With a wealth of new features and functions arriving with iOS 18 later this year, you might be able to retire some of the apps and services you currently rely on – and perhaps save some money, too. As is often the case with Apple's software updates, the next iPhone upgrade is going to plug some of the gaps currently being filled by third-party developers.

Of course, there are reasons to stick with these third-party options as well – they'll often give you more flexibility and more in the way of advanced features, and perhaps you don't want to have Apple in charge of everything you're doing on your phone. On the other hand, if you ditch everything we've listed below, you could save up to $58 / £50 / AU$85 every single month.

These are the most significant apps and services that have had their key features added to iOS 18. You could say Apple has Sherlocked them – a term widely used whenever Apple's software copies a third-party app, in honor of the old Sherlock file search tool on macOS that eventually duplicated the features in an independent program called Watson.

However you interpret iOS 18's upgrades, here are the apps that it could soon take off your hands (and bank statements)...

1. LastPass (and other password apps)

iOS, iPadOS and macOS have been able to manage passwords and other information for a while now, and keep it securely synced between devices. But iOS 18 is going to bring with it its own standalone password manager – and that might mean you can do without the likes of LastPass, 1Password, or whatever it is you happen to be using right now.

Passwords, passkeys, and codes can all be handled by iOS 18, and you're going to be able to easily share these logins as well. Interestingly, Apple Passwords will work with third-party web browsers like Chrome and Edge too, via an extension called iCloud Extension. 

There is one main reason why you might still want to carry on paying $3 / £2.60 / AU$4.50 a month to LastPass though: you regularly use devices that aren't made by Apple (and it's worth noting LastPass is free for a single device, too).

2. Grammarly

One of the main tricks you'll be able to do with Apple Intelligence – the new Apple AI being baked into iOS 18 – is getting it to run an eye over text that you've written for spelling and grammar mistakes, whether it's in a web form, an email, a text, or anything else. You can even ask for your text to be rewritten to change the text's tone or succinctness.

All of this is very much in the wheelhouse of Grammarly, which offers AI-powered text checking and rewriting in your web browser and across all of your various devices. While there is quite a lot you can do with Grammarly for free, much of the AI-enabled magic requires a subscription, and that starts from $12 / £10 (about AU$18) per month.

3. Otter AI

Otter is one of the most well-known and feature-packed voice transcription apps out there, and it uses some advanced AI modeling to turn spoken audio into written text with a high degree of accuracy. If you need transcripts of meetings, interviews, or anything else, then Otter usually does a fine job of producing them, and at a decent speed, too.

However, you can only work with 30-minute files and up to 300 minutes of audio per month – after that you're paying from $10 (about £8 / AU$15 per month). iOS 18, meanwhile, will record, transcribe, and summarize as much audio as you like through the Notes app – which may mean a lot of Otter users decide to make the switch.

4. TapeACall

If you need a call recording, TapeACall does the job for you for $10.99 / AU$17.99 (it's free right now in the UK), and is packed with features: text transcriptions, cloud syncing, conference call recording and more. However, it doesn't work natively on your phone, instead setting up a group call with your contacts and TapeACall to do the recording.

What's more, you only get a limited number of minutes of recording with the up-front price of the app, with more available through a subscription. With that in mind, you might well want to consider jumping over to the built-in call recording features coming with iOS 18, which are built right into the Phone app and also offer automatic text transcription as well.

5. ChatGPT Plus

What with OpenAI adding so much functionality to the free tier of ChatGPT recently, you might have already been weighing up how much value for money you were getting from your ChatGPT Plus subscription. But now that Siri is getting ChatGPT features as well, you've got another reason to stop paying every month for your AI chatbot access.

We're not talking about Apple's own LLM (Large Language Model) and AI chatbot here (though that might come later): we're talking about the very same artificial intelligence text responses that are currently offered by ChatGPT Plus, available through Siri, thanks to Apple's deal with OpenAI. You could save your $20 (about £16 / AU$30) each month.

6. Bullitt Satellite Messenger

Since the iPhone 14 launched in 2022, iOS users have been able to lock on to a passing satellite to send an emergency SOS message if they're in trouble and in an area without cellular network coverage. With iOS 18, any text can be sent via satellite if needed – so you can always stay in touch with friends and family, wherever you happen to be.

So far, Apple hasn't said anything about this feature costing any money (it has made noises about emergency SOS satellite communication becoming a paid-for feature, but it's free for now). That means you might no longer need the plans offered by Bullitt Satellite Messenger, which start at $9.99 / £9.99 (about AU$15) for 80 texts per month.

