We’re all about Android (it’s in the name!), but our mobile operating system of choice doesn’t exist in a vacuum. To understand broader trends in mobile tech and get an idea of where the industry is headed, it can be helpful to check in on the competition from time to time. Apple’s iOS 18 landed this fall with more than a few features that Android users will recognize, but also some brand new functionality that we’d like to see make its way over to our side of the garden wall. These are the iOS 18 features Android users should know about.
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1 Apple is all about AI, too
Apple Intelligence features are here
Google’s well into what it’s described as its “Gemini era,” continually adding AI-powered features to its apps and services and spinning up entire new apps just to showcase AI functionality. The company’s been at it in earnest since earlier this year, when it ditched its older Bard AI branding in favor of the current name.
Apple was a little slower to hop on the AI bandwagon, but as of iOS 18.1, iPhones are just as loaded up with AI functionality as a Pixel or Galaxy phone. Apple Intelligence includes features like an AI image generator, AI-generated notification summaries, AI writing tools, and natural-language search in Apple Photos, with more features — like a ChatGPT-connected Siri — planned to roll out soon. If you’re disillusioned by Google’s recent laser focus on all things AI, know that the grass isn’t much greener on iOS.
2 iOS does themed icons now
Kind of better, mostly worse
With iOS 18, iPhones get some new customization options that’ll be familiar to Android users. You’re finally able to arrange icons on your home screens freely, positioning apps wherever you want them and even leaving blank spaces. You can also choose to add a “tint” to your icons, creating a unified look with icons that all match.
While Android’s theme implementation goes deeper, changing UI elements in system settings and apps, iOS’s does have one big advantage: it works with every app icon. Applying new colors to icons that weren’t designed for it can make for some ugly results, but whether that’s worse than mismatched icons for non-compliant Android apps is up for debate.
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Android clearly inspired Apple’s newest iOS 18 features
At WWDC, Apple announced customization features that borrow heavily from Android
3 RCS is finally on iOS
Green bubbles got a lot better this year
Google’s been publicly hounding Apple to bake RCS into iOS for years now, and in iOS 18, Apple finally obliged. The iPhone’s Messages app now supports RCS that works interoperably with Android, enabling features like high-resolution media sharing, typing indicators, and read receipts. Emoji reactions are even working now.
RCS hasn’t replaced iMessage, and texts sent to iPhones from Android still show up in green bubbles. But with the addition of RCS, a lot of the functionality that had previously made iMessage a better texting experience is no longer exclusive. You can finally text your iPhone-owning friends pictures knowing they won’t get a circa-2010-quality compressed version.
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4 iMessage lets you send wiggly text
It’s not compatible with Android
Of course, now that a lot of iMessage’s core functionality is no longer exclusive to iPhone-to-iPhone iMessage chats, Apple was bound to add new features to iMessage that don’t work when texting Android phones. Starting in iOS 18, users can format text in iMessage. There are normal options like bold and italic, but also some more pronounced effects with names like Ripple and Explode.
Google might add functionality like this to Android’s Messages app, and it’s possible that basic formatting may eventually work across Android and iOS. The flashier formatting options are likely destined to stay platform-specific, though.
Google’s defunct Allo messaging app let you adjust the size of the text you were sending by pressing and holding on the send button and sliding your finger up or down. I always thought that was fun — maybe Messages could bring it back.
5 Apple now has a dedicated Passwords app
Where are you on this, Google?
Apple has been able to manage your passwords on iOS and macOS for a long time, but up until recently, those passwords were only accessible in your device settings or in Safari. With its latest OS releases, though, Apple rolled out a new Passwords app for mobile and desktop. Passwords lets you access and manage your saved passwords, and can even handle 2FA functionality.
Google doesn’t offer a dedicated password manager app, so I’m hoping it takes Apple’s lead on this one. It’s easy enough to access the login credentials stored in your Google account at passwords.google.com, but the current web-based interface is a little clunky. A bespoke password manager app for Android and a matching web app for desktop could really improve the experience.
Android 16 will be here before you know it
The current Android 15 was light on new user-facing features, so we Android users are a little jealous of all the new features iPhone owners get to check out this fall (even if some of them got their start right here on Android). But Android 16‘s closer than you’d think: Google has confirmed it’s targeting the second quarter of 2025 for its next big software update. That’s still long enough to put together a password manager app, right?
