When you purchase through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.

Apple has rolled out the seventh developer beta for the next iOS 18.1 for all compatible iPhone models and this brings a curious visual change.

Apple unveiled the new update on Monday as a follow-up to the recent sixth development beta. The seventh beta builds on the previous update, which brought additional improvements. Control Center Widgets and visual improvements like the new splash screens. Added to this are some visual and quality of life improvements, mainly a change to the way the clock appears when the phone has a darker screen.

Originally reported by Apple InsiderThe main visual change is that the clock widgets will become slightly translucent when the phone is in tinted mode. The change is minimal at first glance, but it subtly changes the color of the widget to better match the background.

While it’s not as translucent as we would 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 not much has changed.

Apple should roll out the official version of iOS 18.1 next week, which will bring new features that could transform the way you use your iPhone in the future.

Although the iOS 18.1 beta for developers was released some time ago and subsequently a iOS 18.1 Public Betathe official release of the final software has remained elusive. Unsurprisingly, there’s a lot of anticipation with this one as it will finally bring Apple Intelligence in the fold.

First introduced during the WWDC2024 conference earlier this year, everyone initially thought Apple Intelligence would roll out alongside the release of the iPhone 16 last month, but that didn’t turn out to be the case. Nonetheless, here is what you can expect with the official iOS 18.1 release.

Cleaning up photos

Editing photos on your iPhone will become easier thanks to the new Cleaning tool in the Photos app in iOS 18.1. Similar to Google’s magic eraserThis AI-assisted tool for iPhone leverages generative AI to not only identify unwanted subjects to remove from your photos, but also to fill deleted elements with generative AI so that they blend in with the rest of the image. ‘picture. What’s great about Apple’s version is how intuitive it is to use.

Improved Siri

Siri is set to get a huge boost with the arrival of iOS 18.1, giving the voice assistant new features such as a your most conversationaldeeper understanding and a new way to access it without voice commands. What’s notable about this new Siri is how the voice assistant feels much more human than ever, including the ability to continue contextual conversations even when interrupted mid-sentence . You will also be able to tap Siri if you don’t want to use voice commands.

A much more organized Mail application

THE Email app in iOS 18.1 will see a host of new features that will make it more functional and organized than ever. With Apple Intelligence, this will help better identify important messages that will appear in a new App Priority tab. Apple Intelligence will also summarize the contents of an email, so you can read the excerpt directly from your inbox without having to click through each one. And finally, Smart Replies will provide you with a quick way to respond to emails.

Writing tools

Sometimes you just need help writing, that’s why the new Writing tools coming with iOS 18.1 is all about making you a better writer. Again, with the help of Apple Intelligence, this suite of tools can help you rewrite your messages to give them a different tone, as well as the ability to proofread and summarize them.

Learn more about Tom’s Guide