iOS 18 Speculation Thread

[dannyyankou]

But if every iPhone 16 purchase between Sept-Feb gets a $25 payout as part of a class action, they can drop the whole thing. That is still an option they could choose to take if the difficulty of the effort outweighs the cost of the check they would need to write. See swelling batteries on Apple Watches, performance throttling in Canda, Siri privacy concerns, Apple Store bag checks, etc. Apple does not mind writing big checks to solve problems.

It’s not only the class action lawsuit, but the cost of falling behind on AI too. Which they already have, but it would reach a point where people are going to start switching to Android. AI isn’t important enough to me to switch, but it is to a lot of people.

 

[mattburley7]

i know they said early april for iOS 18.4 but any guesses what day?

im thinking april 7th-8th, that gives us time for beta 4, 5, and RC.

 

[Kal Madda]

i know they said early april for iOS 18.4 but any guesses what day?

im thinking april 7th-8th, that gives us time for beta 4, 5, and RC.

That makes sense to me. 👍🏻. And then hopefully we get the first beta for 18.5 the following week or two. 👍🏻

 

[HouseLannister]

i know they said early april for iOS 18.4 but any guesses what day?

im thinking april 7th-8th, that gives us time for beta 4, 5, and RC.

It will definitely be on April 1. The same day they do their annual free iPhone offer.

 

[mattburley7]

It will definitely be on April 1. The same day they do their annual free iPhone offer.

iOS release on april fools day? has that happened ever before? lol.. nah

 

[JFLECHUGA]

What? Just because the features in iOS 19 haven’t been announced yet doesn’t mean they can’t say “coming in the next major iOS update”, or “coming in iOS 19”. We all know iOS 19 is coming, that isn’t the part that’s a “secret”, the features are. Besides, if I recall correctly, Apple said RCS was coming in iOS 18 before iOS 18 was announced. They could at the very least say something like “coming in 2026”. But they haven’t done any of those things, so a later 18 update is still a possibility. 👍🏻

My friend @Kal Madda, according to what I have read, Siri's AI is quite late and as they say it will be working in all its splendor in 2027, Apparently Apple is putting it in cautious mode with the new terminals since by not having the complete AI users will change little the terminals that are between the 15 Pro and 16 Pro., so we will have an IOS 19 somewhat diminished by the AI, And for next week we will expect another beta of 18.4.
I'm quite thick today, look where I've read it!!! 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️.

Kuo: Apple Knows Apple Intelligence is 'Underwhelming' and Won't Drive iPhone Upgrades

The Apple Intelligence features that Apple introduced with iOS 18 are not pushing people to upgrade their iPhones, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo...

www.macrumors.com

 

[LutzRFrank]

Apple Reassures Siri Team Members Feeling Disappointed and Embarrassed by Apple Intelligence Delay

Apple is reassuring employees on the Siri team who may be feeling demotivated by the recent Siri delays and the bad press surrounding the...

www.macrumors.com

thats a good one ...

 

[Kal Madda]

Apple Reassures Siri Team Members Feeling Disappointed and Embarrassed by Apple Intelligence Delay

Apple is reassuring employees on the Siri team who may be feeling demotivated by the recent Siri delays and the bad press surrounding the...

www.macrumors.com

thats a good one ...

Yeah, I for one am glad that they’re not doing what other tech companies have done and just throw the features out there with only about a 60-80% correct rate. You have all these people acting like school children throwing tantrums because Apple delayed these features so that they can get them right and not just throw them out there unfinished. Some people just need to get a grip… 🤦🏼‍♂️

 

[sbailey4]

Guess that settles it then.

"Walker said that Apple is aiming for ‌iOS 19‌, but that the timeline "doesn't mean that we're shipping then." "

 

[Kal Madda]

Guess that settles it then.

"Walker said that Apple is aiming for ‌iOS 19‌, but that the timeline "doesn't mean that we're shipping then." "

Yes, I think this is actually fairly good evidence we’re probably looking at the features coming in iOS 19. 👍🏻

 

[HouseLannister]

That means iOS 19 at the earliest, but it ships when it’s done.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

I think that the redesign that was leaked out of nowhere is something they had planned to add little by little in the next versions, but with the disaster that the artificial intelligence issue is being, they will have decided to advance a large part of it for iOS 19 and thus not seem like a version devoid of new features. Because if we focus on the issue of artificial intelligence, the new features that iOS 19 could have are the ones they did not manage to make it to iOS 18.

Completely disagree.
Gurman has made it clear in several podcasts He’s been on this week that the plans for the redesign have been in place since at least 2021.
Also, you have been able to see them work on the redesign bit by bit already.
Look at the iPhone 15 Pro and 16 “Action Button” settings panel, it looks like nothing else inside of the settings app.
Or the recent “Sports” and “invitations” apps.
Or the TV app frosted glass sidebar redesign back in December 2023.

