The newly released iOS 18 has a plethora of new features to offer. However, there are also numerous features that it doesn’t include initially, and these are set to arrive in the future. Apple Intelligence, the enhanced Siri, Apple Mail upgrades, and much more won’t be accessible on your iPhone until subsequent updates. Here’s a rundown of everything that’s coming in iOS 18.1 or later.
Apple Intelligence features are arguably the highlight of iOS 18. But the initial AI features aren’t present in the freshly released iOS 18.0. Instead, they’ll be introduced next month as part of iOS 18.1. With a compatible device (such as the iPhone 16, 16 Pro, or 15 Pro), you’ll be able to: receive AI notification summaries, remove unwanted objects from Photos, have AI proofread or rewrite text for you, generate custom Memory movies, and enjoy Siri upgrades, among other things. This is just the beginning, with additional Apple Intelligence features set to arrive in iOS 18.2 in December and iOS 18.3 or 18.4 in the spring.
A crucial aspect of Apple Intelligence is the new and enhanced Siri. If you purchase an iPhone 16 today running iOS 18, it will have the same old Siri as before. However, when iOS 18.1 is released next month, Siri will gain a new glowing design, a useful typing interface, a better understanding of requests and context, and more. Further enhancements will be introduced throughout the rest of the year, including integration with ChatGPT. Then, in 2025, Siri will continue to improve with powerful in-app and cross-app actions, on-screen awareness, and more.
iOS 18 brings significant changes to the Apple Mail app, but not all at once. The initial Mail updates will arrive in iOS 18.1 with features like AI summaries, priority messages, and Smart Reply. Even more substantial changes are on the horizon in the iOS 18.2 update in December. By the end of the year, Mail will be able to automatically sort emails into different categories like Transactions, Promotions, and Updates. Your inbox will also prioritize unread messages and group messages from the same sender together.
Later this year, your emoji options will be virtually limitless. Not only will Apple be adding new built-in emoji, likely in iOS 18.2, but Genmoji will also come to all Apple Intelligence-compatible devices. Once it does, you’ll be able to describe the emoji you need, and AI will generate it for you instantly.
The Home app is set to gain support for robot vacuum cleaners later this year, allowing you to control your Roomba directly from the Apple app. There will also be support for viewing electricity usage right within Home. Additionally, iOS 18.0 technically enables ultra wideband door locks, but currently, there are no such products available. Hopefully, this will be rectified in the near future.
If you own a Mac, iPhone Mirroring offers a great new way to interact with your phone on your Mac. macOS Sequoia and iOS 18 make this feature possible, but it will be enhanced with a new ability later this year. After a future update, you’ll be able to drag and drop files and photos between your Mac and your mirrored iPhone. This feature seems poised to become the fastest way to transfer data.
iOS 18 is a solid release, but it’s only going to get better in the months ahead. There’s a lot to explore and enjoy in the current 18.0 release, but starting with iOS 18.1 next month and the introduction of the first Apple Intelligence features, there’s even more to look forward to.
So, what new features are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments.
