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No iPhone 16 with AI - no problem: These new iOS 18 features made my old iPhone much better

By Martin Filipov

Published: Sep 18, 2024, 2:39 PM

6comments

Apple Editorials

This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.

No iPhone 16 with AI - no problem: These new iOS 18 features made my old iPhone much better

When Apple announced iOS 18, I wasn’t as excited as I thought I should’ve been. In fact, I thought it might be underwhelming without the buzz of the iPhone 16 or Apple Intelligence enhancements.

However, some of the new iOS 18 features are actually incredibly useful, and even if you don’t have an iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro, or an iPhone 15 Pro to try out all the Apple Intelligence stuff that’s “coming out soon”, there are at least ten underrated new iOS 18 tricks I’m sure you’ll absolutely love.

Here’s why you should give iOS 18 a try - even if there’s no shiny new hardware to go with it. And hey… perhaps you don't need to buy a new iPhone at all this year.

No need to buy an iPhone 16 - here are the most underrated new iOS 18 features that make your old iPhone feel like new

Pause button for recording a videos + play music while recording videos

Believe it or not, the iPhone’s never had a pause button when recording a video, and iOS 18 finally puts an end to that insanity, introducing the ability to pause video recording mid-shot.

Whether you’re a TikToker, a filmmaker, or just a regular Joe, you can now pause and resume recording instead of having to stitch together multiple clips later, relying on apps like TikTok and Instagram to do the editing.

The video pause button might not sound like a big deal, but you’ll appreciate it big time. It's a game-changer for anyone who records frequently, making editing a lot easier. In fact, with all the fast-cut TikToks we see, some creators won’t need to edit their clips at all now.

Continue playing music while recording a video

This one might sound trivial, but it's a huge quality-of-life upgrade, and I’m 100% sure you know exactly what I’m talking about. iOS 18 finally lets you continue playing music while recording a video - what?!

Gone are the days when the music abruptly stops the moment I start taking a video.

This is useful for multiple reasons - you can now record something fun with background music playing, or (going back to the creators’ POV), you can make a fun TikTok with the background music playing in the background… live.

You combine this with the new pause button in video mode, and Tarantino can use the iPhone to shoot his 10th and last movie.

Schedule text messages

I don’t know about you, but I’m sometimes in a situation where I want to remind someone of something important, but it’s 1AM, and I don’t want to disturb them, or look insane because I’m reminding them to “buy milk” at 1AM.

Well, iOS 18 finally lets you schedule text messages, which is super useful. Now, you can write the message and just schedule it for the morning or a more appropriate time.

It’s a small feature, but it’s the type of detail that makes life a bit easier, especially for night owls or people with bad memory - like me.

Automatic calculations throughout the iPhone

iOS 18 also introduces a feature I’m sure many people will come to rely on almost daily - automatic calculations in any app where you can type.

You just type in “55,252 + 91,982” into any text field, followed by the ”=” sign, and iOS will solve it for you - no need to open the calculator app or ask Siri.

Whether you’re taking notes, or texting someone something that needs quick math, you’re sorted. It’s another one of those small conveniences that you didn’t realize you needed.

Conversions in the iPhone Calculator app

Speaking of calculations, iOS 18's calculator app now does unit conversions!

This means no more opening Google to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit or dollars to euros - something I do almost every day when writing this stories since different phones can have a perfectly different price tag depending on the market.

I seriously can’t tell you how often I have to switch between apps just to figure out some quick conversion while working or traveling, and now, it's all in the iPhone’s Calculator app. Magic.

Lock Apps with Face ID / Touch ID

Here’s a big one, folks!

Privacy is a big deal to Apple, and I’m thrilled to announce that iOS 18 lets you lock apps with Face ID or Touch ID.

Whether it’s my banking app, dating apps, or something like your crazy weird notes, you can now make it so that only you can access them. Which means you can hand your iPhone to somebody without being terrified they’d find out you’re… a serial killer. What?!

Larger icons with no icon labels

I find it that one of the simplest yet most impactful aesthetic changes on iOS 18 might be the ability to hide home screen icon labels.

In fact, I never realized how cluttered my home screen looked until I started using this feature. I mean, sure it makes it a bit harder to identify which app you’re trying to get to but you get used to it.

Without the text labels, everything looks so much cleaner, and the icons appear larger and easier to hit on smaller iPhones like my iPhone 13 mini.

iOS 18 Communication Safety - hide content with nudity from children

Here’s a good one for parents (and not only) - the new “Communication Safety” feature on iOS 18 puts a password on sensitive images.

That’s a great one if you have kids who occasionally use your phone or you’re worried about certain images being seen by somebody else.

iOS 18 automatically locks nude images behind a password, which can save you from some pretty awkward situations.

We’ve all been there… What?! Just me?

Screen sharing from the Messages app

I think one of the most underrated new features in iOS 18 is screen sharing directly from the Messages app.

I can now share my screen to help someone with troubleshooting, whether it’s walking my mom through an iPhone setting or showing her how to use a particular app.

But it gets even more impressive. You can also control your mother’s screen remotely. It’s the perfect tool for tech support from afar, and I’m sure it’ll save you from super-long explanations and tutorials.

Multilingual keyboards (2 keyboards in 1)

Now, I’m a bit sceptical about how well this feature will work in practice, but iOS 18’s “Multilingual keyboard” feature wants to make sure your iPhone will automatically recognize the language you’re typing in and adjust the autocorrect and suggested words accordingly. This should be useful for multilingual people.

For example, I often switch between English and Bulgarian when texting, which is fine because Bulgarian uses a perfectly different keyboard and alphabet than English.

However, my cousin adds German to the mix, which means every time he types something in German using the English keyboard (both are Germanic languages with latin influences), the phone would think he’s typing “incorrectly”.

And if Apple really managed to fix this, that’s a big one!

Customizable Lock Screen shortcuts

Finally, iOS 18 allows you to customize your lock screen shortcut buttons - I know, right? Samsung users are like: “We had this 45 years ago”.

Instead of being stuck with the Camera and Torch, you can now swap them out for the apps you use more often.

Personally, I’d rather have access to Notes instead of the Camera, since I can access this with the Action Button on my iPhone 15 Pro, or the Camera Control on iPhone 16.

This means that, in total, iPhone 16 users have four shortcut “buttons” - the two virtual ones on the lock screen, the Action Button, and the Camera Control key.

The Apple Intelligence hype aside, iOS 18 brings some of the most “practical” upgrades in a long time (and they are here on day one!)

None of that it's coming later thing here!

Overall, even without the iPhone 16 or groundbreaking Apple Intelligence features, iOS 18 offers some incredibly practical and useful updates. And the ones I picked to share here are certainly some of my favorite, and most underrated ones.

Whether it's simple improvements like locking apps with Face ID or powerful ones like screen sharing from the Messages app, these are features that make using an iPhone easier, and better. And I haven’t even mentioned the ability to move your icons anywhere on the home screen.

Also… A pause button for video?! I gave up on the dream of having this magical feature on my iPhone years ago.

What’s next, Apple? Touch ID in the Camera Control key?

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Martin, a tech journalist at PhoneArena, brings a unique blend of humor and insight to his work. His fascination with smartphones began with a Galaxy Young and evolved through a series of trades and upgrades, making him a self-proclaimed smartphone nerd. Martin's content often combines current analysis of market trends with historical references and future predictions. Whether it's a deep dive into technical issues or a first-person commentary on industry events, Martin's articles are designed to inform and engage. His critical perspective is driven by genuine curiosity and a desire to keep readers informed, not by any corporate sponsorship.