The iOS 18 launch date is days away however is your iPhone appropriate? These are the eligible units and new options

The large day is lastly right here: Apple’s It’s Glowtime event is beginning in the present day at 1PM ET (you can watch it here and observe Engadget’s Apple event liveblog, too). It is anticipated to announce the brand new iPhone 16 lineup, in addition to new Apple Watch and AirPods fashions. These telephones can have iOS 18 already put in, so you will not should improve at buy — this is when the iPhone 16 models are expected to hit stores. However in the event you’re not upgrading to a brand new iPhone this yr, when Apple releases iOS 18, you could discover that your older cellphone’s working system is not supported anymore.

Usually every year, some older iPhone fashions are faraway from Apple’s iOS eligibility record. Final yr, 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 discover out in case your iPhone will assist iOS 18 — which is anticipated to change into accessible in roughly two weeks — in addition to Apple Intelligence. Unsure what’s coming with the brand new replace? This is a abstract of the biggest announcements from WWDC, together with an summary of iOS 18.

iPhones appropriate with iOS 18

We’ve got excellent news: Should you had an eligible cellphone final yr whenever you up to date to iOS 17, that system ought to nonetheless be appropriate with iOS 18, according to Apple. Which means you will not have to purchase a brand new cellphone to take a look at a lot of the new software program options.

Put one other method, in case you have an iPhone from the 2017 model year or earlier (iPhone 8 or iPhone X), you may’t improve to the most recent iOS, however your cellphone ought to proceed to work — albeit with out the most recent bells and whistles.

Is your iPhone appropriate with Apple Intelligence?

Whereas your older system will nonetheless be capable of assist the most recent iOS, likelihood is that you simply will not get to strive the Apple Intelligence beta but. Except 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 guess that the brand new iPhone 16 fashions can be totally Apple Intelligence appropriate, however we’ll should await the official particulars on the September 9 occasion.

iOS 18 new options to anticipate

Whereas Apple Intelligence is by far the largest replace coming with iOS 18, its options are going to be launched extra piecemeal over the following few months. And the extra superior options will not be accessible on older iPhone fashions other than the iPhone 15 Professional sequence. However the remainder of the iOS 18 options will hit the handsets listed above. Listed here are simply among the highlights you may anticipate 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 you can entry immediately within the app. (Whereas this performance at the moment 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 — assume “wedding ceremony pictures” or “journey to Aruba.” It removes the present tabbed backside and leans right into a grid structure. The up to date carousel view that was touted at WWDC was removed during the beta process.

Personalised house display screen structure: You will lastly get the choice to rearrange your apps — as an illustration, you may depart the center house open to show your property display screen picture, and as an alternative have your apps alone the border of the display screen. You can even change the looks of the apps by tinting them with any colour, in addition to making the apps bigger.

There are many different tweaks and enhancements to keystone apps like Maps, Calendar, Safari and extra. Try 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 yr.

Is there an iOS 18 beta?

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