iOS 18 was announced on June 10, and since then, we’ve been able to test the latest iPhone software and figure out the best features and little tidbits that make using your iPhone better.
These iOS 18 tips and tricks will help you get the most out of your iPhone regardless of whether you own the best iPhone, the iPhone 15 Pro Max, or an older model like the iPhone 13 mini.
You’ll find all of the best iOS 18 tips and tricks below, from Vocal Shortcuts to locking apps, so be sure to read the article in its entirety.
Best iOS 18 Tips and Tricks
1. Vocal Shortcuts
Vocal Shortcuts is a powerful iOS 18 feature that lets you trigger any action on your iPhone using a custom voice command that you choose. For example, you could have a Vocal Shortcut that opens the Camera app when your device hears the word ‘Camera.’
Vocal Shortcuts can be used to set a voice command to run any shortcut, plus you can set up triggers for apps, system features like taking a screenshot, changing volume, scrolling, activating Control Center, and more.
Vocal Shortcuts are easy to set up.
First you have to enable the feature on your iPhone. This is a simple process:
- Open the Settings app
- Go to Accessibility ⇾ Vocal Shortcuts
- Tap ‘Set Up Vocal Shortcuts’
Once the feature is enabled, you can create your first Vocal Shortcut by doing the following:
- Choose an action it will perform
- Define a custom trigger phrase
- Speak that phrase out loud three times
After your Vocal Shortcut is configured, you can speak the trigger phrase any time you’re using your iPhone–or even when it’s locked–to perform the assigned action.
And importantly: there’s no need to invoke Siri first, just say the magic words and the action will trigger.
2. Search your call history
iOS 18 has added the ability to search your call history in the Phone app on your iPhone.
Long overdue, this feature let’s you find a recent phone call you’ve placed or received from the Phone app so that you aren’t forced to scroll through a lengthy call history list to find what you’re looking for.
- Open the Phone app on your iPhone.
- Tap Recents.
- Tap Search.
3. Resize control icons in the Control Center
With iOS 18, you can easily resize thee control icons that you have in the Control Center. Here’s how.
- Swipe down from the top-right corner of the screen to display Control Center.
- Tap the plus icon in the upper-left corner to segue to edit mode.
- After tapping the plus icon, some controls sport a gray curved handle in the lower-right corner. This means you can resize the control’s icon. Drag the handle and move it up, down, or diagonally. Release it when the icon is the size you wish.
4. View iPhone calculator history
This is such a basic feature to have but it took Apple more than 16 years to add it to its stock Calculator app. The history tape makes managing information significantly easier, as you no longer need to move between apps to check calculation results. You can not only see previous calculations but you can also quickly switch to them to continue with the calculations.
- Launch the Calculator app.
- Tap the Menu (three vertical dots with vertical line) button located in the top left corner of the screen.
- Now, the full calculator history will be visible.
- To delete the calculator history, tap Edit, select the calculation, and tap the Delete (no. of calculation) button at the bottom left corner.
- Alternatively, you can tap the Delete All button to erase the complete calculator history.
5. Share Wi-Fi Passwords with QR code
Sharing Wi-Fi passwords has become incredibly simple in iOS 18, thanks to the ability to generate QR codes for Wi-Fi networks. So if you want to say goodbye to the painful Wi-Fi password sharing process, follow the steps below:
- Launch the new Apple Passwords app and authenticate with a Face ID or Touch ID.
- Select the Wi-Fi tab and choose your Wi-Fi network.
- Tap on the show network QR code option. And boom! Your QR code is now ready to let anyone connect.
6. Hide app and widget names on iPhone Home Screen
Jailbreak tweaks like nolabel and cleanlibrary have existed for a long time to remove app names on the Home Screen and App Library. But with iOS 18, Apple now offers a built-in way to remove apps, widgets, and folder names.
- Touch and hold an empty spot on your iPhone or iPad Home Screen until all apps start wiggling. Alternatively, you can tap and hold an app icon and choose Edit Home Screen.
