When iOS 18 arrives on your iPhone later this year, it may bring a new look. But it remains to be seen how far-reaching those interface changes will be.
Rumors of a new look with iOS 18 come from Bloomberg’s Mark Garman, who mentioned a possible iPhone software redesign in his latest column. In a newsletter spun off from that column, Garman claimed that Apple is “certainly working on updating the design of iOS as early as this year,” as reported by 9to5Mac.
Apple will reportedly turn to macOS after redesigning iOS 18, perhaps to ensure continuity when moving from one Apple device to another. But Garman said the changes to macOS won’t be complete until 2025 or 2026.
The report also explains what Apple plans to redesign iOS in 2013, which ditched skeuomorphic design elements in favor of flatter-looking icons. No details are provided as to whether it will be as drastic as the 7 update. One of the details Gurman mentioned is that iOS 18 is unlikely to adopt the look and feel of the visionOS interface that debuted with his Apple Vision Pro headset. The software, with its 3D buttons and glossy background, was designed with a pass-through feature of Vision Pro’s search feature and doesn’t fit well on the iPhone’s display.
This detail gives us an idea of what iOS 18 will look like, but we don’t have much of a clue about it. teeth In store. Nature hates a vacuum, so I have some ideas.
One of my favorite changes introduced in recent iOS versions is the addition of widgets to the home screen thanks to the iOS 14 update. I especially like that widgets can be stacked on top of each other to maximize screen space.
What I like to see with stacked widgets is a visual cue that there are multiple widgets that contain information that is relevant to me. Currently, you can scroll through stacked widgets with a flick of your finger. What I would like is if I tap and hold on the widget stack, all the widgets there will fan out in front of me so I can see all the information. one time.
I’ve been telling Apple about its widget business, and I hope the company also extends the widget interactivity introduced in iOS 17. Currently, you can check off completed tasks with the Reminders widget and use the widget to control app playback. Music, podcasts, books, and more. We want to be able to tap into the email widget when we don’t need to launch a full email app to compose a quick reply or scroll through multi-day forecasts directly from the weather widget.
Other slide-up panels
One thing I appreciate about the Galaxy S24’s Circle to Search feature is that when you circle or tap on an image, search results appear as you use the slide-up panel to see more details. . That way, when you want to look up additional information, you don’t have to leave the app you’re using. Just perform a search, scroll through the results, and quickly get back to what you were doing.
Apple provides this to some extent when you ask Siri a search question. A results window appears at the top of the screen, giving you an overview of your digital assistant’s responses. But when you tap to see more details, you end up jumping to a completely different app, and you can’t easily return to where you were. With Galaxy S24, when your curiosity is satisfied, just tap the back arrow to return to where you started. We hope to see a similar approach adopted in future versions of iOS, especially if iOS 18 introduces a ton of AI-powered features as rumored.
Improved multitasking
While we’re on the topic of making it easier to jump back and forth on the iPhone, I’d like to see Apple say something about multitasking on its phones. And I think Apple’s own iPadOS offers an easy solution that iPhone software can copy.
Specifically, iPadOS includes a dock feature that lets you swipe up from the bottom of your iPad’s screen at any time to see a row of favorites/most-used apps. On the iPhone, the closest you can get to this is swiping up to access the App Switcher, but then you have to skim through all the apps you have open on your phone to find what you want. yeah. The iPad approach is faster and smarter, even on a device with a smaller screen.
Home screen management function
With the addition of App Libraries and App Folders over the past few years, your iPhone’s home screen has become easier to manage. But I don’t care about the fact that the only way to sort which apps go on which home screen is to physically drag app icons from one screen to the next. When you drag one icon out of its place, other icons are automatically rearranged for even more organization work. This is really annoying.
It wasn’t always like this. Back in the days when you could manage your iPhone through its iTunes app on your Mac, you could easily rearrange app icons on a much larger display. Then, when you sync your iPhone, the rearranged home screen will automatically appear.
I’m not saying you should go back to using iTunes to manage your iPhone, especially since iTunes as an app no longer exists. (Even if I could, I would have been completely unequipped to deal with all the different elements of the iPhone that I would have to manage.) But some kind of iPhone management that would give me another way to make adjustments. I don’t care if the app is available on Mac. Customize your home screen to your liking. Maybe we’ll see it when macOS gets an overhaul in 2025 or 2026.
Outlook for iOS 18
From the reports we’ve heard so far about iOS 18, the main focus is likely to be the introduction of artificial intelligence features, along with a smarter redesigned Siri. The rumored redesign doesn’t appear to be a major overhaul, but rather an attempt to refresh the look of iPhone software after years of updates focused on adding new features.
Still, we hope Apple seizes the opportunity to use this obvious redesign to make it easier to access different apps and features on the iPhone. If Apple sticks to its usual schedule of previewing iOS changes in early summer, we’ll soon see what the company’s plans are.
