At the Worldwide Developer Conference 2024, Apple announced some big changes to iOS, with a lot of customizations being added to iOS 18. For example, iOS 18 will enable users to activate dark mode or customize icons in the mode with just the tap of a button. Apple has announced that the iOS 18 developer beta will be available starting today, the public beta will arrive in July and the stable version will be released this fall, which will coincide with the launch of the iPhone 16 series.

Apple also announced some very interesting updates to Control Center in iOS 18. Control Center will now look like a series of vertical pages, so if a user keeps swiping down, they will see a list of settings shortcuts in one page after another.

iOS 18 also brings lock screen customisation so along with the flashlight and camera shortcuts, you can add more shortcuts to the lock screen to open apps directly without unlocking your iPhone or while unlocking it.

In iOS 18, users will be able to put FaceID lock on all apps on the device. Users will also be able to “hide” some apps.

iOS 18 also features a much more integrated Photos app, with more filters to search or categorize the images that show up in your search in the app. You can also search for photos by time, people, days. You will also be able to see categories of images based on “today” or “yesterday”. iOS 18 will also allow users to organize images by holidays. Swiping right from the photo grid will now show a new carousel of “best clicked images” from your image library.

iOS 18 also includes RCS image support, new emoji reactions in iMessage, and more. Some new text effects have also been added to iMessage.

Siri updates in iOS 18

Siri has a really cool new feature whereby it will now understand gestures. For example, if you get a call and you have hands-free mode turned on on Siri, when it asks you if you want to answer the call, you can simply shake your head and say no without saying anything!

watchOS 11

Apple has also announced the new watchOS 11 today. The new OS for Apple Watch will come with a new training mode that will be able to measure how intense your workout was, and what kind of impact it will have on your body over time. It will also take into account the duration of your workout to make calculations. The Workout app, which works on both the new iOS and watchOS, will now allow users to set goals based on different days. This means it will allow users to adjust their goals for the ring according to the day of the week. And if you are going on vacation, you will also be able to pause the ring so you don’t lose your streak! Apple Watch users who are interested in fitness will be really happy right now.

With the new update, the Apple Watch will also be able to give weather alerts when needed or live updates on topics that matter to you. Using the Watch as an instant information hub is exactly what it should be.