iOS is Apple’s operating system for the iPhone and iPad. It’s also the basis for tvOS for the Apple TV and watchOS for the Apple Watch. It’s even beginning to infiltrate the Mac in some ways. Apple has worked hard to keep iOS private and secure, and it has a huge ecosystem of apps via its official App Store. Some have argued that it is too locked down, but the trade-off is that it’s fast and stable for most users.
Along with Apple Intelligence, the new iOS 18.1 and macOS 15.1 betas introduce a handy new way to transfer files when mirroring your iPhone, as spotted by 9to5Mac. Apple previously said the drag-and-drop capability would arrive later this year.
It’s one of a few new features in the fifth iOS 18.1 developer beta, reports MacRumors. You’ll also be able to reset your Control Center layout if you don’t like your customizations.
Another nice change: the ability to get to the selfie camera from the Camera Control button.
Update: Noted the new Camera Control feature.
It lets people who are deaf or hard of hearing feel music through tactile feedback by playing haptic tracks alongside known music when on Wi-Fi or cellular data, which is already supported in Apple Music and Apple Music Classical.
It can also make your iPhone sound like an Atari game.
Mark Gurman writes in his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg that Apple is “racing” to complete the second set of Apple Intelligence features it plans to release this year, lining up Genmoji, ChatGPT, and Image Playground for a December launch with iOS 18.2.
Meanwhile, some Siri updates could launch sooner than previously rumored with 18.3, but the “biggest” update is apparently iOS 18.4, which could arrive in March.
The device already supports spatial video, but the latest iOS 18.1 developer beta brings spatial photos to the iPhone 15 Pro too. This allows for a more immersive experience when viewing photos on Apple’s Vision Pro headset.
The iPhone 16 will also come with support for spatial photos and videos when it launches later this week.
Our own Parker Ortolani whipped up a couple of nice iOS 18-friendly icons, so all you need to do is download one and use it with a Shortcut that points to your very favorite tech website. Looks great on my homescreen!
“Tap to Provision,” a coming-soon iOS 18 feature that uses NFC to speed up adding cards to your Apple Wallet, has returned after briefly being disabled, writes X user Aaron Perris.
It seems to work for me, so if, like 9to5Mac’s Abner Li, you had trouble with the feature in the iOS 18 beta, perhaps it’s worth another shot now.
The tool, “Repair Assistant,” will be able to configure things like batteries cameras, and displays, MacRumors reports.
Apple announced earlier this year that it would open the iPhone to repairs with used genuine parts.
Apple published a giant PDF document that’s just a simple list, with brief descriptions, of all the new features coming to iOS 18 over the next several months.
As MacRumors notes, it’s more than 250 items long, so dig in, nerds — I know I will.
[www.apple.com]
There won’t be any Apple Intelligence image-generating features in iOS 18.1 when it releases in October, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in today’s Power On newsletter.
But Apple plans to include its Image Playground and Genmoji features in iOS 18.2, he writes. Historically, those updates have come around mid-December, so perhaps we’ll be slinging holiday-themed “emoji” at each other soon enough.
The feature, which lets developers put live-updating info on iPhone lock screens (things like sports scores), is limited to refreshing “between 5–15 seconds” in a recent iOS 18 beta, according to an app developer who says their app could do it once a second before.
Apple told them the change was intentional, according to a post spotted by 9to5Mac.
Notification summaries powered by Apple Intelligence have expanded from Mail and Messages to all apps in iOS 18.1 developer beta 3, MacRumors reports.
If you’re on that beta, you can try Apple’s Magic Editor-like Clean Up tool, too.
The Resident Evil games on Apple’s App Store now require that you have an internet connection when you start them up, Capcom says. That’s a shame if you’re one of the reportedly few people who have bought Resident Evil 4, 7, or Village for your Apple device.
The music producer recently confirmed that he composed two ringtones for Apple: “Daybreak” and “Chalet”. The tones were released back in 2019 putting them on iOS version 13 and later. Both tones have a relaxing vibe to them that would have fit right in with Flylo’s Adult Swim bumps that rewired an entire generation’s musical tastes...or at least just mine.
[Pitchfork]
Here’s an iOS and iPadOS trick I wish I’d known years ago. Once you’re in the home screen’s wiggling edit mode hold one finger on an app and then with another finger tap the other apps you want to move with it. They’ll all be grouped together and can be collectively moved as one.
