Get your iPhone ready: Apple’s new software update iOS 18 will be released later Monday.
The updated version of Apple’s mobile operating system is packed with new features and improvements.
All in all, the update should give you more options than ever to customize your iPhone’s home screen and settings.
As usual, it will be available as a free download that you can install from the web. Here’s when you can get iOS 18, including the expected release time in the UK and around the world.
We know iOS 18 will be available for iPhones today, but when can you get it?
With iOS 18 you can personalize your iPhone’s home screen with new app colors
Apple
Since there is no official release date, we can try to estimate the expected release date based on Apple’s previous release schedules.
If history is anything to go by, iOS 18 will launch worldwide today at the following times:
- 6pm in the UK
- 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time / 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time
- 19:00 in most parts of Europe
- 10:30 p.m. in India
- 1:00 a.m. (September 17) in China and Singapore.
Apple hasn’t confirmed exactly when iOS 18 will be released, so we recommend keeping an eye on your iPhone’s settings if you want to get it right away.
What about Apple Intelligence?
Apple Intelligence is a completely new AI-powered system that runs on all platforms (Apple)
The main feature Apple has been touting for iOS 18 is a powerful new suite of generative AI tools, dubbed Apple Intelligence. These new tools can create weird and wonderful emojis on the fly, summarize and rewrite emails, prioritize notifications, and delete people and objects from photos.
There’s just one problem: Apple Intelligence won’t be available when iOS 18 launches today. Instead, the new features will be gradually rolled out as part of future updates in the coming weeks and months, starting with iOS 18.1 in October.
The emoji generation (or Genmoji, as Apple calls them) may not arrive until iOS 18.2 in December. And you may have to wait until next spring to get the new and improved Siri, which offers better natural language skills (and thus gets closer to ChatGPT).
The iPhone 16’s new Visual Intelligence feature, which turns the phone’s camera into a visual search engine, is one of several AI features that won’t be available at launch.
Apple
Still, there are plenty of other non-AI-based iOS 18 features that make downloading the update worthwhile. Here’s what you can expect:
Icon and home screen customization
- Ability to color app icons with a single color to match your home screen or preferred color tone.
- Option to automatically switch icons to a dark appearance in dark mode.
- Place apps and widgets anywhere on your home screen, not just in rigid grids.
Redesigned control center
- Swipe through the different pages of controls, including main, smart home, and media playback.
- Third-party apps can create custom controls in a new controls gallery.
- Rearrange the layout and resize the control icons.
- Replace the camera and flashlight icons on the lock screen with custom controls.
Customizing the lock screen
- Replace the flashlight/camera icons below with other app icons or controls.
- Lock apps behind Face ID to protect your privacy when you share the phone with others.
- Schedule messages to be sent at a later time.
- React with any emoji via Tapbacks.
- Text formatting including bold, italics and underline.
- Animated text effects.
- Send encrypted messages via satellite when there is no cellular signal.
- Single view grid with recent photos at the top.
- Automatic organization into collections such as Travel, People and Pets.
- New carousel view with featured/favorite photos.
- Filter screenshots and view them by month/year.
- Tap to get cash in the Wallet app for payments between friends and family.
- Game mode for higher frame rates and improved AirPods sound on iPhone.
Which iPhones support iOS 18?
The iPhone 16 will ship with iOS 18 pre-installed when it is released on September 20.
Apple
Apple has confirmed that iOS 18 can be downloaded on the following iPhone models:
- iPhone15
- iPhone 15 Plus
- iPhone 15 Pro
- iPhone 15 Pro Max
- iPhone14
- iPhone 14
- iPhone 14 Pro
- iPhone 14 Pro Max
- iPhone13
- iPhone 13 mini
- iPhone 13 Pro
- iPhone 13 Pro Max
- iPhone12
- iPhone 12 mini
- iPhone 12 Pro
- iPhone 12 Pro Max
- iPhone11
- iPhone 11 Pro
- iPhone 11 Pro Max
- iPhone8
- iPhone XS Max
- iPhone XR
- iPhone SE (second generation or later).
In addition to iOS 18, Apple also announced that new software updates for iPad, Macs and Apple Watch devices will be released today (September 16).
iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia and watchOS 11 should all be available at the same time (6pm in the UK).
This represents a departure from Apple’s usual practice, as in recent years software updates for the Mac have typically been released a week after updates for the iPhone and iPad.
