The iOS 18.5 Release Candidate is Out | Here’s What’s New

Earlier today, Apple seeded the official Release Candidate (RC) build of iOS 18.5, giving us our first official look at what to expect from its next point release.

While the release date was hinted at yesterday when Apple unveiled its 2025 Pride Collection, the RC build makes it more official that we’ll see iOS 18.5 released to the public early next week.

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As we shared last month, the beta cycle of iOS 18.5 hasn’t revealed any significant new changes. Apple sometimes adds a few things to the final release, which it’s done this time with the new Pride Harmony wallpaper. There are no other significant changes in the RC build.

So, what’s coming in iOS 18.5? Here are the release notes accompanying today’s RC build:

• A new Pride Harmony wallpaper
• Parents now receive a notification when the Screen Time passcode is used on a child’s device
• Buy with iPhone is available when purchasing content within the Apple TV app on a 3rd party device
• Fixes an issue where the Apple Vision Pro app may display a black screen
• Support for carrier-provided satellite features is available on iPhone 13 (all models).
  

The Screen Time notifications and “Buy with iPhone” changes weren’t previously observed in the betas. However, they’re also not the most easily discoverable features, so they were probably there all along and simply went unnoticed.

Apple described the new wallpaper in yesterday’s Pride Collection announcement, saying it “features colors that change position as users move, lock, or unlock the device.” What the company neglected to mention is that it also has a cool alternate version for the always-on display, as shown below.

The new carrier-provided satellite features for the iPhone 13 expand Starlink support in iOS 18.3, which brings 5G cellular connectivity via satellite. This initially required an iPhone 14 or later model, but it’s unclear why the iPhone 13 was left out. Unlike Apple’s own via satellite features, which use S-band and L-band frequencies, Starlink works over standard 5G frequencies and doesn’t require the satellite radio hardware of Apple’s newer iPhone models.

There are a few other minor changes in iOS 18.5 that Apple seemingly didn’t feel were worth mentioning in the release notes:

1. Apple Mail includes a new Show Contact Photos option for toggling these avatars on and off. This was previously only available in the Settings app under Apps > Mail > Show Contact Photos.
2. Back Tap Gestures can be accompanied by a banner so that you know when something is happening because you tapped on the back of your iPhone twice or thrice. This appeared in the iOS 18.4 betas but was pulled before the final release. In iOS 18.5, it’s an optional setting that can be toggled under Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap.
3. The AppleCare & Warranty section in the Settings app has been expanded to provide more details about your coverage and how it works.
   

Notably, iOS 18.5 doesn’t include any changes for Apple Intelligence. In March, Apple officially confirmed that we wouldn’t see any new Siri improvements until iOS 19. However, some reports suggested Apple would roll out its AI features in China with this version, but that doesn’t appear to be happening yet.

While Chinese language support arrived in iOS 18.4, Apple still has to implement AI models suitable for use in China, where foreign models are banned. Earlier this week, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman suggested this may not come until iOS 18.6.