iOS 18 offers a plethora of features, including customizable home screens, iPhone Mirroring, enhanced Message formatting and animations, and much more. It could be difficult to know where to begin with all those additional features. That is also entirely software-based. You will also need to learn how to use a brand-new button called the Camera Control if you purchase a new iPhone 16.
To get you going, I’ve compiled my list of the 7 features and settings that you should adjust immediately. These include a few hidden gems as well as some of the best features. There’s still enough to discover even though Apple Intelligence isn’t quite here yet (until you install the iOS 8.1 public beta).
Learn about enhancements to the Messages app and Apple Maps for additional information on what’s new in iOS 18. Remember to review the iOS 18 upgrade checklist, which stipulates that you must ensure you have a suitable backup before proceeding.
Default lock screen buttons can be changed.
The bottom corners of the iPhone lock screen are the best locations—a simple thumb push will take you there even while your device is locked. As they say in real estate, location is everything. The flashlight and camera buttons held their posts before iOS 18, and there was no way to modify them.
For those who inadvertently switch on the flashlight (trust me, there’s a better way to turn it on), iOS 18 allows you to finally remove or replace them with other buttons. You may add buttons to use Shazam to identify music, turn on Dark Mode, activate Airplane Mode, set an alarm or timer, access your wallet, send money via Tap to Cash, and more.
How to do it is as follows:
1. To access the Customize button, tap and hold it anywhere on the iPhone display until you see it. The phone must be unlocked using your passcode, Face ID, or Touch ID. Swipe from the top center of the screen (not from the right edge, which opens the Control Center) to see if it opens the home screen.
2. Press Customize and select Lock Screen.
3. Tap the − (minus) button on the icon to remove one of the buttons.
4. You can select a different function by tapping the button’s space (which now has a plus icon) and selecting it on the ensuing screen. (You may alternatively choose to leave that area unoccupied and without a button.)
5. If you wish to change the other button, follow those same procedures again.
6. When you’re done, tap Done.
7. To get out of customize mode, tap the lock screen once again.
Assign some of the recently added tasks found on the Action button.
The dedicated mute switch present on every previous iPhone model was replaced with a programmable control by the Action button on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. It does the same thing by default—hold it to turn on or off silent mode—but you can set it up to do other things, like launch the camera app, carry out many tasks at once, or even place a coffee order.
New features are added to the Action button in iOS 18. You can select a different control, like utilizing Shazam to identify a song or activating the Remote interface to navigate Apple TV, instead of using Control Center.
Go to Settings > Action Button to select a different action for the Action button. To choose and initiate one of the offered actions, swipe sideways. To select the precise action to execute from the Controls, Shortcut, and Accessibility options, hit the Choose button.
Give your home screen a striking makeover.
You might not believe that rearranging icons to your preference is a revolutionary new feature, but iOS has always had a locked arrangement. Applications are added from left to right and top to bottom. All you could do was move the icons to different displays and change the sequence in which they appear.
With iOS 18, you may place apps almost anywhere. You can also get rid of the problem of your kids’ or pets’ wallpaper images getting covered up by icons. Apple isn’t going to approve of chaos, so they still follow a grid, but they can be arranged in any way they please.
Moreover, Dark mode—which offers customization choices for icon colors and background picture brightness—finally covers the entire iPhone home screen. This is how you can alter the appearances.
Organize apps: To enter “jiggle mode,” touch and hold the home screen. Then, drag the icons to different locations. Although they will still slide around to cover gaps, you can move them into the desired locations if you are patient.
Additionally, you can easily transform compatible programs into information-displaying widgets. For example, a map can show you where you are right now and include shortcut buttons to search for specific locations or display a list of places that are close by (such as places to eat). When the menu displays, touch and hold the app icon to find a row of resize buttons. You can drag the handle located in the lower-right corner of the newly created symbol once it has been expanded beyond the typical icon size. You must touch and hold it once again, then select the single-icon button to return it to its single-icon size.
Set Dark mode: You’ll love the new Dark mode feature for the home and lock screens if you’ve ever had to endure the retina-blasting spectacle of black text on a white background late at night in a dimly lit room. Previous versions of iOS contained a Dark mode that dims other UI components to make them blend in with the dark, changes light backgrounds to black or dark gray, and changes text to white or light gray. Up until iOS 18, that had only ever been significantly applied to the dock and a few widgets, not the home or lock screens.
To activate jiggle mode, first touch and hold the home screen. From the menu, select Customize after tapping the Edit button located in the upper-left corner. Select a mode for the background and icons at the bottom of the screen: Automatic, Light, or Dark (I’ll talk about Tinted shortly). Folders and the Dock turn dark gray when in Dark mode, and icons have black backgrounds. (App developers can choose to create Dark mode icons for their applications. Apps that are not yet optimized appear darker overall in the interim.)
The backdrop image is likewise altered in Dark mode. As the day goes on, Apple’s default iOS 18 wallpaper alternates between light and dark hues, or you can select colors that include both a bright and dark option. When using a photo, the light output is dimmed by reducing the shot’s total exposure.
To return to Light mode solely for the background, hit the sun icon located in the corner of the choices sheet located at the bottom of the screen if you prefer dark icons but dislike the toned-down photo treatment.
Icons that have been tinted: One novel and unique option is to apply a uniform color tint to every app icon. Select the Tinted icon style from the Customize options located at the bottom of the screen. The color tint of your choice can then be selected by adjusting the Hue (the slider with the color spectrum) and Luminosity (the slider with the dark to light range).
