iOS 18 – 10 Best TIPS & TRICKS for iPhone Users!

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 Music Haptics, 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:

1. Open the Settings app
2. Go to Accessibility ⇾ Vocal Shortcuts
3. Tap ‘Set Up Vocal Shortcuts’

Once the feature is enabled, you can create your first Vocal Shortcut by doing the following:

1. Choose an action it will perform
2. Define a custom trigger phrase
3. 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. Schedule messages to Send Later

Apple launched the Send Later feature for email with iOS 16. Now with iOS 18, we’ve received the same functionality for Messages.

Follow along below for how to use Send Later with Messages on iPhone as the feature is a bit buried in the app’s settings.

Note: Send Later in Messages only works with iMessages, not SMS texts

1. Open the Apple Messages app and select an existing text or create a new one
2. Write your text, but before hitting the send button, tap the icon on the left side of the text field
3. Tap More (or swipe down), now choose Send Later
4. Pick a date and time to schedule the message
5. Tap the send button (up arrow) to set the scheduled message

After you set a scheduled message, it will show up on your screen in the thread with a dotted-line bubble.

Tap Edit if you’d like to change the scheduled date/time, want to send it now, or delete the scheduled message.

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.

1. Swipe down from the top-right corner of the screen to display Control Center.
2. Tap the plus icon in the upper-left corner to segue to edit mode.
3. 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.

1. Launch the Calculator app.
2. Tap the Menu (three vertical dots with vertical line) button located in the top left corner of the screen.
3. Now, the full calculator history will be visible.
4. To delete the calculator history, tap Edit, select the calculation, and tap the Delete (no. of calculation) button at the bottom left corner.
5. 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:

1. Launch the new Apple Passwords app and authenticate with a Face ID or Touch ID.
2. Select the Wi-Fi tab and choose your Wi-Fi network.
3. Tap on the show network QR code option. And boom! Your QR code is now ready to let anyone connect.

6. Rearrange your pinned metrics in the health app

The iOS 18 update brings a much-requested feature to the Health app: the ability to rearrange your pinned metrics and prioritize the health data. Whether you want to track your steps, heart rate, sleep, or any other health metric, you can now arrange them in the order that makes sense to you.

1. Open the Health app.
2. Select the Summary tab.
3. Under Pinned section, tap Edit and rearrange your metrics in the order that makes sense to you.
4. Tap Done to save your changes.

7. Customize the flashlight’s beam and brightness

Up until now, the iPhone has featured a basic native flashlight with an on/off toggle on the Lock Screen and the ability to pick between four levels of brightness when using Control Center.

Now the native experience in iOS 18 comes with improved functionality and a delightful UI on iPhones with the Dynamic Island. Basically, iOS 18 lets you customize the flashlight’s beam and brightness instead of being locked to a certain setting.

Note: This is how the flashlight experience looks on iPhones with a Dynamic Island in iOS 18

1. Turn on the flashlight from the Lock Screen, Control Center, or ask Siri to turn it on
2. Now you’ll see a new animation pop up on the screen from the Dynamic Island, showing the status of the light
3. The slick new flashlight features a horizontal slider to adjust beam width (wide, medium, and narrow)
4. Swipe the vertical slider to adjust the brightness
5. Tap the flashlight in the Dynamic Island to turn it off or back on
6. The flashlight icon stays in the Dynamic Island until you turn it off

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:

1. Open the Settings app
2. Tap "Accessibility"
3. Select Touch
4. Select "Sound Actions”
5. Tap a sound, then assign an action to it.
6. You can also tap Practice to practice sounds before assigning one to an action

10. 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.

Music Haptics uses the Taptic Engine built into modern iPhones to provide taps and vibrations that play in sync with the music you’re listening to.

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.

More on iOS 18:

• 10 Best iOS 18 Features You Should Check Out
• 10 Best iOS 18 Hidden Features You Should Try Right Now
• iOS 18 eye tracking: How to navigate iPhone with just your eyes
• 10 Cool iOS 18 features to check out and customize
• iOS 18 – How To CUSTOMIZE The New Home Screen
• iOS 18: How to Swap Out Lock Screen Camera and Flashlight Buttons