iOS 18: Release Date, Features & Roll-out

iOS 18 for iPhone launches on September 16, 2024, and it will be a more substantial overhaul than we have seen in years.

Apple launched iOS almost 17 years ago. However, over the years, the tech giant has largely revealed light updates — and new wallpapers and emojis do not make for the most compelling features.

But the upcoming iOS 18 release date, coming just days after the iPhone 16 launch, promises to breathe new life into the ecosystem.

Apple promises 250 new features (although some of these are on the light side, such as “Share tips from the Tips app”).

Let’s explore the new iOS features and upgrades coming to your iPhone.

Launching on September 16, 2024, iOS 18 brings over 250 new features, marking one of the biggest updates in years.

Users can now freely arrange app icons and widgets on the home screen, with an overhauled Control Center for more customization options.

Using satellite communication, you can send messages without cellular or Wi-Fi, and iOS 18 also brings full RCS support for better messaging between iOS and Android users.

iOS 18 split screen makes multi-tasking a breeze.

Siri and other Apple services will receive significant AI upgrades (perhaps not on launch day), improving text interactions, personalized music playlists, and photo editing tools.

iOS 18 introduces enhanced encryption and detailed privacy reports and promises that sensitive data is processed on-device rather than in the cloud.

Table of Contents Table of Contents

1. New Features of iOS 18
2. The Bottom Line
3. FAQs

Show Full Guide

Table of Contents

1. New Features of iOS 18
2. The Bottom Line
3. FAQs

New Features of iOS 18

20 Most Interesting Features of iOS 18

1. Messages via Satellite
   Message your friends and family directly from the Messages app when you are off the grid and without cellular or Wi-Fi coverage.
2. RCS Messaging
   Message your friends and family who don’t use iMessage over RCS, which brings support for richer media and more reliable group messaging.
3. Flexible Home Screen
   Place app icons and widgets in any open position on the Home Screen to create the ideal layout.
4. Enhanced Control Center
   Control Center is redesigned with convenient groups of controls, the ability to arrange controls just the way you want.
5. Password Hub
   See all your passwords, passkeys, verification codes, Wi-Fi passwords, and Sign in with Apple credentials for websites and apps in one place.
6. iPhone Mirroring to macOS
   Control your iPhone from macOS through iPhone Mirroring.
7. Game Mode
   Provides a more immersive gaming experience by improving the responsiveness with wireless accessories and minimizing background activity.
8. Siri Actions
   Siri can take hundreds of new actions on your behalf, in both first- and third-party apps.
9. Create Memories from Photos
   Create a memory about the specific story you want to see, just by typing a description. Photos writes a storyline, complete with unique chapters.
10. Clean Up Tool
    Remove distracting elements from your photos with the Clean Up tool for those times when an unwanted object spoiled the moment.
11. Safari Highlights
    Discover helpful information about a web page like a summary, a location, a person, music, movies, and TV shows.
12. Mail Smart Reply
    Based on the content of the email you received, Mail will show you smart options to quickly choose from that add detail to the reply.
13. Messages Scheduling
    Compose a message now and schedule it to send later.
14. Hide and Lock Apps
    Touch and hold an app to lock it, protecting its contents from being accessed by others.
15. Next-gen Portraits Enhancements
    Adds Portrait Lighting controls and Night mode portrait when capturing portraits in Photo mode.
16. Genmoji
    Generate unique, emoji-style stickers right from the keyboard.
17. Weather ‘Feels Like’ Display
    Prepare for outdoor conditions more efficiently with a more prominently displayed Feels Like temperature.
18. Multilingual Grocery Lists
    Enable other languages to categorize your grocery lists in Settings.
19. Unified Emoji Picker
    The emoji keyboard and sticker drawer are combined into a unified picker.
20. Expanded External Drive Formats
    Touch and hold to format external drives to APFS, exFAT, or MS-DOS (Fat32) file formats on iPhone with USB-C.

via Apple’s release notes PDF

New Apple iOS 18 Interface Features

Long overdue, iOS 18 introduces a redesigned home screen with greater customization options, which allows users to rearrange app icons, add spaces, and gain new themes for a more personalized experience.

Meanwhile, catching up with tablets and certain Android phones, larger iPhones will now support split-screen multitasking — that’s multiple apps side-by-side.

Apple and AI

Siri gets a significant upgrade with AI capabilities — the simple commands we use now will get a much more ‘prompt-based’ evolution — that’s more natural interactions and better contextual understanding.

AI will also feature in?Apple Music, with AI-curated playlists, and iWork will get AI features for editing and design.

Similarly, photo and editing tools get the AI treatment, as do Pages and Keynote.

We may be familiar with the wave of AI tools appearing in tools across technology, but appearing on the iPhone is a surefire way to get the mainstream used to the broad sweep of AI’s abilities.

However, Apple Intelligence has its own release schedule separate from iOS 18. Some of the features may be wrapped in iOS 18; others will come towards the end of 2024 or early 2025.

iOS Connectivity and Performance

It’s been a long time coming, but kudos to Apple. iOS 18 will finally adopt the Rich Communication Services (RCS) standard, bringing the messaging experience between iPhone and Android users on a par and allowing compatibility with emoji reactions and ‘read receipts’.

Select devices will also support?Wi-Fi 7 and?improved 5G?modems via?Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X75 modem.

Accessibility and Health in Apple Devices

Apple will bring a hearing aid mode to AirPods Pro (possibly later in 2024) to help users with hearing challenges, while the Health app will gain more detailed sleep tracking and health recommendations.

Voice control and assistive technologies are also getting an overhaul, and tools to help users manage stress and anxiety will also be coming alongside the current health tracking.

iOS, Security, and Privacy

iOS 18 will gain more granular privacy controls, along with enhanced encryption in messaging and communication apps, and users will be able to get?detailed reports on how apps use their data.

Apple also promises that AI on any Apple device will use private and secure user data and will process sensitive information on-device rather than passing it?through the cloud.

The Bottom Line

Your perspective on the anticipated surge of AI-enhanced features in iOS 18’s launch might range from anticipation to skepticism. Your preferred operating system and degree of brand loyalty will largely influence your view.

But this is a large upgrade for Apple users. AI takes a lurch to the mainstream; features like RCS are long overdue, as are home screen customizations.

It’s a mix of evolutionary and revolutionary upgrades, bringing Apple into line with the competition while giving them something to aim for.

FAQs