Apple has recently unveiled iOS 18 at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), showcasing a wealth of new features aimed at enhancing multilingual support and improving user experience. The update includes expanded language options across the lock screen, Siri, the keyboard, and search functionalities. Users can now customize the lock screen to display time in 12 different numeral systems, including Arabic, Arabic Indic, Bangla, Devanagari, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Kannada, Malayalam, Meitei, Odia, Ol Chiki, and Telugu.
The iOS keyboard receives substantial updates, featuring trilingual predictive typing that allows users to switch between three languages seamlessly. This feature supports languages such as English, Bangla, Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu. Additionally, a new Korean and English multiscript keyboard has been introduced.
In the Messages app, the keyboard can remember the last language used for specific threads, enhancing user convenience. Improved language search capabilities now allow users to find different spellings of similar-sounding words in languages like Assamese, Bangla, Devanagari, and Gujarati.
Other notable updates include live voicemail transcription in Indian English, Hindi support in the Translate app, Arabic support for the live text feature, and new grammar engines for Hindi and Korean. Users can also create contact posters using Indian languages and numerals. The public version of iOS 18 will be released this fall, with the features currently available in beta versions, which may still contain bugs.
