Apple iOS 18 official version released, criticized as "ugly" by netizens and trended on hot search

Today (September 17th), Apple pushed the iOS / iPadOS 18 update (internal version number: 22A3354) to iPhone/iPad users.

01. iOS 18

In terms of iOS, this update brings many new features to iPhone users, including a new home screen customization feature, improvements to dark mode, and more.

Firstly, the highly anticipated home screen customization feature allows users to set app icon themes, freely place app icons, and adds an option to automatically fill app icons with dark colors in dark mode.

The Control Center has also undergone a major redesign, adopting a multi-page layout for the new Control Center and adding a "Control Center Widget Library" where third-party developers can provide widgets.

Additionally, users can add these new control features to the lock screen, replacing the original flashlight and camera icons.

Apple stated that the Photos app has undergone its biggest redesign ever, aimed at helping users better manage their extensive photo libraries. The app interface has been integrated into a single view, with a photo grid at the top and a gallery categorized by themes below.

Users can browse through the "Months" and "Years" views at the bottom. New features include the ability to easily hide screenshots, help users organize recent photos, and a "Featured" collection of suggested photos.

The Photos app can now automatically group people and provide a new "carousel" interface for browsing photos.

Furthermore, iOS 18 introduces Apple Intelligence, which is a set of AI features deeply integrated into the operating system.

However, Apple Intelligence will only appear in the later stages of the Beta testing process, including functions for improving and editing writing, generating images, and emojis.

Apple Intelligence is set to be officially launched in the iOS / iPadOS 18.1 update in October, initially available to users in the United States, with further updates to follow.

02. iPad OS 18

The updates in iPadOS 18 are mostly similar to iOS 18, but also bring many new features specifically for the larger screens of iPads.

Like iOS 18, users can customize the home screen on iPadOS 18, including freely placing app icons, among other features. Apple has also expanded the Control Center, supporting the creation of multiple lists and views, resizing and rearranging icons, and more.

Additionally, there is a new floating tab bar for easy navigation between applications, which can be further customized to remember your favorite apps.

iPad OS 18 introduces a built-in calculator. This means that iPad users will no longer need to download third-party applications for simple math calculations, which are often filled with ads and rarely optimized for the larger size of iPads 03. "Give me back my mom's photo album"

However, after the update was released, topics such as "iOS 18 give me back my mom's photo album" and "iOS 18 ugly" trended on Weibo, with many netizens criticizing the new album layout. ("Mom's photo album" is a humorous and exaggerated expression referring to the original album layout.)

IT Home checked the Apple official website and according to the official introduction, iOS 18 has undergone a "thorough update" for the album:

The "Featured" section can automatically organize the library content by themes such as "recent days," "people and pets," and "journeys," making it easy for you to categorize and view exciting moments.

The order of "Featured" sections can be arranged as desired, and items in the "Fixed Featured" section can be easily accessed, so whether it's your dog's beautiful photos, selfies with friends, recently edited photos, screenshots, or receipts, you can quickly find the content you care about.

In addition, some netizens criticized the font change in iOS 18, while others couldn't accept the changes in the Control Center, believing that the new Control Center layout has become messy