iOS 18 Updates For B2C Marketers: How To Build Customer Love For Your Mobile App in 2025

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Ready to fall head over heels for iOS 18 as a marketer?

iOS 18 is changing how customers interact with your mobile apps thanks to a suite of changes such as RCS messaging, Widget experiences, Siri voice commands, and more!

This is a great opportunity for your brand to adapt to Apple’s new changes and grab your customer’s attention before your competitors do.

In a nutshell, here are the major announcements made by Apple in WWDC 2024 regarding iOS 18:

1. Siri can access your mobile app’s features outside your mobile app for quicker and more efficient actions.
2. Apple Widgets can offer specific functionalities without requiring customers to open your app.
3. iOS 18 now supports RCS (Rich Communication Services). Read more about RCS and how it can boost Customer Engagement here.

So, how do you adapt to these changes and ace your customer engagement game for your Apple-happy customers?

Allow customers to use Siri to access your app’s features

Siri now makes it easier to access specific features of your mobile app without opening it, helping you be a part of your customer’s daily life seamlessly. Here are a few ways you can leverage Siri:

1. Banks can capitalize on Siri’s advanced capabilities to offer voice command banking services. For instance, your customers could simply instruct Siri to ‘transfer money to mom’ without opening your banking app. You can also enable voice commands to find the latest stock or portfolio updates.
2. Shoppers could also start using Siri to add specific products to their carts or wishlists or check availability. You can enable Siri to perform these features through your mobile app to ensure a quick shopping journey.
3. As a Travel app, you can allow travelers to use Siri for quick booking processes, find nearby attractions, or get travel updates. You can also enable Siri to fetch itinerary information or updates about the next destination in the travel plan.
4. Your customers could also use voice commands using Siri to play music, search for movies or shows, or even control their playback options. Additionally, you can give options to fetch ticket details of an upcoming event or add it to the customer’s calendar easily too.

Build custom widgets for easy actions your customers can take

Building and supporting Apple widgets for your mobile app is a great way to add more flexibility in the way your customers interact with your brand. Here’s how:

1. Banks can create widgets to illustrate vital services such as balance inquiries or bill payments, or provide a quick snapshot of essential transactions to increase app interactions.
2. Shopping brands can showcase their best deals or display personalized shopping recommendations on the customer’s home screen, leading to higher transactions on your mobile app.
3. Travel apps can keep customers updated on their travel route, flight timings, destination weather, or local experiences by using widgets to ease their travel or stay experience.
4. Media & Entertainment apps can use widgets to display tailored suggestions, upcoming shows, or newly-released music based on each customer’s individual preferences to re-engage customers and draw them back to the app.

Embrace RCS to evolve your communication strategy

Adding RCS to your customer engagement strategy can boost conversion rates by offering interactive experiences that SMS cannot cater to. By providing instant, rich-media content, RCS paves the way for more innovative customer interactions and a holistic mobile communication experience. Here are few ways how:

1. Banks can use RCS to send instant transaction alerts, bill payment reminders, and account updates to enhance your customers’ banking experiences. RCS can be used to share financial tips, news, investment opportunities, and recommendations, adding more value to their services.
2. Highly secure and interactive RCS chat options can also provide better customer service in real-time, boosting customer satisfaction.
3. Shopping apps can utilize RCS to send high-quality images or videos showcasing their products, leading to increased engagement and conversions. RCS can also be leveraged to send interactive and personalized promotions, offers, and product recommendations based on the consumer’s shopping behavior and preferences.
4. From order confirmations to shipping updates, Shopping brands can also use RCS to send real-time transactional notifications, making the shopping process smoother after they’ve completed a transaction on your mobile app.
5. Travel platforms can use RCS to enable instant notifications about flight changes, weather conditions, or travel advisories, and deliver rich-media destination guides or itineraries to travelers, improving each customer’s travel experience.
6. Media platforms can leverage RCS to notify customers about a new episode release, content updates, and trend alerts instantly. They can also send timely reminders about subscription renewal or upgrading plans via RCS, especially during thematic PPV (pay-per-view) events.

Apple’s philosophy has always been to put their customers at the heart of innovation. And, iOS 18 is a testament to this philosophy – it offers a host of innovative features that can significantly enhance customer engagement on mobile devices. Find out ways to integrate Siri and build widgets for your iOS app. Oh, and don’t forget to leverage the power of RCS to step up your Customer Engagement game!

If you’re looking for a platform that will help you maximize your Customer Engagement efforts on multiple channels, check out what MoEngage has to offer!