Apple has rolled out the seventh developer beta for the upcoming iOS 18.1 for all compatible iPhone models and it brings one curious visual change.
Apple unveiled the new update on Monday as a follow-on from the recent sixth development beta. The seventh beta builds upon the prior update, which saw additional Control Center widgets and visual enhancements like the new splash screens. Added to this are some quality of life and visual improvements, primarily a change to how the clock appears when the phone has a darker screen.
Originally reported by Apple Insider, the primary visual change is that the clock widgets will become slightly translucent when the phone is in tinted mode. The change is minimal at an initial glance, but it does subtly change the color of the widget to better match the background.
While it isn't as translucent as we might have liked, it does add a bit more uniformity to the home screen. Other than that the widgets have seen a minor visual improvement but little else has changed.
The biggest addition to the iOS 18.1 beta in general is the inclusion of several Apple Intelligence features. While it isn't every feature — we expect Genmoji and others to arrive with iOS 18.2 — it will still be the first Apple AI features to appear on compatible iPhones. The public beta for iOS 18.1 includes AI features like writing tools, a Photo Clean-up tool, and the ability to create memory movies in the Photos app.
However, it isn't just AI that is changing in iOS 18.1 as a few other new features are being introduced. For instance, Apple has made it possible to add a new primary email address to your Apple Account without needing to go through the whole verification process again.
The update will also allow for a notification summary to appear on your paired Apple Watch, making it much easier to know what has been sent to you at a glance and assess what your next action will be.
iOS 18.1's seventh developer beta isn't a major change, but it does include a few interesting additions and changes for the sharp-eyed user. For now, we can only wait for the official release of iOS 18.1 to see which features will be included for some of the best iPhones currently available.
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