After more than three months of beta testing, the iOS 18 it finally launches today on the iPhone XS and newer models Appeal.
The new software includes eight important new features, which are as follows:
Customizable home screen
iOS 18 lets you place app icons anywhere on the home screen grid, and there are new “Dark” and “Tim” customization options to recolor app icons. You can also set app icons to appear larger, without text labels below them.
Redesigned control center
Control Center has been redesigned in iOS 18. Like the home screen, it’s now more customizable, allowing you to rearrange and change controls across multiple pages. You can easily add more controls from the brand new controls collection.
iMessage improvements
iMessage received a wide range of new features in iOS 18, including the ability to use any emoji as a backlash reaction, text effects like “Shake” and “explode”, formatting options like bold and underline, the ability to schedule messages to sent later, supports RCS for improved messaging with Android devices and more.
Redesigned Photos app
Apple says the Photos app got its biggest redesign yet in iOS 18, with tabs removed in favor of an all-in-one layout. The changes were controversial, leading Apple to tweak the app’s design throughout the iOS 18 beta testing period.
Closed apps with Face ID
iOS 18 introduces the ability to lock any app behind an iPhone’s Face ID, Touch ID, or passcode for privacy and security reasons. Additionally, you can now hide an app, which moves it to a hidden apps folder that is locked.
Application of passwords
iOS 18 includes an all-new Passcodes app that brings many features previously available through iCloud Keychain in the Settings app. The app makes it easy to manage passwords, passcodes, two-factor authentication codes and more.
Distraction control
Built into Safari, the new Distraction Control feature can be used to hide certain website elements, such as newsletter sign-up forms and cookie consent prompts. However, Apple says the feature is not designed to act as an ad blocker. If you hide an ad banner, it will become visible again if and when the ad content is refreshed.
Game mode
The game mode was first introduced on Mac and is now available on iPhone. Apple says Game Mode “minimizes background activity to maintain consistently high frame rates” during gameplay, “dramatically reduces” audio lag with AirPods, and makes wireless game controllers “incredibly responsive.”