The release introduces a variety of new customization options, the most significant redesign of the Photos app to date, powerful updates for staying connected, and Apple Intelligence, the personal intelligence system.

Apple today previewed a major release that features more customization options, the biggest redesign ever of the Photos app, new ways for users to manage their inbox in Mail, Messages over satellite, and much more.

Users will be able to arrange apps and widgets in any open space on the Home Screen, customize the buttons at the bottom of the Lock Screen, and quickly access more controls in Control Center.

Photo libraries are automatically organized in a new single view in Photos, and helpful new collections keep favorites easily accessible.

Mail simplifies the inbox by sorting email into categories using on-device intelligence, and all-new text effects come to iMessage.

Powered by the same groundbreaking technology as existing iPhone satellite capabilities, users can now communicate over satellite in the Messages app when a cellular or Wi-Fi connection isn’t available.

iOS 18 also introduces Apple Intelligence, the personal intelligence system for iPhone, iPad, and Mac that combines the power of generative models with personal context to deliver intelligence that’s incredibly useful and relevant.

Built with privacy from the ground up, Apple Intelligence is deeply integrated into iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia.

It harnesses the power of Apple silicon to understand and create language and images, take action across apps, and draw from personal context to simplify and accelerate everyday tasks.

“We are thrilled to introduce iOS 18.

It is a huge release with incredible features, including new levels of customization and capability, a redesigned Photos app, and powerful ways to stay connected with Messages.

There are so many benefits for everyone,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering.

“This release also marks the beginning of a tremendously exciting new era of personal intelligence with Apple Intelligence delivering intuitive, powerful, and instantly useful experiences that will transform the iPhone experience, all with privacy at the core.

We can’t wait for users to experience it.

”iPhone users have new ways to customize the Home Screen, Lock Screen, and Control Center.

Users can now arrange apps and widgets in any open space on the Home Screen, including placing them right above the dock for easy access or perfectly framing a wallpaper.

App icons and widgets can take on a new look with a dark or tinted effect, and users can make them appear larger to create the experience that is perfect for them.

Control Center has been redesigned to provide easier access to many of the things users do every day, and it gets new levels of customization and flexibility.

The redesign delivers quick access to new groups of a user’s most-utilized controls, such as media playback, Home controls, and connectivity, as well as the ability to easily swipe between each.

Users can now add controls from supported third-party apps into Control Center to quickly unlock a vehicle or jump right into capturing content for social media—all from one place.

The new controls gallery displays the full set of available options, and users can customize how the controls are laid out, including adjusting them to the ideal size and creating entirely new groups.

For the first time, users can now switch the controls at the bottom of the Lock Screen, including choosing from options available in the controls gallery or removing them entirely.

With the Action button available on iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, users can quickly invoke controls available in the gallery.

Photos receives its biggest-ever redesign to help users easily find and relive special moments.

A simplified, single view displays a familiar grid, and new collections help users browse by themes without having to organize content into albums.

Plus, collections can be pinned to keep favorites easily accessible.

A new carousel view presents highlights that update each day and feature favorite people, pets, places, and more.

Autoplaying content throughout the app brings libraries to life, so past moments can be enjoyed while browsing.

Because each user’s photo library is unique, the app is customizable, so users can organize collections, pin collections to access frequently, and include what’s most important to them in the carousel view.

iMessage receives all-new text effects that bring conversations to life by amplifying any letter, word, phrase, or emoji with dynamic, animated appearances.

Users can better express tone by adding formatting like bold, underline, italics, and strikethrough.

Tapbacks expand to include any emoji or sticker, and now users can compose a message and schedule to send it at a later time.

When messaging contacts who do not have an Apple device, the Messages app now supports RCS for richer media and more reliable group messaging compared to SMS and MMS.

iOS 18 introduces Messages via satellite for the times when cellular and Wi-Fi connections aren’t available.

Powered by the same groundbreaking technology as existing iPhone satellite capabilities, Messages via satellite automatically prompts users to connect to their nearest satellite right from the Messages app to send and receive texts, emoji, and Tapbacks over iMessage and SMS.