7. AllTrails

Another improvement iOS 18 is bringing is in the Apple Maps app, where you'll be able to browse through thousands of different hiking trails, across all 63 National Parks in the United States. There are filters for length, elevation, and route type, so you can find something perfect for you – and you can set up your own custom trails as well if needed.

These improvements might have you thinking twice about renewing your AllTrails Plus subscription (in the US at least), which costs $35.99 / £35.99 / AU$35.99 every year. Admittedly that covers a lot more trails and a lot more parts of the world than Apple's offering, but you could find Apple Maps covers everything you need – and it'll no doubt expand over time as well.

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Apple Pay is getting the ability to give users a way to access installment payment loan services and view and redeem rewards when making a purchase online in iPhone and iPad apps. 

Many websites support the ability to make payments with Apple Pay, with it being very easy to pay via an iPhone – tapping on an Apple Pay option will trigger the native Apple Pay interface letting payments be charged to the selected or default credit or debit card and approved via a double-click of the home button and Face ID. But they offer only cash transactions rather than allow more options, such as paying in installments. 

Announced at WWDC 2024, the tweaked Apple Pay means users will be served up the option to now pay in installments and select other ‘Pay Later’ options within apps and browsers; that’s providing they are using an Apple Pay-enabled bank and are within supported markets. 

The same is true when it comes to redeeming rewards, as I’ll let Apple explain: “The ability to redeem rewards for a purchase with Apple Pay will be available beginning in the US with Discover and Synchrony, and across Apple Pay issuers with Fiserv. The ability to access installments from credit and debit cards with Apple Pay will roll out starting in Australia with ANZ; in Spain with CaixaBank; in the UK with HSBC and Monzo; and in the US with Citi, Synchrony, and issuers with Fiserv. Users in the US will also be able to apply for loans directly through Affirm when they check out with Apple Pay.” 

There's also the new ability to use Apple Pay in any third-party web browser and computer by simply scanning a code with an iPhone and then using Apple Pay to securely complete the transaction.

All this expands the capabilities of Apple Pay, but also arguably makes it almost too easy to indulge in impulse purchases – buying things with but a few taps can make it trivially easy to jump on a sudden bargain without necessarily really thinking it through if you need the thing that caught your eye.

Tap, tap and away  

A less eye-brow raising pair of new Apple Pay and payment-related features come in the form of Tap to Provision and Tap to Cash.

The former lets you add eligible credit or debit cards to Apple Wallet by simply tapping your card to the back of their iPhone, which seems a lot slicker than trying to awkwardly frame a card in the Camera app's viewfinder or manually input a load of card details. 

The second, Tap to Cash, lets users send and receive money held on an Apple Cash digital card by holding two iPhones together – all without having to share phone numbers.

“For example, Tap to Cash can be used to pay someone back at dinner or buy something at a garage sale,” explained Apple. 

As a fan of Apple Pay and its blend of easy use and security, I’m happy to see the folks at Cupertino expand out their payment services. But I do need to be aware that just because something is easier to buy, it doesn't mean I have to get it. 

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One of the more intriguing aspects of Apple Intelligence (Apple’s suite of AI tools) is Image Playground – a feature that lets you use a prompt to generate images. We’ve of course seen similar tools from many other companies, such as Midjourney and DALL-E, but having this baked into iOS 18 could make it a lot more useful, and we now have a clearer idea of how it works.

We knew already that Image Playground would provide you with suggested prompts (though you can also create your own prompt), and while Image Playground isn’t yet active in the available iOS 18 beta, MacRumors contributor Steve Moser has found some details about the suggested prompts it offers.

For one thing, these suggestions will be personalized. So for example you might be presented with a suggestion based on something that you’re messaging a friend about.

From forests to fantasy

The possible suggestions fall into various different categories too, and Moser has found a large number of suggestions that might be offered.

For example, under the category of ‘Nature and Environments’ you could get a prompt suggestion of mountains, a desert, a forest, a starry night, or a waterfall, among others. For ‘Themes’ there’s adventure, birthday, graduation, fantasy, love, and more. ‘Beverages and Foods’ include a champagne glass, coffee, and tea, and there are also suggestions covering ‘Items and Accessories’, ‘Places’, ‘Seasons’, and ‘Costumes and Characters’.

You can see the complete list of the suggestions that Moser has found over at MacRumors, but note that there are probably more than this, since certain suggestions in Apple’s marketing materials haven’t been found in the beta. And this being a beta, it’s likely that the complete list of suggestions will be different (and probably larger) by the time Image Playground launches anyway.

