iOS 18 is a smart update, even without AI

It’s a weird year for iOS.

Typically, a new version of software comes out right away. That’s not the case with iOS 18. The basics are already there, and in a normal year, things like RCS support and a redesigned Control Center would be more than enough. But iOS 18’s headline feature, Apple Intelligence, isn’t even part of that initial release, and we might not see some of its most interesting features until 2025. The iOS 18 rollout is starting now and will simply continue for the foreseeable future.

iOS 18 is an ambitious update, even without Apple Intelligence in the picture. The personalization options are top-notch, and with a little tinkering you’ll be able to personalize your iPhone like never before. It’s almost un-Apple-like.

Control Center is a good place to start. The Quick Settings panel has looked and worked largely the same for most of the past decade, but iOS 18 has given it a complete overhaul. I think it’s Apple at its best: everything you need is still there, and the feel is overwhelmingly familiar, but dig deeper and you’ll see what a huge change it is.

Controls are now organized into pages, with familiar things like connectivity and focus modes in the places you’d expect them to be on the first page. Each page is highly customizable: you choose which controls to add or remove, and decide where you want them to be and what size they should be. Things will get even more interesting as third-party apps start adding their own controls.

It took me a minute to get used to the new layout. At first, I would swipe the screen too far down and jump to the second or third page of controls. It took me about a week to retrain that muscle memory, and if you want, you can simply delete the extra pages. Personally, I hope to turn the new Control Center into a little remote for my phone and use it to limit the number of times I visit individual apps.

The next change in iOS 18 will either be a minor addition or a huge deal — there’s no in-between: the addition of RCS. I fall into the latter category, and let me tell you, it was thrill to see my first RCS messages go to my Android friends. Without any input from me, after downloading the iOS 18 beta, my messages started going back to RCS instead of SMS. It all worked surprisingly well. I can see typing and read receipts indicators, and tapbacks appear as reactions rather than a whole additional message, finally.

The real moment of truth will come when my friends finally update to iOS 18 and we can send each other photos without complicated side channels. I showed unusual restraint in not asking my iPhone-owning friends to download the beta software, but rest assured that my campaign to get them all to update to iOS 18 starts today. If you’re an iPhone owner who regularly texts someone on Android, consider doing the same. This incarnation of RCS on the iPhone won’t end the war of the blue and green bubbles, but it will ease the biggest pain points in cross-platform messaging for people on both sides.

As important as sharing precious memories with friends? The fact that iOS 18 will also let you beautify your home screen in ways never seen before. You can go full Alex Cranz on your home screen if you’re a weirdo, or just put those damn icons exactly where you want them for the first time since the iPhone was invented. Imagine that!

Apple has shown off a feature for dimming app icons in a bunch of pretty examples, but I personally haven’t been able to find a way to use them that doesn’t look too “Material Yuck.” But placing icons anywhere on the screen feels so intuitive now that I can’t believe we couldn’t do it before.

You know this is a big update when the brand new Passwords app is only the fourth coolest thing happening. It’s obvious, and after a moment’s thought, I’m convinced this is an app for your parents who refuse to learn how to use a password manager. You can save and access passwords from iOS, iPad, and macOS devices, as you might expect. But you can also share individual passwords or groups of passwords with other people, which would be useful for families and people in the same household.

The catch, of course, is that everyone has to be in the Apple ecosystem, and since I often jump between iOS and Android, it’s not something I can really use in the long run. Incidentally, using a first-party Apple password manager would also make it harder to move away from iOS in the future, which is probably not a coincidence. But if my parents were all for Apple, I’d definitely make sure they used it.

One feature I know I’ll be using for a long time? Transcription in voice memos. This may be something for my fellow journalists, but friends, this is Good. I’ve used Pixel phones to record and transcribe interviews for years, and the Pixel has largely remained the undisputed best tool for the job. With iOS 18, Voice Memos will finally transcribe your recordings, either in real time or after the fact, and it’s comparable to the Pixel Recorder app in terms of quality. It may not be a feature for the masses, but if you know, you know.

The new Control Center and more customizable app grid don’t look like much on paper. And many people will probably just leave them alone, which is fine. But if you don’t mind putting in a little effort, iOS 18 will be quite satisfying — no AI required.

Still, AI is the biggest missing piece here. I got to see some of it in early betas: a shiny new Siri will make you say “Oh” out loud the first time you use it, and the first iteration of Apple Intelligence will offer email summaries, notification summaries, and writing tools. I haven’t been really thrilled with them yet, but the big stuff—or so we’re told over and over again—is still to come. Siri will gain contextual awareness and the ability to actually do things for you, which is potentially a big deal. All of that will come in a later update; until then, you’ll mostly be stuck with the same old assistant.

For now, Apple Intelligence is slowly coming into focus. But even without the big AI features, iOS 18 is off to a good start. Apple just needs to finish it off.