iOS 18: Not Great
I have had iOS 18 for about 2 weeks now, and I have some thoughts.
Customization: You can now make your apps look wierd. And maybe good. I love that we have more customization, but Apple tried to make the UI simple enough for everyone to understand, but that means it lacks deep customization options, and the whole thing feel lackluster and just gives enough to want way more. You can also now edit your control center, which is super nice actually. I really haven’t changed much about mine, but it makes it a lot easier to edit and you can even add additional pages to your control center. (Also circle icons on control center, which looks so much better.)
Photos: The app is confusing now. It used to just be photos, and sure it was a little difficult to access shared albums, people, and memories but they didn’t have to go this hard. The app is now cut in half, where if you swipe down you go to your library, and if you swipe up, and go into people, memories, albums, shared albums, etc. But it just sucks. I didn’t need this to be this confusing! Also, the video viewer is worse too: the photos and videos are shown in a smaller area with worse controls. So thanks Apple, you out minimalist-ed yourself this time.
Calculator: Actually super impressed. Now you can convert measurements (and currencies) within the calculator app. Also: math notes. You can just write out equations and it can pull the answers based on the variable you give it and can even make a graph for you. It works a lot better on iPad, but if you haven’t seen the Apple demo of this feature, go check it out. It’s awesome.
Other: You can schedule send messages, finally. New word effects and expanded Tapbacks in messages. Mail app should be getting an update, but hasn’t happened yet as of iOS 18 Beta 2. Apple Intelligence is coming out, but doesn’t look awesome and won’t be available to most since it’s limited to the phones with Apple’s silicon chips. The Lock Screen lets you change the 2 options on it, letting you change the quick options to be something other than flashlight and camera if you want.
Overall, I can’t lie, I was pretty disappointed in this update. Sure a lot happened, but especially with all the promises of cool and useful AI, I’m pretty disappointed. But maybe that’s just me.