Apple’s WWDC 2024 keynote’s biggest highlight was Apple Intelligence’s unveiling. While the new versions of the operating systems had several features, most were familiar. Here’s a quick look at the features that Apple inspired from existing Android functionalities. Let’s check them out.
Table of Contents
1. App Lock
App Lock functionality has been available on Android for a long time either through third-party apps or natively. The feature was initially made available with custom iterations atop 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 Photo’s 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 this feature natively with Android 12 – Material You.
However, iOS 18’s icon customization still lacks support for icon packs and icon shape customizations. You can’t even customize the springboard either. Maybe, we’ll get that in future iterations of iOS.
3. Third-Party App Tiles
The iOS 18 will let you add tiles from third-party apps to the Control Center. It’s quite similar to how Android handles quick settings tiles. So, you can quickly open note-taking apps like Evernote from the Control Center rather than just the default note app.
However, Apple might limit the potential for deeper integration with third-party apps 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.
The early iOS 18 beta builds have certain limitations such as – it can only remove smaller objects and subjects from the background. Meanwhile, Android can handle larger objects.
5. Live Voicemail Transcription
With iOS 18, you can see a live transcription of voicemail messages. This is similar to Google’s Call Screen feature on Pixel and Samsung phones. However, there is a key difference. On iOS, the focus is on Voicemail messages, while Google Call Screen works on incoming calls.
6. Call Recording
iOS 18 introduce a native call recording feature. It utilizes Apple’s AI capabilities to record, transcribe, and summarize phone calls. This feature is yet to roll out on iPhone and it will automatically tell call participants that they’re being recorded. Android has offered call recording functionality through various apps and even built-in features for quite some time.
7. Rich Texting Support
This is huge. iOS 18 will finally adopt RCS (Rich Communication Services), a messaging standard that Android has had for a long time.
Earlier, iPhone and Android texts were low quality, blurry photos, and no read receipts. After RCS support in iOS 18, iPhone users will enjoy high-quality media, read receipts, typing indicators, and larger file sharing for seamless messaging between both platforms.
These are a few features introduced in iOS 18 that have been present on Android for a while. Operating systems frequently borrow ideas from each other, (remember gesture navigation, AirDrop-like file sharing). 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 introduced in AI or Apple Intelligence? We have a handy list for you.
