Apple announces iOS 18 with more customizable homescreen
Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge
Apple has just announced the next major software upgrade for the iPhone: iOS 18. At the company’s WWDC keynote, software VP Craig Federighi demonstrated a slew of new improvements coming to Apple’s own apps. First up was a more customizable homescreen that finally lets you freely place app icons wherever you want. In dark mode, app icons will take on a darker tone to go easier on your eyes. And a new theme engine will let you universally apply a chosen color across your app grid for deeper personalization.
Control Center is also getting more advanced; you’ll be able to swipe between multiple pages of controls and toggles for your most important features, with media and smart home controls getting prominent placement. Third-party apps will be able to offer control center integration for the first time. And iOS 18 also (finally) lets you replace the default camera and flashlight icons on the lock screen with whatever Control Center toggles you prefer.
Image: Apple
As rumored, the color of icons can now be customized.
iOS 18 also increases privacy by allowing you to require authentication for any app you choose — or hide them altogether until your phone knows it’s really you. And you can now specifically control which contacts third-party apps can access.
The Messages app is getting more expressive: you’ll be able to use any emoji in a Tapback response — and there will be new formatting for bolding, underlining, strikethrough, and italicizing. Apple is also expanding the iPhone’s satellite communications to allow for messaging via satellite. But what I’m most excited about is the option to schedule messages, which Google Messages already offers. And yep, Apple has confirmed that RCS is coming to Messages with iOS 18.
Image: Allison Johnson / The Verge
iOS 18 lets you react with any emoji you’d like.
Improvements to Apple’s built-in Mail app include better categorization, with Gmail-like automatic sorting for transactions, updates, and promotions. For those times when you’re more focused on gaming than productivity, a new Game Mode in iOS 18 Game Mode minimizes background activity for the best performance and lowest latency with connected gamepads or AirPods.
Apple is promising the biggest-ever revamp of the Photos app with iOS 18 as the company competes against Google Photos on Android. More importantly, the app is now optimized to handle the ever-growing libraries that so many of us have accumulated through the years. It includes face sorting and the ability to pin collections to the top for quicker access. Photos will also do a better job automatically grouping people and pets into collections that you can access via the app’s new carousel view.
Developing… check out our live blog for the latest details.
Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge
Apple has just announced the next major software upgrade for the iPhone: iOS 18. At the company’s WWDC keynote, software VP Craig Federighi demonstrated a slew of new improvements coming to Apple’s own apps. First up was a more customizable homescreen that finally lets you freely place app icons wherever you want. In dark mode, app icons will take on a darker tone to go easier on your eyes. And a new theme engine will let you universally apply a chosen color across your app grid for deeper personalization.
Control Center is also getting more advanced; you’ll be able to swipe between multiple pages of controls and toggles for your most important features, with media and smart home controls getting prominent placement. Third-party apps will be able to offer control center integration for the first time. And iOS 18 also (finally) lets you replace the default camera and flashlight icons on the lock screen with whatever Control Center toggles you prefer.
Image: Apple
As rumored, the color of icons can now be customized.
iOS 18 also increases privacy by allowing you to require authentication for any app you choose — or hide them altogether until your phone knows it’s really you. And you can now specifically control which contacts third-party apps can access.
The Messages app is getting more expressive: you’ll be able to use any emoji in a Tapback response — and there will be new formatting for bolding, underlining, strikethrough, and italicizing. Apple is also expanding the iPhone’s satellite communications to allow for messaging via satellite. But what I’m most excited about is the option to schedule messages, which Google Messages already offers. And yep, Apple has confirmed that RCS is coming to Messages with iOS 18.
Image: Allison Johnson / The Verge
iOS 18 lets you react with any emoji you’d like.
Improvements to Apple’s built-in Mail app include better categorization, with Gmail-like automatic sorting for transactions, updates, and promotions. For those times when you’re more focused on gaming than productivity, a new Game Mode in iOS 18 Game Mode minimizes background activity for the best performance and lowest latency with connected gamepads or AirPods.
Apple is promising the biggest-ever revamp of the Photos app with iOS 18 as the company competes against Google Photos on Android. More importantly, the app is now optimized to handle the ever-growing libraries that so many of us have accumulated through the years. It includes face sorting and the ability to pin collections to the top for quicker access. Photos will also do a better job automatically grouping people and pets into collections that you can access via the app’s new carousel view.
Developing… check out our live blog for the latest details.