iOS 18 for iPhone is now official at WWDC 2024 and it’s packed with a ton of new features including the ability put app icons wherever you want.
Lock Your Apps, Place App Icons Anywhere, New Message Effects and Tons More Revealed with iOS 18 for iPhone
iOS 18 is packed with a ton of new features. Instead of going into too much detail, let me quickly give you a rundown that makes the more sense.
Put Your App Icons Anywhere at All
Remember the time when you couldn’t put your app icons anywhere you liked? Those days are long gone with iOS 18 and you can place your icons anywhere at all and make your wallpaper truly pop out.
Customizable Control Center
The Control Center is now customizable and you can add or remove controls and truly make the page yours. You are no longer limited to what Apple has planned for you. You can customize it till it truly becomes yours, taking customization to a whole another level.
And More Customization
You can customize the Lock Screen a lot in iOS 18 including the app icons. Yes, you can customize the app icons and tint them to match your wallpaper. You can even set the app icons to appear larger on the Home Screen.
RCS for iPhone
This is a big one. RCS is finally available on the iPhone. You can talk to your Android friends that have RCS over cellular data or Wi-Fi. But, it’s a green bubble, keep that in mind. I’ll definitely take it, as long as it works the way it should, allowing me to ditch the ancient SMS system altogether.
New Text Effects
Those who use iMessage a lot will be greeted with a ton of new message effects. I never found these great, but it’s great to have when you’re wishing someone happy birthday.
Emoji Tapbacks
Tapbacks are no longer limited and you can use emoji as a tapback, too. This makes more sense and gives you a wider canvas to express yourself. Why send out a regular laugh when you dial it up to 10, right? You can do that now. Just choose the hardest laughing emoji there is and you’re golden.
Game Mode
A brand-new Game Mode has been introduced with iOS 18, allowing you to reduce latency while connected to a wireless controller and AirPods. If you are all about precision and zero lag, Apple has figured it all out today.
Messages via Satellite
iOS 18 now lets you send messages to other people even if you’re completely off grid. Your iPhone will connect to a satellite in space and lets you send out text messages and even emoji. Apple hasn’t explained in detail how much this will cost, but this is truly a life-saving feature.
Locked and Hidden Apps
Don’t want people peeking into your private apps? Lock them down and hide them with iOS 18. But that’s not all, once an app is hidden, you won’t see traces of it anywhere at all. Not even notifications will be visible, allowing your app and personal data to be truly hidden.
Mail Categorization
The Mail app can now smartly categorize your email. But this feature is coming later this year. You don’t have to deal with a unified inbox so that you can get to the exact mail you were hoping to find.
Apple Intelligence
iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 are packed with Apple Intelligence features which I plan to cover separately. Stay tuned for that.
iOS 18 Release Date
The first beta of iOS 18 is available right now. You can expect the full and final version of iOS 18 become available to everyone in September.
