10 Hidden iOS 18 Features You Should Know About

From a much easier way to select widgets, to new way of shutting down your iPhone, iOS 18 brings plenty of hidden features to the iPhone.

Apple announced a slew of features coming to your iPhone with iOS 18. A key theme for iOS this year seems to be customization. On the Home Screen, you can now place your icons anywhere and tint them into any color you want. There’s also a toggle to switch them into a darker theme.

Personally, my favorite part of any major OS update, like iOS 18, isn’t the features Apple shows off on stage. Instead, it’s the features you discover after installing the update. Hidden features, if you will. Below I’ve rounded up 10 hidden features in iOS 18 and will walk you through where to find them and how to use them.

10 hidden iOS 18 features

Here are 10 hidden iOS 18 features that you must know about.

1. Change Siri’s name

You can now have Siri respond when you call it by any name you like.

1. Go to Settings, Accessibility
2. Scroll down to Settings
3. Tap Set up Vocal Shortcuts
4. On the explanatory page that appears, tap Continue
5. Enter Siri in the search bar
6. From the three results you get, tap on the one just labelled "Siri"
7. When prompted, type in the word you want to say, then tap Go
8. Your iPhone will ask you to say this word three times
9. When you see Action is Ready, tap Continue

Note that you can always turn this feature off again. Go back to the same section in Vocal Shortcuts, tap Edit, then delete whatever word you’ve set up.

2. Replace flashlight and camera buttons

In iOS 18, you can now swap out the two controls at the bottom of the Lock Screen for a different action of your choosing.

To change the lock screen buttons in iOS 18:

• Long press the lock screen, once you have unlocked it with Face ID.
• On the home screen selection screen, tap Customize, then select Lock Screen.
• Tap the minus icon next to the button you want to remove.
• Tap the now-vacated space.
• In the new window, select the button you want to place there instead. If necessary, an extra prompt may appear requesting further information.
• Tap Done.

3. Hide App Labels on Your iPhone Home Screen

Another hidden iOS 18 feature is the ability to hide the labels on app icons for a cleaner look.

Turning off the labels causes the icons to expand and take up the space where the text usually appears underneath. Here’s how to remove app labels from your Home Screen:

1. On the Home Screen, press and hold on an empty area.
2. Tap Edit then Customize
3. In the customization menu that appears, tap the Large button. Your iPhone will now have larger icons without any app labels and it looks awesome.

4. Format text and add Effects in Messages app

iOS 18 allow users to format text they type in the messaging field of the native Messages app for the first time.

This means that when you’re sending iMessages, you can bold, italicize, strike, or underline text that you send to other people, and this helps you get your point across more easily. In addition, there are all-new text effects that can animate words within an iMessage, including Big, Small, Shake, Nod, Explode, Ripple, Bloom, and Jitter. Here’s how to do it:

1. Go to a conversation inside the Messages app on your iPhone.
2. Type your message.
3. Now, tap the format icon above the keyboard. You can also select a word or sentence and choose Text Effects from the menu strip.
4. Now, choose a text formatting style.
   • B: Bold
   • I: Italics
   • U: Underline
   • S: Strikethrough
   • Text effects: Pick one of the eight options. All of these add animated effects to your text except for Big and Small.
5. Hit the blue arrow button to send your message with the added text formatting.

Note that you can combine bold, italics, underline, and strikethrough and apply them all to a selected text. However, you cannot combine these four styles with one of the eight text effects.

5. Hide an app from the Home Screen

If you don’t want people to know which apps you’re using, you can hide them from your iPhone entirely.
When you select to hide an app, it will completely disappear from your Home Screen or App Library. That way, no one will be able to see it no matter what they do. Even if they search the app with your iPhone’s Search feature, or try to access your Notification Center, they’ll find nothing.

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.

6. Engage more of the senses with Music Haptics

One new feature seeks to expand music from being a solely auditory experience to one that’s tactile as well. It’s a fascinating new capability called Music Haptics.

When Music Haptics is enabled, the iPhone’s Taptic Engine will play "taps, textures, and refined vibrations" that correspond to the audio of the music. The feature works across millions of songs in the Apple Music catalog.

This feature can provide a new way for the deaf or hard of hearing to enjoy music, but it’s also an innovative new way for anyone to experience their favorite songs.

Music Haptics can be activated from iOS 18’s Settings app under Accessibility ⇾ Music Haptics. There you’ll see an option to toggle the feature on, as well as the ability to test it out.

7. Use The Eye Tracking Feature To Control Your iPhone

Imagine controlling your iPhone or iPad just by looking at it! With iOS 18, Apple has introduced a new eye-tracking feature that makes this possible. It’s designed to help people with difficulty using their hands, but it’s so easy and fun to use that anyone can try it.

With the Eye Tracking feature in iOS 18 enabled, you can navigate your iPhone simply by moving your eyes. To open an app, look at the icon and hold your gaze for a few seconds.

Here’s how to use the iOS 18 eye tracking feature:

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Tap on Accessibility.
3. Scroll down and tap on Eye Tracking.
4. Toggle on **"Eye Tracking," **ensuring the slider turns green.
5. You will then get a prompt that says, "Follow the dot with your eyes as it moves around the screen."
6. Follow the dots on the screen with your eyes until you get a white checkmark.

Now, you can use your eyes to navigate your iPhone via iOS 18.

8. Require Siri For Interruptions

By enabling this you will have a pretty cool feature on Siri where you can actually just say the word “Siri” or the “Hey Siri” word and then it will actually interrupt Siri. Here’s how to enable it:

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Tap on Accessibility.
3. Scroll down and tap Siri.
4. Turn on the toggle next to Require “Siri” For Interruptions.

9. Convert option in Calculator

The new Calculator app in iOS 18 adds a powerful conversion tool to the iPhone. This can instantly change one value into another. This includes:

• Angle
• Area
• Currency
• Data
• Energy
• Force
• Fuel
• Length
• Power
• Pressure
• Speed
• Temperature
• Time
• Volume
• Weight

The conversion tool is super easy to use. You can tap on the unit in the Calculator Display area to select your conversion type.

10. Power Off Your iPhone From the Control Center

Apple in iOS 18 has added a new Power button in the Control Center. Instead of holding down the side and volume buttons, you can power off an iPhone by tapping the button in the top-right corner of the Control Center. Press that button, and the standard power slider will appear on screen so you can turn off your iPhone.

Control Center is invoked in the same way as always in iOS 18, with a swipe from the top-right corner, then in that same corner you’ll find a new power button.