These suggestions could appear when you’re using an app that Image Playground is baked into, such as Messages or Notes, but there will also be a standalone Image Playground app you can then share images from to other apps and social media.

Beyond the categories of suggestion above or simply entering your own prompt, we know from Apple’s marketing materials that Image Playground can also be used to create cartoon-like pictures of contact images or people from your photo library, and that you can choose between three styles when generating images – ‘Animation’, ‘Illustration’, and ‘Sketch.’

So Image Playground looks set to be a powerful and versatile image-generation tool, and it’s powered on-device, so you don’t need an internet connection – though as a result it will also require an iPhone 15 Pro, an iPhone 15 Pro Max, or an iPad or Mac with an M1 or better chipset to use.

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We're still picking our way through all the iOS 18 announcements Apple made at WWDC 2024, and new details are continuing to emerge about the features coming our way with the software update – including two that will help with iPhone charging.

As reported by MacRumors and 9to5Mac, the upcoming iOS 18 upgrade is going to give you more control over the charging limit on your iPhone: in addition to the current 80% setting, you'll also get 85%, 90%, and 95% as options, too.

These limits help you protect the health of the phone battery, so it should retain a higher charging capacity for longer. As Apple explains, charging up to 80% can be better for the battery than charging all the way up to 100%, depending on the scenario.

The extra flexibility with this setting means you'll be able to get more time between recharges while still looking after the health of your iPhone battery. Based on the first iOS 18 developer beta though, these extra settings are only available to iPhone 15 owners.

Slow charging

Also new in iOS 18: an indication of when you've been using a charging speed that's less than the maximum supported by your iPhone. On the Battery screen in Settings, you'll see a "slow charger" message, and orange bars on the recharge graph.

As far as we can tell, this is available for all iPhone models, not just the iPhone 15. However, it's also worth mentioning that features might be both added and removed during the iOS 18 beta testing process.

iOS 18 is bringing with it a host of new features, including advanced home screen customizations, texting via satellite, the option to lock apps behind Face ID or Touch ID, and a major AI-powered upgrade for the Siri assistant.

A beta of iOS 18 is available to developers right now, with a public beta following in July. Apple hasn't said exactly when the software will roll out to everyone, but it's most likely going to be in September to coincide with the launch of the iPhone 16.

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iOS 18 delivered a deluge of headline features during Apple's WWDC 2024 announcement, from a redesigned Photos app to a rebooted Siri and Apple Intelligence for the iPhone 15 Pro series. But what were some of the smaller tricks that we're most looking forward to trying on our iPhone last this year? We've rounded them all up here.

One of the biggest themes of iOS 18 is Android-style customization, with Apple now letting us (gasp) arrange app icons and widgets at the bottom or sides of the screen. Color tints and a new dark mode for app icons are also en route, but it's the super-clean potential of removing app labels that we're particularly keen to try.

You can read about that feature, plus some other new tricks like satellite messaging and AirPods 'head gestures', in our roundup below. You can download the iOS 18 beta right now, but it's a little buggy and missing some features. Most of us will get the final version of iOS 18 in mid-September, alongside the likely launch of the iPhone 16. Until then, here are some of iOS 18's best new features to whet your appetite...

1. You can go super-minimalist by hiding app labels

• Compatibility: iPhone XS or later

iOS 18 is the biggest ever refresh of the iPhone's software design language. Home Screen customizations let you rearrange and position your apps wherever you like, just like on Android – and also hide app names. 

You can do this by choosing 'Large' app icons in the Customize menu. Previously the only way to get this kind of look was by jailbreaking your iPhone, but we're looking forward to giving our iPhones a super-minimalist look like the one above without that extra hassle.

2. Messages will let you text via satellite

• Compatibility: iPhone 14 or later

If you're out in the sticks away from cellular or Wi-Fi connectivity, iOS 18 will give you a new emergency option on the iPhone 14 or later – the ability to text someone via satellite.

This extension of Emergency SOS will let you send or receive iMessages or SMS texts using satellite, with all the usual features supported including Tapbacks and emojis. Although sending emojis might not be top of your priorities list if your car's broken down on a deserted highway.

Apple hasn't yet said if you'll need to pay to text via satellite, though Emergency SOS is still free for two years after you've bought an iPhone 14 or iPhone series model. After that, Apple will likely start charging for it, but it could be worthwhile if it helps you out of a hole in a cellular dead zone.

3. AirPlay now supports spatial audio

• Compatibility: iPhone XS or later

Tired of the new Sonos app? You might be able to sidestep it again by using AirPlay on your iPhone, which has now been upgraded with support for spatial audio (including Dolby Atmos).

