5 features that didn’t make it into the first iOS 18 beta

When leakers claimed that iOS 18 would be the biggest update to the iPhone operating system ever, expectations were understandably high. Luckily, when Apple previewed iOS 18 for the first time at the Worldwide Developers Conference on June 10, the upgrade didn’t disappoint. There are tons of cool features headlined by Apple Intelligence, which is a suite of new artificial intelligence and machine learning features that could change the way you use your great iPhone. On top of that, we have a redesigned Home Screen and Control Center, a refreshed Settings app, and more.

But if you were hoping to get your hands on all these new features in iOS 18 developer beta 1, you’ll be disappointed. Many of the top iOS 18 features Apple announced at WWDC aren’t included in the initial release. In fact, it’ll be a while before some of them make an appearance at all. Before you risk installing iOS 18 developer beta 1 on your device, make sure the feature you’re eager to try isn’t on this list.

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5 Home app improvements

Electricity usage monitoring will have to wait until later this year

Source: Apple

Apple has two minor Home app updates headed to users in the iOS 18 update, but they’re both coming later this year. The first is an update for robot vacuums that adds support for “power control, cleaning mode, vacuum, mop, and charge status.” While in the Home app, robot vacuums will work with automations, scenes, and Siri requests. There’s also support for home electricity usage stats straight from the iOS 18 Home app, at least if you’re a Pacific Gas and Electric Company customer. This will show usage, prices, and peak/off-peak energy distributions. It’ll be great for EV owners that want to charge their cars when it’s the cheapest.

4 Mail app

The redesign isn’t part of iOS 18 developer beta 1

Source: Apple

This one isn’t particularly exciting either, but iOS 18 will add a redesigned Mail app. There’s a new central UI at the top of the Mail app with new categories, including a Primary section with your most important emails. The app can now sort emails into categories by scanning their contents, like a list of receipts or newsletters. The sorting and UI changes coming to Apple Mail appear similar to features that Gmail has had for a long time, but we’ll have to see it in action before ruling on that completely. It’s coming later this year, and isn’t in iOS 18 developer beta 1.

3 RCS

Yes, your bubbles will still be green with RCS — no, you can’t use it yet

Source: Apple

Apple announced last year that RCS messaging will come to the iPhone at some point in 2024, and it clarified at WWDC that it’s coming with iOS 18. But, for what it’s worth, Apple barely gave it a mention during the keynote. There are a few tweaks in iOS 18 developer beta 1 that will make way for RCS messaging later. For one, instead of Apple simply referring to non-iMessages as Text Messages, it’s now differentiated as Text Message SMS. Presumably, Text Message RCS will be the other option. As of now, you can’t send or receive RCS messages on iOS 18 developer beta 1. It’s worth noting that support for RCS messages is partially dependent on cellular carriers, so it could show up in iOS 18 developer beta 1 at a later date. We don’t know for sure.

2 iPhone Mirroring

You can’t use your iPhone from your Mac right now

Source: Apple

Continuity will be improved between iPhones and Macs running the latest versions of iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia in the fall. Part of that includes a new feature called iPhone Mirroring, which does exactly what it sounds like. A windowed version of iOS 18 will appear on your Mac’s desktop, letting you control your iPhone without leaving your Mac. It’s a neat feature, but it isn’t available right now. You can actually spot the new iPhone Mirroring app in macOS Sequoia as a hidden file, but it’s non-functional at the moment. Presumably, it will show up in future macOS and iOS betas.

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1 Apple Intelligence

Don’t hold your breath waiting for this one

Source: Apple

The thing everyone is eager to try is Apple Intelligence, but that’s also the suite of features we’ll have to wait the longest for. It’s launching in beta later this year, and is nowhere to be found in iOS 18 beta 1. That means the Siri you use in iOS 18 today is not the flashy new one Apple showed off at WWDC. There’s also no text generation, image generation, or OpenAI integration here. A report from MacRumors uncovered code references to a waitlist for Apple Intelligence in iOS 18, and it’s unclear whether this would apply to beta testers or public iOS 18 users later this year. Either way, Apple Intelligence won’t be found anywhere in iOS 18 developer beta 1, and likely won’t be there for some time.

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Should you install iOS 18 developer beta 1 without these features?

Even without the flagship features, iOS 18 is still a solid upgrade. There are small UI changes across the entire operating system that mark the entrance of glassmorphism to iOS, mimicking the appearance of visionOS. The customizable Home Screen, overhauled Control Center, and customizable Lock Screen toggles are all worthy improvements. However, we caution against installing iOS 18 developer beta 1 on your device — and we’d say the same thing if it included all of the above features, too. Beta software is usually unstable, especially the very first version of it. With that warning in mind, if you want to try it out anyway, we have a guide to installing iOS 18 developer beta 1 to help you out.

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