On April 22, almost three weeks after releasing iOS 18.4 to the public, Apple published the second public beta of iOS 18.5. Although all iPhones now have additional emoji thanks to that update, the most recent beta only includes minor tweaks and bug fixes for developers’ and public beta testers’ Mail applications.

The public beta 2 download page for iOS 18.5.
This iOS version has fixed a number of bugs so far.
Continue reading: A Comprehensive Guide to iOS 18

I advise downloading this just on a device other than your main device since it’s a beta. The upgrade may be glitchy and affect battery life since this isn’t the final version of iOS 18.5, so it’s preferable to keep those issues on a backup device.

Keep in mind that the beta is not the final version of iOS 18.5, so when it is published, your iPhone may have more features. When Apple will make the iOS 18.5 upgrade available to the public is unknown.

Here are some things that could soon show up on your iPhone running iOS 18.5. Just a friendly reminder that all Apple Intelligence capabilities are now only available to developers and beta testers who own an iPhone 15 Pro, Pro Max, or iPhone 16 model. You won’t be able to use those functions on any other iPhone.

An iPhone Mail menu with the option to display contact photos.

To make your inbox more organized, uncheck the “Show Contact Photos” box.
In the iOS 18.5 beta, Apple released a few minor tweaks to the Mail app. One of those upgrades allows you to display or conceal contact images in Mail, which simplifies the process of adjusting the app’s settings. The pictures to the left of emails in Mail are called contact photographs, and they aid in determining the sender’s identity.

With the iOS 18.5 beta, you may disable Contact Posters from within the app, however they will be shown by default in Mail. To do this, launch Mail, choose Show Contact Photos by tapping the three dots (…) in the upper-right corner of your screen. All of your emails will now just display the subject line and a synopsis of the message, much as Mail did before to iOS 18.

Although iOS 18.4 has this option, it’s hidden in Settings and difficult to find.

Categories are the subject of another modification. You may now see a little tab next to the other categories on the right side of your screen if the mode is activated. This little tab will enlarge to show the category All Mail if you swipe the categories bar at the top of Mail to the left.

This category, which is included in iOS 18.4, is not new. However, there was no little tab to indicate that it was off-screen on the right side of your screen. As a result, All Mail went unnoticed; before this beta, I was unaware that the option existed.

This category seems to be a mechanism to enable List View, Mail’s pre-Categories view, and Categories at the same time. You may read your mails in List read without any category by selecting All Mail.

Mail on iOS 18.5 beta 1 has the All Mail option.

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Is there anything else in the beta?

I’m not surprised, and I can’t tell. With Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference scheduled for June, iOS 18.5 is probably going to include less features so that the company can concentrate on iOS 19.

However, before iOS 18.5 is made available to the general public, there will probably be further betas, giving Apple plenty of opportunity to add or modify these features. When iOS 18.5 will be made available to the general public has not been disclosed by Apple.

Here are all the newest features in iOS 18.4 and all you need to know about iOS 18.4.1 for more information about iOS 18. Check out our iOS 18 cheat sheet as well.