I’ve Been Using iOS 18 for Three Months – Here Are My Favorite New Features

Ever since Apple wrapped up its WWDC 2024 keynote in early June, I’ve been thinking about iOS 18. Every year, Apple previews its annual iPhone software update at its developer conference before releasing a beta containing those changes and improvements. My usual job is to dive into that beta so I can fill the void with profiles, tutorials, and reviews of all the changes that will be hitting everyone’s iPhones this fall.

And that’s exactly what happened this year with iOS 18. Right after the keynote, I installed the iOS 18 developer beta on an iPhone to get an early look at the features Apple was announcing at WWDC. I tested the public beta in mid-July. By the time Apple was ready to release the full version of iOS 18 — which was last Monday (September 16) — I had some form of the OS update running on four different devices, including the latest beta on my iPhone 12, which I use as my everyday phone.

I want to say that I am pretty familiar with the details of this update.

You can read my thoughts on the new iPhone software in my review of iOS 18 . But if you can’t find the time you need to get through that tome — no, Tom’s Guide isn’t paying me for every word — I’ve put together this quick summary of what I like about iOS 18 and what I think needs to be polished via the updates Apple will inevitably make to its software.

So if you’re ready to download and install iOS 18 and are wondering which new iPhone features to try first, here’s a look at my biggest takeaways from the past three months spent with iOS 18.

The Biggest Change in iOS 18: Photos

iOS 18 Photos Interface

(Photo source: Future)

For the most part, when you boot up your iPhone after installing a new operating system, everything looks more or less the same, even though Apple has introduced significant new features. The same can’t be said for iOS 18’s Photos app, which is getting a significant overhaul — the biggest in the app’s history, Apple says.

The changes to the Photos app in iOS 18 are so significant that the version of the app that appears in the public release doesn’t even resemble the one in the early betas of iOS 18. Apple originally placed a carousel at the top of the Photos app; swiping left or right from the default Photo Library view would show you a collection of photos. However, around iOS 18 beta 5, Apple ditched the feature to focus on the Photo Library, apparently reflecting feedback from the beta process.

That wouldn’t be the feedback I would give. While I thought early versions of the iOS 18 Photos app could have made it more obvious that there was something on either side of your photo library if you accidentally swiped, I like that the carousel highlighted my favorite thing about Photos—discovering images I might otherwise forget about. Some of that sense of discovery is missing from the current version—or at least moved.

The basics of the new Photos app design are still in place. Launch the app and your photo library fills the top half of the screen, while other collections take up the bottom half. Swiping down takes you deeper into your photo library, while swiping up lets you explore different collections, albums, and memories.

It’s a look that takes some getting used to. I’ve been using iOS 18 for months now and I’m Still not used to that. But at least you have some say in configuring the order in which all those collections, memories, and albums appear. Just scroll to the bottom of the app and tap Customize and Change Order.

My Favorite iOS 18 Feature: Notes

iOS 18 Note with Collapsible Headers

(Photo source: Future)

The new version of Notes introduces several significant changes, but each one is better than the last. If you don’t use Apple’s built-in app to jot down ideas or organize your thoughts, iOS 18 should be the one to get you started on trying out Notes.

Math in Notes will grab the most attention because it’s flashy—you can write down a math formula and the new built-in calculator will give you the solution. To be honest, it’s hard to use this particular feature on the iPhone’s 6.1-inch screen when your primary input device is your finger—it works better with the Apple Pencil on the iPad-sized display. That said, Math in Notes also lets you type in formulas, such as a running expense report. As you change the input, Notes updates the total. It’s a really neat way to make sure your notes are up to date.

It’s the other additions to Notes that really impress me. I like the collapsible section that Apple added, because it helps me organize my notes better. And I think it’s great that you can now record an audio note directly in Notes, rather than having to link to a recording from the Voice Memos app. The automatically generated transcripts are also helpful, although not always as accurate as I’d like.

My other favorite iOS 18 feature: Fitness

iOS 18 Review

(Photo source: Future)

I’ve written elsewhere about how much I’ve been using the Fitness app since iOS 16 made it possible to track steps without having to have an Apple Watch. It really helps me get moving, although sometimes the app’s constant nagging tries to get me moving when I should be resting my body.

