Now that the dust has settled on WWDC 2024‘s many iOS 18 announcements, we’ve been keen to find out which iPhone feature Apple fans are most excited about – so we set out to answer that very question in a new WhatsApp poll.
We asked the many followers in our WhatsApp channel (368,000 subscribers and counting) the simple question “which iOS 18 feature are you most excited about for your iPhone?”. The answers give us a revealing glimpse of the features that you’ll use the most when iOS 18 lands in September – and which could get ignored.
The poll also gives us a snapshot of how much of the TechRadar audience is on Android. In fact, the top answer in our poll (with around 1,664 votes) was actually “I don’t care (I’m on Android)”.
But Android fans aside, a significant number of iPhone owners chose their favorite features from our list of iOS 18’s biggest headlines. There wasn’t much love for the upgrades to Apple Mail, the redesigned Photos app or, surprisingly, support for RCS messaging – which should make texting Android-owning friends a much better experience.
Still, here are the top three iOS 18 features that TechRadar’s Apple fans are most excited about:
3. Texting via satellite (130 votes)
The popularity of iOS 18’s satellite texting feature was a slight surprise, given it’ll be limited to those with the iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 series. But there’s no denying how useful this extension on Emergency SOS could be for those who are caught in cellular dead zones.
If you’ve been disconnected from both cellular and Wi-Fi connections for a while, iOS 18 will give you an alert to ask if you want to use satellite connectivity. From there, you’ll be able to use the Messages app to send or receive both SMS texts and iMessages.
For now, the feature will be free for two years from the time you bought your iPhone 14 or iPhone 15, but Apple has said it plans to charge for the feature in future.
2. Customizable home screen (279 votes)
We thought that iOS 18’s advanced home screen customization (which has more than a hint of Android about it) would be the top choice in our poll. But it still came in at a respectable second place, with 9% of the total vote.
If you missed WWDC 2024, iOS 18 will let you do many things that Apple has steadfastly refused to allow on iPhone before, including letting you position apps at the bottom or side of the screen so you can see your lovely wallpaper behind.
We’ll also be able to hide app names (like the above), for a super-minimalist look. And there’ll be the option of triggering new dark mode icons and adding color tints, too. Thanks Apple, it’s about time.
1. The new Siri assistant (495 votes)
Apple’s big Siri upgrade was definitely one of the biggest stories of WWDC 2024, and you emphatically agreed. In total, 16% of the respondents to our WhatsApp poll said the new Siri assistant is the most exciting feature of iOS 18.
Unfortunately, the rebooted Siri – which will also be able to connect to ChatGPT, thanks to a deal with OpenAI – will be limited to the iPhone 15 Pro series (or iPads and Macs) with an M1 chip. It’ll also no doubt be compatible with the iPhone 16 series in September.
But if you’re lucky enough to have a recent iPhone, you’ll get Siri’s visual makeover, more natural conversation skills and the option of typing questions to Siri later this year. From next year, Siri will also get the ability to use “personal context” and on-screen awareness to become even more useful.
Considering we’ve been waiting 13 years for Apple to deliver on Siri’s original promise, we couldn’t be happier – and you sound pretty excited about it, too.
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mark.wilson@futurenet.com (Mark Wilson)
