Apple’s upcoming iOS 18 software update brings many major changes to the way the iPhone behaves, as well as a few less heralded changes that are still worth knowing about. But one eagle-eyed beta tester spotted a tiny but brilliant tweak that wasn’t on any of those lists.
According to Reddit user ant_t99 (and backed up by a photo), iPhones running the early iOS 18 developer beta show the current time, even when they’re out of juice. For those who don’t wear a watch and rely on their smartphone to show the time, this could be a crucial bonus.
When an iPhone is considered to be low on battery, it actually still has some power left, a sort of backup power. And in iOS 18, it will use it to display an icon telling you to charge it, as well as emit tiny Bluetooth signals so it can still be located by Find My iPhone. In effect, it disables all non-essential features to simply serve as an AirTag.
All that happened this year was that iOS 18 added the ability to tell the time to that list of low-power emergency features. (The Apple Watch has long been able to do this when it goes into Power Reserve mode, but this is new for the iPhone.) This should make very little difference in the amount of time that passes before the iPhone is really out of power, but could make all the difference. difference for an inconvenienced owner of a exhausted phone.
There is an extremely minor glitch in the ointment that ant_t99 pointed out during questioning: the time appears to be limited to a 12-hour clock only, at least for this US-based user, so anyone relying on a 24 hour clock can be a little confusing at first. (There also doesn’t seem to be an AM or PM indication, but it also doesn’t show up in the iPhone status bar.) Also, if you can’t figure out if it is 8 o’clock in the morning or 8 o’clock in the evening, other clues, we really don’t know how to help you.
If you’re wondering whether you should try the new software, check out our guide on whether you should install the iOS 18 beta. And for coverage of all the new features and other changes, as well as an evolving timeline of the various updates At beta level, read our iOS 18 superguide.
