iOS 18 Intros Apple Intelligence (AI), Custom Icon Colors, and More

Apple introduced iOS 18 this morning, coming to an iPhone near you shortly. Inside, Apple has injected a ton of goodies, some of which may sound very familiar to us Android fans.

The marquee feature for iOS 18 is Apple Intelligence (“AI” for short). Coming first to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max later this year in beta, AI will allow users to utilize new Writing Tools that can quickly change your own writing style to something different or help summarize larger bodies of work. For example, you can summarize large group threads into something more manageable. Apple also highlights Smart Reply in Mail, as well as a new notification priority setting. AI will also be used for photo and video editing tricks, very similar to what we have now on Android.

Again, select device owners will get to play with AI later this year.

For the home screen, Apple is bringing the ability to change your icon colors and also intro’ing a new dark look for icons and widgets. You’ll also be able to make your widgets appear larger, whatever that means.

Beyond aesthetics, iOS 18 users can hide and safeguard apps from prying eyes. As described, “Lock an app to require Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode for access. Information from the app won’t appear in other places across the system, including search and notifications, so others don’t inadvertently see sensitive information. And just as easily hide an app to move it into a hidden apps folder that’s locked.”

Control center got a makeover with new groups of controls, which users can now access more easily with a single long swipe down on the home screen. And speaking of controls, you can also now swap out your lock screen controls for ones of your choosing.

In terms of features and customization, we think iPhone owners should be pretty happy. There’s also a lot of app-specific changes that Apple highlights in its announcement. If you have an iPhone, you should check it out.

Enjoy, iPhone owners!

// Apple