The iOS 18 launch date is rapidly approaching however is your iPhone suitable? Listed below are the eligible units and new options

Sooner or later from now, Apple will kick off its It’s Glowtime event (you can watch it here) the place it will announce the brand new iPhone 16 lineup. These telephones may have iOS 18 already put in, so you will not need to improve at buy — here is when the iPhone 16 models are expected to hit stores. Nevertheless, if you happen to’re not getting one of many new iPhones, you might discover that your older telephone’s working system is not supported by Apple.

Usually every year, some older iPhone fashions are faraway from Apple’s iOS eligibility record. Final 12 months, as an illustration, the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X have been left off the compatibility record. That meant these iPhone house owners could not replace to iOS 17 and missed out on some notable features.

We’ll enable you to discover out in case your iPhone will assist iOS 18 — which is predicted to turn out to be obtainable in roughly two weeks — in addition to Apple Intelligence. Undecided what’s coming with the brand new replace? Here is a abstract of the biggest announcements from WWDC, together with an outline of iOS 18.

iPhones suitable with iOS 18

Now we have excellent news: When you had an eligible telephone final 12 months whenever you up to date to iOS 17, that system ought to nonetheless be suitable with iOS 18, according to Apple. Meaning you will not have to purchase a brand new telephone to take a look at a lot of the new software program options.

Put one other method, when you’ve got an iPhone from the 2017 model year or earlier (iPhone 8 or iPhone X), you’ll be able to’t improve to the newest iOS, however your telephone ought to proceed to work — albeit with out the newest bells and whistles.

Is your iPhone suitable with Apple Intelligence?

Whereas your older system will nonetheless be capable of assist the newest iOS, likelihood is that you simply will not get to strive the Apple Intelligence beta but. Until you will have an iPhone 15 Professional or iPhone 15 Professional Max — the top-end 2023 fashions — your iPhone isn’t eligible. It is a protected wager that the brand new iPhone 16 fashions will likely be absolutely Apple Intelligence suitable, however we’ll need to await the official particulars on the September 9 occasion.

iOS 18 new options to count on

Whereas Apple Intelligence is by far the largest replace coming with iOS 18, its options are going to be launched extra piecemeal over the next few months. And the extra superior options will not be obtainable on older iPhone fashions except for the iPhone 15 Professional sequence. However the remainder of the iOS 18 options will hit the handsets listed above. Listed below are simply among the highlights you’ll be able to count on whenever you obtain Apple’s new software program later this month.

Passwords app: Securely retailer all of your credentials in a single place, together with passwords and safety alerts which you could entry instantly within the app. (Whereas this performance at present exists in Settings, shifting it to a brand new app ought to make it simpler to find and entry.)

Improved Messages app: A brand new iMessages expertise is bringing the choice to daring, italicize, underline and strikethrough your textual content. You will additionally be capable of add animations to your textual content messages. The replace can be bringing RCS to iPhones to better support Android compatibility.

An organized pictures library: The Photos app is getting a redesign, which lets you create and pin your individual collections within the app — suppose “marriage ceremony pictures” or “journey to Aruba.” It removes the present tabbed backside and leans right into a grid format. The up to date carousel view that was touted at WWDC was removed during the beta process.

Customized residence display format: You will lastly get the choice to rearrange your apps — as an illustration, you’ll be able to go away the center area open to show your house display picture, and as a substitute have your apps alone the border of the display. You can even change the looks of the apps by tinting them with any coloration, in addition to making the apps bigger.

There are many different tweaks and enhancements to keystone apps like Maps, Calendar, Safari and extra. Take a look at Cherlynn Low’s selections for the best hidden features of iOS 18 and its sibling Apple working system updates, primarily based on the betas launched earlier this 12 months.

Is there an iOS 18 beta?

There may be, and you’ll download it now — as long as you are prepared to dwell with the glitches and challenges of beta software program. If you have not already downloaded it at this level, we might counsel simply ready for the true deal to be launched in only a few days.