Hidden Features in iOS 18 and How to Use Them

Hidden Features in iOS 18 and How to Use Them

If you're an iPhone user and have updated to iOS 18, you'll want to try out everything new in this update. You may be familiar with the major features in the update, such as: customizing the home screen, the new Control Center , the ability to schedule messages, and the ability to hide and lock apps .

But this update is full of many hidden features that many people do not know about, and we will mention the most prominent of them below:

1- Copy voice memos:

The Voice Memos app built into iPhones is used to record lectures and voice notes, which you can listen to anytime, send to other people, and more.

But after updating to iOS 18, you will be able to create transcripts from your voice memos using the new transcription feature, and you will also be able to search for words available in the copied texts.

To experience this feature, follow these steps:

1. Open the Voice Memos app, then tap one of your memos to show its controls.
2. Click the Edit Recording button.
3. Click the Transcribe button to create a written copy of the voice memo, and then click Done.
4. When you use the search field in the Voice Memos app, the app will search the transcribed texts as well as the voice memo titles to get the appropriate results.

2- Search for images that contain handwritten texts in the Photos app:

The Photos app in iOS 18 has received a lot of updates, including a design update, changing the way photo sections are organized, and Apple has added some other features to the app to help you quickly search for photos, including the feature of searching for photos that include handwritten text.

To experience this feature, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Photos app, then scroll down until you reach the Utilities section.
2. Click the section name to display the list of options, and then click Handwriting to view images that contain handwritten text.

3- Change an application icon to a widget from the home screen:

If you're using iOS 18 and there's an app you want to turn into a widget, you can do it very quickly right from the home screen by following these steps:

1. Long press the app icon on the home screen to bring up the quick actions menu.
2. If the app supports this feature, you will see a variety of widgets that you can choose from.
3. Click on any of the icons to change the app icon to a widget.
4. If you want to go back to the app icon, go to the quick actions menu, then tap the app icon on the left.

4- Restart iPhone from Control Center:

Turning off an iPhone requires long pressing the physical power button and the volume down button together, but now with iOS 18, the phone can be turned off in an easy way that does not require pressing the physical buttons, by clicking on the power button available in the redesigned Control Center, which includes many new controls, such as: the phone restart button.

To turn off your iPhone using the new button in Control Center, follow these steps:

1. Swipe down from the top-right side of your iPhone screen to access Control Center.
2. Press and hold the new power button that appears in the upper right corner of Control Center.
3. A slider will appear to turn off your iPhone.

To restart your iPhone again, press and hold the physical side power button.

5- Adjusting the width of the flashlight beam:

iOS 18 lets you adjust the width of the light beam when you turn on the flashlight on some iPhone models. You can choose wide width to cover a large area with little light, or use narrow width to use high-intensity light in a small area.

To use this new feature, follow these steps:

1. Turn on the flashlight using the Lock screen or Control Center.
2. A new user interface will appear in the dynamic island that allows you to change the light intensity by swiping up or down.
3. To change the beam width, you will need to swipe left or right.
4. If you click anywhere on the dynamic island, you can turn off the flashlight.

This feature only works on iPhone models that include the Dynamic Island, including: ‌iPhone 14‌ Pro, ‌iPhone 14‌ Pro Max, ‌iPhone 15‌ series, and ‌iPhone 16‌ series .