Also on the way is Apple’s version of Google Lens, dubbed Visual Intelligence. This is where the new Camera Control button on the latest iPhone 16 range comes in. Press and hold it and the camera viewfinder will open, but instead of taking a photo, you can “Ask” ChatGPT to explain what you are viewing or search for it through Google. You can use it to find out who that actor is that appears on a movie poster, find out the type of flower in front of you or gather more information about an emblematic place.
New features in iOS 18
Ok, let’s move on to the functions. software more traditional. I’ve collected the main features of iOS 18 below, but there are tons of smaller changes. You can see the full list directly from Apple.
Remove the app grid
For the first time, you can organize your apps and widgets as you want (same as on Android). Say goodbye to the fixed list of grids that Apple has imposed on us for almost two decades. You can also customize app icons further, setting them to a specific color to match or complement your wallpaper, and even convert them to dark mode. You can also make these applications and widgets they look bigger.
More control in the Control Center
The Control Center that appears when you swipe down on the right edge of the iPhone is now more customizable. There are now tabs and you can scroll through them with a continuous swipe on the home screen. These tabs include your favorites (the most important things you want to have accessible in Control Center), media playback, and even smart home controls.
You can customize the size and layout of everything in Control Center, and this extends to lock screen controls: you can change the two icons at the bottom of your iPhone’s lock screen to something more useful. Also expect new controls apps from third parties.
Lock and hide apps
You can finally hide apps to prevent someone from snooping, or you can block the app from asking for a passcode or biometric authentication every time it starts. Information from this app will be hidden system-wide, including notifications and searches. Google debuted a similar new feature called Private Space, which will come to Android later this year.
Redesigned Photos app
Apple’s Photos app has been completely redesigned in iOS 18. Now, you have a grid of photos at the top, and below you can swipe through different collections, like Recent Days, Travel, and People & Pets. This update is tied to several other improvements powered by Apple Intelligence, such as Clean Up, which can erase unwanted objects in the background of your photos, and the ability to find any image easily through search.
RCS and satellite messaging
Arguably one of Apple’s most anticipated announcements ended up being a small footnote in the middle of the company’s statements. RCS is Rich Communication Services, the text messaging standard that followed SMS/MMS. Android phones have supported RCS for several years, enabling an improved texting experience that takes features from instant messaging apps, such as typing indicators, read receipts, and better photo and video quality. . However, none of this worked when an Android user sent a text message to an iPhone (or vice versa) because Apple did not support RCS and used the old SMS standard.
That’s changing now, “RCS messages bring richer media and deliver and read receipts for those who don’t use iMessage,” according to materials from marketing from Apple. These text messages will still appear in green (instead of blue when you text other iPhone owners via iMessage), but it may finally mean the end of the broken texting experience that has caused so many problems for the people.
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