Apple has been embroiled in controversy over allowing users to choose default apps on their iPhones and iPads, and has been the subject of numerous legal actions around the world.
So our surprise came when the company introduced some changes in the iOS 18.2 beta, making it easier to change some of your app’s defaults, and even making some new categories available. Imagine.
In iOS 18, you can view all app-specific settings by opening (Settings) and tapping (Apps) at the bottom of the Settings page. iOS 18.2 beta adds a new default app menu to the top of that list.
This menu allows you to select the system default apps for email, messaging, calls, call filtering, default browser, default apps for passwords and codes, and keyboard.
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Some of these options have been around for some time, but they were scattered across various other settings menus. However, the calling and messaging categories are completely new.
There don’t seem to be any third-party apps available to select as default in these categories yet, but they may appear in the future as Apple releases new frameworks and apps are updated to use them.
