iOS is the operating system that powers every Apple phone and tablet, supporting new features that help you get more out of your day, even when procuring the latest and greatest isn’t an option. iOS 18 is the penultimate refinement of the original hardware and software experiences that date back to 2007, designed by Apple to ensure the tightest integration between third-party apps and the operating system. Last year, Apple notably shifted focus from the apps themselves to help the system better understand how we use those apps and then give you quick access to the things you’re interested in, and that focus has largely been maintained in iOS 18 alongside technical refinements that bring iOS even more closely in line with the underlying macOS.
This guide is divided into a series of discrete sections that detail as much about the release as communicated. We hope that the user profile for iOS 18 will familiarize you with the various possibilities available to you and invite you to continue reading to see the specific ways that Apple will work to improve your experience.
Overview of iOS 18 Features
The new version of iOS, iOS 18, was revealed by Apple engineers on October 24, 2022. Several updates to the software have been announced that are designed to make the experience of using it even better. This guide will take you through some of the most significant features of iOS 18, from cosmetic upgrades on the visual side to functional quality of life changes, to sophisticated changes to the interactability and accessibility of apps running in iOS 18. Apple overturns the visual and interactive iOS design through software built over the last year. It will not redefine touch-based cell phones, nor will it prompt us to think everything about personal computing. However, it examines and corrects numerous smartphone UI, UX, and apps that have sometimes been a pleasure and other times been a distraction that governs us from doing work.
The primary features that mark iOS 18 are a minimalist approach to what is value-adding for the end user, haptic interaction, sophisticated sound interaction, and AR app interaction, all of which can be described as playful and all of which are novel and delightful. But the majority of the new APIs exposed by iOS 18 are not supported by the iPhone 8 and lesser devices, which include the new astonishing Haptic Engine, sophisticated and perfect spatial audio support, and the ultra-wideband protocol needed for interaction with the iPad application or the Find My network technological improvements that let wholly new kinds of apps and services thrive. In total, iOS engineers have vowed to once a year to add whatever is a clear and irrefutable upgrade for iPhone users. This makes it sensible to upgrade to an iPhone at any time. We hope iOS 19 justifies ownership renewal by having an entirely new conversational interface, which I outline in the conclusion.
Design and User Interface Enhancements
In this chapter, we will cover the design and user interface enhancements. The design of iOS 18 has been considerably revamped. Before diving into the details, let’s zoom out and talk about the overarching goals. We believe that good design fundamentally comes from solving difficult problems, so when creating an elegant, modern aesthetic, we first had to redefine interoperability across devices, platforms, and use cases. Then, we adhered to modern design principles, like clarity, deference, depth, prosperity, and freshness. This led us to develop a new vision for the design of iOS. It has a fresh look, less clutter, and improved user experience. It improves the interaction between the user and the system, so customers can focus more on what they are doing. It gives the system depth with new techniques on the pixels to reinforce semantic understanding and give context to the apps’ positions in the user interface. The lighter weight features of iOS make the design appear less complex and less distracting, which keeps the focus on the app content. With a differential layout, any user can easily navigate iOS 18. This change in iOS makes it easier for everybody to have a free hand. We believe that the less cluttered design helps users navigate the app more effectively with their motor behavior while on the go. The reduced stress of effortless app navigation paves the way for a greater user experience.
New Control Center Features
Apple released iOS 18 to support the new iPhone 14. Here’s everything new you’ll find on your iPhone when the update drops for the general public.
The main focus of iPadOS 16 was making widgets easier to use, but iOS 18 works on something much bigger. The Control Center includes major new features that make it more accessible and functional for anyone that multitasks between a few different apps during their day. Find out just what is new in this jam-packed update in the Control Center below. The big iOS 18 update is out, and updates with new features will be delivered from here on until the next major release.
The biggest new feature in the iOS 18 Control Center is a major expansion of what the Control Center can interact with. Through a new feature called “Your Favorites,” Apple is giving users a much bigger space for controls on this screen. The Favorites section of the Control Center, which could always be expanded to see more controls, can now be customized to also show you the app buttons you want to see. And app developers can use this same feature to show you quick actions for their app. We’ve mostly seen this in social and payment apps so far, but knowing Apple’s approach, it likely won’t be long before that expands. These can also be reordered by going to “Edit Favorites” at the bottom of the Control Center so you can get to the things you want quickly. The Control Center is definitely one of the most functional parts of the iOS experience. But with iOS 18, Apple is proving that it can also be beautiful. With support for transparency and blur, the Control Center can now look pretty good, a nice departure from the old settings and launchers of iOS 11 on the iPad. Overall, this just pushes the functionality and the controls towards the bottom of the main window, borrowing a little bit from the Mission Control Center on the Mac.
