Apple has announced software updates for iPhone, iPad, Vision Pro, Mac and Apple Watch which include new features to customise your home screen, mirror your iPhone on your Mac, lock individual apps and send text messages via satellite.
These features were announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference as part of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia, Apple Watch 11 and VisionOS 2.
Here are the new features:
iOS 18
Customisation: Users will have new options to customise the home screen and lock screen including arranging apps and widgets in any open space on the home screen to make it easier to see your wallpaper. It will also be possible to change the colour of your app icons and widgets.
Control Centre: Control Centre will have a new look to offer easier access and offer a new level of customization. You can add controls from third party apps and do things like unlock a vehicle or capture content from the Control Centre.
Lock and hide apps: A new feature allows users to lock or hide individual apps for additional privacy. And when an app is locked or hidden, content from within that app is hidden from search, notifications and other places across the system.
Messages: There are new text effects for your conversations with the ability to amplify letters, words and phrases or emojis with animated appearances. Text can also now be formatted with bold, underline and italics. The number of choices for Tapbacks has also been extended to include any emoji or sticker. It will also be possible to schedule a message to send later.
Messages via satellite: If cellular and Wi-Fi connections are not available, iOS 18 will use the same technology as existing iPhone satellite capabilities and allow users to send messages via satellite from the messages app.
RCS support: Apple also mentioned RCS (Rich Communication Services) will also be supported to offer improved media sharing and more reliable group messaging between iPhone and Android users.
Mail: There will be new ways to manage your inbox and stay up to date with the updated Mail app which can categorise and organised incoming email so users can see the most important messages. You can sort your inbox into different types of messages including marketing emails, promotions, social notifications and news.
Photos: The Photos app has received its biggest ever update and redesign and now offers a simplified single view display as well as the familiar grid. A new carousel view can show you highlights that update each day and include favourite people places pets and more.
Passwords app: iOS 18 will include a dedicated Passwords app to make it easy to access passwords, pass keys, Wi-Fi passwords and verification codes and builds on the foundation of keychain which was introduced more than a quarter of a century ago.
iPADOS 18
iPadOS 18 contains many of the features available in iOS 18 along with a few others that can only be used on the iPad
Calculator: Apple has finally added the basic and scientific calculator to the iPad to make it easy to make calculations and unit conversions.
Maths Notes: Maths Notes utilises the calculator in a different way. Instead of typing in the letters on the calculator, users can type or write out maths problems and see them instantly solved in their own handwriting. This also includes a new graphing feature so you can write or type an equation and insert a graph with a single tap.
Better handwriting: iPadOS 18 can tidy up your handwriting to make it easier to read while maintaining the same look and style of your personal handwriting with the new Smart Script feature.
New tab bar: Apple has redesigned the tab bar to float above the iPad apps content so users can stay focused on what they’re doing or watching. Users can reorder or add other tabs from the sidebar for your own personal customization.
Safari: The Safari browser now has a new feature called Highlights that utilises machine learning to bring key information about a web page to the surface. With this tool, a user could read a summary of a long article or quickly find the location of a hotel or restaurant from their website.
Screen share: SharePlay has seen an interesting update which gives users the ability to tap and draw on their screen to point out what needs to be done and provide instructions. This feature also makes it possible to remotely control a device with permission.
MACOS SEQUOIA
iPhone mirroring: Continuity now offers iPhone mirroring to access and use your iPhone on your Mac as if you’re holding it in your hand. Users will see their iPhone on their Mac screen and will be able to browse and launch apps and drag and drop content seamlessly between devices.
Safari: Safari gets an update and gives users an easy way to discover information on particular websites including directions, summaries and external links. There is also a redesigned Reader so you can read content without distractions as well as accessing a table of contents for longer articles and summaries. And if there’s a video on the page, a viewer can help bring it forward while still offering access to playback controls.
Window tiling: You can organise the desktop even better with macOS Sequoia able to suggest a new way to arrange open windows into tiled position side by side or placed in corners to make it easier to view multiple apps at the same time.
Improved video conferencing: if you are working with apps like FaceTime and Zoom for your video calls it would now be easier to present with a new presenter preview so you can see what you’re about to share before you share it. It’s also easier to apply backgrounds with existing wallpapers or your own photos. These can be applied in FaceTime and on third party apps including Webex.
WATCHOS 11
Vitals app: Apple Watch will capture important metrics during your sleep including heart rate, respiratory rate, risk temperature, sleep duration and blood oxygen. The Vitals app will take these metrics and view them in context to offer a real daily health status to ensure they are within the typical range.
Training Load: Training Load will allow users to understand the impact of their workouts on their body over the last week compared to the last month. This feature will use a new algorithm to check if you’re on track or overdoing it with your workouts and make informed decisions if you’re preparing for an event.
Pregnancy support: Expectant mothers can log any changes in their physical or mental health in the health app on the iPhone or iPad. The cycle tracking app on Apple Watch will also track their progress and give them the ability to log symptoms they experienced during pregnancy. They will be asked to review things like high heart rate notifications since heart rates tend to increase during pregnancy.
Smart Stack: there will be new widgets for the Smart Stack including Shazam, Photos, Distance and more with the Smart Stack also now able to suggest widgets based on time, date, location and daily routines. There will also be new interactive widgets to allow users two interact with the app right from their wrist.
Translate app: The Translate app is now available for Apple Watch with support for 20 languages which can be accessed directly from their wrist.
VISIONOS 2
Spatial memories: Users can revisit memories and create spatial images directly from their library in the Photos app using machine learning that would transform a 2D image into a spatial photo for Vision Pro. Users with an iPhone 15 Pro can create spatial videos so they can be enjoyed and brought to life on the Vision Pro. Later this year Canon will release a brand new spatial lens for its popular EOS R7 digital camera to capture spatial video.
New hand gestures: visionOS2 makes navigating and accessing features on the Vision Pro even easier. New gestures will bring users back to home view in the control centre even faster as well as being able to access important information like the current time and battery levels.
Multiview: The Apple TV app brings Multiview to Vision Pro to allow fans to watch up to five simultaneous streams to keep track of all their favourite sports and teams.
* Stephen Fenech travelled to Cupertino for the Worldwide Developers Conference as a guest of Apple
