iOS 18 was unveiled at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on Monday, along with several new features and capabilities with artificial intelligence, as well as home screen customization options. According to the company, the latest version of iOS will add support for significantly improved Control Center options along with support for third-party app controls. iOS 18 also takes advantage of Apple’s processors to deliver new features that will be available on eligible iPhone models later this year when the iOS 18 update is released.
Apple is also improving privacy features in iOS 18, including the ability to control how data is shared with apps. With iOS 18, users will be able to share specific contacts with apps instead of sharing their entire contact list. At the same time, users will also be able to lock certain apps from their home screen, preventing unauthorized users from accessing those apps without biometric authentication or a device password.
The Messages app will get support for new features with iOS 18, including support for RCS messaging, text formatting, and the use of emoji in Tapback replies. RCS messaging means that text messaging between iPhone and Android smartphones will finally be on par with iMessages—at least in terms of picture quality and group chats. Text formatting is already available in competing messaging apps and will allow users to send messages with four different formatting methods — bold, italic, underline, and strikethrough.
Siri on iOS 18 gets an update to make the assistant more conversational, as well as a new interface and app icon. Apple says the virtual assistant will allow users to type into Siri along with voice commands, depending on where they are. Siri is also set to get On-Screen Awareness features powered by Apple Intelligence, a privacy-focused artificial intelligence (AI) system that will launch later this year.
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