WWDC 2024: iOS 18 unveiled with better customisation and a major redesign

iOS 18 is finally here as the biggest iPhone update in the past few years. At the Worldwide Developers Conference 2024, Apple showed off new features, but the biggest takeaway is customisability very similar to Android. iOS 18 allows app icons to be placed anywhere on the home screen to make wallpaper stand out. Customisation in the colour themes for apps and wallpapers will make iPhone look better, especially when choosing the dark mode.

Apart from the customisable home screen, Apple has also revamped Control Center. It now has different scrollable pages for different tools, including those from third-party apps. In other words, you can align different tools on different scrollable pages inside the Control Center to access them anytime without having to jump to the app. The media and smart home controls will cover a more significant place on the Control Center in iOS 18.

Apple is also finally making it possible to lock apps on the iPhone under your Face ID, Touch ID, or passcode in iOS 18. You can also hide apps in a new folder that only you have access to. But that is not all. iOS 18 will let you choose contacts that third-party apps can access.

Different native apps are also getting incremental updates.

iMessages

Apple is revamping iMessage to include new and enhanced features. You can now assign any emoji to Tapback and even schedule messages to send them later. iOS 18 will let you format text in bold, italics, and underlined, along with giving you the ability to highlight a word in larger fonts for emphasis. Satellite communication is also coming to iMessage, allowing you to send location to emergency contacts in an area with spotty network connectivity. But perhaps the most anticipated update is support for Google’s Rich Communications Services, better known as RCS. Apple is finally integrating RCS into iMessage for cross-platform texting between iOS and Android.

Mails

The Mail app is also getting an overhaul to show you more categories on the top for easy filtering. New categories include Transactions, Updates, and Promotions. A new digest email will present to you a summary of all emails from a particular business to quickly scan different pieces of information.

Photos

The Apple Photos app has been redesigned entirely in iOS 18 to make finding photos easier. Identical to Google Photos, the new Apple Photos has better grids for sorting photos according to different timestamps. However, you can now sort photos according to people in them. Face sorting will let you find photos of a particular person faster and with the ability to pin collections to the top, these photos are always available at the top of the app. A new carousel view will help you organise photos better in the Photos app.

Extras

iOS 18 will add a dedicated Game Mode for the iPhone to make way for games to run better by blocking notifications and turning on the performance mode. It also reduces latency between the iPhone and AirPods while gaming. iPhone users can transfer Apple Pay balance by just bringing together two iPhones head-on in supported countries.