Apple announced iOS 18 to the world during the WWDC opening event on June 10 and the software is now available in developer beta form. It won't be available to the public for some time, but the early betas already include support for additional languages across multiple key iPhone features.
Whether iPhone owners are customizing their Lock Screen, searching the device using Spotlight, or simply using the iPhone's keyboard, multiple languages have now been added.
While key features like Apple Intelligence are understandably capturing headlines, there is no denying that the addition of new language support could be a game-changer for some people as we edge ever closer to the release of iOS 18 to the public.
Multilingual iPhone
A TechCrunch report details the changes including the addition of Arabic, Arabic Indic, Bangla, Devanagari, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Kannada, Malayalam, Meitei, Odia, Ol Chiki, and Telugu language support when customizing the numerals sued on the iPhone's Lock Screen.
Continuing the theme, the iOS 18 keyboard now supports trilingual predictive typing, removing the need to switch languages manually. When searching, iOS 18 also makes it easier than ever to find what you're looking for. The report notes that "users can search for different spellings of similar-sounding words in that language." This means that "for instance, they can search for both “चंद्र” and “चन्द्र” in Hindi. The new language search is available for Assamese, Bangla, Devanagari, and Gujarati."
Other improvements include changes in the Messages app that mean the keyboard will remember the last-used language on a per-thread basis.
Apple has confirmed that iOS 18 will be released in public beta later this month before the update rolls out to iPhone owners around the world this September.
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