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Apple iOS 18 Update: At the WWDC 2024 event, Apple showcased its latest iOS 18 update, which will succeed iOS 17 on supported iPhones. For starters, the company said users can customise app icons and widgets on the Home Screen, access more controls in the Control Centre, use collections in Photos, sort emails in Mail and more in iOS 18. The update also includes satellite connectivity for the Messages app.

The system will also gain Apple Intelligence beta features that harness the power of generative models with personal context to deliver output. Here are more details about these features.

Also Read: WWDC 2024 Roundup: Apple Intelligence To iOS 18 To iPadOS 18 To macOS Sequoia To ChatGPT Powered Siri, Everything Announced At Apple's Developer Event

iOS 18 Update: What Apple Announced?

Personalisation: Users can arrange apps and widgets on the Home Screen regardless of the grid layout. These can also be tinted to go dark or change colour. The Control Center revamp brings "quick access to new groups of a user's most-utilised controls" like media playback and more. Moreover, third-party app controls can be added in the Control Center. Lock Screen controls at the bottom can be changed or removed.

Redesigned Photos App: The "collections" window allows users to browse media by themes. These can be pinned to make them accessible easily. Plus, a carousel will present "highlights that update each day and feature favourite people, pets, places, and more."

Enhancements In Messages: The messaging app will gain new text effects to amplify characters with animated appearances. Users may also add text formatting (bold, underline, italics, and strikethrough) for added personalisation. Plus, Apple will extend Tapbacks to emojis and stickers and introduce message-scheduling capabilities. The Messages app will gain support for Rich Communication Services (RCS) texting standard and satellite connectivity for communication.

iOS 18 gets customisations for app icons, enhancements for Messages and a redesigned Photos app, among other things. (Image:Apple)

AI Tweaks For Mail and Safari: The Mail app will gain on-device categorisation "later this year" for better organisation of messages in sections and a new digest view to sort relevant emails from businesses. Safari will get Highlights and an improved Reader view (with a summary and table of contents for longer articles). With the help of machine learning, the app may generate crisp information about a webpage, including summarising articles and more.

New 'Passwords' app and Privacy Features: Developed on Keychain's foundation, Passwords will help users access passwords, passkeys, Wi-Fi credentials and verification codes and alert users of common weaknesses in a password. iOS 18 also gets lock and hide app features (using Face ID, Touch ID or passcode) to help protect the privacy of an iPhone user.

Apple Intelligence: With tools for writing (rewriting, proofreading, and summarising) and image generation (in three styles: Animation, Illustration and Sketch) and editing (Clean Up tool to remove objects) in a wide range of apps on an iPhone, Apple finally jumped on the AI bandwagon with iOS 18(with beta warnings).

Siri and ChatGPT: With the new Apple Intelligence upgrades, Siri will become "more natural, contextually relevant, and personal" and get ChatGPT access for writing, image, and document understanding capabilities. While some features may work on-device, others could depend on Apple's Private Cloud Compute powered by Apple silicon chips.

Other Notable Tweaks: Speaking of other notable features, Apple introduced a Game Mode, Tap to Cash in Apple Pay, instant solutions in the Notes app with Math Notes, insights view and a widget for the Journal app, Emergency SOS Live Video, accessibility updates (Eye Tracking, Music Haptics and Vocal Shortcuts) and enhancements for Calendar, Health app, Home app and more.

Also Read: WWDC 2024: Apple Introduces iPadOS 18 Update With Calculator App, Math Notes Feature And More; Check Features

iOS 18 Developer Beta Out, Supported Devices

While the developer preview beta will be available for developers today via the Apple Developer Program, Apple said the public beta will be out next month. The stable software update will start rolling out in the fall of 2024 for iPhone XS and later devices. Apple Intelligence will be available in beta on iPhone 15 Pro models.