5 new iPhone features available on Android for years

New iPhone features available on Android for years (Unsplash)

Apple has introduced several new features for iOS 18 that are positioned as innovative and cutting-edge. But after a closer look, many of these new features have long been available on Android, reports 9to5Google.

Customizing home screens

Perhaps this is the most important innovation and a huge topic of discussion on social media. At WWDC 2024, Apple announced that an important part of iOS 18 will be the ability to customize the iPhone home screen in a way that users couldn't before.

Now, apps can be placed anywhere on the screen, even if they are located completely alone in the corner. The static application grid is a thing of the past, as the movement of icons is no longer limited. This update also brings custom color palettes that turn app icons into different shades.

Android users are familiar with this feature. Material You is a feature that allows apps to change colors depending on the color of the wallpaper in the background.

You can also change the colors to specific ones using the Home screen customization tools. In the latest versions of Android, this addition is reflected in almost all manufacturers of Android smartphones.

Apple's approach to the iPhone's custom app icons feature is slightly different from what Android has done. Instead of requiring developers to create variations of app icons in different colors, iOS 18 seems to simply shade each icon, which can make some apps look dull and unimpressive.

RCS support and notification scheduling on iPhone

For Android users, RCS support on iPhone is great news. It will allow both parties to exchange messages with more data than regular SMS.

For example, RCS will allow you to see message delivery and reading notifications, typing indicators (in theory), and transfer images in much higher quality.

A few years ago, Google introduced RCS in its Messages app and has since been actively encouraging Apple to do the same. It took a while, but now iOS can finally receive and send RCS messages.

Another feature that Android fans have become accustomed to is message scheduling. With most Android manufacturers, such as Samsung and Google, users have long been able to schedule messages at a later time. Of course, this feature is useful more often than it seems.

Now, iPhone users can schedule messages for a specific time, just like Google Messages on Android.

Smart app for photos

For years, Android has had the Google Photos app in its arsenal. Thanks to updates and changes made over the years, the app allows users to find images in the search bar, even if the search is for fine details.

This was one of the strongest reasons why users chose Google Photos over the standard gallery app that came with their devices. But the situation has changed as many other smartphone manufacturers have improved their gallery apps by adding a similar feature.

Apple has now added an improved search engine to the Photos app that allows users to search for details in photos, including numbers, locations, and other identifiers.

The company also announced an editing feature for iPhone that is very similar to Magic Editor on Android or Galaxy AI. Stroking background objects will allow you to erase them, which is one of the main advertising advantages of Magic Editor on Android.

Built-in AI

Another important change presented at WWDC was Apple's attitude toward artificial intelligence (AI) on iPhones and other devices in its ecosystem. This means that many applications will start to include AI features that will improve text writing, message processing, and other aspects.

It's hard to compare what Apple has done with this update to what Google is offering with its LaMDA AI tool (presumably, since Gemini is not a public product).

LaMDA's phone-level features seem to be less integrated, and what Apple is advertising seems to work across the entire iPhone system.

Custom emojis

In creating emojis, Apple wins hands down. The closest thing Android has is the Emoji Kitchen or custom stickers in Messages.

Apple's version allows you to generate unique emojis using artificial intelligence in the style of Apple's existing emoji library.

The emoji collection on Android is completely different. Google has manually created many combinations of emojis, so if you combine two existing emojis, you will get a cool but slightly creepy version.

Check out also Apple officially introduces IOS 18: What are new features and Apple may add 6 new features to popular app in iOS 18 update.