Also, a 2025 redesign of macOS was rumored as early as January 2024.
It’s definitely something that has been in the works for those paying close attention.

 

[Reeneman]

Guess that settles it then.

"Walker said that Apple is aiming for ‌iOS 19‌, but that the timeline "doesn't mean that we're shipping then." "

The on screen awareness is one of the features, the other one is that the system Assistent is aware of nearly all the stuff you have done or written on the phone.
Like in their demo with the flight information from the mother taken out of a mail or messenger conversation.
It’s quite ambitions to constantly scan nearly everything that’s happening on the device and work with that in a meaningful way.
Thrilled to see if this really happens and when. Could imagine that this feature then quietly will be dropped for 15 Pros and probably even the 16 phones. We will see.

 

[Ludatyk]

Yeah, I for one am glad that they’re not doing what other tech companies have done and just throw the features out there with only about a 60-80% correct rate. You have all these people acting like school children throwing tantrums because Apple delayed these features so that they can get them right and not just throw them out there unfinished. Some people just need to get a grip… 🤦🏼‍♂️

What tech companies are you referring to? And obviously, who wants a feature that's not finished. Delaying is not the issue, it's presenting us with "vaporware"... not once but twice.

And I'm not outraged or anything, it will come when it comes... I'm on board with what @Lounge vibes 05 shared in the iOS 19 thread. And I do admit the reaction is a bit overblown, but Apple placed themselves in this situation.

 

[Kal Madda]

What tech companies are you referring to? And obviously, who wants a feature that's not finished. Delaying is not the issue, it's presenting us with "vaporware"... not once but twice.

And I'm not outraged or anything, it will come when it comes... I'm on board with what @Lounge vibes 05 shared in the iOS 19 thread. And I do admit the reaction is a bit overblown, but Apple placed themselves in this situation.

Google for one. Google search summaries get things wrong quite often, yet are prominently displayed at the top of search results. It even once recommended using super glue to prevent cheese from sliding off a pizza. I think that’s an example of something that should have seen a bit more development before it was rushed out. Same with some of Microsoft’s AI features. Bing was constantly hallucinating there for a while, and of course there was the whole privacy and security debacle over Microsoft’s Copilot AI feature that would scan a ton of user data without the privacy protections Apple has in place.

It isn’t “vaporware”, just because the release has been delayed doesn’t mean it “doesn’t exist” or anything. We have good reason to believe these features have been and are still in development. Robby Walker is cited as saying the features in current builds have about a 60-80% accuracy, and this is why they’re taking more time to improve them so that it returns more consistent results for users. A lesser company could have just rushed out release of the features as is with that kind of accuracy range to meet a timeline and avoid media backlash and “scandal”, but Apple is putting quality first, prioritizing the quality of the product they’re going to ship to end users when they release the features, even though the delay will hurt them in the short term. I think this actually is a good thing. It demonstrates Apple cares more about end users and the quality of their experience than avoiding blowback and criticism for delays. 👍🏻

That’s my take on it, YMMV. 👍🏻

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Google for one. Google search summaries get things wrong quite often, yet are prominently displayed at the top of search results. It even once recommended using super glue to prevent cheese from sliding off a pizza. I think that’s an example of something that should have seen a bit more development before it was rushed out. Same with some of Microsoft’s AI features. Bing was constantly hallucinating there for a while, and of course there was the whole privacy and security debacle over Microsoft’s Copilot AI feature that would scan a ton of user data without the privacy protections Apple has in place.

It isn’t “vaporware”, just because the release has been delayed doesn’t mean it “doesn’t exist” or anything. We have good reason to believe these features have been and are still in development. Robby Walker is cited as saying the features in current builds have about a 60-80% accuracy, and this is why they’re taking more time to improve them so that it returns more consistent results for users. A lesser company could have just rushed out release of the features as is with that kind of accuracy range to meet a timeline and avoid media backlash and “scandal”, but Apple is putting quality first, prioritizing the quality of the product they’re going to ship to end users when they release the features, even though the delay will hurt them in the short term. I think this actually is a good thing. It demonstrates Apple cares more about end users and the quality of their experience than avoiding blowback and criticism for delays. 👍🏻

That’s my take on it, YMMV. 👍🏻

My take is very similar, although I just cannot stand the fact that they gave it its own name and everything.
These should have just been promoted as the normal yearly OS features, the annoying name and the frankly shocking amount of promotion for “Apple Intelligence” is just irritating. And that’s something I’ve thought long before the delay.

 

[Ludatyk]

Google for one. Google search summaries get things wrong quite often, yet are prominently displayed at the top of search results. It even once recommended using super glue to prevent cheese from sliding off a pizza. I think that’s an example of something that should have seen a bit more development before it was rushed out.

