iOS 18 Gives You More Control Over the Home Screen, Lets You Schedule Texts

Apple today showed off the latest versions of its mobile operating systems, iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, adding some nice-to-have bells and whistles, like the option to schedule iMessages and customization options for Control Center and the Home screen.

Plus, the OS will incorporate Apple Intelligence, Cupertino's take on artificial intelligence.

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Apple has slowly been relinquishing control of its Home screen (and playing catch-up with Android), first by adding support for widgets a few years back and now by letting people abandon the organized rows of apps for a setup of their choosing. With iOS 18, you can put all your apps along the bottom row, to one side, or around the edge to frame a background photo. App icons will also support custom color tints.

The Control Center already supports limited customization but in iOS 18, it’ll let you re-arrange the icons across multiple pages and set up Control Center groups. Create one Control Center menu for your smart home devices, for example, and another for music- and video-streaming apps.

On Messages, Apple will give texters more reaction options. Tapbacks will move beyond hearts and thumbs up to support new colors and the ability to respond with any emoji or sticker. There will also be a new way to amplify certain messages with new formatting like bold and italics or special effects like vibrations and larger print.

After the rollout of Message edits with iOS 17, meanwhile, the latest version will let you schedule texts so you can save your middle-of-the-night revelations for a more appropriate hour. 

Plus, satellite messaging is coming to the Messages app, so you can text people while in remote areas. Like its emergency-focused first version, the satellite service will work on iPhone 14 and up. Apple didn't immediately say whether it will cost extra; currently it's free for a limited time.

In the Mail app, Apple will give you more organization options, like pulling all emails into a digestible format; one section for travel emails from United or shopping alerts from Amazon.

Do you have apps you want to hide from prying eyes? Apple will let you hide certain apps in a private "Hidden" folder that's only accessible via Face ID, Touch ID, or a passcode.

Also on the privacy front, iOS 18 will let you choose which contacts are shared with an app, while developers will be able to tap into an "intuitive" device-pairing option that only connects to devices you really need (just speakers and not smart thermostats, for example).

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If you use Apple Pay, iOS 18 will support Tap to Cash, which will let two people send and receive Apple Cash by holding two iPhones together (similar to the existing Contact sharing functionality).

Apple's iPadOS will also get these customization options, plus a new floating tab bar for quick app switching. The company will also bring its dedicated calculator app to the iPad for the first time.

Apple will release iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 to developers today. A public beta will follow in July before a formal rollout in the fall, likely alongside its next-gen iPhones.

As for Apple Intelligence, the suite of tools promises a smarter Siri, AI-based writing tools, and the option to ask your device to create custom emoji known as Genmoji. Apple Intelligence will be available on iOS 18, but you need an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max.