iOS 18 and its Features

 iOS 18 : Known Features

iOS 18 is still over seven months away from being announced, but there are already a few rumours and expectations for the software update. iOS 18 might be announced at Apple's annual developers conference WWDC and released to all users with a compatible iPhone in September. However, we share all the rumours and information available pertaining to the update so far.

Major New Features

iOS 18 could be a "relatively ground breaking" update with "major new features and designs," although many specific details are unknown. Apple's senior management has internally described its upcoming operating systems as "ambitious and compelling."

Smarter Siri

iOS 18 will feature generative AI technology that should improve how both Siri and the Messages app can field questions and auto-complete sentences. Apple has explored new generative AI features for other apps across its platforms, including Apple Music, Pages, Keynote and Xcode. The Information reported that Apple plans to incorporate large language models into Siri to let users automate complex tasks, a feature which would involve deeper integration with the Shortcuts app. This feature is expected to be released in an iPhone software update coming next year, which could be iOS 18.

Generative AI surged in popularity last year when OpenAI released ChatGPT, a chatbot which can respond to questions and other prompts. Google and Microsoft released similar chatbots earlier this year, as more companies race into the space. The chatbots are trained on large language models, allowing them to respond like a human. Apple has publicly confirmed its interest in generative AI, and it has mentioned the technology in job listings posted on its website in recent months. "We've been working on generative AI for years and have done a lot of research," said Apple CEO Tim Cook, in an interview in September. "And we're going to approach it really thoughtfully and think about it deeply, because we're fully aware of the not-good uses that it can have, and the issues around bias and hallucination and so forth."

Improved Texting With Android Users

Earlier this month, Apple announced that it will finally support the cross-platform messaging standard RCS in the Messages app on the iPhone starting "later next year," so it will likely be an iOS 18 feature based on this timeframe. RCS support should result in several improvements to the default messaging experience between iPhones and Android devices:

Higher-resolution photos and videos

Audio messages

Typing indicators

Read receipts

Wi-Fi messaging between iPhones and Android devices

Improved group chats, including the ability for iPhone users to leave a conversation that includes Android users

Improved encryption compared to SMS

Abovementioned features are already available for iPhone-to-iPhone conversations with blue bubbles, via iMessage, and many of the features are also available in third-party messaging apps, such as WhatsApp and Telegram. RCS support on the iPhone will extend the features to green bubbles in the built-in Messages app, providing for a much better iPhone/Android messaging experience compared to the current SMS standard.