I 18 is here and it's got tons of new features for your iphone. You may have already heard about the ability to change app icon, colors and schedule texts, but this update also brings some hidden gems that are just as cool. I was 18 is available for the iphone 10 or 10 and later. So you don't need a new iphone 16 to try it. I've linked an article blow on how to download it, but quick tip back up your iphone before you update just in case something funky happens during the download or you want to go back to I OS 17. All right. Let's get into the hidden features. I've organized them into chapters so feel free to skip around. Let's start with some of my favorites. They don't fit neatly into one category like customization or camera, but they do have one thing in common. They all just make sense. They feel like features we should have had all along. First. You can now share your Wi Fi password with a QR code just open the password app, which is also new with ios 18. Unlock it with face ID tap, wifi, select the network you want to share and then tap show network QR code. Then someone can scan this code with their camera to connect to the network. This is a game changer because it makes it so much easier to share your Wi Fi password with multiple people at once. And it doesn't require having someone saved as your contact, like sharing your password by bringing Apple devices close together. Does it also makes it easy to give your password to someone on Android? Pre I OS 18, you can make a Wi Fi QR code in the shortcuts app. But I do find this passwords app method to be much more streamlined. The podcast app in I OS 18 allows you to share a podcast with someone starting from a specific time stamp, which is a feature I didn't know I needed. This will make it so much easier to chat about the funniest, most inspirational or most controversial part of a podcast with a friend, especially if you don't have time to listen to the entire episode as you're listening to the episode, just tap the now playing bar, hit pause and scrub back to the start of the section. You want to share next t the three dots on the right and select share episode, then tap from start, select the time stamp you scrub to and hit done. After that, you can choose how and to whom you want to send the podcast. It is always fun to be the one to figure out the name of that cool new song, you and your friends here while you're out. Now, the action button makes this even easier. Just open settings, select action button and swipe until you reach the recognized music option. Then all you need to do is hold down the action button for a sec to find the song. The action button is currently available on the iphone 15 Pros and the 16 lineup pressing it is so low key that you could even get sneaky with it and act like you already knew the name of the song because you're just that hip. I won't tell on you with the new control center I OS 18, you can restart your iphone without pressing any physical buttons, just swipe down from the top right corner press and hold down the little power button for a sec and then slide to power your phone off. I could definitely see this being more efficient than holding down two buttons at once in certain situations to turn your iphone back on. You do still need to hold down the physical side button. Now, for some lock in home screen updates, you can now replace the default flashlight and camera buttons on your lock screen with other buttons like ones that allow you to set an alarm or turn on airplane mode, for example, or you can just remove the buttons altogether if you find yourself unintentionally hitting them a lot. I have definitely done that before. Just press down on your lock screen, tap, customize and select the lock screen. Option. Tap the minus symbol to remove a pre existing button, then tap the plus icon to choose a new function for that button or leave it empty to get rid of the button. Then tap done I OS 18 allows you to hide app names to make your home screen look cleaner. Doing this does make your apps a little larger but having no text does declutter things. Just press down on any blank space until your apps jiggle. Then top edit and customize. Finally tap large to remove the app labels. You can now change an app to a widget right from the home screen, just hold down the app. And if it has a widget, you'll see up to three widget icons next to an app icon, you can tap any of those widget icons to change the app to a widget. And if you want to change it back to an app, hold down the widget and select the app icon on the left I OS 18 makes it so much easier to search through all of the content on your iphone, like voice memos. I don't know about you, but I have years of voice memos on my iphone. And while I know there is some great ideas in there, those recordings have been pretty cumbersome to sort through. That is until now in I OS 18, the voice memos app can transcribe your recording so you can search through them with keywords. Just open the app, select a recording and then tap the waveform icon on the left. Next tap the transcribe button with the quote icon to generate the transcription or to see the text. If it's already been transcribed, then tap done. Now, you can search through your recordings with words from the transcripts. In addition to the titles of your voice memos, I will say that in my experience, the transcriptions are more accurate for speaking rather than singing. So if you're a musician trying to sort through your old songs with this feature, it won't always be perfect, but it is pretty helpful for searching through talking tracks. Speaking of photos, there are a few small but mighty camera updates you might have missed. This one is a game changer. There's now a five second camera timer option. So if three seconds was too quick, but 10 seconds was too long for you to take a self timer photo. This could be the sweet spot for you if you're in the middle of taking a video, but want to stop for a moment. You now have the option to pause the recording and continue it once you're ready again. And despite the breaks, you'll be left with one single video recording. I have definitely had moments where I'm jamming out to a song and I'm feeling so inspired so I go to take a photo and it's an immediate buzz kill when the music cuts as soon as I open the camera app. But with I Os 18, you can listen to music and take photos and videos. At the same time, you could even have your music playing in the background of your video. Although it doesn't sound amazing. So I wouldn't necessarily recommend that. But hey, whatever keeps you inspired. Now, keep in mind that Apple Suite of A I features A K A Apple Intelligence isn't a part of this update. Apple Intelligence will start rolling out in October with the release of I OS 18.1. But let me know if you want me to walk you through those A I features once they're available and those are some of my favorite, lesser known I OS 18 features, but this does only scratch the surface of things I OS 18 brings a lot of exciting new functionality to the iphone. So check out C net.com for even more features. Let me know what you think of this update in the comments below. And if you try any of these hidden gems and thank you so much for watching.