With Dynamic Island, users always know when they are connected to a satellite.

Because iMessage was built to protect user privacy, iMessages sent via satellite are end-to-end encrypted.

Later this year, Mail will introduce new ways for users to manage their inbox and stay up to date.

On-device categorization organizes and sorts incoming email into Primary for personal and time-sensitive emails, Transactions for confirmations and receipts, Updates for news and social notifications, and Promotions for marketing emails and coupons.

Mail also features a new digest view that pulls together all of the relevant emails from a business, allowing users to quickly scan for what’s important in the moment.

Safari, the world’s fastest browser, now offers an even easier way to discover information on the web with Highlights and a redesigned Reader experience.

Using machine learning, Safari can surface key information about a webpage.

For example, users can review a summary to get the gist of an article; quickly see the location of a restaurant, hotel, or landmark; or listen to an artist’s track right from an article about the song or album.

Reader has been redesigned to offer even more ways to enjoy articles without distraction, with a summary and table of contents included for longer articles.

Building on the foundation of Keychain, which was first introduced more than 25 years ago, the new Passwords app makes it easy for users to access their passwords, passkeys, Wi-Fi passwords, and verification codes.

The app also includes alerts for users regarding common weaknesses, such as passwords that are easily guessed or used multiple times and those that appear in known data leaks.

iOS 18 gives users even more control with tools to manage who can see their apps, how contacts are shared, and how their iPhone connects to accessories.

Locked and hidden apps offer users peace of mind that information they want to keep private, such as app notifications and content, will not inadvertently be seen by others.

Users can now lock an app; and for additional privacy, they can hide an app, moving it to a locked, hidden apps folder.

When an app is locked or hidden, content like messages or emails inside the app are hidden from search, notifications, and other places across the system.

iOS 18 puts users in control by letting them choose to share only specific contacts with an app.

In addition, developers now have a way to seamlessly connect third-party accessories with iPhone without letting an app see all the other devices on a user’s network, keeping a user’s devices private and making pairing seamless.

Deeply integrated into iOS 18 and built with privacy from the ground up, Apple Intelligence unlocks new ways for users to enhance their writing and communicate more effectively.

With brand-new systemwide Writing Tools built into iOS 18, users can rewrite, proofread, and summarize text nearly everywhere they write, including Mail, Notes, Pages, and third-party apps.

New image capabilities make communication and self-expression even more fun.

With Image Playground, users can create playful images in seconds, choosing from three styles: Animation, Illustration, or Sketch.

Image Playground is easy to use, built right into apps like Messages, and also available in a dedicated app.

Memories in Photos lets users create the stories they want to see just by typing a description.

Apple Intelligence will pick out the best photos and videos based on the description, craft a storyline with chapters based on themes identified from the photos, and arrange them into a movie with its own narrative arc.

In addition, a new Clean Up tool can identify and remove distracting objects in the background of a photo—without accidentally altering the subject.

With the power of Apple Intelligence, Siri takes a major step forward, becoming even more natural, contextually relevant, and personal.

Users can type to Siri, and switch between text and voice to communicate with Siri in whatever way feels right for the moment.

With Private Cloud Compute, Apple sets a new standard for privacy in AI, with the ability to flex and scale computational capacity between on-device processing, and larger, server-based models that run on dedicated Apple silicon servers.

When requests are routed to Private Cloud Compute, data is not stored or made accessible to Apple and is only used to fulfill the user’s requests, and independent experts can verify this privacy.

Additionally, access to ChatGPT is integrated into Siri and systemwide Writing Tools across Apple’s platforms, allowing users to access its expertise—as well as its image-and document-understanding capabilities—without needing to jump between tools.

The developer beta of iOS 18 is available through the Apple Developer Program starting today, and a public beta will be available through the Apple Beta Software Program next month.

iOS 18 will be available this fall as a free software update for iPhone Xs and later.

Apple Intelligence will be available in beta on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPad and Mac with M1 and later, with Siri and device language set to U.

S.

English, as part of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Se