Much like the watchOS 11 update Apple just released, iOS 18 overhauls the Fitness app to let you pause activity streaks, so you can take a day off to recover from an injury or illness without losing your progress toward a new badge. (In fact, you can pause a streak indefinitely if you really need that extra time to recover.) What’s more, you can customize your daily fitness goals for each day of the week, keeping in mind that some days will be more intense than others.

The iOS 18 version of the Fitness app finally recognizes that we all approach exercise and movement in different ways and at different times. Of all the personalization tools Apple has added in this update — and there are many — this is the best.

My Least Favorite iOS 18 Feature: Safari’s Top Features

iOS 18 Review

(Photo source: Future)

I don’t hate Safari’s Highlights feature, which is designed to quickly pull out important information from the web pages you visit. I just don’t think it provides helpful data in its current state, and finding the feature isn’t very intuitive.

Highlights is meant to show information about places, people, movies, shows, and songs, but right now, places seem to be the most consistent thing that shows up. That information is usually the location of the place on the map and its opening hours—information that’s probably easier to find in the Maps app.

And that’s assuming you’ll even know there are Highlights to see. The little purple AI icon in the address bar is there to let you know there’s more to see here, but it’s very easy to miss.

Seriously, all of the Safari additions in iOS 18 feel like they could do with a little more development time. The most polished feature is the summaries that appear in Safari’s Reader view to give you the gist of the article you’re about to read. But by their nature, they only really scratch the surface. The Hide Distractions tool lets you get rid of distracting elements on a webpage with a simple tap, but you do it while scrolling down the page, which is just as distracting. It’s better to just look at the page in Reader if possible.

What I’d Like More of in iOS 18: Personalization

iOS 18 Public Beta Apps with Tintedicons

(Photo source: Future)

Personalization is a big theme in iOS 18. You can change the look of your home screen by placing apps wherever you want instead of in a strict grid. You can even customize the shortcut controls that appear on the lock screen, and several apps let you reorganize things to your liking.

I think this is a great step for Apple. If anything, I’d like to see the company go even further.

For example, as part of the home screen personalization tools, you can change the color of app icons. That’s great—except that everyone the icon needs to be the same shade. I’d like to be able to assign different colors to different app types, so I can get an easy visual cue as to what type of activity is on each home screen I’ve set up. But that’s not yet an option in iOS 18.

Similarly, I like the new ability to remove some interface elements from the Fitness app’s main screen. But I would also appreciate the ability to reorder sections of the summary screen, which doesn’t seem like a viable option.

What I Want to Try in iOS 18.1

Apple Intelligence logo on iPhone

(Photo source: Future)

As I noted in my review , Apple Intelligence doesn’t work in the version of iOS 18 that Apple just released, though that’s intentional. Apple plans to ship the first Apple Intelligence features in October as part of an update to iOS 18.1. If you have a phone that supports Apple Intelligence — be it one of last year’s iPhone 15 Pro models or any of the new iPhone 16 devices that hit stores this Friday (September 20) — then you’ll be able to try out the new writing tools and image-generating features.

Several Apple Intelligence features are coming in future updates. According to some reports, we could see the additions to compatible phones by 2025.

Out of necessity, I’ve been focused on the main iOS 18 update, though I’ve also been playing around with the iOS 18.1 developer beta, where you can test out the initial Apple Intelligence features. As someone with a complicated relationship with Siri, I’m most interested in seeing how the revamped digital assistant holds up in everyday use thanks to the additional smarts in Apple Intelligence. I have a slight speech impediment that’s made it difficult for me to communicate with Siri in the past, so I’m particularly interested in seeing if the claims that Siri doesn’t care if you correct yourself mid-sentence are true.

Natural language image searches also sound appealing. That should make it much easier to find things using plain language, rather than hoping I hit on the right combination of keywords to find what I’m looking for. And I can’t wait to see if Memory Movie — where you can put together a slideshow of videos and still images using just a few language prompts — can produce an engaging video.

iOS 18 Outlook

As you may have guessed from my iOS 18 review — you read it, right? — I’m pretty optimistic about the new software update, though a lot of how I ultimately feel about it will depend on how powerful these Apple Intelligence features turn out to be. With the first version of iOS 18 now available, I can roll up my sleeves and dive into iOS 18.1 to see how the rest of this software update plays out.