Apple iOS 18 public beta released: How to install

Apple released a preview version of its major new iPhone update on Monday.

The iOS 18 public preview is a beta version of the software that will be released alongside new iPhones this fall. It gives Apple fans and developers a chance to test new features before they’re officially released, and helps identify bugs before everyone on iPhone installs the new software.

This year, however, the biggest new service isn’t in public beta: Apple Intelligence. In June, Apple announced that some of its newer devices would get access to Apple’s AI service, which can intelligently answer questions, control your iPhone and even generate images.

Apple said that Apple Intelligence will be released in beta this fall, with users able to try it out this summer. Some of the promised Apple Intelligence features, such as ChatGPT integration and some Siri improvements, aren’t expected until later this year.

However, there are still plenty of changes in this version of iOS that will change the way iPhones look and feel, and may surprise users when they first install the software. Apple has updated several of the device’s key user interface elements, including the lock screen, home screen, and Control Center, to support a wider range of colors and customizations.

Top apps like Photos have been redesigned. Messages is more colorful and supports emoji reactions. Users can even make all their app icons the same color.

Many of these cosmetic features have been available to Android users for years, but for die-hard iPhone users they’re new and part of a multi-year process in which Apple is opening up the iPhone’s previously rigid software design to greater visual customization after redesigning the device’s lock screen during its release last year.

• Users can now place icons anywhere on the home screen. For example, you can place all your apps around the edge of the screen so you can see your wallpaper better.
• You can set app icons to dark, but iOS can also make all app icons the same color.
• Apple’s Control Center menu, which you open by swiping down from the top-right corner, is more customizable, spreads across multiple pages of screens, and offers new types of controls.
• Users can swap the camera and flashlight shortcuts on the lock screen for other apps.
• Apple’s Photos app is getting a major update with a new design. The app now uses AI to organize photos into trips or albums, which appear on the first page when the app is opened.
• Apple’s Messages app can now add bold or italics to text. Users can also reply to messages with any emoji. These so-called “tapbacks” are now displayed in color in the Messages app.

• iOS 18 users with recent devices can send text messages via satellite when there is no Wi-Fi or cellular coverage.
• Safari summarizes news and other web articles, including generating tables of contents. These features are accessible via the button on the left side of the URL bar in Safari.
• Apple has combined all password management features into a new app: Passwords.
• Users can tap one iPhone against another to quickly transfer digital money.
• iPhones can now generate transcripts of conversations or recordings.
• The Siri animation now takes up the entire iPhone screen.

• Make sure your phone can run the latest software, which should be released in 2018 or later.
• Update to the latest public version of iOS.
• Go to Settings > General > Software Update. Select the iOS 18 public beta from the drop-down menu.