Apple Unveils Latest Mobile Operating System, iOS 18, With a Host of New Features Including AI, Improved Security, a New ‘Passwords’ App, and More Customization Options

CUPERTINO—At the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference held Monday, the company best known for its iPod and iPhone devices jumped into the artificial intelligence arms race with a variety of tools and new operating systems.
The conference was held on the 47th anniversary of the sale of the first Apple II, which was styled as apple ][, on June 10, 1977.
As expected, the focus was on AI, although Apple collectively refers to its offerings as “Apple Intelligence.”
Apple’s new AI features include a text-generator for e-mail and SMS messages, an image-generating tool that would work in various Apple apps, and a more-capable Siri voice assistant. The company underscored the importance of the deep integration of its AI tools compared to those of its competitors because they are fully integrated into Apple’s software.
In a launch video that was certain to raise the eyebrows of the company’s risk-management team, Apple introduced its AI offering by having its executives jump out of an aircraft piloted by Phil Schiller and controlled by an Apple iPod with a  click wheel, the latter being the pinnacle of purposed hardware design at the time of its introduction. When Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, says “it’s showtime,” everyone (except the pilot, Phil) parachutes down to Apple Park and the chutes open up to say “Apple Presents WWDC24.”
IOS 18 is Apple’s eighteenth major release of its mobile operating system for the iPhone and is the direct successor to the current version, iOS17. It was released alongside watchOS11, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia. As with all major releases since iOS 4, updates  will be made available at no charge to users provided that their devices are capable of running the new OS.
AI will have its tentacles reach into many aspects of the user experience.
“There are already some really impressive chat tools out there,” Federighi said during the company’s presentation on Monday. “But these tools know very little about you and your needs.”
Say your best friend or colleague just sent  you a new song or a podcast. The user could tell Siri to “play the song John just sent me,” and it would.
Apple underscored the fact that it plans to run most of the AI features on people’s devices, in line with the privacy-conscious approach the company has emphasized as a differentiator between iOS and Google’s Android mobile operating system. AI functions that are too complex to run on a small device will be run in special data centers under Apple’s control and with servers that use the company’s own silicon, it said.
Meanwhile, Apple iOS 18 will introduce all-new customization options including the ability to lock and hide some apps, a major redesign of the Photos app, the ability to “rotate” IP addresses to cut down on tracking, the ability to vary font styles with support for bold and italic type in iMessages, a new Calculator app, a more customizable Control Center, the ability to send text messages via satellite, and the ability to have the iPhone record and transcribe phone calls.
In addition, Apple introduced a standalone Passwords app. The new app replaces Keychain, which is currently only accessible in iCloud via a menu in Settings. With Passwords, a password will be available directly via the standalone app, a move which brings the company’s offering more in line with rival services. Passwords will also be available to Windows users via the iCloud for Window app.
IOS 18 will also come two new features for the Home Screen, namely the ability to place app icons anywhere on the screen, and a dark tint option for app icons and will automatically recommend colors that match the Home Screen image.
The operating system’s cousin, iPadOS 18, will bring over many of the new features and improvements being introduced in iOS 18 including the redesigned Photos app and new Home Screen customization tools. The OS will also get a new Calculator app with features that include like history of past calculations and unit conversions.
Apple also took the opportunity to show off watchOS 18, which will feature new health and activity functionality. The new operating system brings Apple’s translate functionality to the Apple Watch as well.
Other new features include widgets that will be automatically added to the smart stack, with the translate app opening automatically when you go to a new country. Weather apps will appear automatically when rain is imminent, and Live Activities is also coming to Apple Watch, too.
While the Apple II is not being upgraded, given its anniversary on Monday, it bears more than a passing mention.
The Apple II, which was styled as apple ][, was unquestionably the most recognizable and successful computer in the United States during the 1980s and early 1990s and led the way to the personal computer revolution which saw computer mainframe behemoth IBM enter the personal computer market with the IBM PC in 1982.
By the end of production in 1993, almost d six million Apple II series computers – which included ca. 1.25 million Apple IIGS models as well as the Apple II+, Apple IIe, Apple IIc, and Apple IIc Plus –  had been produced and the Apple II had the longest production run of any home computer series, after being in production for just under 17 years.   All of these models were able to operate the same software programs.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)