The upcoming iOS 18, launching this autumn, includes a redesigned Photos app and long-awaited features to the Messages app, like scheduled sending. Apple insists the new software also aims to improve security with a feature that allows users to hide and lock apps they've downloaded behind extra authentication.
The company also announced a new Password app to help you keep track of all your web logins. These new features will be included in free updates in the autumn, but you don't have to wait. Apple released beta versions of the software, for fanboys to try and brag about to their friends mothers. A "public beta" version will be released in July.
But even the most fanatical Apple fanboy thinks that the beta versions of the OS are buggy and designed so that Jobs’ Mob can fix a few of them before release. In some cases, Apple might even pull a service if it can’t be fixed in time.
In this case, people who have downloaded iOS 18 already say their device feels incredibly sluggish to start. Even after initial startup, apps lag a lot more than usual and often crash, too.
Reports are coming in that banking apps tend to be especially hard hit by beta bugs. Several are refusing to launch, and the device's battery has been draining quicker than usual.
Other known iOS 18 include include:
- Installation issues
- Download problems
- Face ID issues
- Wi-Fi connectivity problems
- Bluetooth bugs
- Issues with various first and third-party applications.
What is not to love?
On the plus side, the new iOS has a customisable home screen, making it more customisable. Users can freely place app icons on the grid, tint app icons, and customise the Control Center.
At the moment it does not have AI or even Apple Intelligence, which Jobs’ Mob is calling its mash-up of features like ChatGPT and Siri. These will be integrated into selected iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices later this year—assuming Apple can get them to work.
iOS 18 will support Rich Communication Services (RCS), which it claims will improve messaging experiences between iPhone and Android users.
Apple said that iOS 18 allows users to send messages via satellite when there’s no regular network connection in the unlike event that Apple users might go outside.
It also offers a new feature that enables easy money transfers to friends your mother using Apple Pay.