Redesigned Notification Center
The new-look Notification Center in iOS 18 is a huge improvement over the previous version of the system, as it focuses on better organization and prioritization of incoming notifications to cut through the clutter. This long overdue refresh to the way incoming notifications are handled in Apple’s mobile OS is, in essence, a reflection of the company’s philosophy towards placing a greater emphasis on making iOS an ecosystem that is not just more secure and private for users, but more efficient. This effectively manages the user’s Siri requests and enables the company to make passive contextual knowledge. A big part of the Notification Center updates includes user management, so the user no longer has to run security analysis and decide if something new is personal and private. While the Notification Center has been focused on quick viewing and dismissing alerts, a new bar at the top of the app is there to let you view incoming notifications when you need them. It lets you see the latest alerts and shows whether they are important or not when you have the device off and a top-of-the-screen alert sound. Siri integration means that incoming alerts play an important role in when you can interact with them, with new features for both Apple’s operating system and iCloud-based services. While users have previously been able to dismiss individual alerts by swiping them away, the iOS status bar at the top of the screen now lets you be selective about exactly what alerts you would like to see in the app. In addition to quick viewing and dismissing, new surfaces along the top of the app allow for quickly responding to alerts. If a missed call or message comes in, a click of the button lets you “reply” with an upcoming feature called Quick Reply, which offers you an instant reply, such as a thumbs up in Messages, along with a second button to hear more information about the alert or schedule a callback. Every alert in the Notification Center has been enhanced to become an action button, which links the alert directly to a relevant iOS feature.
Productivity and Multitasking Improvements
In order to help you multitask even more effectively, Apple has introduced several key upgrades through iOS 18. These include alterations to each iPhone’s interface and various apps that could be deemed products of Apple’s continuous work. These are the types of changes that will be focused on and illustrated in this section. To say a few words about this, iOS 18 is a huge update due to its focus on productivity and upgrading parts of the multitasking experience on the iPhone. This reflects a modern need for improved Apple devices and applications, and it is crucial to contextualize them now after going through the new features.
First and foremost, iOS 18 makes it much easier to use apps on your iPhone’s screen in a variety of ways. It is simpler to alter the desired view within apps and to see multiple apps concurrently open on your device. Here’s how the most recent updates contrast with the multitasking features that came with earlier versions of the iPhone’s software. The majority of the changes to the multitasking and productivity of this equipment have made decisions regarding the different segmented sectors within this multitasking interface. This reflects the point that the multitasking and productivity of the device are now significant. This is the final takeaway this section wants to emphasize.
Enhanced Split Screen Functionality
Another important aspect of interaction design for the multitasking operating system is the split-screen mode. In iOS 12, WinApp could be “torn off” from the multitasking OS, showing the interface in full-screen mode. This way, users can view or interact with only one application in the main interface, displaying a second application in a smaller window without launching the app. In iOS 18, this design is improved to present a more detailed list of recently used apps. It now displays a huge stack of overlapping cards with up to ten items on a larger screen, and you simply swipe through items to select apps for each half of the interface.
The changes are intended to articulate the split-screen use case and to simplify the action selection made by the user. Users can interact with the interface in an easier way for multitasking operations to be attained. Compared with the previous version of the split screen, WinWidget is now more streamlined in form and function, with a more immersive transition and better performance. Empowered by the new capabilities of multitasking, our participants appreciate working with multiple apps in the split screen mode that feels easy for power users who need to get work done. The split screen mode becomes an important part of the new multitasking feature for this general land scenario. Major adoption of this function has significantly contributed to the improvement of the iOS 18 experience for users with a variety of tasks. In earlier versions, this feature has only been an interesting minor function for entertainment.
Privacy and Security Updates
iOS 18 features significant innovations in the sphere of privacy protections. Apple continues to refine its approach to privacy and security by empowering users with greater levels of data control. Mobile users will now receive even more substantial security benefits, including stricter location sharing rules and encrypted email traffic. Additionally, iOS 18 makes it significantly harder for hackers to gain unauthorized access to intimate user content.
