iOS 18 in practical use: 14 tips and tricks for the new features

iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 will be available for download for iPhones and iPads starting Monday evening. The update can be installed on any iPhone that also runs iOS 17. Although Apple Intelligence clearly stole the attention this year, the operating system upgrades still deliver tangible innovations and many improvements.

1 Adjust the color of app icons

Place your finger on an empty spot on the home screen – for example, directly above the dock – until apps and widgets wiggle. Tap the Edit button at the top and then tap “Customize.”

iOS and iPadOS 18 display new options at the bottom: Slide the switch to “Large” to hide the app names and enlarge the icons and widgets a little. “Light” displays the app icons as usual, “Dark” switches the icons and background to the less glaring dark mode. If you only want to darken the home screen background – but not the app icons – tap the small sun symbol instead of “Dark”.

This was the excerpt from our heise Plus article “iOS 18 in practical use: 14 tips and tricks for the new features”. With a heise Plus subscription you can read and listen to the entire article.