Apple today released the second betas of iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 to developers for testing. The new betas bring support for new features that Apple announced at WWDC24, plus tweaks to some of the interface changes from the first beta.
Here’s everything new that has been found in the second iOS 18 beta.
iPhone Mirroring
The new beta brings iPhone Mirroring, which allows users to fully control their iPhone via their Mac running macOS Sequoia beta 2, providing access to apps, interacting with notifications, and more. A user’s custom wallpaper and icons appear just like on their iPhone, and they can swipe between pages on their Home Screen, or launch and browse any of their favorite apps. The keyboard, trackpad, and mouse on Mac also let a user interact with their iPhone, and audio even comes through. Users can seamlessly drag and drop between iPhone and Mac, and a user’s iPhone remains locked, so nobody else can access or see what the user is doing. It also works great with StandBy, which stays visible, so users can get information at a glance. Additionally, users can review and respond to iPhone notifications directly from their Mac.
Home Screen
The App Store icon on the Home Screen now boasts a dark mode, which changes the background color of the app. A wallpaper tinting toggle can now be used in automatic mode. Toggling it makes your wallpaper darker.
The second beta improves the contrast of the tint feature by adding more dark areas for some icons.
RCS Toggle
iOS 18 beta 2 adds a toggle for the new RCS messaging protocol that will replace SMS and MMS. However, RCS is not yet functional. Right now, the RCS toggle only appears for U.S. iPhone users who have a carrier that supports RCS, including T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T.
RCS provides richer media and more reliable group messaging compared to SMS and MMS, improving text messaging conversations with Android users.
Widgets
A new Connected Card Wallet widget app is now available, although it does not yet appear to be functional. Connected Cards integrate with the Wallet app to display the total card balance and transaction history. The feature currently only works with U.S. Discover.
Control Center
The power button in the Control Center now has a more pronounced haptic feel when pressing it. The button only triggers with a press rather than just a tap.
EU App Ecosystem Changes
iPadOS 18 beta adds support for alternative app marketplaces and downloading apps from websites in the European Union. These changes were also made to the iPhone in iOS 17.4.
