Exploring iOS 18 Beta 3: Dark Mode Icons, Enhanced Photos, and Unified Emoji Interface

Apple today introduced the third beta versions of iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, as well as adding minor tweaks to Dark Mode icons on Home screen backgrounds, etc., updates to the Photos experience, and enhancements to emoji usage within Messages conversations. This update is considered “a prologue to the Apple Intelligence” by some observers.

iOS 18 for iPhone

Apple will spend the rest of iOS 18 development tuning and improving features ahead of its launch later this year. Here’s a rundown of what’s new in the third beta of ‌‌iOS 18‌‌:

Dark Mode Icons: The ‌Dark Mode‌ icons are also supported in third-party apps that include Facebook, Etsy, Telegram, and others. Apple has taken the liberty of converting these icons to ‌Dark Mode‌ colors where appropriate, dropping background colors for stark black or shading icons in darker hues.

Photos App: The main interface for ‌Photos‌ has gained a new Select button that can be tapped to bring up photo selection tools without the need to swipe down. The new search button is simplified to a magnifying glass, complete with the blue coloration for improved visibility.

Emoji: In Messages, emojis, Memoji, and stickers into a single view that can be accessed via icons at the bottom of your display. Users can now create stickers and Memoji shortcuts from this view, with a new feature to use the image as an emoji-sized static photo in messages.

Wallpapers: Dynamic ‌iOS 18‌ wallpaper that changes colors over time of the day.

Flashlight Interface: Apple has also made the interface for adjusting brightness and LED flash spread larger scale, making it easier to use.

Maps: The Maps, too has an icon color now aligned to the Dark Mode.

It also makes a few other improvements, such as turning the RCS setting screen in Messages into an expandable menu instead of just displaying it as one big toggle that hints at what it does. References to Apple Intelligence features like Genmoji, Image Playground, and Writing Tools have been present in the code as well as hints that future AI capabilities will indeed be built tightly into ‌iOS 18‌. Barely a year before those changes materialize Apple is clearly continuing to refine and perfect the user experience ahead of major software updates.

FAQs