Apple’s new release for its operating system is now available for your iPhone — as long as you are using an iPhone XR (2018) or later. However, only those with an iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max (the upper tier of last year’s models) can use the artificial intelligence features within iOS 18 because they require the extra processing power of a new chip introduced in 2023. Still, there are plenty of improvements that you’ll find useful on an older phone. Plus, keeping your devices’ operating systems up to date is a fundamental security tactic, so let’s get started.

Simple customizations are at the heart of iOS 18. You will be able to organize how you access your phone’s apps as efficiently as possible. These housekeeping features apply to your home screen, lock screen and the Control Center.

All of these modifications start with a long press on your home screen. You’ll see the apps start to jiggle. Tap the edit button in the upper left corner, which will open a menu: “Add Widget,” “Customize” and “Edit Pages.” Tap “Customize” to pull up a menu from the bottom where you can dim the brightness of your screen, choose small or large for the display size of your icons and then select from four themes. Your choices are light, dark, automatic (your screen will be light when it’s light around you and dark when it’s dark — handy for checking your screen without having to switch on a light at night), and tinted that lets you use a slider to make all of your apps appear in a monochrome color scheme of your choice. Tap anywhere on the screen when you’re finished.

This is a good time to delete any apps from your home screen that don’t warrant the real estate. Long press to jiggle and then tap the minus sign to delete. Don’t worry, you’re not deleting the app from your phone as long as you choose “Remove from Home Screen.” You can access all apps from your App Library. To locate the library, swipe left on your home screen and keep swiping if you have more than one home screen, until you land on the App Library.

Let’s take a look at “Add Widget,” first item in the home screen edit menu. Widgets are quick actions associated with apps on your phone. Say you frequently find yourself searching Gmail for an order update or playing liked songs on Spotify, these widgets will be available when you open “‘Add Widget.” What you see depends on the apps you have on your phone. Scroll through the list and explore. When you see one that looks helpful, tap to add it to your home screen.

These widgets are quite large, mine range from the space of four to six apps each, so you might find it better to spread them out over your home screens. You’ll move widgets in the same way as you move apps, by long pressing to jiggle and then dragging from one screen to the next. You can use “Edit Pages” in the edit menu to easily change the order of your home screen pages just by dragging to reorder them.

Apple has released some control over the Control Center, another hidden sub-screen accessible by swiping down from the upper right corner of your screen. Prior to this update, your options were pretty limited. You had quick access to settings like Airplane Mode, screen orientation lock and bluetooth, and apps like Camera and Flashlight. Now you can add more quick actions by using the small plus sign at the top to activate customization. Use the “Add a Control” button to see your options, including stopwatch, timer, alarm, screen recorder, QR reader and calculator. Apple has expanded Control Center from one screen to four so you have plenty of room to organize. Unlike your home screen, you can resize any of these controls. Look for the handles when you tap the plus sign and drag out to make them bigger.

Finally, Apple added a few more options for your lock screen. Now you can change or remove the flashlight and camera buttons. Just tap and hold the lock screen, then choose “Customize.” From there, you can remove the flashlight or camera buttons and swap in something more practical, like the Weather app or a shortcut to the calculator, which now can convert currency, temperature and weight.

Take the opportunity to make your iPhone work better for you and, at the very least, update it to protect your device.

Leslie Meredith has been writing about technology for more than a decade. As a mom of four, value, usefulness and online safety take priority. Have a question? Email Leslie at asklesliemeredith@gmail.com.