The functions of your iPhone are not frozen in time. On the contrary, they evolve constantly and free of charge, as their system is updated. And the next versions will bring great new features.
Even if you bought it several years ago, your iPhone continues to evolve and improve. Not physically, of course, but via its operating system, iOS, the software that makes it work. Indeed, Apple offers a major iOS update at least once a year, with bug fixes, but also improvements and new functions. This year, in parallel with the release of its iPhone 16, the Apple firm published iOS 18, which is also compatible with many older models. Since then, version 18.1 has arrived with new features and 18.2 is expected for December.
Version 18.1 of iOS was quite sparse in terms of new features. On the iPhone 16, it provided direct access to the selfie camera from the new camera button. On all models, the Control Center can accommodate new elements and even be returned to the original state if it has been tinkered with too much. The real interesting new thing is the possibility of recording telephone conversations directly with the iPhone, without any additional app. The problem is that contrary to what we have read here and there, this function is currently not available in France for legal reasons.
iOS 18.2 should, however, bring some more useful new features. Thus, Dynamic Island, the “capsule” which surrounds the sensors hidden at the top of the screen, will display more information (the progress of current downloads in Safari for example). The Locate app will allow you to share the location of a lost device with a contact to make it easier to find. And the Camera button on the iPhone 16 will be able to lock the focus. Even more practical, the iPhone will display the time remaining before its battery is fully charged when it is plugged into the mains, depending on the charger used but also on the state of the battery and the ambient temperature. A function that already exists on many Android smartphones.
Above all, iOS 18.2 should generalize the adoption of RCS on iPhone, this communication system already established in the Android world, which aims to replace old SMS with functions similar to messaging like WhatsApp. This standardization should reduce the differences between iOS and Android – the famous green and blue bubbles. Already adopted by SFR, RCS on iPhone should soon be available from Free and Bouygues before arriving at Orange in 2025.
But the most important and most anticipated new feature is Apple Intelligence, the artificial intelligence that Apple wants to offer in all its compatible products – the most recent. It will be used to generate text and translations but will also help Siri, the voice assistant, to provide answers to complex questions by transparently relying on ChatGPT. It will also allow you to create images and emojis from scratch from a description. And iPhone 16 users will be able to use the camera button to search the Internet from a snapshot taken on the fly.
The problem is that although the Apple Intelligence functions will arrive with iOS 18.2 on compatible iPhones, they will not be available in Europe and therefore in France immediately, because of the DMA, the famous European regulation. And you will have to wait until spring 2025 to benefit from it.
The good news is that new versions of iOS are always free. They allow you to keep an iPhone for years while benefiting from continuous improvements. Apple is one of the few manufacturers to follow up on its products for this long. iOS 18 is therefore compatible with all iPhones since the XS model released in 2018, six years ago.
To keep your iPhone performing at its best, just keep an eye out for these updates. To do this, nothing could be simpler: open the settings, tap General, then Software Update. You can even discover future new features currently being tested by installing a public beta version when Apple offers one. But at your own risk because nothing guarantees their stability.