Everything to know about Apples big iOS 18 update

Apple's new iOS 18 software update is officially here. The new version of Apple's mobile operating system is bursting with new features and improvements. Overall, the update will give you more ways to customize your iPhone's home screen and settings than ever before.

As usual, you can download and install it for free over the internet. Here's when you can download iOS 18, including expected release dates in the UK and around the world.

iOS 18 release date

iOS 18 is confirmed to be coming to iPhone today, but when can you download it?

With no official release date, we can guess the expected dates based on Apple's previous release schedules. If nothing changes, iOS 18 will roll out globally at the following times today:

• 6pm UK
• 10am Pacific Time / 1pm EST
• 7:00 pm in most European countries
• 10:30 PM in India
• 1:00 a.m. (September 17) in China and Singapore.

Apple hasn't confirmed exactly when iOS 18 will launch, so you should keep an eye on your iPhone settings if you want to experience the new operating system as soon as possible.

What about Apple Intelligence?

The headline feature Apple has been promoting for iOS 18 is a powerful new set of generative AI tools, called Apple Intelligence. These new tools can generate weird and wonderful emojis on the fly, summarize and rewrite emails, prioritize notifications, and remove people and objects from photos.

There’s just one problem: Apple Intelligence won’t be available with iOS 18 at launch. Instead, the new features will be rolled out gradually over the coming weeks and months as part of future updates, starting with iOS 18.1 in October.

Meanwhile, the emoji generation (or Genmoji as Apple calls it) probably won't arrive until iOS 18.2 in December. And you'll likely have to wait until next spring for the new and improved Siri, which boasts better natural language skills (bringing it closer to ChatGPT).

iOS 18 Features

However, there are still plenty of other non-AI iOS 18 features that make this update worth downloading. Here's what you can expect:

Customize icons and home screen

• Ability to color app icons with a single color to match your home screen or preferred color scheme.
• Option to automatically switch icons to dark interface in Dark Mode.
• Place apps and widgets anywhere on the home screen, not just a fixed grid.

Redesigned control center

• Swipe through different control pages including home screen, smart home screen, and media playback.
• Third-party applications can create custom controls in the new controls library.
• Rearrange layout and resize icons for controls.
• Replace camera and flashlight icons on lock screen with custom controls.

Customize lock screen

• Replace the flashlight/camera icon at the bottom with other app icons or controls.
• Lock apps behind Face ID for security when giving your phone to someone else.

Improve messaging

• Schedule messages to be sent later.
• React with any emoji via touch.
• Text formatting includes bold, italics, and underline.
• Animated text effects.
• Send encrypted messages via satellite when there is no mobile signal.

Redesigned Photos app

• Single view grid with recent photos at top.
• Automatically organize into collections like trips, people, and pets.
• New carousel view with featured/favorite photos.
• Filter screenshots and view by month/year.

Other notable features

• Tap to pay between friends and family in the Wallet app.
• Game mode for higher frame rates and improved AirPods sound on iPhone.

Latest news about iOS 18

iOS 18 Will Warn You When You Use a Slow iPhone Charger

iOS 18 includes some notable changes to iPhone battery health and charging settings. Apple has added more charging limit settings for iPhone 15 users, along with information about when you're using a slow charger.

In the iOS 18 Settings app, iPhone 15 users will see a few options to set a charging limit under the "Charging" section of the "Battery" menu . Previously, Apple allowed you to set an 80% charging limit, but now Apple has added more granular options to set charging limits of 85%, 90%, and 95%.

iOS 18 also includes a new feature that can tell you if you're using a slow charger to recharge your iPhone. In the Settings app, select the "Battery" menu and look at the Battery Level graph . If you're using a slow charger, you'll see a warning message. The graph itself has also been updated with a new orange color, indicating that you're using a slow charger.

It's not clear at this point what charging speed triggers the "Slow Charger" notification, but it's still a useful feature.

