First impressions of iOS 18 (on an iPhone 13 mini)
I haven’t been willing to partake in the public betas of iOS 18 over this year, so today’s public release is the first time I’ve had a chance to play with the updated OS and some of its changes.
As I use my phone in a minimalist way, some of the changes such as Home Screen customisation isn’t as relevant to me personally; however here are a few key takeaways of what I have encountered to far:
Control Centre upgrades make it useful (and the iPhone mini harder to leave)
As my home screen isn’t yet impacted by the new features, the biggest changes for my usage so far has been the improvements in how Control Centre works and its customisation.
Control Centre is something that always seemed like it could be better utilised, and I think iOS 18 gets most of the way there. Easier, more comprehensive customisation, multiple pages of controls available, adjustable widget sizes (with labels) and more options for third-party applications to take advantage.
I have created two pages in my setup so far. The first one is a revamped version of the iOS 17 layout, with expanded widgets for items such as the torch, Ping My Watch and Orientation (because I found it difficult when there are multiple icons only to represent these). While I’ve retained the network and now playing widgets, I’ve also added a dedicated Personal Hotspot button (I use this often) and a Background Sounds widget to easily turn on the white noise background sounds built into iOS when I need to concentrate or relax.
The second page currently contains 5 other widgets, all expanded to show labels, that I like to have access to but don’t use so often.
One side effect of a more useful Control Centre for me is making more of a case for me to stick to my iPhone 13 Mini over the newer models. I already was set to keep my phone another year as the 16 series isn’t grabbing me with upgrades just yet, but having to access Control Centre from the top right is going to be so much easier to manage on my 13 Mini than any iPhone since.
The new Photos app is divisive
From what I’ve read online, there are quite a few people annoyed with the changes in the Photos app; and initially I can see their point. Compared to the tabbed interface of the previous version, the single page scroll of options can seem a bit more cluttered than before.
I’m giving it time to see if it’s bad, or I just need time to adjust to the new layout. Thanks to Lee Peterson for pointing me to his post around options he’s chosen within the app to make the new version work for him.
Voice Memos just Sherlocked AI voice to transcription apps
One of the app updates that I think is flying under the radar is Voice Memos and its ability to transcribe audio.
I’ve been playing around with a handful of AI startups doing this previously and they have all been very good; but the power of the default without needing yet another subscription means they have effectively been Sherlocked.
The results are very good, and you can follow along with the text as you play back the audio; a nice touch probably (I’m guessing here) utilising similar tech done for Apple Music Lyrics.
Note however that this is one of those features that uses Apple Intelligence servers in the cloud to do the transcription, and as such it won’t transcribe audio without a network connection. If you have a iPhone 15 Pro or newer, I’d be curious to know if they have the models to do this on device instead.
Items I’m not (yet) using
While my home screen isn’t impacted by the changes yet, it was done using a (fairly) expensive widget and some workarounds to get selected apps to load from the home screen. I’ll be interested in looking at other options that should be available with the new functionality in iOS 18 at some stage.
The other upgrade I’m curious about but won’t use are the improvements to the Journal app. I don’t want to keep my journal in a closed ecosystem so I won’t be using it, but I have heard of some useful improvements for those that are or want to start using the app.
Also for those in the Apple ecosystem, the Passwords app seems like a way better method of managing or your passwords compared to trying to find it in the settings.
How distraction-free devices make you more productive
I was watching a YouTube video recently from Spencer’s Adventures around his experiences with the AlphaSmart 3000 electronic word processor. Many of the comments reminisced about their time with the device in school, or how they still use it for their writing needs.
However there was a few comments pretty dismissive of the idea; with this one in particular catching my eye:
The underlying idea in this comment is common among discussions where the topic of technology usage is concerned: if it’s such an issue, why don’t you just stop doing the distracting things?
For various reasons, while many may be able to stop themselves from distracting apps and services in order to get something done and be productive; many of us still struggle. I’ve personally tried to take various steps on my phone and laptop in order to stop distractions and be more productive on those devices. Some actions have been successful, but to be honest many haven’t.
For myself, while a laptop is more than capable of being an excellent device for typing out a journal or blog post; its distractions of connectivity, apps and services it is capable of running are generally too much for me to ignore.
I’m sure many of you can identify with this. How often have you gone to check something quickly on your laptop or phone only to go down a completely unrelated rabbit hole of content; be that social media updates, website articles or YouTube videos.
A device like a dedicated electronic word processor (which I’m writing this on) helps by way of its limitations; it can’t do anything else but be a word processor. No emails, no internet browsers, no apps, no videos or music to play in the background while I pretend to focus on the item at hand.
Devices like this save us from ourselves and our willingness to fill in any sense of boredom with noise or entertainment. It’s the same story with single purpose devices outside of the productivity scheme.
There’s a rising popularity of old iPods in an era where unlimited music streaming services have seemingly turned music into a constant background activity, limiting our ability to truly listen and connect with a song and rendering the album almost insignificant.
Digicams have had a resurgence among young people; embracing the friction of the experience and lo-fi nature of the results compared to the always on, highly processed and instant sharing nature of smartphones.
Part of the resurgence of distraction-free or single purpose devices might very well be an over correction to the rapid on boarding of these devices in our daily lives, particularly our smartphones. These are indeed incredible tools when used correctly, with capabilities often exceeding their single purpose counterparts all within our pockets.
But many of us are overwhelmed. The technology changes have been so swift and drastic that our primitive brains, which in the past have had long periods of history to adapt to changing technology and social norms, are struggling to keep up.
Some are thriving with these new technologies; but an increasing amount of people in this world are looking for the alternatives, to simplify and slow down. To single task instead of overloading our brains with attempts of multitasking.
Distraction-free devices, whether from technology of yesteryear or new devices dedicated to a craft, provide a way some of us can get back in control of what we do and when.