it is.
Along with home screen customization, Apple is allowing you to change the color of all of your icons. You can choose any color you want, or let Siri pick a color that would compliment your wallpaper, which sounds exactly like Material You, which Google debuted back in 2020 on Android.
Big updates to iMessage
Apple has also added quite a few new features to iMessage. Of course, the big one that Android users are going to be interested in is, RCS. That’s Rich Communication Services, which will improve texting with an iPhone. However, as expected, Apple keeps non-iPhone texts as green bubbles.
Additionally, Apple is providing new ways to play with text in iMessage, you can make text larger, make it animated and much more. Apple is also adding more emojis for tapbacks. So you can reply exactly how you feel.
Finally, you can schedule text messages in iOS 18. A bit surprising that this was not a feature already.
Messages via satellite are here as well. So when you’re out hiking or somewhere that has no signal at all, you can still get a few text messages off, via satellites.
Mail gains Gmail tabs
The Mail app is gaining new tabs to help better manage your inbox. And it reminds us a lot of the tabs in Gmail. So now you’ll have tabs for Primary, Transactions, Updates, and Promotions. It allows you to easily find the shipping confirmation for that Amazon order. Apple is also going to start grouping messages together that are similar—making it easier to find all your emails from Delta, or Starbucks.
New Passwords App
For years, Apple has allowed you to store passwords within the iCloud Password vault, but that was hidden away in Settings. Now, Apple is rolling out a new Passwords app that will be available on iOS, iPad OS, and MacOS. This is going to make it much easier to retrieve passwords, WiFi passwords, and much more.
RCS Support
Apple is also adding support for RCS in iOS 18, which first showed up in Beta 2. With RCS support, iPhone users can get full-size images and tapbacks from Android devices. While Android and other phones will still appear as green bubbles on the iPhone, the messaging experience will be far better now.
Apple Intelligence
It’s worth mentioning that Apple Intelligence will not be part of the iOS 18 update. It will start to roll out in iOS 18.1, with more features in iOS 18.2, etc. We will still include it here with iOS 18, however.
Apple Intelligence is the company’s marketing term for its AI Suite. Think of it like Galaxy AI but for Apple’s ecosystem. With Apple Intelligence, the company is debuting a bunch of new features. Apple Intelligence is available for iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max, iPad Air, and iPad Pro with M1 or later, and all Macs running M1 or later.
Writing Tools
First up is Writing Tools; this feature allows you to rewrite emails, posts, text messages, and really anything that uses the keyboard. You can check for grammar, re-write it to sound more professional or casual, and even use it to summarize a long response or lecture. It is available across the entire ecosystem, not just on the iPhone.
Genmoji
Apple is also allowing you to create your own images, in a feature it is calling “Genmoji”. This feature will allow you to express yourself visually, by creating fun, original images as well as new Genmoji. You can turn a rough sketch into a related image that complements your notes with Image Wand.
All-new Siri
Apple is finally upgrading Siri to be less, trash. Siri actually debuted well before any of the other personal assistants, but has been relatively stagnant for years. Now, with Apple Intelligence, Siri has an all-new design and a richer-language understanding. Making communicating with Siri more natural than ever. Siri can also not take action in and across apps.
ChatGPT
Apple is somewhat late to the AI party, so instead of building everything from scratch, it is also using ChatGPT for some things. It’s being integrated into Sirir and Writing Tools, and when Siri is handing it off to ChatGPT, it will also let you know. Siri is able to tap into ChatGPT for certain requests, including questions about your photos and documents.
Private Cloud Compute
Privacy remains a very important part of Apple’s products, even with AI. Which is why Apple is doing most of these AI features on-device, versus offloading to the cloud – that’s a big reason why the regular iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus can’t run Apple Intelligence. And that’s where Private Cloud Compute comes into play. Apple says that your data is never stored, used only for your requests, and has a verifiable privacy promise.
Download iOS 18 Beta now
iOS 18 is available beginning today – September 16, 2024. If you own an iPhone Xs or newer, you can head into Settings and tap on General and Software Update to download the update today. Keep in mind that this will be a fairly large update for your iPhone, so make sure you have plenty of space available.