Siri Unavailable for Some iOS 18.1 Beta Users

While Apple's new smart Siri hasn't launched yet, the company has already shown off its new interface with the iOS 18.1 beta. However, for some iOS 18.1 users, Hey Siri isn't working today, and many have taken to platforms like X to express the inconvenience caused by this strange bug.

If you're running the iOS 18.1 beta on your iPhone or iPad, don't bother trying to access Siri because you'll see a "Siri Not Available Connect to Wi-Fi to complete Siri download" message on your device. Tapping the error message will show that your iPhone is trying to download support for processing Apple Intelligence models. However, it's a dead end because the download never seems to complete and Siri won't work.

Some iPhones running iOS 18.1 are experiencing Siri not working issues. However, not all devices are affected. The new Type to Siri feature in Apple Intelligence also doesn't work for users running the iOS 18.1 beta. As a result, Siri can't be run on iPhones and iPads running the beta update.

Thankfully, Macs running macOS Sequoia 15.1 beta don't suffer from the Siri not available issue.

So far, Apple has not acknowledged the issue or released a fix for the same issue. If Siri isn't working, you'll need to downgrade to the stable iOS 17 from the iOS 18 beta if you want to use Siri on your iPhone or iPad. There's no fix for this issue at this time. Even trying to turn your iPhone off and back on again will cause the problem to persist.

iOS 18 RC adds the ability to pause video recording in the Camera app

During the iPhone 16 launch event yesterday, Apple introduced a number of updated camera features for the iPhone 16. One of those features includes pausing and resuming video recording using the default Camera app. Unlike the new Camera Control feature, which is only available on the iPhone 16 series, the video pause feature is available on older iPhones running iOS 18 RC. This additional feature makes it possible to make transitions within the same video file.

When recording video in the Camera app running iOS 18 RC, you'll see a new pause button in the lower left corner. Tapping it will pause video recording while tapping it again will resume.

When the video is paused, you will see a 'PAUSE' indicator at the top of the UI just below the recording time. Additionally, the pause button will change to a record button to indicate that it will resume recording if pressed.

This opens up a number of creative possibilities, but the most obvious use case is the ability to create simple jump cuts within the same video, eliminating the need to edit those cuts together in post. By pausing the video and changing the frame, you’re making the edit while you’re shooting rather than in post, which can significantly speed up the time it takes to render raw video captured using iOS 18’s native Camera app.

To take things a step further, you can switch between lenses while pausing, allowing you to do more dramatic zooms, instantly switching between focal lengths. That said, this opens up some interesting creative possibilities with iOS 18, and you don’t even need the new iPhone 16 hardware to test it out.

Enable audio playback in iOS 18

With iOS 18, you can easily enable audio while recording videos on your iPhone. Here's what you need to do:

• Open the Settings app and navigate to the Camera section .
• Here, tap on Record Sound and make sure that the Allow Audio PlayBack button is enabled.
• When enabled, your iPhone won't pause audio while recording video. Apple notes that audio played through the iPhone speaker will be recorded in mono.

That’s how you can enable audio while recording videos on your iPhone. iOS 18 is currently in Beta, and the final stable version will be released sometime in September alongside the new iPhones. The latest iOS 18 will bring a bunch of exciting features like an improved Control Center, customizable lock screen and home screen, redesigned Photos app, and more. Additionally, if you have an iPhone 15 Pro or 15 Pro Max, you can take advantage of Apple’s Intelligence features.

Apple Removes Carousel Feature in iOS 18 Due to Strong Reactions from Users

Apple has officially removed the "Carousel" feature in the Photos app in iOS 18 beta 5, following criticism from testers. Carousel is a feature that allows users to swipe horizontally to switch between different views in the Photos app.

After experiencing the Carousel feature, many users said that it was difficult and complicated to use. One Reddit user commented that Carousel "looks fresh and modern but is completely useless". Similar opinions appeared on Apple's support page.

After removing Carousel, Apple will bring back the Photos app with a simpler interface, focusing on displaying photos and videos, while still allowing users to customize some parts of the app, such as rearranging and hiding items.

Apple is known for its ability to shape user habits, so it's rare for the company to remove a feature after just three weeks of testing.

