[ad_1]
Apple has big plans for iOS 18, according to Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman.
In the exclusive question and answer section for subscribers of your Switched on Newsletter Today, Gurman said iOS 18 has the potential to be the “biggest” software update in iPhone history.
“I’m told that the new operating system is viewed within the company as one of the most important, if not the most important, iOS updates in the company’s history,” he wrote.
Gurman said he plans to share more details about specific iOS 18 features and planned changes in the future, but we already know two new features that will likely be included in the update, as described below.
iOS 18 will be released in September and the first developer beta will be released during Apple’s annual developer conference, WWDC, in June.
RCS Support
In November 2023, Apple announced that it would support the RCS cross-platform messaging standard in the iPhone’s Messages app starting “later” in 2024, so it will likely be an iOS 18 feature based on that time frame.
RCS support should result in the following improvements to the default messaging experience between iPhone and Android devices:
- Higher resolution photos and videos
- audio messages
- Writing prompts
- Read receipts
- Wi-Fi messaging between iPhones and Android devices
- Improved group chats, including the ability for iPhone users to leave a conversation that includes Android users.
- Improved encryption compared to SMS
These modern features are already available for iPhone-to-iPhone conversations with blue bubbles, via iMessage, and many of the features are also available in third-party messaging apps, such as WhatsApp and Telegram. Support for RCS on iPhone will expand features to green bubbles in the Messages app.
Siri smarter
Gurman expects iOS 18 to include generative AI technology that “should improve how Siri and the Messages app can answer questions and complete sentences automatically.” He said Apple has also explored generative AI features for other apps on its platforms, including Apple Music, Pages, Keynote and Xcode.
Information reported that Apple plans to build large language models into Siri to allow users to automate complex tasks, a feature that would involve deeper integration with the Shortcuts app. The report says that this feature is expected to launch in an iPhone software update due in 2024, which would likely be iOS 18.
Generative AI gained popularity in 2022 when OpenAI launched ChatGPT, a chatbot that can answer questions and other prompts. Google and Microsoft launched similar chatbots last year, as more companies jump into the space. Chatbots are trained on large language models, allowing them to respond like a human.