Apple’s WWDC 2024 The biggest highlight of the keynote was the unveiling of Apple Intelligence. While newer versions of operating systems had many features, most were familiar. Here’s a quick look at the features Apple has inspired from existing Android features. Let’s check them out.
1. App Lock
App lock functionality has long been available on Android through third-party apps or natively. This feature was initially made available with custom iterations of Android like MIUI, ColorOS, etc. After almost a decade, App Lock is available on iPhone. You can lock individual apps with Face ID, Touch ID, or a passcode.
Note: App Lock is not a native feature of stock Android.
Also Read: What’s new in the Apple Photos app? Plenty.
2. Icon customization
In iOS 18, Apple introduced a feature that allows users to customize the appearance of app icons on their home screen. While icon packs have existed since the early days of Android, Google introduced the feature natively with Android 12 – Material U.
However, iOS 18’s icon customization still lacks support for icon pack and icon shape customization. You can’t customize Springboard either. Perhaps, we will get it in future iterations of iOS.
3. Third-Party Application Tiles
iOS 18 will let you add tiles to Control Center from third-party apps. It’s similar to how Android handles quick settings tiles. So, you can quickly open note-taking apps like Evernote from Control Center instead of the default notes app.
However, Apple may limit the potential for deep integration with third-party applications to ensure a consistent user experience. We still need to test it and update the article.
4. AI-powered image editing
With iOS 18, you can remove unwanted objects and subjects from photos using AI-powered editing features. Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy devices have had this feature for the past few years.
Early iOS 18 beta builds have some limitations such as – they can only remove small objects and subjects from the background. Meanwhile, Android can handle bigger things.
5. Live Voicemail Transcription
With iOS 18, you can view live transcriptions of voicemail messages. This is similar to Google’s call screen feature on Pixel and Samsung phones. However, there is one key difference. On iOS, the focus is on voicemail messages, while the Google Call screen handles incoming calls.
6. Rich texting support
This is huge. iOS 18 will finally adopt RCS (Rich Communication Services), a messaging standard that Android has long had.
Previously, iPhone and Android texts had poor quality, blurry photos and no read receipts. then With RCS support in iOS 18, iPhone users will enjoy high-quality media, read receipts, typing indicators and large file sharing for seamless messaging between the two platforms.
These are some of the features introduced in iOS 18 that have been present on Android for a while. Operating systems often borrow ideas from each other, (remember gesture navigation, file sharing like AirDrop). However, the bigger picture is that this cross-pollination can lead to better user experiences overall.
On a related note, do you want to know what features Apple has introduced in AI or Apple Intelligence? We have a simple list for you.