How To Use the Best iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia Features Right Now

Throughout WWDC 2024, Apple confirmed off a bunch of shiny new options heading to iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia (and its different software program platforms) later this 12 months—however when you don’t wish to wait round for these options to reach, you may get quite a lot of them proper now.

Apple is well-known for including new options to its software program that then ‘Sherlock’ performance already being supplied by third-party apps, and that’s the case once more this 12 months. Typically, the choice choices stay the very best; you may discover that with a number of of those.

Use ChatGPT for AI help

Let’s begin with one of many extra apparent ones: You don’t have to attend for Apple’s cope with OpenAI and ChatGPT to be applied in iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia later this 12 months as a result of you may set up devoted ChatGPT apps for the iPhone and Macs proper now.

A number of options are solely obtainable to paying customers, however quite a lot of them aren’t ChatGPT Plus exclusives—together with the latest GPT-4o mannequin and the voice mode that allows you to converse to ChatGPT as you’d with Siri. Discover out extra about what ChatGPT can do for you.

Customise iOS residence display icons

Moreover switching to Android, you may get customized icons on your iPhone’s residence display by way of Apple’s Shortcuts app. Create a brand new shortcut, choose Add Motion, and discover the Open App script. Faucet App to search out the app you wish to change the icon of.

You then have to faucet the drop-down menu on the high and select Add to Residence Display screen. That lets you choose a customized picture on your new shortcut, which might then be placed on the house display (the unique shortcut doesn’t vanish however could be put within the App Library).

Get AI writing assist with Grammarly

Whereas no third-party app will be capable to combine with iOS and macOS, in addition to the brand new AI writing instruments rolling out as a part of Apple Intelligence, loads of options can be found if you need assist drafting and rewriting any textual content you should produce.

One such various is the freemium app Grammarly, which works throughout nearly each machine platform and the online: It can provide you useful suggestions about current textual content and alter its tone, size, or fashion, in addition to generate model new textual content utilizing prompts.

Categorize emails with Gmail

You could already learn about this one, however simply in case, The auto-categorization choices heading to Apple Mail on iOS and macOS is one thing that Gmail already does. You possibly can practice the automated sorting algorithm as you go, so it ought to enhance over time.

The classes Gmail makes use of are Main, Promotions, Social, Updates, and Boards. On the desktop interface, you may select which of them get proven—loads of different e mail purchasers with good e mail prioritization, together with SaneBox and Spark.

Use Copilot to generate AI photos

Apple will allow you to generate your personal AI artwork in iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia—for all the pieces from personalised stickers to customized emojis—however many instruments already allow you to generate these photos without cost, together with Microsoft Copilot.

Simply kind out what you desire a image of, and Copilot takes care of the remainder—you may specify the fashion of the picture too, to comply with the Illustration or Sketch choices Apple gives you, after which additional refine your creative creation with some follow-up prompts.

Handle passwords with LastPass

iOS and macOS already do a good job of managing passwords for you. Nonetheless, with the software program upgrades coming quickly, we’ll get a devoted, standalone password supervisor—like the numerous different password managers already obtainable, together with LastPass.

LastPass is likely one of the most complete applications on the market, and naturally, it really works on each form of machine—not simply Apple ones. You should use the service without cost, however to get essentially the most out of it, you want to enroll in one of many premium plans.

Kind to speak to Siri

Apple is making typing your Siri prompts extra accessible with iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia. Nonetheless, you may already do that—it’s simply hidden away within the Accessibility settings in your machine relatively than being one thing you may swap to and from with a faucet or click on.

When you’re interacting with Siri on an iPhone, open Settings, then choose Accessibility and Siri to search out the Kind to Siri toggle swap. When you’re on a Mac, open System Settings, and also you’ll additionally discover an Accessibility menu with a Siri entry and a Kind to Siri toggle swap.

Organise desktop home windows with Magnet

Sequoia will lastly catch as much as Microsoft’s desktop working system, enabling you to shortly and simply pin open home windows to at least one facet and even one-quarter of the display—very helpful when you’re working in a number of apps concurrently.

You possibly can already do that with a number of third-party applications, together with Magnet. It’ll set you again $4.99, but it surely presents a wealth of various choices for arranging home windows on a number of screens—and appears to