What are we talking about… Gemini? Or Google Search?

A lesser company could have just rushed out release of the features as is with that kind of accuracy range to meet a timeline and avoid media backlash and “scandal”, but Apple is putting quality first, prioritizing the quality of the product they’re going to ship to end users when they release the features, even though the delay will hurt them in the short term. I think this actually is a good thing.

It’s one thing putting quality first, but it’s another thing… advertising and marketing to the upmost then delaying it. At least with these “lesser” companies they don’t go out there way to endorse it heavily only to scrap everything from the internet lol.

Features come undeveloped all the time… and over time gets improve, you should know that by now with Stage Manager (based off it’s initially announcement and what it is now).

 

[Kal Madda]

What are we talking about… Gemini? Or Google Search?


It’s one thing putting quality first, but it’s another thing… advertising and marketing to the upmost then delaying it. At least with these “lesser” companies they don’t go out there way to endorse it heavily only to scrap everything from the internet lol.

Features come undeveloped all the time… and over time gets improve, you should know that by now with Stage Manager (based off it’s initially announcement and what it is now).

The particular example I cited about fixing cheese sliding off pizza with super glue is the Google search summaries that Google places at the top of Google search results. But both had and continue to have their shortcomings.

It’s not like they planned on delaying it. They ran into last minute complications and discovered they wouldn’t be able to improve it enough in time for an 18.4 release, so they decided to delay it. And they didn’t scrap everything from the internet, they removed one ad from YouTube, which is the responsible and correct thing to do when you discover you’ll have to delay the features.

Yes, some features can afford to come underdeveloped, but I don’t believe these features can afford that for multiple good reasons. For one, what happens when you use the new Siri and it sets your appointment to meet your mom at the airport an hour late? What happens if it gets the wrong airport, wrong contact, etc.? These features require a higher degree of accuracy. They don’t necessarily have to be perfect before launch, but they have to be pretty close. Otherwise they won’t be of much use to end users.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

What are we talking about… Gemini? Or Google Search?


It’s one thing putting quality first, but it’s another thing… advertising and marketing to the upmost then delaying it. At least with these “lesser” companies they don’t go out there way to endorse it heavily only to scrap everything from the internet lol.

Features come undeveloped all the time… and over time gets improve, you should know that by now with Stage Manager (based off it’s initially announcement and what it is now).

I wouldn’t exactly compare this to stage manager.
Stage Manager basically had no steaks, it’s hidden away in control center, it’s clearly a power user feature. If It failed the worst thing that happens is you don’t use it.
Meanwhile, this contextually aware Siri literally has access to, can read, modify and delete all the files, photos, messages, emails, etc on your device.
Not only are there major security and privacy concerns with this type of technology, but also just very basic reliability concerns.
If you say “delete this file” and in response Siri deletes the wrong file or worse, starts deleting multiple files, you’re going to have some major problems.
60% accurate isn’t even close to acceptable for even a public beta test for something that’s dealing with such a high amount of sensitive, very personal data.

 

[Ludatyk]

I wouldn’t exactly compare this to stage manager.
Stage Manager basically had no steaks, it’s hidden away in control center, it’s clearly a power user feature. If It failed the worst thing that happens is you don’t use it.
Meanwhile, this contextually aware Siri literally has access to, can read, modify and delete all the files, photos, messages, emails, etc on your device.
Not only are there major security and privacy concerns with this type of technology, but also just very basic reliability concerns.
If you say “delete this file” and in response Siri deletes the wrong file or worse, starts deleting multiple files, you’re going to have some major problems.
60% accurate isn’t even close to acceptable for even a public beta test for something that’s dealing with such a high amount of sensitive, very personal data.

I think you missing the point… I was just giving an example of Stage Manager (given @Kal Madda is a supporter of it), being that most features are not as fully developed when announced. Gemini is constantly being improved… so is ChatGPT and CoPilot.

Yes, some features can afford to come underdeveloped, but I don’t believe these features can afford that for multiple good reasons. For one, what happens when you use the new Siri and it sets your appointment to meet your mom at the airport an hour late? What happens if it gets the wrong airport, wrong contact, etc.? These features require a higher degree of accuracy. They don’t necessarily have to be perfect before launch, but they have to be pretty close. Otherwise they won’t be of much use to end users.

And you are proving my point… it should have not been announced if these features weren’t fully vetted. And obviously, Apple didn’t plan to delay it. So, you guys are telling me… they don’t deserve any criticism for the delay?

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

So, you guys are telling me… they don’t deserve any criticism for the delay?

I don’t believe anyone here suggested anything like that.
Of course they deserve criticism for the delay, and more for the advertisements.
There’s just different levels to importance of new features vs stability, and appropriate criticism, depending on the situation.
And frankly I don’t think this particular feature is something that should be rushed, no matter what. Given that it’s able to control the whole system, it also has the real possibility of bringing the entire system down.
*that* would be significantly worse than a delay.

