On Monday, Apple released a new version of iOS, the operating system for its iPhones. iOS 18 is free to download and works on iPhone XR and XS and later, and second- and third-generation iPhone SE. That means if your iPhone supports iOS 17, you can install iOS 18 on it.
When Apple announced iOS 18 at its annual developer conference WWDC, the company spent a lot of time talking about Apple Intelligence, the umbrella term Apple is using for all of its upcoming generative AI-related features.
However, Apple Intelligence is not part of iOS 18.0. The first AI features will be available in iOS 18.1 as a beta in the US later this fall, starting with the ability to rewrite, proofread, and summarize longer pieces of text. Apple Intelligence will also generate notification summaries and will have photo cleanup tools.
Genmoji, native integration with OpenAI's ChatGPT, and AI-generated images will not be included in iOS 18.1 – they will be released in a future .x release (18.2, 18.3, etc.).
Even without Apple Intelligence, iOS 18 includes some interesting quality of life updates, including new Home screen customization with darker icons, a modular Control Center, and updates to a ton of apps.
Highlights include a completely redesigned Photos app with a focus on past memories, the ability to generate live transcriptions in Voice Memos and the Notes app, a new Passwords app, and more.
How to Update iPhone to iOS 18
The update is rolling out now and is available in the Settings app either over the air or by connecting your device to a computer for a wired update, the latter option being useful if you don't have much storage space on your phone as the update doesn't require as much free space.
But make sure you back up your device first: Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad, tap Account Info at the top, then tap your device name and make sure your iCloud backup is up to date. You can also connect your iOS device to your computer and back it up manually in Finder or iTunes on Windows.
If you back up to a computer, don't forget to encrypt your backup. Encrypted backups help protect your stored passwords, health data, and more, so they're much safer even if someone hacks your computer. This way, if you need to recover from a backup, you won't have to reconnect to all your online accounts.
To perform the update, go to the Settings app, then General, then Software Update, and you'll see an “Update requested…” message. The download will begin automatically when it's available.
While it downloads, you can read TechCrunch's Ivan Mehta's review of the biggest changes in iOS 18, which lists everything you can expect from the update, as well as what you shouldn't expect. (Note: Users in the European Union may see slight differences in features available to them compared to users in other regions due to local regulations.)