That's good news for HomePod owners and also anyone who owns one of the best AirPlay speakers that also supports spatial audio. We're also looking forward to giving it a spin on our Sonos Era 300, although we haven't been able to try it out yet with the iOS 18 beta.

4. You'll be able to type questions to Siri

• Compatibility: iPhone 15 Pro or 15 Pro Max

Siri is finally getting a new look and the brain transplant it's needed for years, albeit only on the iPhone 15 Pro series. That's because the reboot is powered by Apple Intelligence. Still, one of the most useful new features is the ability to type questions to Siri, effectively turning it into a chatbot.

If you don't want to talk to Apple's assistant out loud, you can double-tap of the bottom of the screen and type in a command like asking it to set an alarm. It isn't yet clear if this is only limited to Apple's apps, but you can also quickly switch between voice and text.

5. AirPods Pro 2 owners can shake their heads to turn down calls

• Compatibility: AirPods Pro (2nd generation), iPhone XS or later

If you own a pair of AirPods Pro 2 earbuds, a neat new iOS 18 feature is 'head gestures'. For example, if you're stuck in a crowded lift and get a phone call, you can tell Siri to turn down the call by shaking your head (or, if you want to take the call, nodding instead).

Okay, it's arguably less important than the Voice Isolation and other cool free upgrades coming to the AirPods Pro 2, but it was one of the more fun features we saw during WWDC 2024. 

These so-called Siri Interactions will also extend to silently interacting with messages and more, and are powered by Apple's H2 chip – hence the restriction to the second-gen AirPods Pro.

6. You'll be able to lock and hide apps

• Compatibility: iPhone XS or later

With our iPhones now containing our entire lives, handing it over to someone can make you feel a little uneasy – particularly if you don't want them rifling through your Photos app or seeing your WhatsApp notifications.

Fortunately, iOS 18 finally brings the option of locking or hiding apps from your homescreen. Apps that you decide to lock or hide will be hidden from search and notifications, with locked ones only accessible in a hidden apps folder that can only be opened with Face ID, Touch ID or a passcode.

To enable the feature on iOS 18, you'll just need to press and hold the app, choose 'Require Face ID', and then choose either 'Require Face ID or 'Hide and Require Face ID'. 

7. Texting Android fans will get a lot better

• Compatibility: iPhone XS or later

After being strong-armed by the EU into supporting RCS messages – a standard adopted by most of the Android ecosystem – last year, Apple will finally be bringing the feature to iPhones in iOS 18.

This means that your messages to Android fans will soon get many of the benefits of iMessage, including high-res images, read receipts and more. Naturally, Apple will still be protecting its precious blue iMessage bubbles by continuing to give RCS messages green bubbles.

Still, the move still largely fixes the current problem of Android-to-iPhone text messaging, which is that your Android-owning friends get downgraded to an SMS experience, including compressed, low-quality images.

8. You can finally change your lock screen shortcuts

• Compatibility: iPhone XS or newer

How many times have you accidentally turned on your iPhone's torch light and blinded a friend, because of its unhelpfully-placed lock screen shortcut? Okay, maybe that's just us, but either way you'll be pleased to see that iOS 18 finally lets you choose different lock screen shortcuts.

You can make one of the shortcuts open any app, or also map them to other functions like switching on dark mode, turning your iPhone into an Apple TV remote, or starting Shazam to help identify a song. It's been a long time coming, but it's a small quality-of-life tweak that could change your iPhone routine.

9. The new Passwords app could help you switch to Passkeys

• Compatibility: iPhone XS or newer

As the rumors predicted, Apple has launched a new password manager app in iOS 18 – and it could be a handy new way for you to autofill passwords and verification codes across your iPhone, Mac, iPad or even your PC (when using the iCloud for Windows app). But another potential benefit is helping you move to passkeys.

Passkeys let you log into websites or accounts using Face ID or Touch ID, rather than using a vulnerable password. And as spotted by MacRumors, there's an option in the Passwords app that lets websites and apps automatically upgrade existing accounts to passkeys, saving you the hassle. 

Existing passwords apparently aren't affected, so it could be a quick-win even if you aren't yet fully sold on passkeys, which Apple started supporting a couple of years ago.

10. The Home app can now automatically unlock doors help you monitor bills

• Compatibility: iPhone XS or newer

If you've never properly dabbled with Apple's Home app, then iOS 18 is coming with a few new tricks to convince you to try.

