Now that iOS 18 is available to everyone, you can install it on your iPhone and start exploring what's new. (Don't forget to do a proper backup before upgrading.)
Where to start? We're still waiting for the firstApple Intelligencefeatures, which Apple says will start to roll out in October toiPhones that support it, but there's plenty to explore in iOS 18.0. I've put together this collection of 7 features and settings that deserve your immediate attention.
For more on what's new iniOS 18, learn about improvements toApple Mapsand theMessagesapp.
10 Essential Accessories to Go With Your iPhone
Change the default buttons on the lock screen
In real estate, location is everything, and the bottom corners of the iPhone lock screen are the prime spots, each an easy thumb press away when your device is still locked. Before iOS 18, those posts were held by the flashlight and camera buttons, with no way to change them.
In iOS 18, you can finally replace them with other buttons -- or remove them entirely, a balm for folks whounknowingly activate the flashlight(believe me, there's abetter way to turn it on). You can add buttons to recognize music via Shazam, enable Dark Mode, set an alarm/timer, enable Airplane Mode, open your Wallet, send money via Tap to Cash and more.
Here's how:
1. On the iPhone's lock screen, touch and hold anywhere on the display until you see theCustomizebutton. You'll need to unlock the phone using Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode. If it opens the home screen, swipe down from the center-top of the screen (not the right edge, which brings up Control Center.
2. TapCustomizeand then chooseLock Screen.
3. Remove one of the buttons by tapping the–(minus) button on the icon.
4. To replace the button with another function, tap its space (now with a+icon) and then choose the one you want on the next screen. (You can also opt to leave that space empty with no button.)
5. Repeat those steps for the other button if you want to change it.
6. TapDonewhen you're finished.
7. Tap the lock screen again to exit the customize mode.
Set up some of the new tasks available on the Action button
The Action button on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max replaced the dedicated mute switch found on every other iPhone model with a configurable control. By default it serves the same purpose -- hold it to turn Silent Mode on or off -- but you can configure it for other action like opening the Camera app,performing multiple actions at onceor evenordering coffee.
In iOS 18, the Action button gets new capabilities. You can bypass Control Center and choose a control of your choice, such as opening the Remote interface for navigating Apple TV or using Shazam to identify a song.
To choose a different action for the Action button, go toSettings > Action Button. Swipe sideways to select and activate one of the available actions. For the Controls, Shortcut and Accessibility options, tap theChoosebutton to pick which specific action to run.
Give your home screen a radical new look
You wouldn't think that putting icons where you want is a radical new feature, but that's because iOS has always had a locked arrangement. Apps get added from top to bottom, left to right. You could rearrange the order in which icons appear and move them to other screens, but that was about it.
In iOS 18, apps can be positioned nearly anywhere, You no longer need to deal with a wallpaper image of your kids or pets being obscured by icons. They still adhere to a grid -- Apple isn't about to sanction anarchy -- but can be placed freely.
Also, Dark mode finally applies to all of the iPhone's home screen, with options for coloring icons and affecting the brightness of the wallpaper image. Here's how to customize the looks.
Arrange apps:Touch and hold the home screen to enter "jiggle mode," and then drag the icons to new positions. It will still slide them around to fill spaces, but with patience you can move them into the spots you want.
You can also quickly turn compatible apps into widgets that display more information. Maps, for instance, can be a map of your current location with shortcut buttons to search for places or bring up a list of nearby places (such as dinner spots). Touch and hold the app icon and look for arow of resize buttonsin the menu that appears. Once expanded beyond the standard icon size, you can drag the handle in the bottom-right corner of the new icon. However, to get it back to its single icon size you need to touch and hold again and choose thesingle-iconbutton
Set Dark mode:If you've ever subjected yourself to the retina blast of black text on a white background late at night in a darkened room, you will appreciate the new Dark mode option for the home and lock screens. iOS has previously included a Dark mode, where light backgrounds switch to black or dark gray, text switches to white or light gray and other interface elements are dimmed to coexist in a dark environment. But that's never been applied to the home and lock screens in any significant way -- only the dock and some widgets -- until iOS 18.
First, touch and hold the home screen to enter jiggle mode. Tap theEditbutton in the top-left corner and chooseCustomizefrom the menu. At the bottom of the screen, choose a mode for the icons and background:Automatic,DarkorLight(I'll get toTintedin a moment). In Dark mode, the icons gain black backgrounds, and folders and the Dock become dark gray. (Developers have the option of making Dark mode icons for their apps. In the meantime, apps not yet optimized get a generally darker appearance.)
In Dark mode, the background image also changes. Apple's default iOS 18 wallpaper dynamically changes from light to dark as the day progresses, or you can choose colors that offer both a light and dark option. If you use a photo, its overall exposure is reduced to dim the light output.
If you want dark icons but aren't a fan of the dimmed photo treatment, tap the sun icon in the corner of the options sheet at the bottom of the screen to toggle back to Light mode just for the background.
Tinted icons:A new and different option is to tint all of the app icons so they share the same color. In the Customize options at the bottom of the screen, chooseTintedas the icon style. You can then adjust theHue(the slider with the color spectrum) andLuminosity(the slider with the dark to light range) to choose the color tint you prefer.
