iOS 18 is here, and it's got tons of new features for your iPhone. You may have already heard about the ability to change app icon colors and scheduled texts, but this update also brings some hidden gems that are just as cool. iOS 18 is available for the iPhone XR, XS, and later, so you don't need a new iPhone 16 to try it. I've linked an article below on how to download it, but quick tip: back up your iPhone before you update, just in case something funky happens during the download or you want to go back to iOS 17. All right, let's get into the hidden features. I've organized them into chapters, so feel free to skip around. Let's start with some of my favorites. They don't fit neatly into one category like customization or camera, but they do have one thing in common: they all just make sense. They feel like features we should have had all along. First, you can now share your Wi-Fi password with a QR code. Just open the passwords app, which is also new with iOS 18, unlock it with

face ID, tap Wi-Fi, select the network you want to share, and then tap Show Network QR code. Then someone can scan this code with their camera to connect to the network. This is a game-changer because it makes it so much easier to share your Wi-Fi password with multiple people at once, and it doesn't require having someone saved as your contact like sharing your password by bringing Apple devices close together does. It also makes it easy to give your password to someone on Android. Pre-iOS 18, you could make a Wi-Fi QR code in the shortcuts app, but I do find this passwords app method to be much more streamlined. The podcasts app in iOS 18 allows you to share a podcast with someone starting from a specific timestamp, which is a feature I didn't know I needed. This will make it so much easier to chat about the funniest, most inspirational, or most controversial part of a podcast with a friend, especially if they don't have time to listen to the entire episode. As you're listening to the episode, just tap

the now playing bar hit pause and scrub back to the start of the section you want to share. Next, tap the three dots on the right and select share episode. Then tap from start, select the timestamp you scrub to, and hit done. After that, you can choose how and to whom you want to send the podcast. It is always fun to be the one to figure out the name of that cool new song you and your friends hear while you're out. Now the action button makes this even easier. Just open settings, select action button, and swipe until you reach the recognized music option. Then all you need to do is hold down the action button for a sec to find the song. The action button is currently available on the iPhone 15 pros and the 16 lineup. Pressing it is so lowkey that you could even get sneaky with it and act like you already knew the name of the song because you're just that hip. I won't tell on you. With the new control center in iOS 18, you can restart your iPhone without pressing any physical buttons.

Just swipe down from the top right corner, press and hold down the little power button for a sec, and then slide to power your phone off. I could definitely see this being more efficient than holding down two buttons at once in certain situations. To turn your iPhone back on, you do still need to hold down the physical side button. Now for some lock and home screen updates, you can now replace the default flashlight and camera buttons on your lock screen with other buttons, like ones that allow you to set an alarm or turn on airplane mode, for example. Or you can just remove the buttons altogether if you find yourself unintentionally hitting them a lot. I have definitely done that before. Just press down on your lock screen, tap customize, and select the lock screen option. Tap the minus symbol to remove a pre-existing button, then tap the plus icon to choose a new function for that button, or leave it empty to get rid of the button. Then tap done. iOS 18 allows you to hide app names to make your home screen look cleaner. Doing this does make

your apps a little larger, but having no text does declutter things. Just press down on any blank space until your apps jiggle, then tap edit and customize. Finally, tap large to remove the app labels. You can now change an app to a widget right from the home screen. Just hold down the app, and if it has a widget, you'll see up to three widget icons next to an app icon. You can tap any of those widget icons to change the app to a widget, and if you want to change it back to an app, hold down the widget and select the app icon on the left. iOS 18 makes it so much easier to search through all of the content on your iPhone, like voice memos. I don't know about you, but I have years of voice memos on my iPhone, and while I know there are some great ideas in there, those recordings have been pretty cumbersome to sort through. That is until now. In iOS 18, The Voice Memos app can transcribe your recording so you can search through them with keywords. Just

open the app, select a recording, and then tap the waveform icon on the left. Next, tap the transcribe button with the quote icon to generate the transcription or to see the text if it's already been transcribed. Then tap done. Now you can search through your recordings with words from the transcripts in addition to the titles of your voice memos. I will say that in my experience, the transcriptions are more accurate for speaking rather than singing. So if you're a musician trying to sort through your old songs with this feature, it won't always be perfect, but it is pretty helpful for searching through talking tracks. Speaking of photos, there are a few small but mighty camera updates you might have missed. This one is a game changer. There's now a 5-second camera timer option. So if 3 seconds was too quick but 10 seconds was too long for you to take a self-timer photo, this could be the sweet spot for you. If you're in the middle of taking a video but want to stop for a moment, you

now have the option to pause the recording and continue it once you're ready again, and despite the breaks, you'll be left with one single video recording. I have definitely had moments where I'm jamming out to a song and I'm feeling so inspired, so I go to take a photo, and it's an immediate buzzkill when the music cuts as soon as I open the camera app. But with iOS 18, you can listen to music and take photos and videos at the same time. You could even have your music playing in the background of your video, although it doesn't sound amazing, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend that. But hey, whatever keeps you inspired. Now keep in mind that Apple's suite of AI features, aka Apple Intelligence, isn't a part of this update. Apple Intelligence will start rolling out in October with the release of iOS 18.1. But let me know if you want me to walk you through those AI features once they're available. And those are some of my favorite lesser-known iOS 18.

features, but this does only scratch the surface. Things iOS 18 brings a lot of exciting new functionality to the iPhone, so check out cnet.com for even more features. Let me know what you think of this update in the comments below, and if you try any of these hidden gems. Thank you so much for watching.

iOS 18: 11 Hidden Features for All iPhones

CNET is the premier destination for explaining and navigating the changing world around us. Through news, product reviews, price comparisons, and more, we’ll tell you what’s new in the parts of modern life that increasingly matter more — from health, home, and money to tech, culture, and climate — and how to get the most out of them.

iOS 18: 11 Hidden Features for All iPhones

iOS 18: 11 Hidden Features for All iPhones

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