Ryan Haines / Android Authority
TL;DR
- iOS 18 will make it possible to control the flashlight’s radius, so you can make the light wider or narrower.
- The flashlight UI is different, and offers quick controls for changing both intensity and radius.
- Apple’s iOS 18 will become available to everyone this Fall, 2024.
Apple’s WWDC 2024 event brought forth a bunch of goodies, including a bunch of new features and the expected AI introductions. The iPhone flashlight is something that doesn’t usually get much attention, though. After all, it’s a simple capability that “just works.” You can turn it on and off. What else would you need?
Surprisingly, Apple did give the flashlight function some attention this time around. Mainly, that iOS 18 will allow users to change the flashlight button on the lock screen, helping people avoid turning it on by accident. We’ve found a little extra feature Apple didn’t mention at the event, though!
The iOS 18 developer beta software became available soon after the event, and we’ve been testing it out. After a bit of digging, we found out there’s a new, unmentioned feature in the flashlight. We’ve been able to control the flashlight’s intensity for a long time, and with iOS 18, we were also able to control the radius of the light. This means you will be able to change how wide or narrow the light’s direction is.
As you can see, the UI looks different, and you now get two sliders to control both the intensity and the radius of the light.
This is quite interesting, as it is a feature we haven’t seen on any Android phones yet. The beta release of iOS 18 is coming in August, and the final release is scheduled for this Fall, 2024. We’ll have to wait until then to enjoy this improvement. For now, you can check if your iPhone will get iOS 18 here.