What if you want to match a color from a background image? Tap the eyedropperbutton and then drag the reticle to pinpoint the color you want -- the border indicates the selected color.
The tint is applied not only to icons, but widgets as well. For a widget such as Photos, the images it displays show up as duotones to match the theme.
Large icons:Do the labels below each app icon seem redundant to you? Now you can remove the labels and increase the size of the icons with one setting. Open the Customize options as described above and tap theLargebutton.
After making any of these changes, tap anywhere on the screen to apply them and exit the Customize interface.
Change up how the Control Center looks
Control Center was once a convenient place to quickly access controls such as playback volume and Airplane mode, but under iOS 18 it's a configurable playground. You can position controls where you want, resize many to reveal more information and add new controls on multiple screens.
Swipe down from the top-right corner to reveal Control Center (or swipe up from the bottom on the iPhone SE). To enter edit mode, touch and hold or press the+button at the top-left corner.
Just as with moving apps, drag a control to another slot on the screen to reposition it. Many of the controls also include a bottom-right handle that can resize the control -- in most cases it reveals the name of the control and its current status (such asFlashlight Off).
Control Center also now spans multiple screens. Swipe up to view controls for media currently playing, Home controls for smart lights and appliances and a page dedicated to the communication options that appear when you long-press the Connectivity block containing Airplane Mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Cellular and others. Look closely, though, and you'll see that those screens are actually individual controls expanded to occupy the entire Control Center area.
In fact, you can rearrange the order of those screens by moving their controls. Suppose you want Home controls to be the first swipe instead of Now Playing: In the editing mode, drag the large Home control up to the previous screen (Now Playing will shift to the right to make room).
To remove controls, tap the–(minus) button that appears. You can also add other controls: TapAdd a Controland scroll through the available options ranging from starting aScreen Recordingto a host of accessibility options.
Lock or hide any of your sensitive apps
Our phones carry some of our most sensitive data, and yet it's not uncommon to hand a phone to a friend to view photos or look up something online. That doesn't mean they're going to snoop, but it doesn'tnotmean they might be more curious than you're comfortable with. For data you want to ensure stays out of sight or to add a layer of protection in front of sensitive information, iOS 18 adds the ability to lock and hide apps.
For example, let's say you keep an ongoing set of lists of gift ideas for family members in the Notes app. You can lock individual notes, but that requires a separate step. And maybe a few ideas were made as individual quick notes or drawings. Instead of micromanaging access, you can lock the entire Notes app by doing the following:
Touch and hold the app icon you want to lock and chooseRequire Face IDorRequire Touch ID(orRequire Passcodeif Face ID or Touch ID are not enabled) from the menu that appears. Confirm your choice by tappingRequire Face ID(or similar) in the next dialog.
To remove the authentication step, touch and hold the app and chooseDon't Require Face ID(or similar).
Nothing outwardly indicates that an app is locked -- you'll find out when you try to open it. But there's one more level of app security available, which is to hide apps in a special locked folder. Touch and hold the app and chooseRequire Face IDand then tapHide and Require Face IDin the dialog. Confirm the action by tappingHide Appin the next screen.
The app disappears from the home screen and gets slotted into a Hidden folder at the bottom of the App Library (swipe left beyond your last home screen to view the App Library). To access apps there, tap theHiddenfolder and authenticate with Face ID.
iOS 18 imposes some limitations on hidden apps. Some, such as many of the built-in ones like Notes or Reminders, can only be locked and cannot be hidden at all. Also, the Hidden folder locks itself when you launch an app or swipe away from the App Library.
Adjust the view of your calendar
Big new features like locking and hiding apps are great additions but so are the tiny changes that you encounter every day. The Calendar app includes two new ways to view your schedule.
In iOS 18, when you're in theMonthview in portrait orientation, pinch with two fingers to view more or fewer details. As you "zoom in," individual events appear as colored bars and then as labeled events with times, all while keeping the monthly grid of days and weeks.
TheDayview, which breaks down your day hour by hour, now has a newMulti Dayview that shows two consecutive days to give you context for what's coming without turning the phone into landscape orientation and viewing theWeekview. Tap theViewbutton at the top of theSingle Dayview and chooseMulti Dayfrom the popup menu.
Improve movie and TV show dialogue in the TV app
Trouble hearing dialogue in movies and television shows isn't a new problem -- for example, the Apple TV has had a feature for a while where you can ask Siri, "What did she say?" and it will automatically back up a few seconds, turn on subtitles and replay that section of the video. You can even buysoundbars that can overcome muffled TV speech. There area lot of reasonsit's harder to hear dialogue, but the TV app in iOS 18 includes a high-tech workaround to make dialog easier to discern.
While you're watching a video in the TV app, tap theMore(…) button and then expand theAudioheading in the menu that appears; if the phone is in horizontal orientation, tap the Audio Adjustments button. TapEnhance Dialogueand chooseEnhanceorBoost. They each dampen background noise and raise the dialogue's audio.
These are just a few new features and changes in iOS 18. Check out our broader coverage of Apple Intelligence, more impressions of the system after using it for months and of course how these will all work together with the upcoming iPhone 16 models.