Apple just revealed its eagerly awaited iOS 18 update, which includes a big dollop of its own flavor of AI. But the WWDC 2024 keynote won’t just be remembered for a supercharged Siri that’s aiming to make you think twice before joking about its capabilities. This fall’s big iPhone update brings fistfuls of features that yours truly has wanted for years — ones that might tempt me to install the preview beta.
From Messages updates that will have my group chat giggling to a Photos app redesign that might confuse some users before they swipe to success, iOS 18 looks like a big deal. With that in mind, I’ve broken down the 11 biggest features coming to the iPhone this fall so you’re not caught confused once the update drops.
Apple Intelligence is AI for the iPhone
Given the first half of 2024’s product news, we’re not surprised Apple joined the chorus of companies ushering in software laden with generative AI features. We’re also not shocked to see that Apple rebranded AI as Apple Intelligence, as renaming popular features is always on our Apple event bingo card. Available on the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max and later (as well as iPads and Macs with M-series processors), Apple Intelligence is full of tricks that may seem very familiar to those paying close attention to the tech industry.
For example, Apple Intelligence includes the Rewrite tool that will help you to reword your writing, which the company suggested could be useful in cases where you’re not confident. It will let you adjust by one of three styles — Friendly, Professional and Concise — and you could even ask for your words to be rewritten so that they “read like a poem.” We saw this technology in the Samsung Galaxy S24 series phones, where its value was negligible. As a writer (and someone who doesn’t trust generative AI technology), I’m not exactly won over by this option.
iOS 18 will add a series of tools to make images that look “just right” or … obviously computer generated. For the former, a new cleanup tool for image editing will let you remove unwanted people and elements from photos (just as handsets such as the Google Pixel 8 offer with Magic Eraser). And in terms of the latter, Apple’s got a whole new image creation tool called Image Playground, which offers three styles of its own: Animation, Illustration and Sketch. In its presentation, Apple showed how Image Playground will take a few key terms (somewhat similar to what the new Chromebook Plus laptops are doing for desktop wallpaper and video conference backgrounds) to make a new image of one of your contacts. Oh, and in other image generation tool news, you’ll be able to create your own emoji — called Genmoji — for that instance when you need a tiny drawing of a dinosaur riding an airplane while wearing a football helmet.
The images didn’t look that impressive, though Apple has a built-in excuse, as these images are all generated on-device. It didn’t even tell us what image database Image Playground — such as a mother who’s also a superhero and a cat dressed like a chef — was trained on. Speaking of databases and generative AI, Apple also used the WWDC keynote to confirm its partnership with OpenAI, whose ChatGPT-4o tools will be coming to the iPhone in iOS 18.
What’s so Apple about this “Intelligence,” you might ask? Well, the company’s putting its standard privacy-first spin on everything, and in the event it needs the power of the cloud to handle tasks, it’s sending requests to its Private Cloud Compute servers where the company promised to make sure your privacy is both secure and publicly verifiable (for independent experts who will likely test their claims).
You can write to Siri, who’s doing more than ever
Siri, long in need of a fresh coat of paint, looks and acts quite differently in iOS 18 — as if to signal to users that it can do a ton more than before. For example, instead of that glowing sphere, you see a colorful frame wrap around your iPhone’s screen when you’re interacting with Apple’s virtual assistant. The new Siri also allows for text-based questions and prompts, and you double-tap the bottom of the screen to get that option.
The new Siri will also be more forgiving for those who don’t speak perfectly, now able to process your intent if you have to correct yourself mid-sentence or stutter. It’s also supposed to be better at sending photos and items between apps, as a presenter used Siri to find a photo and then add that image to an Apple Notes document. Apple also emphasized that its take on AI and assistants is extremely personal, as it was able to pull updated flight arrival time, lunch plans and the distance from the airport to the restaurant from your own apps.
Take more control of your iPhone’s app icons
Don’t think iOS 18 is all AI, though. There are a bunch of great features for the rest of us, including the fact that Apple’s finally surrendering control over your home screen app icons and widgets. For starters, you’ll be able to drag and drop the apps you love and need around your home screen to your preference — and leave blank spaces on those screens.
A feature that those on the Android side of the fence have touted for years, this capability allows you to put app icons on the bottom of the screen so you don’t have to reach so far. This also allows you to make sure the pets, people and places you want to see on your home screen aren’t covered by the likes of Mail, Spotify and Safari.
App icons will also become more customizable, with new dark mode images and the ability to switch their hues to whatever you prefer. That way, all of your app icons on your home screen can match your wallpaper.
RCS finally comes to the iPhone
In other news that made the Android community declare “took you long enough,” the improved messaging interoperability of RCS is finally coming to the iPhone. Yes, iOS 18 will add Rich Communication Services support, so iPhone users and Android users can exchange higher-quality images and video, as well as audio files, with one another.
