New iPhone 16? First Change These 7 Settings in iOS 18

Change the look of Control Center

Control Center used to be a convenient place to quickly access controls like playback volume and Airplane mode, but in iOS 18, it’s become a configurable place to play. You can place controls wherever you want, resize several to reveal more information, and add new controls across multiple screens.

Swipe down from the top-right corner to reveal Control Center (or swipe up from the bottom on iPhone SE). To enter edit mode, long-press or tap the + button in the top-left corner.

Just like moving apps, drag a control to another location on the screen to reposition it. Many controls also include a handle in the bottom-right corner that can change the size of the control. In most cases, it reveals the name of the control and its current state (e.g., Flashlight Off).

Control Center now also spans multiple screens. Swipe up to reveal controls for currently playing media, home controls for lights and smart devices, and a dedicated connectivity options page that appears when you long-press the connectivity block containing airplane mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular, and more. Look closely, though, and you’ll see that these screens are actually individual controls expanded to take up the entire Control Center area.

You can rearrange the order of these screens by moving their controls around. Let’s say you want the Home controls to be First Swipe instead of Play Now: In edit mode, drag the large Home control to the previous screen (Play Now will move to the right to make room).

To remove controls, click the – (minus) button that appears. You can also add more controls: Click Add Control and scroll through the available options, from starting a screen recording to a range of accessibility options.

Lock or hide any of your sensitive apps

Our phones hold some of our most sensitive data, but it’s not uncommon to hand the phone over to a friend to view photos or look something up online. That doesn’t mean they’ll snoop, but it does mean they might be more nosy than you’re comfortable with. For data you want to make sure stays out of sight or to add a layer of protection to sensitive information, iOS 18 adds the ability to lock and hide apps.

For example, let’s say you keep an ongoing collection of gift idea lists for family members in the Notes app. You can lock individual notes, but that requires a separate step. Some ideas may have been presented as individual Quick Notes or sketches. Instead of managing access, you can lock the entire Notes app by doing the following:

Touch and hold the icon of the app you want to lock and choose “Require Face ID” or “Require Touch ID” (or “Require passcode” if Face ID or Touch ID is not enabled) from the menu that appears. Confirm your selection by clicking “Require Face ID” (or similar) in the next dialog.

To remove the authentication step, touch and hold the app and choose “Don’t require Face ID” (or similar).

There’s no indication that the app is locked: you’ll know when you try to open it. Another level of app security is available, which involves hiding apps in a special locked folder. Touch and hold the app and choose “Require Face ID,” then tap “Hide” and “Require Face ID” in the dialog. Confirm the action by tapping “Hide App” on the next screen.

The app disappears from the Home screen and is placed in a hidden folder at the bottom of the App Library (swipe left after the last Home screen to reveal the App Library). To access the apps there, tap the hidden folder and authenticate with Face ID.

iOS 18 places some restrictions on hidden apps. Some of them, like many built-in apps like Notes or Reminders, can only be locked and can’t be hidden at all. Additionally, the hidden folder locks when you launch an app or leave the App Library.

Adjust your calendar view

Big new features like locking and hiding apps are great additions, but the small changes you experience each day are also great. The Calendar app includes two new ways to view your schedule.

In iOS 18, when you’re in month view in portrait orientation, tap with two fingers to see more or less detail. As you zoom in, individual events appear as colored bars, then as events labeled with times, while maintaining the monthly grid of days and weeks.

Today view, which breaks down your day hour by hour, now has a new Multi-Day view that shows two days in a row to give you context about what’s coming up without rotating your phone to landscape orientation and showing the week view. Tap the View button above Single Day view and choose Multi-Day from the pop-up menu.

Improved dialogue for movies and TV shows in the TV app

Hearing dialogue in movies and TV shows isn’t a new problem. For example, Apple TV has had a feature for a while now that lets you ask Siri, “What did she say?” It will automatically save a few seconds, turn on subtitles, and replay that portion of the video. You can even buy audio cassettes that can overcome muffled speech on TV. There are many reasons why dialogue can be harder to hear, but iOS 18’s TV app includes a high-tech solution to make it easier to distinguish dialogue.

While watching a video in the TV app, tap the More button (…) and then expand the audio title in the list that appears; If the phone is in landscape orientation, tap the Volume Settings button. Click “Optimize Dialog” and choose “Enhance” or “Enhance.” Both reduce background noise and increase the volume of dialog.

These are just a few of the new features and changes in iOS 18. Check out our broader coverage of Apple Intelligence, more impressions of the system after using it for several months, and of course how all these features will work with the upcoming iPhone 16 models.