It's a particularly good update if you have smart locks, because from iOS 18 the Home app will deliver 'guest access' to help you quickly give guests access to front doors or garages. There's also another particularly sci-fi trick; 'hands-free unlock' will instantly open supported locks when you're six feet away from them, which sounds useful if you have armfuls of shopping.

One other feature we like the look of is electricity monitoring. Unfortunately, it's only going to be available in the US with the Pacific Gas & Electric Company in California initially, but looks like the start of some potentially helpful smart home monitoring to help you save on bills.

11. Gaming on older iPhones is about to get a lot better

• Compatibility: iPhone XS or later

• Compatibility: iPhone XS or newer 

Yes, it's a feature that's been on Android phones for years, but iPhones are finally getting a dedicated Game Mode in iOS 18. 

Like the Mac version, Game Mode will minimize background activity like notifications to help your game run at the highest possible frame-rate. Apple also promises that it will "dramatically" improve responsiveness with AirPods and wireless game controllers.

You might not notice the difference on an iPhone 15 Pro, but Game Mode could definitely help older models that may otherwise hit their performance ceiling during demanding games.

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Most modern foldable phones broadly follow the same design principles as either the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 or the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5, but it seems the foldable iPhone might not. Instead, it might borrow from the Huawei Mate Xs 2.

This is according to a new investor note from Haitong International analyst Jeff Pu, seen by 9to5Mac. Pu describes the foldable iPhone as having a “wrap around foldable design”, saying it’s “similar” to the Huawei Mate Xs 2.

So what does that mean? Well, the Huawei Mate Xs 2 is a large-screen foldable, similar to the Galaxy Z Fold 5, except while Samsung’s phone has both a cover screen (for using it with a phone-like form factor) and a foldable display to use it more like a tablet, the Huawei Mate Xs 2 has just one screen.

This one screen is a large foldable display, as you can see in the images above, but it’s on the outside of the phone (rather than being hidden inside when the screen is folded). The result being that it folds down to a phone-size screen, without needing a second display.

There are potential advantages to this, with the lack of a second screen meaning fewer display components are needed. So in theory Apple could probably either make the device slimmer, or use the saved space for something else, like a bigger battery.

On the other hand, this design also means that the foldable display – which is arguably the most vulnerable part of the phone – is always exposed.

So we’d take this claim with a pinch of salt, but it would make sense for Apple to want to go with a design that’s slightly different to the norm, especially since it’s so late to join the foldable party.

Still years away

Speaking of which, in the same note Pu says to expect the foldable iPhone in 2026, and that the screen will be 7.9 inches, though these are both things they’ve claimed before, so they’re just reiterating this here.

That release timing is in line with some other leaks, though other sources have claimed that the foldable iPhone probably won’t land before 2027. So either way we’re unlikely to see it anytime soon.

In the meantime though there’s plenty of other Apple stuff on the way. The company just announced iOS 18 and Apple Intelligence at WWDC 2024, with this new software set to launch later this year, probably alongside the iPhone 16 series.

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Apple’s iPhones are finally getting a feature that the best Android phones have had for years, all thanks to the newly revealed iOS 18 – and that feature is Game Mode. 

While the Game Center in iOS provided things like cloud-synced saves and an avatar, it’s pretty limited in terms of specific in-the-moment gaming features. Comparatively, dedicated game modes found on the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S24 and OnePlus 12 can do things like mute notifications and ramp up performance to run mobile games that push on-the-go graphics rather hard. 

Revealed at WWDC 2024 – make sure to check out our WWDC 2024 live blog for the latest announcements – Game Mode in iOS 18 will ape some of the game modes found in rival Android phones, by slowing down things like background activity to enable more processing power to be piped to games. 

While the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max have access to the already powerful A17 pro chip, Game Mode should help your phone extract more power from the silicon to run demanding games like the version of Death Stranding for iOS. 

Equally, this mode could help to optimize the power of older iPhones that may struggle a little when it comes to running games on iOS 17. 

All this ties in nicely with Apple’s continued building out of Apple Arcade, and its efforts to bring demanding console games to its mobile devices. Add in the rather neat controller support that iPhones offer, notably with the PS5 DualSense controller, and iOS starts to feel like a platform that could be used for pretty serious gaming. 

Enhanced gaming audio 

Gaming on iOS is getting a boost on the audio font too, with Personalized Spatial Audio coming to the AirPods 3, AirPods Pro and AirPods Max, which brings in dynamic head tracking for games, meaning that positional sound is maintained despite any potential head-bobbing. 

And when the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max are used in conjunction with Game Mode, users get the lowest-latency wireless audio Apple has ever delivered, and voice communication in 16-bit, 48kHz audio. 

