New in iOS 18.1 developer beta 7: Translucent Clock widgets and under-the-hood enhancements

On Monday, Apple officially rolled out iOS 18.1 developer beta 7, with the build number 22B5075a. This comes following the release of developer beta 6 a week earlier, which bore the build number 22B5069a.

The sixth developer beta provided users with additional Control Center toggles and contained certain visual enhancements such as new splash screens.

Apple Intelligence is undoubtedly the main focus of the iOS 18.1 update, as the company gears up for the feature's rumored October release. Monday's update, however, merely builds upon developer beta 6 by introducing minor changes and quality-of-life improvements.

The Clock widget has a new translucent look in tinted mode

With beta 7, Apple has made a change to the existing Clock widgets found in iOS 18.1. When in tinted mode, the widgets now have a translucent appearance, bearing some resemblance to visionOS.

Translucent user-interface elements with a distinct blur effect are widely used across iOS and have been present in the iPhone operating system for well over a decade. Apple overhauled the iPhone operating system with iOS 7 in 2013, which introduced blur effects and a flat UI, replacing the skeuomorphic look used previously.

Since then, the company has continued to use translucence effects across its different operating systems, including iOS, iPadOS, and more. The modified Clock widgets in Monday's beta arguably allow for a more coherent look across the iOS interface, as they don't stand out the way the previous iterations did.

Although the widgets have received a minor visual modification, there are seemingly no other changes affecting the appearance or function of the Clock widgets in iOS 18.1.

Other improvements present within iOS 18.1 developer beta 7

Apart from the modified Clock widgets, the seventh developer beta of iOS 18.1 does not appear to introduce any significant changes. Much like developer beta 6, though, the update includes a few new splash screens for select system applications.

Splash screens can be encountered when opening the Home, Podcasts, TV, and Voice Memos applications. These screens inform users of new features found in the respective apps, even though the features themselves were added with previous iOS 18 updates.

Though Monday's beta doesn't add any meaningful features, the release likely contains various bug fixes and under-the-hood improvements, which ultimately enhance the operating system as a whole. This is to be expected, as Apple prepares for the soon-approaching public release of iOS 18.1.

Apple Intelligence features available for testing in iOS 18.1 beta

The seventh developer beta still supports the same Apple Intelligence features as previous releases of iOS 18.1. Apple Intelligence is a suite of new software features powered by Apple's in-house generative AI software.

With Apple Intelligence, users can edit text and images, or summarize emails and notifications, all with the help of artificial intelligence.

It's worth pointing out, though, that the features are available only on iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, or devices belonging to the iPhone 16 range. Apple Intelligence can also be used on iPads and Mac computers with an M1 or newer chip.

Image Playground and Visual Intelligence will appear in subsequent iOS 18 updates

Future releases of iOS 18 are expected to introduce support for Image Playground and Visual Intelligence, both of which are powered by Apple Intelligence. The iOS 18.2 update, rumored for release sometime in December of 2024, is when we could finally see the rollout of these two AI features.

The Image Playground application will let users create AI-generated imagery in specific Apple-approved styles. Visual Intelligence will let users learn about real-world objects and locations through the iPhone camera and Apple Intelligence. The latter feature will be available on iPhone 16 units, which have a dedicated Camera Control button to trigger Visual Intelligence.