The public betas are packed with ways to customize aspects of your iPhone, like the home screen, as well as fun updates to apps like Messages.
The public betas are packed with ways to customize aspects of your iPhone, like the home screen, as well as fun updates to apps like Messages.
Apple announced iOS 18 at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, and more than two months later, the tech giant released the fifth public beta version of the software, on Aug. 20. The update brings many new features and improvements to the iPhones of developers and public beta testers, like the ability to customize your home screen and lock screen, as well as RCS messaging.
I’ve been using the iOS 18 beta on my iPhone XR since WWDC. I don’t have access to all the new features Apple announced at WWDC — like Apple Intelligence — but I’ve used many of the latest features and uncovered a few the company didn’t announce.
With the release of iOS 18, Apple is giving people more control over how they can use their devices and how their device looks. If you want to try out all the latest features, you can download the iOS 18 public beta now.
I recommend downloading a beta on a device other than your primary iPhone. Because this isn’t the final version of iOS 18, the update might be buggy and battery life may be shortened, and it’s best to keep those potential troubles on a secondary device.
Note that the beta isn’t the final version of iOS 18, so more features could land on your iPhone when it’s released in the fall, though there’s no definitive release date yet.
If you can’t wait until the fall, here’s what to know about many of iOS 18’s new features in the beta version of the software, and how to use them.Home screen customization
The first iOS 18 feature Apple announced at WWDC was the ability to customize your home screen, and that was the first thing I did in the beta. I’m never going back to having app names displayed ever again.
Customizing your home screen is as easy as rearranging your app icons. Long-press on a blank portion of your home screen to enter jiggle mode — where all your apps shake like they’re scared — then tap Edit in the top-right corner and finally, tap Customize.
Who could hide that face behind apps?
This pulls up a small menu across the bottom of your screen giving you different customization options. You can make app icons Small or Large — Small is the default, and Large removes app names. You can enable Dark Mode by tapping the sun icon in the top-left corner of the menu. There’s even a Tinted option to change the color of your icons to pink, blue or whatever you want.
You can also arrange app icons on the home screen however you like. Gone are the days of apps blocking the faces of your loved ones in your background. There’s still a grid for your icons, so you can’t place icons on top of each other.
Something Apple didn’t mention at WWDC was that you can change the size of some widgets and turn app icons into widgets from the home screen. When you long-press on certain app icons, like Notes or Podcasts, you’ll see options like Remove App and Edit Home Screen – there’s also a visual representation of the app as varying-sized widgets. Tap any of these sizes to resize the app icon.
You can then resize the widget again by long-pressing it and choosing a different-size widget icon or reverting back to the original app icon.
Sure, these customization options don’t change the functionality of your home screen, but they’re still fun. I want to be able to display a picture of my wife or puppy without blocking their faces and have them peek around from behind the Spotify app. I also don’t necessarily need apps to display their names underneath the icon. I can identify the app from the icon, so we don’t need to bring words into this.Lock screen app customization
I’ve wanted this capability for a while, and I’m happy Apple finally allowed it. Prior to iOS 18, your lock screen had the camera app in the bottom-right corner and the flashlight app in the bottom-left corner — causing people, including myself, to accidentally turn it on. Now you can remove these shortcuts altogether or change them to something more useful.
To remove these controls, go to Settings > Wallpaper and tap Customize under your desired lock screen. Then, the camera and flashlight icons will have the minus (-) sign near them, indicating you can remove them. You can also tap either icon and pull up a list of different controls you can place on your lock screen, like Translate, Quick Note or — my favorite — Open App, which lets you open whatever app you want from your lock screen. That means I can open Hello Kitty Island Adventure without getting distracted by other apps — because I’ve got to be able to help my friends at a moment’s notice.A revamped Control Center
You can also further customize your Control Center in iOS 18, in a similar way to the home and lock screens. You can change the size and position of controls, and add different controls other than the 23 controls you had access to previously.
To customize your Control Center, swipe down from the top-right corner of your screen and tap the plus (+) button in the top-left corner of the Control Center. Controls will be outlined, and you can resize them — some to the size of a whole Control Center page — or you can remove one you don’t like.
I should really clean up my Control Center.
There is also an Add a Control button on the bottom of your screen, which will open a catalog of controls you can add to the Control Center. If you don’t see a control you want, you can also choose Open App. This control lets you turn any app on your phone into a control. That means you don’t have to go hunting for Instagram or Snapchat on your home screen because you can find them in your Control Center.
You can also easily turn your iPhone off from the Control Center now. There is a power symbol in the top-right corner of the Control Center screen. Tap and hold this and your iPhone will then take you to the slide to power off the screen.
I used Control Center a modest amount before iOS 18 to access the timer or to open Quick Note, but with iOS 18, I’m wondering if Control Center could replace the home screen.