One thing to bear in mind here is that in order to make the most of these gaming audio upgrades, developers need to bake-in advanced sound design into their games using an Apple API. 

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Apple is set to reveal a whole host of features coming to iOS 18 at its WWDC 2024 later today – from an AI-enhanced Siri to a more customizable Control Center – but you might want to hold off from installing the first beta release of the software.

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who has a good track record with Apple predictions, a lot of iOS 18 features have "come in really hot", and that means the early beta versions are likely to be "especially buggy".

If Apple sticks to its usual schedule, we're going to get an iOS 18 developer beta this week (available to anyone who registers for a free Apple developer account), a full public launch in September, and a public beta (open to anyone who wants to opt in) sometime in between.

While many users will be tempted to install the beta editions as soon as possible in order to get the new iOS 18 features, it might be worth holding off for a while – especially if you're thinking of installing the software on a primary device that you rely on every day.

Catching up

Gurman has previously said that some of the AI features in iOS 18 – which will apparently be collectively branded 'Apple Intelligence' – are going to come with beta labels attached, indicating that they're not the finished products but rather works in progress.

It would be a somewhat unusual move for Apple to release features before they're finished, but the company is under pressure from OpenAI's ChatGPT and Microsoft's Copilot, and Samsung and Google have also added plenty of AI tricks to their latest phones.

In a bid to not fall further behind those competitors, Apple is rumored to have signed a deal with OpenAI to provide some kind of ChatGPT integration in iOS 18. That suggests Siri isn't quite ready to be a fully fledged chatbot, though it's unlikely that Apple will want to rely on ChatGPT forever.

All will be revealed in a few hours, and of course we're covering WWDC 2024 live here on TechRadar. It gets underway at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST (which is 3am AEST on June 11 for those in Australia) – if you want to tune in check out our guide on how to watch WWDC 2024.

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We're all set for the big Apple WWDC 2024 event happening tomorrow, June 10, and a couple of last-minute rumors have emerged around iOS 18 – hinting at a couple of the key upgrades that iPhone owners can look forward to.

These leaks both come from sources speaking to MacRumors, and the first suggests there's going to be a new security feature that'll enable you to lock individual apps behind Face ID (or Touch ID, or a passcode), in addition to the main screen lock.

This is a feature that is already available in limited form on the iPhone: You can lock individual entries in Notes, for example, while third-party apps such as WhatsApp and PayPal have also introduced the feature. This protection can also be enabled through a custom shortcut.

With iOS 18 though, the feature will be fully integrated and available for any Apple app – and quite possibly third-party apps too – at the operating system level. It's an extra safety net, should an unwelcome visitor manage to gain access to your phone.

Going dark

The second tip that MacRumors has picked up relates to dark mode on the iPhone: apparently, the dark mode that was introduced back in 2019 with iOS 13 will be extended to cover the home screen app icons.

We've previously heard about more customization options for home screens and app icons arriving with iOS 18, and this is apparently related to that. Right now, dark mode affects the home screen wallpaper on an iPhone, but not the app icons.

The leaks about changes coming with iOS 18 have turned into a downpour in recent days, with news about AI features under the name Apple Intelligence, upgrades for the built-in Mail app, new text effects inside the Messages app, and much more. It all points to this iOS upgrade being one of the biggest yet, and it should launch in full in September.

All will be revealed on Monday: we'll be covering the event live, and you can watch it live too. The main keynote, featuring all the main announcements, gets underway at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST (3am AEST on June 11 for those in Australia).

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It's Apple's WWDC 2024 event on Monday, June 10, when it'll tell us all about its upcoming software updates: and a major new leak has revealed some details of Siri's new capabilities in iOS 18, to add to numerous earlier rumors.

This comes from sources speaking to AppleInsider, who have listed a lot of the new actions Siri will be able to take. We've previously heard plenty about Siri's iOS 18 upgrade, said to involve plenty of extra AI, but this new report adds numerous details.

First there's a list of iOS apps Siri will be better able to interact with, and it's pretty much all of them: Books, Calendar, Camera, Contacts, Files, Freeform, Keynote, Mail, Magnifier, News, Notes, Photos, Reminders, Safari, Stocks, and Voice Memos, as well as the main Settings app on iOS.

When it comes to Settings, it sounds as though Siri is going to be able to dig deeper than ever before. It'll be able to open settings for display brightness, the home screens, and the app library for example, according to AppleInsider. We've also previously heard rumors that the Settings app is getting a redesign with iOS 18.