What happens if you wish to mimic a backdrop image’s color? To select a specific color, tap the eyedropper button and drag the reticle; the selected color is indicated by the boundary.
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The tint is applied to widgets in addition to icons. When a widget, like Photos, displays images, they appear as duotones to fit the theme.
Big icons: Do you find the descriptions that go with each app icon to be unnecessary? With only one adjustment, you can now increase the icon size and eliminate the labels. As said earlier, open the Customize settings, then press the Large button.
To apply any changes you’ve made and close the Customize interface, tap anywhere on the screen.
Modify the appearance of the Control Center
Before iOS 18, the Control Center served as a handy location to rapidly access settings like Airplane mode and playback volume. Now, however, it’s a customizable playground. Controls can be added to numerous screens, resized to reveal additional information, and positioned wherever you choose.
To access Control Center, swipe down from the upper-right corner (or, if you’re using an iPhone SE, swipe up from the bottom). Touch and hold or click the plus button in the upper-left corner to go to edit mode.
Drag a control to a different location on the screen to move it, just like you would with apps. A bottom-right handle that allows you to resize the control is also included on many of the controls; in most cases, it displays the control’s name and current state (such as Flashlight Off).
Additionally, the Control Center now takes up several screens. After you long-press the Connectivity block, a page comprising the connectivity options that show up—including Airplane Mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Cellular, and others—will emerge. You may swipe up to see controls for the music that is presently playing, Home controls for smart lighting and appliances, and other controls. If you examine carefully, you will notice that those panels are essentially just individual controls that have been enlarged to fill the entire Control Center area.
You can move the controls on those panels to change the order in which they appear. Assume you would for Home controls to appear on the screen before Now Playing: To make room, Now Playing will move to the right when you drag the huge Home control up to the previous screen when in editing mode.
Press the − (minus) button to remove the controls. Other controls can be added as well: To access a variety of accessibility choices, tap Add a Control and navigate through the various options, which include initiating a Screen Recording.
Hide or lock any of your delicate apps.
Even though our phones hold some of our most private information, we frequently give our friends access to our phones so they may go through our photo albums or do web searches. That does not imply that they will spy on you, but it does imply that they may be more interested than you feel comfortable letting them know. iOS 18 offers the ability to lock and hide apps for data you want to be sure stays out of sight or to add an extra degree of security in front of important information, BrandSpur technology, and information news reports.
Let’s take an example where you have a running list of lists in the Notes app with suggestions for gifts for family members. Individual notes can be locked, although doing so takes another procedure. Perhaps a few sketches or short notes were prepared outlining specific concepts. Alternatively, you can lock the Notes app as a whole by completing the following:
To lock an app, touch and hold its icon, then select from the menu that displays, Require Face ID or Require Touch ID (or Require Passcode if Face ID or Touch ID are not enabled). In the ensuing box, confirm your selection by tapping Require Face ID (or something similar).
Touch and hold the app and select Don’t Require Face ID (or a comparable option) to eliminate the authentication process.
When you attempt to open an application, you’ll discover that it is locked even though it doesn’t look like it. Apps can be hidden in a specific locked folder to provide an additional layer of protection. After selecting Require Face ID with a touch and hold of the app, press Hide and Require Face ID in the dialog box. On the following screen, confirm the action by pressing Hide App.
The application vanishes from the home screen and is placed into a Hidden folder located at the bottom of the App Library (to access the App Library, slide left beyond your previous home screen). Tap the Hidden folder and use Face ID to authenticate to access the apps within.
There are several restrictions on hidden apps in iOS 18. Certain ones, like many of the built-in ones like Notes or Reminders, are completely hidden and can only be locked. Additionally, when you swipe away from the App Library or begin an app, the Hidden folder locks itself.
Modify the way your calendar appears.
Not only are major new features like app locking and concealing fantastic improvements but so are the little tweaks you come across daily. There are two new ways to see your schedule in the Calendar app.
In iOS 18, you can pinch with two fingers to see more or fewer details when you’re in the Month view in portrait orientation. The monthly grid of days and weeks remains intact when you “zoom in,” with individual events appearing first as colored bars and later as labeled events with times.
The new Multi-Day view adds context for the next two days without requiring you to tilt your phone to landscape mode to see the Week view, in addition to the Day view that breaks down your day hour by hour. Select Multi Day from the popup menu by tapping the display button located at the top of the Single Day display.
Enhance the TV app’s dialogue for movies and TV shows.
Dialogue difficulty in films and TV shows is not a new issue; for instance, the Apple TV has long included a feature that allows you to ask Siri, “What did she say?” and it would immediately rewind the video by a few seconds, activate subtitles, and play that particular segment. Even soundbars that can decode hushed TV conversations are available for purchase. There are numerous reasons why conversation is difficult to hear, but iOS 18’s TV app offers a sophisticated solution to improve dialog clarity.
In the TV app, while watching a video, hit the More (†) button. In the resulting menu, expand the Audio heading; if the phone is oriented horizontally, tap the Audio Adjustments button. Select Enhance or Boost by tapping on Enhance Dialogue. They all reduce ambient noise and boost the audio of the conversation.
These are only a handful of iOS 18’s new additions and modifications. View our in-depth analysis of Apple Intelligence, additional observations from our months-long testing, and how these will integrate with the next generation of iPhone 16 models.
