7 Hidden iOS 18 Features and Settings You Should Definitely Know About

Apple is expected to announce the iOS 18 release date during its iPhone 16 “Glowtime” event, which can be watched live on Monday, September 9On 10 am Pacific time.

However, iOS 18 is currently available in developer beta, as well as a more widely available public beta. If you’re waiting for the general release, you’ll have to wait until the end of this month.

No matter when you update to iOS 18, you’ll want to know what to expect. And we don’t just mean the major features everyone already knows about.

Apple’s latest offering brings big changes to the iPhone, including more customization for the Lock and Home screens, new text messaging features, a dedicated password app, and a completely redesigned photo album.

However, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

As always, Apple makes a big deal out of some features and not others. And every year we review the latest iOS and look for hidden features that are not only hidden, but can and will affect the way we use our iPhones every day. If you’re using iOS 18, here are a few hidden features and settings that Apple didn’t really mention, but that you should definitely know about.

Read more: iPhone 16: What we know about the release date, leaks and more

To learn more, check out our iOS 18 beta cheat sheet and why you might want to wait a bit longer to update to the iOS 18 beta.

Don’t miss it:iOS 18 Public Beta Now Available: How to Install Now

Restart iPhone from the new Control Center

If you’re using iOS 18, you don’t need to press any physical buttons to restart your iPhone. The redesigned Control Center includes all the classic controls you’re used to, like brightness, volume, orientation, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi, but there are also a few new controls, including one to restart your iPhone.

Just swipe down from the top right corner of your iPhone and press and hold the new power button in the upper right corner of the control center. You can’t just tap it, you have to hold it for a second or two and then the slider to turn off your iPhone will appear.

To turn your iPhone back on, you will still need to press and hold the physical side button.

Use QR code to share your Wi-Fi password

There are a few ways to share your Wi-Fi network and password with others via iPhone. There’s a new way to do it in iOS 18. Using a QR code fills a few gaps in the way you can quickly share Wi-Fi information:

• Share with several people at onceInstead of sending everyone your Wi-Fi password one by one, you can ask everyone to scan a QR code on your phone.
• Share with someone you haven’t saved as a contactNearby sharing over Wi-Fi won’t work if the person is not in your contacts.
• Share with someone who has AndroidNearby Sharing and AirDrop do not work on Android devices.

So if you encounter any of these scenarios and don’t want to send them your Wi-Fi password, you can use a QR code. Go to new Passwords app, go to the Wi-Fi section, click on the network you want to share, and then press Show network QR code. If the other person scans the QR code with their camera, they will be connected to the Wi-Fi network.

Adjust the width of the flashlight beam

The flashlight on the iPhone is getting a big overhaul. While you’ve long been able to adjust the intensity of the flashlight, iOS 18 now lets you adjust the width of the beam of light as well, if you have a compatible model. You can set the beam to wide to cover a larger area with less light, or narrow to use more intense light over a smaller area, and everywhere in between. It’s a fun feature to play around with to illuminate people in photos.

To use the new feature, turn on the flashlight (using the lock screen or Control Center) and a new UI will appear on the dynamic island. You can change the light intensity by swiping up and down, but to change the beam width you need to swipe left and right. If you tap anywhere on the dynamic island, you can turn the flashlight on and off.

Note: This feature only works on iPhone models with a dynamic island, including iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max, iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Transcribe voice notes and make them searchable

Voice Memos is incredibly handy for capturing ideas or song snippets, but they’ve always been obfuscated. You can give them a descriptive title, but that won’t help you when you want to find a note you recorded that contains the word “porcupine.” However, with iOS 18, the app can create transcriptions of voice memos and search for words that were previously only available as sound waves.

In the Voice Memos app, tap one of the notes to display its controls, then tap Edit recording button that looks like a wave. Or tap the three-dot button on the right side of the note and select Edit recording.

Then tap Transcribe button to create a transcription (or view the text if it has already been transcribed). Tap Done.

Now, when you use the search box, the app searches through transcripts in addition to titles to find results. Text is also available throughout iOS—when you search from the home screen, you’ll see Voice Memos as a category with notes that contain your search term (you may need to tap Show more results to reveal it).

Hide app labels for a cleaner home screen

Is your home screen a little too cluttered? If so, this new feature can help. Now with iOS 18, you can get rid of the app labels, or app names, that you see under every app icon on your home screen. If you can recognize an app by its icon alone, who needs a label?

On the home screen, press and hold any empty space until you enter vibrate mode, then press Edit > Customize. A menu will appear at the bottom of the screen, select Big option that will slightly enlarge app icons and remove their labels.

Turn an app into a widget without leaving your home screen

Not every iOS app has a widget on its home screen, but if it does, you don’t have to search through the widget editing page to find one. If you’re using iOS 18 and there’s an app you want to turn into a widget, you can do so very quickly right from your home screen.

In a supported app, press and hold an icon on the home screen to bring up the quick actions menu. If the app has a widget, you’ll see the app icon next to the various widget icons (up to three). Click on any widget icon to change the application to a widget. If you want to go back to the app from the widget, go to the quick actions menu and click the app icon on the left.

Secretly Identify Songs with the Action Button

It’s definitely satisfying when someone asks, “What’s that song?” to be able to activate music recognition on your iPhone and get an answer quickly. But to get an answer, you have to very specifically ask Siri to launch Shazam or activate music recognition in Control Center. Wouldn’t it be cool to let your friends think you’ve been blessed with an encyclopedic knowledge of pop music?

In iOS 18, you can get closer to it by pressing the action button (currently only available on iPhone 15 Pro models). Go to Settings > Action Button and slide your finger through the options until you get to the desired position Recognize the music is selected.

For this to work, all you need to do is press and hold the action button for a few seconds. Shazam appears on a dynamic island to listen to what’s playing and identify the song. If you’re crafty about activating Shazam and glancing at your phone, no one needs to know you’ve got help from a cloud supercomputer.