Latest iphone 18 alpha refines the novel light controls

There is a faint curved line for the flashlight that controls brightness and beam width.
Apple has improved the flashlight in iOS 18 after overhauling it in the first beta. The iPhone flashlight is only there because the camera needs a flash. iOS should have a way to keep that bright light on. Apple never thought about it further before. Now there is. Apple’s developer beta 3 has been updated to reflect the changes made in iOS 18 beta 1. This major redesign of controls was introduced with iOS 18 beta 1. The flashlight can still be turned on by pressing the lock screen button or the Control Center button. The default settings can be changed, but the lock screen button and Control Center remain. What has changed is the behavior when the flashlight is switched on. As in beta 1, the flashlight appears in the center of a large, black rectangle. Dragging the new single control (L-R) to change the brightness or intensity of the flashlightHowever there used to be a solid horizontal line and a solid vertical one. Dragging the horizontal line up or down would widen or reduce the beam. Dragging the vertical line would increase the brightness. In the developer beta 3 these two straight lines controls are gone. They have been replaced by a single curved arc. To the right of this line is an icon for brightness. The only control you have now is how to change both brightness and intensity. Drag the beam up and down to increase brightness. The beam can be narrowed or widened by dragging from right to left. Left: The two controls in iOS 18 Beta 1. Right: The single control in beta 3. With a single control that covers both, you can also drag up and down to simultaneously change the beam’s brightness or width. Tapping on the icon turns off the flashlight. While the flashlight is on, you can swipe the control to return it to Dynamic Island. It’s possible to turn on the light by saying “Lumos” – the Harry Potter spell.