Without Apple Intelligence, iOS 18 beta feels like a TV show that’s waiting for the finale
At this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple divided the keynote into two parts: regular OS updates and an introduction to the company’s AI features. Apple is drawing a line between these two sections because Apple Intelligence features will become available this fall. It means that those features likely won’t be there with the 18.0 release; major iOS updates are usually timed with new iPhone releases in September.
Apple Intelligence features are also not available in the developer beta, which is available now. It might be a while until we get a taste of them. That’s why the current iOS 18 beta release feels like the first half of a two-part TV show: It’s pretty good, but we need to know more.
iOS 18 lets you move buttons
If you remove Apple Intelligence from iOS 18, customization is the marquee feature. Simply put, you can now move more buttons. First, you can arrange icons on your home screen in any way you want and even keep some icon slots empty. This allows you to create different patterns with icons on the screen.
You can customize icon colors to create a unified look. This way, you don’t need to rely on the tedious Siri Shortcuts workaround to do this. iOS 18 lets you switch to dark icons, give them a specific tint through a color palette and also make them larger (this will hide the app name). Given that it’s early days, the tinted apps don’t look great with some colors. Apple has already improved dark tint icon support for some third-party apps with the third developer beta.
The Control Center now has a paginated experience. The default four pages are standard controls page, media playback, home controls for smart devices and connectivity controls. You can add or remove controls to each page and also add new pages if you want. This makes it easier to perform quick actions without having to open certain apps.
There is a new controls gallery that lets you search for controls and easily add them. Apple has opened up the Control Center to third-party apps, so we will see more apps offering interactions with their service with an icon.
One of the best things to come out of this update is that you can replace the default icons for the flashlight and camera on the lock screen through the controls gallery. Plus, you can also choose a new action using the action button.