At the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024, Manzana He spent considerable time talking about Apple Intelligence. The event was shorter than the one of the year, and one of the great novelties apart from the one mentioned was the arrival of iOS 18. There were many new functions that could be seen from the operating system, some of which seem to have been inspired by Android as we are going to show you.
With this we do not mean that they are copies of the development of the operating system of the Mountain View company, but the truth is that it is noticeable that the work seems to be has taken into account what is offered by Android to improve it or shorten distances. This is what we think you should know:
Changes in Control Center
This element had remained almost unchanged in previous versions, it receives a renewal in iOS 18. It now includes multiple panels to access different settings and quick access, and a new “Gallery Controls” allows you to add toggles both from Apple and third-party developers. In addition, options have been added for the control of smart devices, media playback, connectivity, among others, with the possibility of resizing widgets -this would be a welcome feature on Android-.
Game Mode
This possibility, which arrived in macOS Sonoma in 2023, is now part of the iPhone and iPad. This mode seeks to ensure the best possible gaming experience, minimizing interference from other background apps. Additionally, Apple states that Game Mode “Dramatically reduces audio latency with AirPods and makes wireless gaming controllers incredibly responsive”. This is an option that many Android brands have offered on their terminals for a long time to achieve the best possible performance, and the truth is that it is the most effective.
Customizing your home and lock screens
The customization options in iOS 18 were shown at WWDC 2024. For the first time, iPhone and iPad users will be able to place their app icons and widgets in any part of the screen. Until now, installed apps filled a grid, allowing only changes to their order, deleting them, grouping them into folders, or moving them along with widgets. This level of flexibility has been a core feature of Android since its inception.
In terms of customization, iOS 18 introduces a feature similar to Android’s Material You, allowing change the color of app icons. Although the ability to use custom icon packs is still missing, this change is a step forward.
Photos App
Photo library management now looks quite similar to what Google’s own app offers. The Collections, which are already present on Android, now come to Apple’s Photos application. This new tab emphasizes auto-generated albums like People and Pets. Memorieswhich is another type of collection, will also be enhanced with AI in Apple’s Photos application, allowing you to create collages or movies from a prompt.
One of the most significant additions to the Apple app in iOS 18 is the ability to remove unwanted objects from the backgroundsimilar to the Magic Eraser feature in Google Photos, but without the need for Google One.
Siri is now smarter
Apple showed how Siri is being enhanced with Large Language Models (LLM) and other artificial intelligence options, detailing new ways it is expected to work. The voice assistant can now interact with the phone and apps using an on-device AI model. For tasks that exceed the capabilities of the device, use “Private Cloud Compute” servers. If Siri can’t answer a question, OpenAI and ChatGPT can step in to help.
Google had already introduced a model similar with Gemini Nano on the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro, which also depends on servers when the model cannot handle the request. It will be interesting to compare the effectiveness of Gemini versus Siri.
Tap to Cash
This function results curious, since Apple introduces it to iPhones just when this capability disappears from Android phones with Pay. The Google app has been removed from many places in favor of Wallet, which does not offer peer-to-peer transactions.
It’s clear that iOS 18 brings a variety of features that, while new to the Apple ecosystem, have long been an integral part of Android. This shows that while Apple continues to innovate, it is also adopting and adapting popular features from its main competitor in the mobile operating systems market.
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