Multiple reports claim iOS 18 will steal one of Android’s best features at long last

With less than three months to go until WWDC, the annual developer get-together where Apple announces major changes coming to its various software platforms, we’re starting to get a better idea of what to expect. Such as the upcoming version of iOS, which multiple sources suggest will alter the experience for iPhone owners more radically than any previous update.

In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman predicts that among the new features in this year’s iOS 18 update, iPhone users will get a new home screen that’s significantly more customizable than in the past. Apple has gradually allowed customizable elements to creep into the iPhone over the years–such as home-screen widgets in 2020’s iOS 14–but Gurman’s comments suggest this will be a far more sudden and radical relaxation of the company’s traditionally strict controls over the appearance of the iPhone interface.

Gurman, mind you, does not offer much detail about how this will work, other than customizability in the general sense. Fortunately, MacRumors promptly responded to his prediction with a small amount of additional information on the topic, based on its own “sources familiar with the matter.” These sources claim that iOS 18 will allow users to “arrange [app] icons more freely,” breaking up the otherwise rigid conformity of the app grid with blank spaces, rows, and columns, although evidently the sources do not confirm this directly. What is clear is that the grid structure itself will not change, nor will app icons be able to escape it.

As MacRumors notes, blank app icons can already be created by users, but not easily, requiring a third-party tool such as Widgetsmith. This change would bring that option into the main OS as a straightforward change that all users can access and put the iPhone onto a level playing field with Android, which has long allowed users to place apps and widgets wherever they want on the home screen.

From the sound of things, we can expect to see the home screen change in roughly the same ways as the lock screen did in iOS 16. That would mean the ability to change fonts, filters, and colors, have images dynamically overlap text (and use dynamic backgrounds), and choose from a range of preset aesthetic packages and clever interactive features. But we will have to wait until June to be sure.

Note that customization won’t be the only change coming to iOS 18. For one thing, it’s also expected to be a landmark update for AI functionality. For all the latest news and rumors, check our regularly updated iOS 18 superguide.

Author: David Price, Editor