And as for the criticism, I feel that it’s been extremely over-the-top personally. Yes, they deserve some criticism.
But people are acting like they canceled it or like their life is significantly worse because of the delay, and that’s just not true. It’s a 9/10 on the “mad forums” scale when it really should be a 6 or a 7.

 

[Kal Madda]

And you are proving my point… it should have not been announced if these features weren’t fully vetted. And obviously, Apple didn’t plan to delay it. So, you guys are telling me… they don’t deserve any criticism for the delay?

Weren’t fully vetted? How could they be “fully vetted” at WWDC24 when they were planned for release in an update in the next year? That’s not how software development works. They only had early builds at that point. Are we to believe Apple has been wrong every year for announcing features at WWDC that shipped in later iOS versions? This makes no sense to me.

Things can come up, software can break last minute, issues can be discovered, security issues can be exposed, etc. Sometimes unforeseen issues just arise. It happens. As I’ve said, I believe it’s much better for consumers that Apple delay the release of these features to ensure they’re more accurate and secure. 👍🏻

 

[Ludatyk]

I don’t believe anyone here suggested anything like that.
Of course they deserve criticism for the delay, and more for the advertisements.
There’s just different levels to importance of new features vs stability, and appropriate criticism, depending on the situation.
And frankly I don’t think this particular feature is something that should be rushed, no matter what. Given that it’s able to control the whole system, it also has the real possibility of bringing the entire system down.
*that* would be significantly worse than a delay.

And as for the criticism, I feel that it’s been extremely over-the-top personally. Yes, they deserve some criticism.
But people are acting like they canceled it or like their life is significantly worse because of the delay, and that’s just not true. It’s a 9/10 on the “mad forums” scale when it really should be a 6 or a 7.

I already acknowledged that it's not a big deal to me that's delayed... but to generalize it and state it for everyone else, that's what I'm pointing out.

Weren’t fully vetted? How could they be “fully vetted” at WWDC24 when they were planned for release in an update in the next year? That’s not how software development works. They only had early builds at that point. Are we to believe Apple has been wrong every year for announcing features at WWDC that shipped in later iOS versions? This makes no sense to me.

How could it be fully vetted? Perhaps, showing it to a handful of people outside of Apple.

Let's just go with what we know... we haven't seen this feature publicly, hasn't been demoed or anything. We only witness some video... what I'm trying to explain here is, this feature hasn't been used by some 3rd party.

Things can come up, software can break last minute, issues can be discovered, security issues can be exposed, etc. Sometimes unforeseen issues just arise. It happens. As I’ve said, I believe it’s much better for consumers that Apple delay the release of these features to ensure they’re more accurate and secure. 👍🏻

Completely understand. I'm okay with the delay... but to police how others should react, that's what I'm highlighting.

 

[Kal Madda]

How could it be fully vetted? Perhaps, showing it to a handful of people outside of Apple.

Let's just go with what we know... we haven't seen this feature publicly, hasn't been demoed or anything. We only witness some video... what I'm trying to explain here is, this feature hasn't been used by some 3rd party.

Completely understand. I'm okay with the delay... but to police how others should react, that's what I'm highlighting.

Apple pretty much never demonstrates features to the press or third parties before they go into beta. I don’t think any of the major tech companies do that either. That’s an odd expectation, and demonstrating early builds of the features wouldn’t have changed anything in terms of “full vetting” or running into delays…

We have reports from Gurman citing sources in Apple about the features development, so there is absolutely zero reason to believe the features don’t exist or never existed… Those making such claims are literally just throwing out their opinion at best, and lies at worst with absolutely zero evidence to support them, and zero reason to believe such claims…

Police how others react? When did I say how people were and weren’t allowed to react? I have stated my own opinion, my own reaction, and pointed out some counterpoints and stated disagreement with some other’s claims/opinions. I’m not “policing the way people react”, I’m merely stating my opinion and have stated disagreement with others…

 

[Ludatyk]

Apple pretty much never demonstrates features to the press or third parties before they go into beta. That’s an odd expectation, and demonstrating early builds of the features wouldn’t have changed anything in terms of “full vetting” or running into delays…

John Gruber noted that him and a few seen some of the Apple Intelligence features early before the public.

Police how others react? When did I say how people were and weren’t allowed to react? I have stated my own opinion, my own reaction, and pointed out some counterpoints and stated disagreement with some other’s claims/opinions. I’m not “policing the way people react”, I’m merely stating my opinion and have stated disagreement with others…

You stated… “people acting like school children throwing tantrums.” I think that was a bit too much, that’s all. And we all here sharing opinions, the calling out people… that’s what I’m referring to as policing.