Currently, the iOS 18 beta 5 update has only been released to developers, so users will have to wait until the future iOS 18.1 update to experience these changes.

Apple has released the public beta version of iOS 18, users can download and experience all the new features on this mobile operating system.

Apple's public beta rollout of iOS 18 means the beta system is stable enough for users to use. It's ideal for users who want to try out iOS 18 before the final release.

iPhone users can register via Apple’s website using their Apple ID and download the public beta version of iOS 18 on their devices. However, since the public beta software has not been commercially released by Apple, there may be some issues such as bugs, not working as well as the official software, so users should back up their data before downloading to avoid any possible risks.

Apple's beta software program allows users to test software before it is released. Apple relies on user feedback on quality and usability to identify and fix issues and improve the software.

Only iPhone models that support iOS 17 are compatible with iOS 18.

Smarter Siri with personal context understanding coming in iOS 18 update later this year

Apple yesterday introduced Apple Intelligence features to the iOS 18 beta channel for the first time, with a public launch to customers likely to come in October, following the September release of iOS 18.0.

Today’s updates to Siri include a new edge-lit user interface design and deeper knowledge of how products are used. Apple says the new Siri will also understand user intent more reliably and can better maintain context from request to request. But there are still a lot of features that Apple showed off at WWDC that haven’t made it into testing yet…

At WWDC, the most impressive demos for the new Siri powered by Apple Intelligence revolved around the ability to ask questions related to understanding a user's personal context.

For example, a user will be able to ask “When does my mom’s flight land?” and Siri will remember that flights were discussed in the Mail app and bring up relevant flight details. A follow-up request like “What are our lunch plans?” will ask Siri to summarize relevant text conversations between you and your mom, then present them to you.

While there were some earlier rumors that these upgrades wouldn't be available until 2025, The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple will offer personal context capabilities before the end of this year:

Before the end of the year, Siri will integrate ChatGPT and be able to tap into your personal context. (For example, "When should I leave to pick up Mom from the airport?")

Other improvements, like the ability to use on-screen content to announce requests or perform complex actions within Siri apps, are yet to be announced. These features rely more on developers implementing different App Intents integrations within their apps.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman previously suggested that Siri's in-app actions functionality would be available to developers in beta form as early as 2025, before rolling out to customers as part of the planned iOS 18.4 update in the spring.

iOS 18 can 'revive' lost photos

The Photos app in Apple's next major iOS 18, iPadOS, and macOS update will add a new "Recovered" album to help users find photos and videos that may have been lost or corrupted on their devices.

After updating to iOS 18, iPadOS, and macOS Sequoia, a user's device will scan for potential photos or videos that might appear in the Recovered album. If so, the Recovered album will appear in the Utilities section of the app.

Note that the Recovered album is separate from the Recently Deleted album, which stores deleted photos for 30 days before they're permanently deleted.

Which iPhones will support iOS 18?

Apple has confirmed that iOS 18 can be downloaded on the following iPhone models:

• iPhone 15
• iPhone 15 Plus
• iPhone 15 Pro
• iPhone 15 Pro Max
• iPhone 14
• iPhone 14 Plus
• iPhone 14 Pro
• iPhone 14 Pro Max
• iPhone 13
• iPhone 13 mini
• iPhone 13 Pro
• iPhone 13 Pro Max
• iPhone 12
• iPhone 12 mini
• iPhone 12 Pro
• iPhone 12 Pro Max
• iPhone 11
• iPhone 11 Pro
• iPhone 11 Pro Max
• iPhone XS
• iPhone XS Max
• iPhone XR
• iPhone SE (second generation or later).

iOS 18 download size

Before diving into all the exciting new features that iOS 18 has to offer, it's essential to make sure your iPhone is ready for the update.

If it's anything like iOS 17, it could require anywhere from 5 to 17GB of free space to install (though the ideal amount is probably around 8GB).

To make room, start by checking your storage by going to Settings > General > iPhone Storage . Now delete any old apps or photos you no longer need.