The race between Apple and Android features might be getting closer.
In the everlasting battle between Apple phones and Android phones, Android has been ahead in one key feature: you can schedule texts ahead of time on Android devices. Sure, you can schedule texts on an iPhone — if you have the time and patience to create a complicated Shortcuts automation for it.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is about to announce that iOS 18 will allow users to compose a message in Messages and schedule it to send at another time. It’s one of the more useful features on any device — and fans are sure to be psyched about the scheduling feature being more seamless if Gurman’s report rings true.
Think about this new feature in the same way you might schedule send an email if you’re working with someone in a different time zone or don’t want to send an email after work hours. Or if you’re one of those “good morning beautiful” guys and want to make sure your text arrives before any others. It’s also great for holiday texting or making sure you wish your best friend a happy birthday the second the clock strikes midnight. You know, important things like that.
We’ll find out for sure at Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC 2024) on Monday. Like many tech events this year, it’ll likely be centered around generative artificial intelligence, but we also expect some announcements about new features for Messages, Mail, macOS 15, and more.