iOS 18 confirmed: big upgrades are coming to Mail, Messages, Photos and more

Apple has officially announced iOS 18, the next version of its iPhone operating system, at WWDC 2024 (you can follow all the announcements as they happen at our WWDC 2024 live blog). 

The huge software update will bring significant upgrades to core iPhone apps including Mail, Messages, Photos and Wallet later this year, with many of these upgrades coming courtesy of Apple’s improved on-device processing. 

Mail, for instance, will soon be capable of categorizing your emails and providing easy-to-read digests, while the Photos app is being unified into a single view comprising a photo grid and a dates grid. You’ll be able to filter photos by categories like screenshots and groups, and your iPhone will predict the photos you want to view when you open up the app.

iOS 18 will soon let you react to messages using any emoji in the Messages app, and you’ll be able to schedule messages to send at a convenient time in the future. Apple is also adding new text formatting, so you’ll be able to underline, strikethrough and bold your messages, as well as add new text formatting, like ripple effects.

For the first time, iOS 18 will also grant users the ability to rearrange app icons and widgets. You’ll be able to position apps at the bottom or side of the screen, freeing up space for the wallpaper behind them. You’ll also be able to trigger a new dark mode for app icons in iOS 18, as well as add color tints.

Control Center is also being upgraded in iOS 18. You’ll soon be able to separate the Control Center into distinct function groups, like Media and Home, resize Control Center widgets, and edit which Control Center widgets appear on the Lock Screen.

Wallet is being upgraded with a new ‘tap to cash’ feature, which should help make paying friends easier, while iOS 18 will also introduce optional Face ID authentication for all iPhone apps – not just Notes and banking apps.