Apple’s 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) revealed plenty of new iPhone features. Here are seven that won’t be included with iOS 18’s launch.
Apple’s 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is over, so we finally have a taste of what to look forward to in iOS 18 this coming fall. There were the tentpole announcements, such as a fully renovated and supercharged Siri. Then the more controversial ones, such as user-customizable icon tinting (with often terrible results) and the ability to hide apps that has some scared it will help their partners cheat. Still, it was a huge update filled to the brim with features we all want to start using ASAP. Perhaps too big, because Apple wasn’t exactly ready to release it all at the same time. Throughout the presentation, we heard presenters use the tech giant’s favorite delay euphemisms: something was coming « this fall », « later this year », and « over the course of the next year. » In other words, not everything shown off at WWDC is arriving during iOS’s public September release date.
In fact, you can download the iOS 18 beta right now, and you’ll probably notice pretty quickly that it’s incomplete. Whether Apple bit off more than it could chew or there’s wisdom in rolling things out, at least a handful of features that we know of won’t make it until the iOS 18.1 changelog — or even later. Here are seven you shouldn’t get your hopes up for when September rolls around.Apple Intelligence
Apple Intelligence (Apple’s cheeky take on « AI ») was the climax of the presentation, and rightfully so. It included a suite of integrated features like Writing Tools, which helps generate, refine, and polish your writing directly on-device; Image Playground, a local diffusion model for creating goofy images of contacts, or transforming Notes sketches into complete illustrations; Genmoji, to allow users to whip up a bespoke emoji for any mood or occasion; and other nice touches like the Clean Up tool for Photos, Smart Reply for emails, and AI transcription. Users were frustrated that these features were only available to owners of the iPhone 15 Pro and above — as well as supported Mac and iPad models — but they were excited nonetheless. Time to curb that enthusiasm, because none of this is arriving in the official iOS 18 release.
According to Apple Newsroom, Intelligence « will be available in beta as part of iOS 18 . this fall in U.S. English. Some features, software platforms, and additional languages will come over the course of the next year. » So yes, you can try out Apple Intelligence this fall — if your phone is set to U.S. English — but you would have to download the beta to do so. It’s hard to recommend beta software to most people since it’s plagued with bugs, demolishes your battery life, and causes performance issues. And that’s if you’re lucky. The beta for iOS 17.3 (as one of many examples) bricked users’ phones — bricking, for those living in blissful ignorance, is when a software glitch turns your device into an expensive paperweight. The damage was reversible and minimal for those who had a backup, but it’s still a massive headache you don’t want happening to your daily driver.Siri integration
Siri 2.0 is finally here. This isn’t just an update — it’s a top-to-bottom reimagining of the digital assistant that efficiently and smoothly integrates with your apps and data while keeping both private. It appears that some of Siri’s new functionality will be available for iOS 18, but many abilities demonstrated in the WWDC presentation will not. One component is her onscreen awareness. This is when Siri can see the contents of your screen and act on it. Apple Newsroom gives an example: « If a friend texts a user their new address in Messages, the receiver can say, ‘Add this address to his contact card.' »
Another feature that won’t be available is Siri’s deeper integrations, where, for example, she’d be able to find something on your phone based on context — say, locating that funny SpongeBob meme your bestie sent you sometime last year.