Apple didn’t explain this addition in great detail, but the image used to preview the functionality confirmed that messages shared with Android users will still be in green bubbles.
Messages comes alive in iOS 18
Messaging with Android users is only one piece of the story when it comes to how iOS 18 will upgrade the Messages app. Apple’s upgraded the Tapback icons that my friends and family love to adorn messages with in two ways. First, the default set of Tapbacks get a glow-up with color and shadowing, and you can also now use any emoji you want for a Tapback.
You’ll also get new formatting options to make the text in your messages ripple, jitter, shake and bloom (among other options).
The Photos app gets a huge redesign
The tab-based Photos app you know today goes away in iOS 18, replaced by a single view where you start with a grid of photos at the top that sits above collections that sort your images. That latter section groups by photos all taken place on specific days, such as today and yesterday, and then presents the People & Pets section. You can then pin your favorites beneath that collection.
Wondering where all the moments and other highlights that the Photos app loves to show you went? Swipe horizontally on that big grid at the top of the screen to see your favorites and then featured photos.
The other big iOS 18 Photos app change that I am happy to see is the ability to filter out screenshots, which seem to lose their value and get in the way at an increasingly faster pace these days. A quick tap of the “Hide screenshots” button brushes your ticket stubs and recipes away so you can focus on the memories.
We get more control over the Control Center
The Control Center is that menu of options you find by swiping down from the top right corner of your iPhone, and I really hope every iPhone owner knows about it. Here, you can instantly change your brightness, volume, Airplane mode and other settings — it’s a godsend when a movie is starting. And now, the Control Center won’t just be for Apple apps anymore. Yes, Apple’s going to let your favorite third-party apps put controls here, such as Ford’s own app that’s designed to make it easier to get in and out of your phone (and possibly into your car).
Plus, you know the flashlight and camera buttons on your lock screen? Those are also seen as Control Center buttons, and you’ll be able to swap those out too. The Notes app will be among the options, so you’ll be able to quickly start jotting a new document faster than ever.
Make your own apps a bit more private
Ever felt like you were taking a huge risk by simply handing your phone to someone else so they could see something? Well, Apple heard about your sense of dread, and it’s letting you lock specific apps behind Face ID unlock. Information from those apps won’t even show up in your notifications, search or Siri suggestions until you unlock it with your face.
Hopefully this doesn’t start more arguments about why your apps are locked than keeping them open would have. Additionally, you’ll be able to hide apps behind Face ID — for those programs you’d rather keep private in a hidden apps folder.
The Mail app gets easier to manage
The iPhone’s stock Mail app will give you ways to more easily sort all the email you get. That starts with the Primary, Transactions, Updates and Promotions categories at the top of the app, which is awfully similar to Gmail’s Primary, Promotions and Social tabs.
Apple’s also going to group messages from the same sender in what it dubbed “digests.” This way I’ll be more easily able to find all the things I’ve been sent about the flight I’ve booked for this summer, including the inevitable change of departure time.
These changes may not be available on iOS 18 at launch, as Apple’s own iOS 18 preview notes they’re “coming later this year.”
Apple’s newest app stores your passwords
The iPhone, as well as the iPad, Mac and Vision Pro, is getting a new Apple-made Passwords app. Sure, Apple’s held onto your passwords in one way or another for a while (any of y’all opened Keychain recently?), but this application looks to be a more polished solution.
In addition to flagging passwords that have leaked in data dumps and are easily guessed, this app also supports verification codes, Wi-Fi network passwords and passkeys (the new password-free alternative making the rounds).
Our favorite Apple products getting new features
This year's software updates will give AirPods Pro background noise removal for clearer calls as well as the ability to answer Siri with a quick head nod.
Apple's latest Pro-tier iPhone will get the AI tricks its predecessors won't.
Apple Intelligence support makes the newer iPad Air's M2 chip a bit more interesting.
Rewrite and other Apple Intelligence features are also coming to the MacBook Air in macOS Sequoia.
The takeaway
Excited for these updates? Just make sure you’ve got an iPhone XS/XR or later (which includes the iPhone SE 2 and every iPhone after the iPhone 11), because those are the cutoff points for iOS 18.
While the Apple Intelligence news may grab headlines, these features won’t be supported by most devices — just the iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max and M-series Macs to start. Additionally, those tricks seem like stuff I’ll probably test for our upcoming review and forget about, or only use in jest (Image Playground, I’m looking at you) to make cringey content to delight the group chat. So I doubt they’ll push many people to upgrade now. That said, iOS 18 still looks like a winner for me.
From the increased level of customization found in app icons, the Control Center and lock screen to tricks Apple only barely mentioned — like the Google Pixel-esque live audio transcription for calls — this fall’s iPhone update looks like a day one download for me. Stay tuned for our full analysis as we better get to know Apple’s big update and the seismic Siri changes afoot.
