Now that Apple has finally uploaded the iOS 18 All New Feature PDF for Japan, it’s time to play our favorite game: compare the USA PDF and see what’s not coming to Japan. And it’s not too bad this year, or maybe it is, I can’t really figure out how ‘real’ the Apple Intelligence rollout will be. Nobody else can either. But let’s count our blessings: the whole Apple Intelligence experience thing is coming to Japan in 2025…ish.
The only missing thing that hurts is Messages via Satellite, those functions are all deleted in the Japanese iOS 18 Key Features PDF which means they are not coming during the iOS 18 lifecycle. SOS satellite service only made to Japan late in the iOS 17 cycle so Messages satellite services will take time to deliver, unfortunately.
On the bright side the very first Apple Wallet ID card outside of the USA will come to Japan in ‘early 2025’, early as in late spring early summer early. Somewhere around the iOS 18.4 update but I suspect any iPhone running iOS 18 will be able to load My Number Digital ID as the new PassKit Japan passes functionality is rated iOS 18.0 and later. We’ll see.
Another bright spot is the addition of Live Voicemail from iOS 18 day one. iPhone Visual Voicemail has always been a sore point in Japan because the major carriers don’t like it and charge (a lot) extra for the privilege. I paid 500 JPY a month to Docomo for years but finally dumped it as Docomo didn’t support it very well and didn’t care about fixing it. Budget carrier plans like ahamo don’t support it at all.
All in all iOS 18 feels weird though, so much of the hyped feature set is ‘coming later*’, almost as if iOS for everybody else has been ‘Japanified’ into one big ‘coming later’ product. Welcome to the club.
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