iOS 18: 5 Non-AI Features Coming to iPhone

We’ve heard a ton about iOS 18’s AI components, but what about non-AI features? There will be plenty of those and today we want to highlight five that are reportedly coming to iPhone later this year.

As we push toward WWDC 2024, we’ve heard a lot about the next operating system for iPhone. Unless rumors are off, iOS 18 will be an enormous upgrade for iPhone bringing design changes, AI upgrades, and other features to compatible models.

A lot of iPhone users have focused on the AI changes, but the software is expected to deliver plenty of other changes as well. And some of these are even more exciting than the AI improvements.

Here are five iOS 18 non-AI features that you may have missed in recent weeks. None of these are confirmed, but they come from reliable sources and there’s a good chance we’ll see them debut on stage at WWDC on June 10th.

New Text Effects in Messages

According to a recent report from MacRumors, iOS 18 will bring a new text effects feature to the Messages app for iPhone.

Right now, iPhone users can send full-screen effects and bubble effects when they send messages to other users. According to the report, iOS 18’s text effects will allow you to animate individual words within a message.

And given that the Messages app will gain RCS support with iOS 18, we may see these effects work with messages sent to Android users.

App Icons Can Be Placed Anywhere

For years, iPhone users have been stuck with a fixed grid for the app icons and widgets they place on their home screen. iOS 18 could change that and give users more power to stylize their home screen however they want.

In March, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman noted that iOS 18 is expected to let iPhone users utilize gaps when arranging icons and widgets on the home screen.

MacRumors says iOS 18 “will introduce the ability to create blank spaces, rows, and columns between app icons.” So while there may still be an invisible grid of some kind, there will be more freedom.

Customizable App Icons

In addition, Gurman believes Apple will also let iOS 18 users customize app icons for the first time.

Gurman says the company will let iPhone users “change the color of app icons” at a system-level. We don’t know how this will work exactly, but the example he gives is making “social icons blue or finance-related ones green.”

Control Center Upgrades

Gurman recently released another report about iOS 18 and this one highlights improvements coming to Control Center, a widely used feature.

He says Control Center will have a new design will offer improvements to HomeKit integration as well as an improved music widget.

Control Center has remained pretty stagnant since it launched alongside the iPhone X back in 2017 so it’s overdue for some upgrades.

Apple Maps Improvements

We’ve also heard Apple plans to make upgrades to Apple Maps.

iOS 18 is expected to bring the Apple Watch’s topographic maps to iPhones. Topographic maps, which are primarily used while in the outdoors, include things like contour lines, elevation, and trails.

The software is also expected to deliver custom route creation where users can design their own routes for trips rather than rely on the baked-in instructions.

WWDC 24’s keynote starts at 10AM Pacific and we expect Apple to push the first iOSS 18 beta live for developers shortly after its conclusion.