The liquid glass makeover and iOS 26 were the main announcements at Apple’s WWDC. As a devoted iPhone user, I’m excited about a few changes, but there are also some new iOS 18 options that I can live without.
I consider myself an authority on how to get phones to function the way you want them to since I study phone manuals very carefully. There are a lot of things I like about the most recent iOS 18 improvements, but there are three things I wish Apple had corrected.
Remove all of the clutter from the iOS 18 Photos app.
When you first launch the Photos app, you’ll see a grid of all your images and videos, which is the library view you’re accustomed to. However, you’ll notice that the navigation bar has disappeared, and collections of your most recent images and videos of friends, family, and pets have taken its place at the bottom.
Swiping down will reveal more random albums and collections, such as shared albums, pinned collections, memories, travels, highlighted photographs, and wallpaper recommendations, which were previously located under the Albums and For You tabs. The primary display on iOS 18 now has them all in one location. Some people might find that helpful, but I don’t need to see everything at once. All I want to see are my albums and camera roll.
Swipe all the way to the bottom of the Photos app, then select Customize and Reorder to personalize it. Any collections you want to keep hidden from the main view may be unchecked here. The sequence in which they appear can also be adjusted. I unchecked everything except material Types (which arranges your material into movies, live images, etc.) and Utilities (which include albums for hidden, recently deleted, receipts, papers, and so on) because I don’t want wallpaper recommendations or most of the other options.
Naturally, the collections Apple has made for you and a number of other albums will no longer be accessible. You’re better off this way if you don’t use them, though, because you can still use the search button at the top or browse through your camera roll to locate any picture or video you’re looking for.
On iOS 18, delete every new Control Center page.
I constantly utilize the Control Center to rapidly connect to Wi-Fi, activate Do Not Disturb, switch on low power or dark mode, and use the music recognition control to find new songs. Nevertheless, Apple improved the Control Center’s layout with iOS 18, adding several pages of controls, some of which are prefabricated and others of which you may build yourself.
The problem is that I only need one Control Center page, not several. I can fit all the controls I need on one page, therefore I don’t want the mess of numerous pages. However, that’s not the only problem. Additionally, I find that I become trapped and irritated when I try to swipe out of the Control Center because I inadvertently browse through the Control Center pages.
Fortunately, there is a simple method for making the Control Center seem as it did in the past, using just one page.
Swipe up to view the extra pages in the Control Center, which you can get by swiping down from the top-right corner of your screen. Then, press your finger down on any vacant area of the page. This will draw attention to the control; to remove it and the page, click the delete control button (-) in the upper-left corner.
Until you just have the primary Control Center, repeat this process for any additional Control Center pages you may have.
Stop inadvertently activating Siri on iOS
The corners of your iPhone screen will now flash in different colors while the assistant is listening to you, in place of the familiar Siri orb. Although I appreciate the cosmetic makeover, there is one feature of the new ChatGPT-powered Siri that continues to irritate me.
The Type to Siri function may be accessed by double tapping the bottom center of your iPhone. This brings up a keyboard at the bottom of your screen so you can type to Siri instead of speaking. Although it’s a helpful function in situations where discretion is required, I constantly manage to accidentally activate it, particularly when I’m touching or swiping my phone.
However, there is a method to turn off Type to Siri without turning off the assistant entirely. Toggle off Type to Siri by going to Apple Intelligence & Siri > Talk & Type to Siri in Settings.
For further information, see how to use this new iOS 18 audio capability to filter through muddy movie speech.
Disclaimer
This article reflects the author’s personal opinions and experiences with iOS 18 and is intended for general informational purposes only. Settings, features, and options may vary depending on the iPhone model and iOS version. Readers are encouraged to explore device settings at their own discretion. The author and publisher are not affiliated with Apple Inc. and are not responsible for any unintended consequences resulting from changes made to your device based on this content.