On Sept. 16, 2024, Apple officially made iOS 18 available to the public, and the software is supported for the iPhone XS and newer. 

As the owner of an iPhone 15, I am very satisfied with the new operating system thus far. The main reason I’m saying that is because Apple seems to have fixed the issue with their iPhone 15s freezing regularly. Even Kanye West made a post on his Instagram story on Sept. 9 about his iPhone 15 freezing. 

Before the software update, I was complaining at least twice a day about my phone freezing. I have not had it freeze once since the update. 

A few other updates that I am a fan of are the new features to the Calculator app, the new app icon customization and the new Passwords app added by Apple. 

On the Calculator app, you can now backspace if you mess up when typing an equation. You can also store notes on the app itself in a function called “math notes.” On the home screen, you can change the color of your app icons, and you can also change them to light, dark, automatic or tinted. I personally changed my icons to dark mode, as that is what all my apps are on, too. The Passwords app, which stores all your saved passwords among apps and websites, was formerly a subcategory in the Settings app, but is now its own app.

In a Google Forms survey among 15 students in the Department of Communication at Waynesburg University, nine students said they liked the new operating system, while the other six said they have yet to receive the update. Of the nine that liked the new operating system, most of them said that their favorite feature was the new app icon customization features. The second most common answer was the new text effects, which can make text bold, italicized, or underlined. 

When those nine students were asked what they did not like about iOS 18, some popular answers were the new layout of the Control Center menu and the new Photos app layout. One student, who had just updated right before taking the survey, responded by saying, “I don’t like that my phone is super hot right now.”

According to a Forbes article from Sept. 27 titled “iOS 18.0.1: Unexpected iPhone Update For All Users Just Days Away,” from David Phelan, Apple has been rumored to be coming out with a new software update, iOS 18.0.1, in the coming days. The article predicted Oct. 1 as the specific date for that update, and the update ended up coming out on Oct. 2.