Here are the best new features coming with Apple’s latest software version, available for the iPhone 16 and older models.
Apple first announced iOS 18 at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, one of the company’s biggest software upgrades in years. From much-awaited features in Apple Intelligence to a redesign of the Photos app, there’s a lot of new stuff for users and developers alike to dig into. With the launch of iPhone 16, we now have more clarity about the currently available features and the roadmap of upcoming AI upgrades.
The latest version of iOS will make your iPhone more customizable with a personalized home screen layout, better Control Center navigation, and updates to key apps like Messages, Mail, and more. Here’s all you need to know about iOS 18 and why you should be just as excited as I am.
I’ve been using Apple Intelligence on my iPhone 15 Pro in beta for a while now. It will not roll out with the iPhone 16 lineup but will be available in beta starting next month with iOS 18.1. Apple’s competitor to Galaxy AI and Google Gemini has some of the regular features like summarization and Clean Up in Photos (like Magic Eraser) but as a whole, it feels more intuitive than others.
I’ve found the notification summary feature to be extremely useful. It can’t always be trusted, but it’s accurate most of the time. If you receive a lot of emails, messages on WhatsApp and Instagram, and more, this feature helps declutter the notification panel. It summarizes multiple texts/emails in a single notification with a sentence and expands only when you tap on it. You also get the usual writing tools to help summarize content and create images or “Genmojis.”
Apple Intelligence uses Image Playground to help you create images based on descriptions, suggested concepts, or people from your Photos library. You can customize these images with new styles and make changes to add context to your story. The feature is integrated into your iPhone, and Apple states that “it’s aware of your personal information without collecting your personal information.” The company has partnered with ChatGPT to bring the service to your iPhone. You don’t need an account to access ChatGPT, and it will be integrated into your iPhone.
I’ve also found Apple Intelligence’s animations more intuitive than the competition’s. Google and Samsung loading screens make me want to exit the screen, but Apple’s take keeps me hooked to the screen while the changes process or it creates a Memory Movie. The Clean Up feature in Photos isn’t as accurate as Google’s Magic Eraser, but I expect it to get better in the stable version.
While Apple Intelligence is the most prominent addition to iOS 18, not all iPhones will get the feature. It is expected to roll out on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max alongside the new iPhones; despite iOS 18 being available for iPhone SE (2nd Gen). The feature will launch in US English first, and will be expanded to support localized English in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the U.K. in December. Apple Intelligence will support other languages including Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish next year.
