Apple Expected to Release iOS 18.3 This Week With These New Features

iOS 18.3 should be released to the public this week, following beta testing since mid-December. While the software update is a relatively minor one, it still includes a handful of new features, changes, and bug fixes for iPhones.

iOS 18
Below, we recap everything new in iOS 18.3.

Notification Summary Changes

bbc news apple intelligence summaries clean 1Examples of inaccurate Apple Intelligence notification summaries

Apple Intelligence notification summaries for news apps are temporarily unavailable on iOS 18.3, after the feature inaccurately summarized some news stories.

Starting with iOS 18.3, notifications that have been summarized have italicized text, which makes them stand out visually compared to regular notifications. Apple also promised that improvements to notification summaries are coming in a future iOS update.

Last, iOS 18.3 lets you easily manage settings for notification summaries from the Lock Screen.

Visual Intelligence Upgrades

Visual Intelligence Feature
All four iPhone 16 models are equipped with a Camera Control button that enables Visual Intelligence, a new feature that can provide information about items or places in a person's surroundings. For example, Apple says users can click and hold the Camera Control to bring up the hours or ratings for a restaurant that they pass by.

iOS 18.3 includes a few Visual Intelligence upgrades for all iPhone 16 models. First, you can now add an event to the Calendar app from a poster or flyer. Second, Visual Intelligence can now identify animals and plants.

Visual Intelligence is not available on any other iPhone models.

Calculator App Enhancement

iOS 18 Calculator Feature
iOS 18.3 reintroduces a small but useful Calculator app function that had been removed in an earlier software update. Now, when you tap the equals sign a second time, the Calculator app repeats the last mathematical operation. This functionality is useful for calculating compound interest or other repeat operations.

Black Unity (Possibly)

Apple Watch Black Unity Band 2024
In the tvOS 18.3 Release Candidate for the Apple TV, MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris uncovered a "UNITY25" reference in the update's code. In each of the past four years, Apple announced a Black Unity campaign, and this has typically included a new Apple Watch band, watch face, and a matching iPhone wallpaper.

It is unclear what Apple may be planning for Black Unity in 2025. While the tvOS 18.3 code suggests something might be coming, the iOS 18.3 Release Candidate notes did not mention anything. An announcement is likely by next week, if one is made.

More

iOS 18.3 fixes these two bugs related to Siri and Apple Music:

  • Fixes an issue where the keyboard might disappear when initiating a typed Siri request
  • Resolves an issue where audio playback continues until the song ends even after closing Apple Music

Apple also added references to robot vacuum support in the Home app to iOS 18.3's code, but it seems this functionality never went live. Apple's website says the feature is coming in a future update, so perhaps we will see it with iOS 18.4.

We previously shared Apple's full iOS 18.3 release notes.

Related Roundups: iOS 18, iPadOS 18
Related Forums: iOS 18, iPadOS 18

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Top Rated Comments

airwalk331 Avatar
21 weeks ago
Let’s hope this update doesn’t cause more issues.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Jashar7 Avatar
21 weeks ago
We need big fixes not more features and problems…
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
StarSkr3amz Avatar
21 weeks ago
I have been on the Beta releases and the enhancements to the Visual Intelligence side are handy. Was able to add an event from a poster I passed on the subway a few days ago.

As for the Notification Summaries, will be nice to see how this plays out. Never really had a major issue with them but sometimes they can be hard to grasp what someone is trying to say.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Bazza1 Avatar
21 weeks ago
Reportedly this time forcing Apple Intelligence on users, even if it's features are gimmicky, underwhelming and essentially "Squirrel!" distractions.
Should be able to turn it off - but not uninstall - all the while using up (a minimum of) 7GB of local storage, plus whatever it will need in your iCloud account.
It's like they're willing people to not upgrade.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
WarmWinterHat Avatar
21 weeks ago
I normally avoid betas (and RC), but I went ahead and installed the 18.3 RC and they finally fixed the Mail issue, where it would use iCloud privacy even if you had it disabled in the mail app. I had to stop using it as it would time out on my personal device, and my company hasn't updated my SE past 18.1.1.

I keep iCloud private relay, and corresponding mail privacy, blocked on my home network since it allows Safari to bypass DNS filtering. Mail privacy and private relay use the same servers; mask.icloud.com and mask-h2.icloud.com.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TechRunner Avatar
21 weeks ago

you can now add an event to the Calendar app from a poster or flyer.
I'll get some mileage out of this. Looking forward to it.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)