To combat the prevalence of unauthorized location data harvesting practices, iOS 18 includes new location-related privacy features. Before sharing location information with iOS apps, users are now asked to choose from three permission levels instead of two. In addition to the existing “Never” and “While Using” permissions, iOS 18 offers an option to share location data only while the app is in use and for approximately 24 hours afterward. This update offers an extra layer of control. In particular, it enables a temporary location consent to facilitate the app’s use without allowing sustained tracking.
Device privacy is safeguarded by several security updates shipping with iOS 18. Emails within the Mail app, for example, are now protected with even more secure encryption. The Message Access Encryption protocol has been implemented on all devices with an Apple M1 chip, which includes several recent MacBook models. The extended protocol support touches all platform levels, from delivering more secure email traffic to iCloud email servers to encrypting email storage within iCloud. The increasingly severe consequences of data breaches are pressuring app developers to incorporate robust backend security. Authentication secrets—such as user credentials and session tokens—stored directly in app code can easily be compromised, leading to unauthorized account access and other serious privacy violations. iOS 18 better aligns these background security standards with developer practices through the deprecation of low-security web views. Moreover, debug mode is now disabled by default on new development devices to avoid data leakage during production testing. Apple has also made a major push to enhance data transparency in its newest mobile operating system. App Privacy Reports provide new insights about both user-device and user-developer interactions. In the days of modern regulations, these updates align user expectations about digital privacy with device functionality. Finally, since Apple’s upcoming privacy and security innovations in iOS 18 are highly relevant to current public concerns, they promise to be a successful and trending search topic for months to come.
App Privacy Report
The App Privacy Report provides users with a comprehensive view of how applications use their data. Apps may only access data that is essential for specific purposes. As a result, they may seek user permission when they do, a request that the user may agree to or refuse. This follows the principle of treating users with respect by promoting transparency, privacy, and user empowerment. Application data use and sharing activities that can be observed holistically, in the context of user activity, are necessary to promote privacy and trust. When incorporated into iOS, these functions reflect the most up-to-date thinking on privacy practices, technical innovation, and developments in major technology markets. In addition, the App Privacy Report is built into the operating system, allowing new privacy protocols to be introduced. Users expect technology to progress and evolve alongside privacy. If a privacy option is frequently requested, this suggests that it is perceived as a basic element of privacy or as a critical feature. It improves trust and understanding among users, developers, and app creators to provide information about app data access and privacy practices. It also allows customers to make more informed choices regarding their privacy preferences. The App Privacy Report reflects a long-standing and unwavering commitment to providing users with choices and tools that will help them protect their online privacy. It improves consumer consideration of data practices on a regular basis and complements dynamic transparency. Host systems often implement privacy-related technology in advance to provide benefits and features that keep pace with modern applications.
Compatibility and Installation Requirements
For the new iOS 18, you need to have a compatible model of iPhone or iPad to install and experience the new features and updates. Over time, Apple stops providing support for some older models with their OS, but this time they have provided a wider range of iPhones, including the 6S released in 2015. The following devices are compatible and can have iOS 18 installed and experienced. 1. Installation: To update to the new iOS 18, you need to go to ‘Settings’ and then to ‘General.’ In ‘General,’ go to the software update that will check whether your device can install iOS 18 if available. Install the update from there. Ensure that your devices have a significant amount of storage to run properly or have stable performance. For iPhone, at a minimum, you need to have an iPhone 6S or higher and 2 GB of RAM with storage of around 5 GB. For iPad, the iPad Air 2 or higher, iPad mini 4 or higher, and iPad 5th generation or later are compatible with the new iOS 18. 2. System requirements: With the new release, it’s always recommended to ensure that the new system requirements are met by your device so that it can run the new OS properly. If you do not have the correct software or hardware requirements, it’s better not to attempt to update, as it can lead to slowing down or getting jammed for 1-2 days, which won’t help the normal user experience. 3. You will require a stable internet connection, proper internal or external space, and adequate power to run the installation process. To avoid any other issues, make sure that your ‘Settings’ option allows storage to have more than 1 HDMI storage and that you have a proper backup. 4. If you’re struggling to download or install the iOS 18 update, make sure that your iPhone is connected to Wi-Fi. If you still can’t update your iPhone, you can try methods to fix it, such as rebooting your device or using a computer to upgrade. If the software update isn’t available anymore after a reboot, you can check to ensure the software download server is running properly.