Apple just released tons of new iOS features for your iPhone – how to get them first

Apple has finally opened the floodgates and is letting iPhone users download and test out the latest iOS 18 software update. Announced at the firm’s WWDC event last month, iOS 18 introduces a big visual change for iPhones, letting you place apps anywhere on the home screen – just like Android has been able to do for more than a decade.

Apple has fully committed to the bit, also allowing you to ‘tint’ your apps to a uniform colour à la Android, plus it now lets you add third party app shortcuts to the new-look control centre.

iOS 18 isn’t officially out yet though. You can currently get it for your iPhone if it’s a compatible model and if you are willing to download what is known as a beta version of the software. Apple lets its iPhone customers join its Apple Software Beta Program using their Apple ID, and then allows access to betas, which are test versions of software.

By letting you use iOS 18 early, Apple hopes it can spot various bugs and hiccups so the final version is spick and span when it is released officially, which will all but certainly be in September when we expect the iPhone 16 series to launch.

Other new things coming on iOS 18 include a slew of new AI features under the branding ‘Apple Intelligence’, such as an emoji creator called Genmoji, a smarter Siri that can access more of your app data to help you out, and access to ChatGPT when needed. But none of the Apple Intelligence tools are part of the iOS 18 beta, so we’ll all just have to wait – and even when that day comes, only the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max can run Apple Intelligence.

The beta does get RCS compatibility though, which finally lets you text your Android friends (those with green bubbles) with a bit more equality. Until now, Apple has refused to support RCS (rich communication services), which lets you send high quality images, photos and videos between iPhones and Android phones – but now you can.

RCS also shows typing indicators and other little touches within the iOS messaging app even if your chat is with a green bubble, but Apple is still holding back full iMessage functionality for blue bubble iPhone chats.

To get the iOS 18 beta, you have to sign up to the Apple Beta Software Program here.

After you’re enrolled, you’ll be able to opt in for a software update to iOS 18 by going to the Settings app on your iPhone, then tapping General > Software Update > Beta Updates > iOS 18 Public Beta.

Be warned though – if you don’t like iOS 18 or it has too many bugs to work properly for you, you can’t simply go back to iOS 17. You’ll need to fully factory reset your phone to do that, so make sure you fully backup your iPhone to iCloud or your Mac first in case you want to roll back, as you’ll have to restore your phone from a saved backup.

You also need to check if your iPhone is compatible with iOS 18. Here’s the full list of eligible iPhone models: