The next beta for iOS 18 has been released by Apple to developers as we get ever closer to the public beta. Beta 6 is mostly focused on bug fixes and performance improvements, but there are are few small tweaks including updates to FaceTime and Siri.
Beta 6 comes just a week after Beta 5 rolled out, so Apple seems to be speeding up the pace of releases for each iteration of iOS 18 that has been made available. For those brave enough to install the developer beta on your iPhone, you can check out the new features (though we don't recommend it to everyday iPhone users).
FaceTime
Beta 6 brings a minor update to FaceTime when in Low Data Mode enabling the communication app to use more data when network conditions are good to improve video call quality.
Journaling Suggestions
Journaling Suggestions came out with iOS 17.2 and was meant to display ideas for personal writing. Apple describes it as a "visual picker interface for iPhone apps. The picker displays personal events that occur in someone’s life, such as a place they visited, a person they connected with, a photo in their library, or a song that they play repeatedly."
With Beta 6, Journal Suggestions is getting some new features to encourage iPhone owners to reflect and write about their day. It now supports landscape mode and new Reflection prompts. The prompts have been expanded with people and pet names from Photos mixed in. It also will improve suggestions for Trips and highlight places that people have visited.
Siri and CarPlay
Siri has a way to improve audio quality when used with CarPlay via Bluetooth. A new option called "Respond over Media Source". This should let you get "significantly improved" audio quality. It should be accessible in Siri and Carplay once enabled.
Apple Wallet
In an effort to prevent fraud, Apple is introducing a feature to Apple Wallet where you "might" be asked to take a Live Photo, "instead of, or in addition to" a standard image. It will ask you take a series of head and facial movements. The new Live Photo is supposed to be evaluated by your iPhone and Apple to ensure that the photo is of a live human and is the same being submitting the photo.
It's not clear from the Beta 6 notes when adding an ID to iPhone will trigger the request for a Live Photo or how it will affect the actual IDs being added to the device.
When can you get iOS 18?
If you're hesitant about putting either the developer's beta or the iOS 18 public beta on your device, Apple has said that iOS 18 will be released this fall, so it should launch alongside the new iPhone 16. So you shouldn't have to wait much longer to get the full operating system update on your iPhone, iPad and other Apple devices (macOS Sequoia and iPadOS 18 are also in the works for Macs and iPads, respectively).
Any fixes and changes made in the developer beta generally make their way to the public beta in about a week, which will give you a more stable version to play with if you're interested in an in-between option.
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