- Tap the Edit button and select Customize.
- You will see two tabs: Small and Large. Tap Large, and all app icons will inflate in size, and their labels will hide.
- Tap outside the bottom dock-like area to return to your Home Screen with no app, widget, or folder names.
Now, if you go inside an app folder on your Home Screen, you will notice no app labels there.
Furthermore, if you swipe to App Library and enter a category, this won’t display the app names either. However, if you swipe down on the App Library screen to see all apps in alphabetical order, they will show the names there.
Progressive web apps or website shortcuts you add from Safari to your iPhone Home Screen will also hide their names.
7. Remove or change the flashlight and camera buttons on your iPhone Lock Screen
Apple added dedicated controls for the flashlight and camera to its Face ID-equipped models in iOS 12, and they’ve stayed there, unmovable and unchangeable, ever since.
While the flashlight is helpful for many folks, some find it too easy to activate accidentally. On the other hand, the camera button has always been somewhat redundant since you can swipe to the right of your Lock Screen to do the same thing.
The good news is that Apple has finally seen the light, and iOS 18 allows these two buttons to be used for other purposes — or even removed entirely if you’d prefer a cleaner Lock Screen. Here’s how:
- Wake up your iPhone, make sure Face ID unlocks your phone, and then touch and hold somewhere on the Lock Screen. You can also go inside your iPhone, swipe down to get to the Notification Center, and then touch and hold to enter editing mode.
- Tap Customize.
- Select Lock Screen.
- To remove one or both of these icons, tap the minus button and then hit Done from the upper right corner.
- To change these toggles to something else, tap the minus button and then tap the plus icon. Now, select one of the available actions and tap Done.
8. COLOR OPTIONS IN NOTES
Apple Notes keeps adding powerful new options each year for formatting your text. This year’s addition is color.
In iOS 18, when you select some text inside a note, you can now highlight it in one of five colors:
- Purple
- Pink
- Orange
- Mint
- Blue
You can access these by going to a note and then tapping the ‘Aa‘ icon. Toward the right of this formatting menu, you’ll see a new option for color.
9. Control iPhone by making sounds
An Accessibility feature called Sound Actions lets you perform various functions by making simple sound. There are fourteen sounds the user can make to trigger a near-infinite set of actions.
For example, accessing the Control Center by swiping down on the screen isn’t the most convenient gesture. We can launch the Control Center with Sound Actions by making an ”ooo” sound.
Here’s how to set up Sound Actions on your iPhone:
- Open the Settings app
- Tap "Accessibility"
- Select Touch
- Select "Sound Actions”
- Tap a sound, then assign an action to it.
- You can also tap Practice to practice sounds before assigning one to an action
10. Hide and Lock Apps
Want to keep an app away from prying eyes? You could bury it in an unrelated or boring folder, but iOS 18 will do you one better and let you hide it in a private Hidden folder that’s only accessible via Face ID, Touch ID, or a passcode.
If someone is using your phone and you’ve locked an app, when they try to open that app, they’ll see a popup that says it can’t be accessed without secondary authentication.
To hide an app, long press the app’s icon and choose Hide and Require Face ID. The app will also instantly disappear from your Home Screen and your App Library.
Then, how can you find these hidden apps? If you scroll over to yoru App Library, you’ll see a new Hidden folder at the bottom. This won’t show anything until you tap on it, at which point you’ll need to authenticate with either the Face ID or Touch ID to open it and see all your hidden apps.
To stop hiding an app, press and hold on the app icon and choose Don’t Require Face ID.
If hiding apps a bit much, you can just lock them with the Face ID or Touch ID instead, which will keep them on your Home Screen and in search, but stop others from opening them.
To lock an app, long press an app icon and choose Require Face ID. From the new popup, choose Require Face ID again, and the app will be locked.
To stop locking an app, press and hold on the app icon and choose Don’t Require Face ID.