iOS 18: See 7 features “copied” from Android

For years, both Apple and Google have been accused of copying features from each other’s mobile operating systems. If we talk specifically about customization, Android has always been ahead of iOS, and this was the reason for unprecedented mockery, for example, during the release of iOS 14.

Continuing this story of competition and comparison, Apple released iOS 18 yesterday (10), and this time the company went beyond aesthetics and brought to the iPhone some interesting functions that have been available on some Androids for several years.

In total, we can talk about at least seven features of the new iOS 18 that are “copied” from Android. If you’ve seen the full list of new features in iOS 18 and you don’t remember (or don’t know) the features that are already available in the Google system, check out the list below!

1. Possibility to place icons anywhere on the home screen

Now iPhone owners can place application icons anywhere on the mobile phone’s home screen.

For fans of the little green robot, this has been a reality since the early days of the operating system, which also allowed adding widgets and customization long before Apple.

2. Custom Icon Themes

The new iOS now allows you to change the colors of system and app icons. This is a simple function but brings the mobile phone closer to the user’s personality.

Android has already allowed such customizations through official or third-party launchers for over 10 years. You can even change the entire icon pack.

3. Photo Editing with Artificial Intelligence

iOS will now feature artificial intelligence-based photo editing. Google Pixel has already allowed this since 2022.

Moreover, the Galaxy S20 series already has the feature of removing unwanted objects from photos since 2020.

4.0 AI-Based Content Summarization Tool

iOS 18 will be able to summarize text in documents, emails and messages. Samsung already has a web page synthesizer since One UI 6.1, and the Google Pixel 8 Pro also abstracts audio transcriptions.

5. Calculator with unit converter

The iPad will eventually have a calculator. The app will have AI capabilities and be able to convert units, features that will also be available on the iPhone. Samsung’s calculator can convert units much longer.

6. Custom emojis

iOS 18 will have an AI feature to create emojis in real time based on the text you type. Gboard already allows you to create personalized stickers by combining two different emojis.

7. RCS text support

The RCS protocol promises to “deprecate” SMS once and for all, allowing better quality text exchange between Androids and iPhones. However, this feature will only now be supported by Apple. On Android, the protocol has been supported since 2019.