iOS 18 brings customization options, redesign and more

At WWDC 2024, Apple presented iOS 18, among other things. The new update to the iPhone operating system brings many improvements. These include a customizable home screen and new app redesigns.

What’s inside iOS 18

As expected, Apple presented iOS 18 at WWDC 2024. The new update for the iPhone operating system brings many new features. These include more customization options, the biggest overhaul of the Photos app to date, new features for incoming mail, messages via satellite and much more.

As expected in advance, the update makes it possible to freely customize the home screen. Apps and widgets can now be freely arranged, the buttons at the bottom of the lock screen can be customized and the control center can also be personalized.

App icons and widgets have been given a new look with a dark effect or can be colored, and their size can also be adjusted. The control center has been redesigned to provide easier access to many of the functions that are often used. It is also even more customizable and flexible. The new design allows quick access to new groups with controls such as media playback, home control and connectivity.

New Photos app

The Photos app gets its biggest overhaul yet to make it easier to find and relive special moments. A single, simplified view shows the familiar grid, and new collections let you search for specific topics without having to sort photos into albums.

Collections can also be pinned for easy access to favorites. A new carousel view shows highlights that are updated daily, featuring favorite people, pets, places and more. Auto-playing content in the app also brings the media library to life.

New possibilities for news

iMessage comes with brand new text effects that allow you to emphasize each letter and word or even emojis with dynamic animations. Formatting such as bold markings, underlined, italicized and crossed-out words are intended to better represent the tone of voice. It is also possible to compose messages and send them at a later date.

In the event that messages are sent to contacts who do not have an Apple device, the Messages app now supports RCS, which enables more diverse media and more reliable group messages than SMS and MMS.

From now on, messages can also be sent via Sattelit if no mobile or WLAN connection is available. Dynamic Island lets users know at all times whether they are connected to a satellite. The messages are encrypted throughout.

Improvements for Mail, Safari and more

Over the course of the year, the Mail app will also receive an upgrade that will allow users to categorize emails directly on the device and classify incoming emails into Primary for personal and urgent emails, Transactions for confirmations and receipts, Updates for news and social media messages and Promotions for marketing emails and vouchers.

Mail also has a new bundled view that summarizes all relevant emails from a company.

The Safari browser will come with highlights and a revised reader. Safari uses machine learning to display the most important information on a website.

This allows you to read through a summary to find out what an article is about. You can also quickly find the location of a restaurant, hotel or place of interest. Or you can listen to a song directly from the article about that song or album.

The Keychain also becomes the new Passwords app, which gives you easy access to your passwords, passkeys, Wi-Fi passwords and confirmation codes. The app also notifies you of common vulnerabilities, such as passwords that are easy to guess, are used multiple times or are contained in known data leaks.

iOS 18 is scheduled for release in fall 2024. This is expected to be in September, when Apple launches the new iPhone 16 model series.