Actions and AI

AppleInsider has listed a whole host of new actions that Siri's going to be able to take care of, from opening ebooks to setting camera timers, from setting slide titles to unsubscribing from email newsletters. In Notes, it'll apparently be able to manage folders and tags, while in Photos it'll be able to organize albums and apply filters.

Siri will be able create watchlists in Stocks, lists in Reminders, and recordings in Voice Memos for example, according to the leak. It would seem Siri will get deeper hooks into all of these apps, meaning you can take care of more actions via voice control.

As for the AI-related tasks, there are plenty of these too: Siri will be able to summarize emails and email threads, generate smart replies to emails, sort emails into categories, transcribe and summarize text notes, enhance photos, summarize websites, summarize notifications, and more.

Some of these features have leaked before, but this is the most comprehensive list we've seen yet. It suggests there's a lot of news coming on June 10 when WWDC gets underway, and we'll be covering the whole event live. Here's how to watch along.

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All the signs so far point towards Apple putting AI – specifically generative AI – front and center at WWDC 2024. Its developer-centric conference will surely highlight the potential of AI in and across its myriad of products and platforms. And highlight how developers use and could use AI-based APIs to integrate an extra layer of smarts into their apps and services. 

And so that leads me to ponder what could the Worldwide Developers Conference, set for June 10, actually tell us about Apple’s future hardware, given no new devices are tipped to be revealed at the keynote. 

First, let's look at what we can expect from Apple over the rest of the year and heading into 2025.

New iPhones and Apple Watches for 2024

As night follows day, we’ll undoubtedly get the iPhone 16 around September time, likely joined by a new Apple Watch – specifically the Apple Watch 10 – and maybe the rumored AirPods Pro 3 and AirPods Max 2; though we’re not so convinced by the latter. 

Given the iPad Air and iPad Pro range just got a rework, we don’t expect any new iPads any time soon. And as we got new MacBook Pro M3 and MacBook Air M3 models this year, we won’t expect to see M4 variants until 2025. There’s even a chance that the Macs could skip the M4 chip as it's similar to the M3 only with efficiency and AI workloads in mind. The same could be true of the iMac 24-inch M3. 

Personally, I’d love to see the 27-inch iMac make a comeback, but I suspect that desktop might have gone the way of the dodo, potentially joined by the iPad mini. 

So that’s a good stab at the state of play for Apple’s hardware over the next 12 months or so. And with that in mind, what could we posit that WWDC will tell us what we can expect from said hardware… 

AI integrated at Apple’s core

My prediction – and I stress to add this is speculation based on my experience covering Apple – is that the overall design and hardware capabilities of Cupertino’s products won’t change a great deal. Apple has arguably nailed the tablet formula with the iPads, and its MacBooks are all rather slick; though I’m sure some would argue for a few more ports. 

There’s scope for the iPhone and Apple Watch designs to have some tweaks. But I think Apple will continue to iterate on these by trimming display bezels and reducing the thickness of watch cases, rather than go down the road of drastic redesigns. 

But AI tools and capabilities will surely be integrated across iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS, to bring in things like generative AI-powered editing, smarter searching in Safari, the ability to quickly summarize web pages, documents, and meetings, or simply ask a smarter Siri to pull together an agenda for your week based on access to Maps, your email and calendar – plus third-party tools like air travel apps. 

And I suspect that’ll drive the need for chips in the iPhone 16 family to prioritize Apple’s Neural Engine, potentially putting more power and focus on driving AI workloads and machine-learning algorithms than raw clock speeds and graphics capabilities. 

From that, I’d not be surprised if the standard iPhone 16 got a new AI-centric A-series chip, alongside the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. Last year’s iPhone 15 range saw a two-tier approach to chips with the standard and iPhone 15 Plus models getting the A16 Bionic and the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max getting the powerful A17 Pro chips. This was the second generation in a row that Apple separated the chipsets of the vanilla and Pro iPhones. 

However, I’d posit that the iPhone 16 family will all use the same chipset if Apple does indeed lean hard into AI, as it’ll need parity of silicon to ensure smart tools can run on all its new phones and reach the widest audience. 

Of course, running AI models within a device takes power, especially if it’s done on board, which is something Apple could lean into given its privacy-first approach it champions to its users and their data. Even if a connection to the cloud is needed, that'll likely mean tapping into a phone's modem chip, which also consumes power, especially when using 5G. 

So from that I can theorize that the iPhone 16 range will have a larger battery or perhaps even be a bit thicker to include a bigger cell or more efficient cooling via vapor chambers and heat pipes. Am I talking about major differences? Well no, but a few millimeters added onto a phone’s thickness can make all the difference in everyday use. 

