Developer Beta 3 of iOS 18 has been released, and two newly discovered features will help protect your eyes from overly bright home screens.

The first feature discovered by 9to5Mac is a new dynamic mode for the default wallpaper specific to iOS 18. Users can choose from four basic color options: yellow, pink, azure, and purple, and then swipe left or right to select dynamic from the filter options. Once selected, the exact hue of the wallpaper changes many times during the day.

We have already seen a simpler version of this effect on previous iPhone wallpapers that automatically activates at sunset or when manually switched to dark mode. But now it appears that iOS will support more fine-tuning of wallpaper colors in response to changing light conditions.

Hopefully, this is a feature that can be added to third-party wallpapers, and once developers and artists become familiar with the new system, there will be more options to choose from at launch.

Other interesting additions include an update to the home screen icons, which will force dark mode even if no dark mode icon is specified for a particular app.

In previous betas, only Apple's own app icons would have dark mode applied, resulting in a strange mix of light and dark apps unless a dark tint was applied to all using the new customization options.

Beta 3 takes it a step further, so that all app icons are at least color-changed to match dark mode; as AppleInsider's example shows, this has mixed results, so for a more consistent home screen, developers should consider implementing their own We pray that developers will implement their own dark mode icons for a more consistent home screen.

Now that iOS 18 has reached its third developer beta, it should soon release a public beta for users not enrolled in Apple's developer program. This should give access to features such as a new Dark Mode, enhanced dynamic coloring, an updated Photos app, new reaction options for Messages, and Apple Intelligence features including a revamped Siri for select iPhones

If you want to wait until the software is stable and in its final form, that will probably be in the fall. Apple usually releases the latest iOS update at the same time as new iPhones, so iOS 18 should be released around the time the iPhone 16 series is released.