Angular 18 – Key Features & Upgrades You Need To Know

Angular 18 was released on May 22 2024. The new version comes with experimental zoneless change detection support, server-side rendering improvements, and much more.

If your website is based on Angular or its outdated version like AngularJS, it’s the best time to switch to the latest technology.

This blog explores the top Angular 18 features and how it can help launch a better UI/UX. Let’s begin.

Here are 13 key features available with Angular 18 upgrade

1. Introduces zoneless

With Angular 18, developers are no longer dependent upon Zone.js to detect and trigger changes in Android apps. This is called zoneless feature leveraging, which facilitates better application performance in the following ways:

• Avoiding Zone.js helps to reduce application overhead and enhances performance.
• Zoneless boosts application compatibility with various libraries and frameworks.
• Removing Zone.js means a smaller bundle size of the Angular project

Enable Zoneless in your angular apps in the following ways:

bootstrapApplication (AppComponent, {
providers: [
// Use this function to enable
Zoneless Change Detection
on(),
provideExperimentalZonelessChangeDetecti
});
],

Further, you must eliminate Zone.js from your angular.json polyfills array

{
"projects": {
"app": {
"architect": {
"build": {
"options": {
"polyfills": [
line
}
}
"zone.js" //
Remove this
],
}
}
}

2. Up-to-date official documentation website

Whether you are an inexperienced or an experienced Angular developer, the new version offers everything necessary for a hassle-free development process.
For example, there are comprehensive docs and in-depth guides for the following:

• Angular framework, 
• Angular Components
• Signals & Template Syntax
• HTTP Client

3. Stable Deferrable Views 

Deferrable news is popularly called @defer blocks and was introduced with Angular v17. It lets you declaratively lazy load a part of your HTML. This means, you can choose different parts of the component tree can be placed in different chunks for planned lazy loading. 
Angular 18 update stabilizes this experimental feature and ensures optimum use in web applications. Simply wrapping the desired template sections in a @defer block lets you manipulate deferrable views

4. Stabilised Angular Material 3

The popular web development feature of the Angular framework namely Material 3 has been graduated to stable in v18. This will help Angular developers build seamless and beautiful user interfaces. Material 3 themes and documentation are available and updated with  material.angular.io.

5. Leverage TypeScript 5.4 Compatibility

Angular framework is based on TypeScript, a powerful programming language. Angular 18 features 100% compatibility with the latest version of TypeScript. This facilitates maximizing the potential of the advanced programming language and building future-proof applications.  
Apps built with Angular 18 will be easy to maintain and have high code readability. Developers can also access auto-completion and type-checking features. 

6. Updated Angular CLI capabilities

Angular 18 offers greater improvements in the command line interface like ‘ng generate component command’. It also comes with automatic routing setup and ‘ng lint’ command. 

This means improved rule configuration for the web developers.

We can update your web and mobile applications to boost UX & performance.

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7. Upgraded Ivy for reduced bundle sizes

One of the notable features of Angular 18 is Ivy, which is the default and only rendering engine. Ivy has come a long way since its introduction in Angular 9. Ivy offers next-gen compilation capabilities and also streamlines pipeline rendering. This helps to fast-track the Angular app development process.
Some of the key benefits of the default Ivy rendering engine are:

• Quick app development as it can compile only modified sections of the application. 
• Helps to build a concise code for the web application
• Enriches the project with better debugging capabilities

8. Access internationalization (i18) support

The Angular 18 update team has integrated new APIs and tooling enhancements. These are focused on enhancing internationalization support and improving application localization. This means developers can manage various versions of the apps to cater to an international audience in multiple languages.

9. Firebase app hosting

Firebase app hosting provides a streamlined deployment and management process of Angular-based applications. This means, Angular developers can leverage Google’s infrastructure for building highly scalable futuristic applications. 

10. Enhancements on Standalone components

Standalone components are no longer dependent upon the typical Angular models. This means your angular apps are more modular and can be reused in the entire software development life cycle.

11. Improvement in ng-content

Angular 18 new features include default ‘ng-content’ tag, which developers can use to build flexible and robust components. 

12. Use Route Redirects with functions

Route redirects allow developers to define route directs simply by using functions. This powers the app development process with greater control over the redirection logic. This was limited to the static string redirects approach. it will also help developers with a smooth migration process in Angular projects.

13. Enhanced debugging tools

Angular DevTools now provides developers with deep insights into application performance. It also provides good knowledge about dependency management and state changes. Together, these data can be utilized to optimize applications’ performance

How to upgrade to Angular 18? – Get expert help 

JS Panther professional Angular developers can help you leverage the latest v18. We have hands-on experience working with this new version of the Angular framework. 

The usual steps to perform Angular 18 update are as follows:

Step1-  Determine your current Angular version and its dependencies

• Open your project directory
• Run command ‘ng version’
• Note of your Angular CLI, framework, and listed dependencies

Step2- Update Angular CLI and Angular Core

Update the Angular CLI

• First, uninstall the current  Angular CLI with the command ‘npm uninstall -g @angular/cli’
• Run command “npm install -g @angular/cli@latest” to install the latest Angular CLI

It’s time to update the local Angular CLI into your project:

• Run command ‘ng update @angular/cli’

Upgrade the Angular core and relevant packages

• Run command ‘ng update @angular/core’

Step3- Manage Third-Party Dependencies

You need to find and manage outdated packages. 

• Run the command ‘npm outdated’ to view outdated packages
• Run command ‘npm update’ to update relevant packages

Step4- Upgrade TypeScript Version

• Run the command ‘npm install typescript@<required_version>’
• Replace <required_version> with an appropriate version

Step5- Resolve Breaking Changes and Deprecations

• Run the command ‘ng lint’ to identify potential issues occurring due to the update.
• Leverage  Angular update guide and documentation to resolve various braking changes.

Sep6- Check Application Performance

• Run unit tests with the command ‘ng test’
• Run end-to-end tests with the command ‘ng e2e’

Check the application works perfectly with manual testing.

Step7- Update Documentation and Dependencies

At the end you need to update any internal documentation. This is vital to reflect the changes done to the project during the upgrade process.
Additionally, you must also update your package.json.

Wrapping Up

 Angular 18 upgrade is ideal for building web applications in a hassle free manner. It features several new functionalities and improvements necessary for building powerful web apps.

At JS Panther, we have expert angular developers for hire. Our developers are well-versed in all the versions of the Angular framework and can help you build flawless application code with it.