Apple announced a number of new features and updates on stage during its WWDC 2024 keynote, including updates to iOS, iPadOS, macOS, VisionOS and the introduction of Apple Intelligence.
Now that people are using the developer beta and exploring the sessions at the event, more unannounced features are appearing on stage. Remember that only certain devices will be compatible with iOS 18 when it’s released later this fall. The following is a non-exhaustive list of these features.
Updates to the Messages app
- Apple didn’t mention Rich Messaging Service (RCS) support on stage, but briefly showed the feature on a tile while showing off the iOS feature collage. RCS support means Android users will be able to send and receive high-quality media while chatting with their friends using Apple products. RCS will also enable typing indicators and read receipts. However, all RCS-enabled messages will still be green bubbles — so the battle isn’t over.
- Another message-related update is that in iOS 18, you can see who tapped back on which emoji.
- Additionally, you can add text effects to emojis when sending them.
iOS 18 offers new design aspects
- Users have the option to hide the icon text by making it large through the customization menu.
- Apple said it will provide an API for developers to customize app icon shades.
- iOS 18 allows users to change lock screen action buttons. Through API-based integrations, developers can now access users their camera apps directly from the lock screen — somehow making them the default camera app.
- Safari has a new tab group creation interface when you swipe right from the tab switcher screen.
- A device requesting Bluetooth permission has a new user interface that displays the map with the device’s current location.
Some settings in iOS 18 have been updated
- Apple introduced the new Control Center with a multi-page interface and better customization. Along with this, the company has added a useful button to turn off the device directly. So users don’t need to long press the power + volume button.
- There’s a new Apps menu in Settings, which replaces all the apps listed on the main page.
- Search in settings now shows Spotlight-style suggestions.
- Apple has said there will be mobile device management (MDM) controls for administrators to disable AI-powered features like ChatGPT and Math Notes.
- The iCloud page in settings has a new design.
Language and input updates
- Multilingual keyboards are a new feature now. This means you can type in multiple scripts and languages without switching keyboards.
- Live Text now supports Arabic.
- Apple adds built-in completions in French and Spanish.
- The company has added Hindi as a language option in the translation app.
Usefulness
- The Weather app has a new Home and Work location setting.
- The Weather app displays a visual graph of actual temperatures versus “Feels like”. Moreover, there is a visual cue about how much “Feels like” makes a difference to the actual temperature in the main app.
- The Voice Memo app will allow you to record in stereo.
- You can now set the recommended charge limit in settings.
- The new update will let you know if you are connected to a slow charger.
- Calendar now has multi-day view and list view to easily give you an idea of upcoming events.
- You can zoom into the month view of the Calender app to see your schedule at a glance.
- The Notes app finally lets you assign different colors to text.
- You can now share your Wi-Fi credentials as a QR code through the new password app.
The Photos app is getting a refresh
- The Photos app now has an album of wallpaper suggestions.
- There are new types of utilities in the Photos app, including receipts, handwriting, QR codes, documents, and map visualizations. Along with this, there are other categories like Recently Viewed, Recently Edited and Recently Shared.
- The edit button for a photo has been moved to the bottom bar from the top right.
More accessibility features
- iOS 18 now has on-screen dot motion indicators to reduce motion sickness while sitting in a vehicle.
- The new update also allows users to set up Eye Tracking so they can control devices through eye movement.
- iOS 18 lets you set voice shortcuts. This means that when you say a custom phrase, your iPhone will perform an action associated with it. For example, you can set a phrase to go to the home screen, open the camera, activate a shortcut, or invoke a Siri request.
- Additionally, you can set sound actions through the Touch menu to assign actions to sounds like Click, Cluck, Eh, La, oo, and Sh.
- iOS 18 will allow users to experience music through haptics, such as taps, textures and sophisticated vibrations that match the sound of the track.
This is probably just a set of features that users who used the beta in the early days, including us, found. We’ll continue to update this story as more features emerge.
If you want to highlight some features that are in the developer betas of new Apple platform updates, you can reach this reporter at im@ivanmehta.com.