If such predictions come to pass, I suspect what I’ve honed in on with the iPhone 16 could then spread onto the iPads and Macs. The former could get a little thicker to hold a bigger battery and get a more powerful AI-targeted chip, but I suspect that won’t happen until later in 2025 or even 2026. 

Macs will likely get more powerful chips next year and could even come with dedicated AI keys on their keyboards. And I'd not be surprised if bigger batteries were added to all MacBooks, with the MacBook Air seeing a return to active cooling if it needs to run demanding AI workloads and algorithms on device. I’m not predicting a big design change, but that display notch could be reduced with AI processing used to fill in any gaps left by shrunken sensors. 

Wearables with virtual brains

Again, I don’t foresee big changes to the Apple Watch design, given it’s arguably somewhat iconic now. 

But I can see Apple adding a new chip to the next-generation Apple Watch built around on-device AI processing. And that could see the thickness boosted a tad to hold a larger battery. Apple may not do that, choosing to preserve the aesthetic set by the Apple Watch 9 and instead bring faster charging to its next-generation smartwatch as compensation for any increased power drain. 

On the AIrPods side, I’d not expect any huge design changes there. But once again I can see the likes of the AirPods Pro 3 and AirPods Max 2 getting chips running low performance-impact AI features – say smart equalizer adjustments or working with an iPhone to cleverly switch to more dynamic tracks in Apple Music if a person suddenly picks up their walking pace. 

A dedicated Action button or touch-sensitive surface could also pop up in future AirPods to trigger an upgraded Siri with new generative AI abilities.  

The use of multimodal AI models, which can pull and process data from multiple sources, could see Apple Watch and AirPods tapping into more data and feedback from accelerometers and other sensors to feed an AI with information that helps it provide more accurate information and results. This may not herald a design revolution, but sensor placement could change and evolve within Apple’s wearables. 

Evolution on the outside, revolution on the inside

Ultimately, I don’t think a dive into AI will see Apple drastically change product designs and hardware features. But under the hood, more powerful chips are likely to pop up in Apple’s gadgets. Such chips could transform the iPhone from an app-centric device to a more AI-led one, and give Macs an extra layer of productivity potential.

Apple’s devices have a vast reach, especially iPhones, and such broad availability of AI-powered handsets could lead to the frictionless use and normalization of AI tools in everyday life, rather than having people regard them warily, seeing tech bros losing their minds over ChatGPT, and maybe dispel that general sense of AI ennui.

Unless I and the wider tech journalism world have got it wrong, I’d not be surprised if Apple’s tipped showcase of AI at WWDC 2024, and then its subsequent use of smart tools and features acts as a form of gateway drug into generative AI for the average phone user and consumer. That could be very big for the future of AI.

If you want to see if I’m right or wrong, then check back with TechRadar, as we’ll be bringing you all the latest rumors, news, opinions, and analysis ahead of and during WWDC 2024. And if you want to watch the keynote for yourself, check out our guide on how to watch WWDC 2024.

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We're not expecting to see huge changes in terms of design when the iPhone 16 Pro and the iPhone 16 Pro Max break cover (most probably in September), but a new leak points to a tweak in the design of the rear camera housing on the back of the handsets.

This tip is from the usually reliable purveyor of leaks @UniverseIce, and comes in the form of a schematic drawing that shows "a raised height of 3.9mm" for the camera unit. It's not clear what the equivalent is on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, but it's apparently getting bigger.

In other words, the new phones might be sitting at even more of an angle when you put them down flat and face up on a surface – though to be fair the difference is unlikely to be noticeable unless you're really looking for it.

Let's hope the increase in height, if that is what it is, means more camera tech can be packed in. There have been rumors of sensor improvements for both the main and ultra-wide cameras – with the latter apparently jumping from 12MP to 48MP.

Millimeters matter

With these phones expected to make their debuts in September, alongside the standard iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, we've now heard quite a bit in terms of leaks and speculation about what Apple could have in store this year.

As well as a bigger camera bump, the screen on the iPhone 16 Pro Max is rumored to be increasing: up to 6.9 inches from the current 6.7 inches. However, this might not affect the overall dimensions of the smartphone too much.

That's because both the iPhone 16 Pro Max and the iPhone 16 Pro are rumored to have the thinnest bezels we've ever seen on a phone. That means the displays could grow larger without the actual sizes of the flagships having to get any bigger.

Based on previous leaks, there could just be millimeters in it when comparing the 2024 iPhones with the 2023 models they're replacing. All should be revealed later in the year – but first we've got Apple's WWDC 2024 software show to keep an eye on.

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